THE REJECTED FOURFOLD LUNA: FATED TO TWO ALPHA TWINS

Chapter 24—Arrogant Ignorance

Aiden's POV

The news reached me on a Sunday morning the way most things did, through a pack communication that sat in my inbox for two hours before I opened it.

"Celeste Reed, officially declared Luna of Ulfsang Pack under the bond of Alphas Mason and Jason Wood"

The announcement was formal the way these things always were, routed through the correct inter-pack channels, sealed and verified by both bloodlines.

I read it once. Set it down. Sat with it for a moment in the way you sit with things that are not technically your problem but still land with some weight regardless.

Then I went to find Jayden.

He was at his desk in the study with his laptop open and a cup of coffee beside him, cold and forgotten. He looked up when I walked in.

"Ulfsang made it official," I said, dropping into the chair across from him. "Celeste Reed is their Luna."

Jayden looked at me for a moment. "That is not our problem."

"I know."

"Then why are you telling me like it is?"

I sat down across from him. "The rumors are still going. Pack members asking questions about the rejection. Why we turned down a Fourfold Bond. Whether we knew what we were giving up."

"The Fourfold Bond was an insult to our standing." He said it the same way he always said it. Clean. Final. "We made the right call."

"I know we did."

"Then what is this actually about, Aiden?"

I looked at the window for a moment without answering right away.

Outside the Ashen Hollow grounds moved through their usual rhythm. Pack members crossing the open space between buildings, the ordinary sounds of a functioning territory doing what it was supposed to do. Everything exactly as it should be.

"My wolf," I said.

Jayden did not answer immediately. He looked at his laptop screen without seeing it.

"He is quieter," I said. "Since before the ceremony even. That pull toward her. I know yours is the same way."

Jayden closed his laptop. "It is bond residue," Jayden said. Flat and certain. "It fades."

"It has been months, Jayden."

"These things take time. A bond thread that ran that deep does not fade overnight. The fact that it lingers does not make the decision wrong."

He picked up the cold coffee, considered it for a moment, and set it back down without taking any of it. "We will find a better mate. One who belongs entirely to us and to this bloodline." He held my gaze. "We did not make a mistake, Aiden."

"I know," I said.

I did know. I believed it. I just wished my wolf would arrive at the same conclusion.

My work suffered slightly too, which I would not admit to Jayden directly. A particular sharpness I relied on in the mornings was slower now, less immediate. Nothing that anyone outside Ashen Hollow would notice or measure.

But I noticed it. Clearly and every single morning without exception.

I told myself it was temporary.

I told myself that every single morning when I woke up and the quietness was the first thing I noticed. Some days it was easier to believe than others.

We worked in silence for another stretch of time. Neither of us needed to fill it with anything. A knock came at the study door.

"Come in."

Vivian stepped inside. She was clearly on her way somewhere, bag on one shoulder and keys in hand, and she stopped in the doorway with the kind of smile she always brought to family settings. Careful. Surface-level. Perfectly maintained.

"I thought I heard you both in here," she said, stepping just inside the door. "I just wanted to say hello before I head out."

"You have become a real stranger," Jayden said, not unkindly. "We barely see you come through here anymore."

"School and work." She lifted one shoulder. "It has been a full few months. I keep meaning to come by more but the weeks move considerably faster than I expect them to."

"You should come by more," I said.

"I will try," she said. She meant it the way she tended to mean things, partially and with some portion of herself held at a remove.

It was simply the way Vivian operated. Present but never fully. Something in her always kept at a careful and measured distance from the people around her.

She moved toward the door. Jayden glanced up from his laptop.

"We will be heading out of territory for a day later this week," he said, in that easy tone he used for things that did not need much weight attached to them. "Financial account review at Mercer and Vale. Our representative manages everything day to day but there are a few things we need to go through in person this time around."

Vivian paused. "Oh?" Her voice stayed deliberately light.

"The financial consultant assigned to manage our accounts at the firm," I said. "It turns out it is Celeste Reed."

The room went quiet for exactly a fraction of a second.

Vivian's expression shifted. It was small, the kind of thing you would miss if you were not paying attention. Her jaw tightened, barely perceptible to anyone not paying close attention, and then released.

"Are you serious," she said, flat and quiet.

"It is a coincidence," Jayden said. "Nothing more than that. It will be a formal meeting. Business only. We go in, review what needs reviewing, and we leave."

Vivian looked between both of us carefully. Something moved behind her eyes that I could not immediately name.

She was quiet for a beat that ran just slightly longer than natural.

"Strictly formal," I said. "Nothing beyond the account review." "There is nothing to read into it."

She let out a slow breath. Something about it read like relief, though I could not have said why she would need to feel relieved about any of this.

"Alright." She nodded once, a small and contained movement. "Good. That makes sense." She shifted the bag higher on her shoulder. "I genuinely have to go." She was already stepping back. "I'll see you both soon."

She stepped out and pulled the study door shut behind her.