Who am I : A Betrayed Luna's Path to Home

Eleanor’s POV Today marks the 7th anniversary of my marriage to Alpha Bruce. Looking back, it feels like we've embarked on a lifetime journey together, one filled with laughter, love, and an unshakeable bond. We’ve planned surprises for each other, tokens of our affection meant to remind us of the vows we exchanged under the moonlight. I carefully prepared a gift: a necklace for Bruce with a pendant holding a precious photo from our wedding day. Each detail of that moment is imprinted in my heart, the way we gazed into each other's eyes, sharing a kiss that promised forever. “Look at this couple, only death can part them,” the pack priest joked with a smile. Bruce and I have been part of each other's lives since childhood, our connection forged in shared loss when our parents fell victim to rogue attack. That shared pain shaped us, made us stronger, and as we grew, our paths naturally led to marriage. I felt so grateful that he married me even though I didn’t have a wolf. A year later, Willow, our sweet daughter, completed our little world. She's my angel, the embodiment of perfection and love. Since her arrival, life has grown more demanding; my responsibilities as a leader, a warrior trainer, and a mother now intertwined. It's a challenge only a parent might fully grasp—the constant balance of nurturing a pack and nurturing life. On most days, I hardly allow myself the luxury of leaving early, but today feels different. It’s a special occasion, after all. Taking a moment for us feels justified, so I entrust my duties to Mira, my second-in-command. “Happy anniversary, Luna! Go and enjoy your time together. I can pick up Willow for you.”Mira assures me with an encouraging smile. “Thank you so much, Mira!” I say, planting a grateful kiss on her cheek. With the necklace in my pocket and anticipation swelling in my heart, I set off for home. My mind flutters with possibilities. What surprise does Bruce have waiting for me? A trail of rose petals? A candle-lit dinner? A bottle of our favorite wine? I imagine falling into his arms, our kisses mingling with tender words of love. My breath quickens with each thought, urging my steps faster to return to my beloved. “Bruce, I am back,” I announce as I open the door, expecting warmth and affection. Instead, I am met with a betrayal so deep it steals the breath from my lungs. I feel like a marionette with severed strings, yet my feet are cemented to the floor, my heart hammering in my chest. Through the half-open door of our bedroom, my world shatters—a lavish silk shirt I meticulously pressed this morning lies disregarded on the floor like rubbish, alongside vibrant lace lingerie, foreign and mocking in its presence. From within, I hear the mingling of heavy breaths, punctuated by Hazel’s fervent, distressed moans and Bruce’s all-too-familiar voice. Each word pierces sharper than any blade, embedding deep within my mind, unraveling every promise ever made. “Oh yes, give it to me Bruce! It feels so good! I am close—” “f**k you’re amazing Hazel!” “Harder, harder, Oh yes!” My stomach reels as if poisoned. I clamp my hand over my mouth, a desperate attempt to anchor myself against the nausea rising like bile. I refuse to fall apart here, in their presence. Dignity, the last shard of my identity as Luna, flickers tenuously, yet it is all that keeps me from collapsing. I stumble away, throwing open the heavy door to be swallowed by the ice-bitten night. The wind whips mercilessly, stinging my cheeks with flecks of snow. I run, breath ragged and lungs burning with each gasp of icy air. The home I once cherished, now a looming specter of deceit, fades behind me as I sprint through the forest, its once comforting paths now a gauntlet of despair. “Eleanor! Stop! Eleanor!” Bruce’s voice shreds through the storm. Teeth clenched against a scream lodged in my throat, I push myself onward, fueled by anguish, fury, and a need to escape. The trees, stark and crooked, blur beside me as the winding path becomes treacherous, stones loose underfoot, cliffs waiting to claim the unwary. The chill burns my lungs, my heart thundering, each beat amplifying a raw hollowness in my chest. I refuse to stop. I refuse to face him. What once was eager anticipation now seems absurdly naive, remnants crushed under the weight of his betrayal. Seven years! Seven f*****g years of shared dreams and promises, obliterated on what should have been a day of celebration. This was his surprise—infidelity laid bare. Reaching the barren cliff, I halt, the wind howling fiercely, pulling my hair and clothes toward the abyss. I skid to a stop, dislodging stones that clatter dangerously into shadows below, where the river whispers of death as it churns far beneath me. Turning to face them, the darkness at my back, I see Bruce approach, his figure stark against the moonlight, once a symbol of devotion, now marred by betrayal, his expression somewhere between fear and frustration. Hazel stands behind, shrouded in his coat, her face a shifting canvas of triumph thinly veiled by faux panic. “Let me explain, Eleanor," Bruce stammers, “It’s not what you think…we need to talk…” “There’s nothing left to talk about,” I say, my voice ragged with heartbreak. “You betrayed me, Bruce. We’re done.” “Please, Eleanor,” he implores, reaching out in desperation. “Don’t touch me! You make me sick!” I recoil. Emotion pours through me, a torrent of sorrow and fury that threatens to consume. As the winds rage around us, I stand firm, a vengeful gale in my heart matching that of the storm, refusing to let him pull me back into his deceitful embrace. “I made a mistake in a moment of confusion,” Bruce pleads, desperation tingeing his voice as he tries to justify his betrayal. “I have always been loyal, but after Willow… you're working so much. Training all day, then just showering and sleeping. We haven’t been intimate…” The accusations slice through the air, igniting a mixture of disbelief and anger within me. “Are you blaming me for your infidelity?” I ask, my voice trembling with incredulity. In all our married years, we’ve overcome challenges, shared dreams, and never once quarreled. I believed he understood me, that our souls were intertwined, only to now find myself questioning if I ever truly knew the man I married. “How long has this gone on?”I ask. The silence that follows is damning, pounding relentlessly in my ears. “How long?!” I demand again, my voice fierce and demanding an answer, a truth I both yearn for and dread. “Six years,” Hazel confesses, her voice surprisingly steady, as if the weight of her words doesn't crush her as it does me. “He first slept with me when you were pregnant, and it’s been on-and-off since.” The world sways beneath me, my mind reeling as betrayal settles like a stone in my chest. “Stop! You sicken me,” I say, dizziness overtaking me, the edges of my vision blurring as weakness seeps into my bones. “For Willow’s sake,” Bruce implores, trying to wedge the cracks of our shattered life with our daughter's name, “Our daughter can’t grow up without you. She will be mocked.” “Don’t you dare use my daughter against me,” I shout, a roar tearing from my throat as my heartbreak morphs into a wildfire of rage. Tears scorch my eyes, grief squeezing my chest until breathing seems no longer possible. “As her father, how could you forget her while carrying on your affair?” Bruce averts his eyes, shame pulling his gaze to the ground. But my fury remains unspent as I turn my focus to Hazel. Her eyes dart, her fingers clutching resolutely onto him. “And you, Hazel, seducing a married Alpha?” My smile is cut with bitterness. “Did you forget who took you in when you were injured?” “You did, Luna,” she whispers, her voice barely audible against the harsh whispers of the night. “Was I not kind to you?” I press, each word a hammer blow, demanding answers to the incomprehensible. “You were very kind,” she sputters, her eyes refusing to meet mine, the weight of my anguish settling over us like a heavy fog. “Then why?” I beseech them, the single word echoing through the night. “Why betray me?” “Because I love Alpha Bruce!”she exclaims. “I cannot resist my pull to him. And you don't have a wolf…”she adds quietly. "For the pack's sake I believe I can assist Bruce better…” “You b***h…”I start but I am stopped by Bruce. “Don’t hurt her, please. Hazel is pregnant,” Bruce states as he shields Hazel behind him, his voice hollow, stripped of all the warmth and love I once knew. “Please don’t hurt me, Luna.”Hazel begs, wrapping herself in a shroud of sadness. “I have to keep this baby. The baby is innocent. Please do not throw me out.” She dares to claim sorrow, to present as the victim while I stand broken? “I’m sorry, Eleanor,” Bruce says, dropping to his knees, groveling at my feet. He crawls forward, clutching at the fabric of my gown—a garment selected with care for our anniversary. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles, lips brushing the hem. I look down, lost for my words, my heart like glass on the verge of shattering. “Get up, Bruce,” I say finally, exhaustion lacing each syllable. “She and her baby can stay. But we’ll get a divorce, and I’ll take Willow away.” “No, you can’t take Willow; she is our daughter,” he protests, desperation bleeding into his voice. “Not anymore!” I shout, rage seething through me like a storm unleashed. “You’ve made an Alpha forsake his dignity and kneel for forgiveness,” Hazel has the audacity to speak again. “Please have some mercy.” “Then he shouldn’t have done something so vile!” I retort, my voice a whip cracking through the air, silencing any further attempt to sway me. Bruce stands slowly, his eyes meeting mine with a haunted emptiness. “I know I’ve done the unforgivable. But you can’t take my little angel from me, Eleanor.” And then, with a force that rips my breath from my lungs, he pushes me. In that instant, shock takes over, and I fall off the cliff. My scream is lost in the storm as I tumble into emptiness, caught between the pull of gravity and a crushing sense of grief. Everything around me becomes a blur, and time seems to stop. I catch a glimpse of Bruce pulling his hand back and Hazel's face shifting from shock to a twisted sense of relief. Their figures quickly fade into the darkness. The wind roars in my ears as I fall. Quickly. Harshly. The icy air stings every part of my skin. My awareness flickers in and out, with pain and darkness closing in. Then finally, my consciousness slips away.