The Alpha's Lost Luna

4

Rowan

I needed a moment to just breathe. Being inside that packhouse made everything feel suffocating. The walls pressed in around me as if they were alive, thick with perfume, wine, and the overwhelming scent of too many wolves gathered in one place. Every thought was too loud, forming a static in my mind that had me overstimulated.

The celebration behind me roared on like a living thing. Music spilled through the open doors of the ballroom while laughter echoed across the polished marble floors. Crystal glasses clinked together in endless toasts as servants moved through the crowd carrying trays of roasted meats and expensive wines imported from human cities miles away.

My father and mother loved displays like this. Tonight's party was not truly about welcoming me home from the academy. It was a performance. A declaration of power and wealth. Every neighboring pack leader within traveling distance had been invited so they could witness firsthand just how wealthy and influential our pack had become. How strong I had become. Every pack had come. All but one. The Blood Moon Pack. They never attended events like this. Too focused on their missing heir, strengthening their borders from within. Our treaty with them was thin and fragile and part of me found myself glad they hadn't been in attendance tonight.

The daughters of allied families had circled me all evening like vultures around fresh meat. Women from our pack watched me with the hopes that I would dance with them. Silks brushed against my arms. Sweet voices whispered invitations disguised as compliments. Perfume thick enough to choke a man filled the air as they laughed too loudly at jokes that weren't funny. Each one of them hoped to attract the attention of the future alpha. Each one hoping to secure their place as Luna.

I had endured it as long as I could. But now... I needed air. I pushed open the balcony doors and stepped outside, inhaling deeply as the cool ocean breeze rushed across my skin. The tension that had been coiling tighter in my chest finally loosened just a fraction. I hadn't felt this suffocated once during my six years at the academy.

I missed the structure there. I missed the brutal honesty of it all. At the academy there were no hidden meanings behind polite smiles. No whispered negotiations disguised as casual conversation. No women paraded in front of you like prizes waiting to be claimed. There was politics, yes, but nothing as sinister as what was happening tonight. There was only strength. Strength earned through discipline. Strength proven through combat and mental aptitude.

Every Alpha heir who trained there knew the rules. You fought for what you wanted. You bled for it. And if you won, no one could question that victory. Politics existed there too, but it was honest politics. Strategy between equals. Not this... performance. Here tonight... everything felt false. Masks layered over masks. Smiles that meant nothing.

I could feel my wolf pacing beneath my skin, restless and irritated by the deception surrounding us. The longer I stayed in that ballroom, the stronger the urge became to bare my teeth and remind everyone exactly what kind of predator I was. I gripped the railing so hard that my knuckles turned pale. No one inside noticed. Or if they had, they didn't care.

Cade had disappeared hours ago with one of the visiting pack daughters. He was probably drunk and tangled in the silk sheets somewhere by now. My father was entertaining one of his many mistresses, laughing loudly as if he were still a young wolf instead of a leader responsible for thousands of lives. A mated leader.

And my mother... my lips curled slightly. My mother had spent the entire evening pushing Heather toward me like she was presenting the most obvious solution in the world. As if I would willingly bind myself to that manipulative snake. Even standing near Heather made my wolf recoil. He hated her. And my wolf's instincts were rarely wrong.

I stepped farther onto the balcony overlooking the sea. The territory stretched endlessly beneath the moonlight. Jagged cliffs fell away into dark waves crashing against the rocks below while the scent of salt carried on the wind. This land was ancient. My ancestors had claimed these cliffs centuries ago when the first alpha of our bloodline drove rival packs out of the region and established our borders. Generations of wolves had been born, fought, and died protecting this coastline. And someday it will be mine to lead.

The thought settled heavy in my chest. I loved my pack. Truly. I would burn the world to ash before allowing harm to come to them. But they had been led astray. My father ruled through fear. Fear kept wolves obedient. Fear kept challengers silent. Fear kept the pack firmly beneath his heel. But fear was not loyalty. And a pack that feared its alpha pair would never truly thrive.

At the academy, we studied the histories of the strongest packs that had endured for centuries. Those packs were not built on terror. They were built on respect. Respect was earned through strength. Through fairness. Through protecting your people instead of exploiting them. Kind of like the Blood Moon Pack.... That was the kind of alpha I intended to become. But I wasn't alpha yet. For now, I had to play the game.

I had to smile when expected. Nod politely during negotiations. Pretend I didn't see the corruption slowly rotting away at the foundations of my father's rule. I would watch. I would learn. And when the day finally came... I would be ready.

My fingers ghosted across the soft petals of the roses lining the balcony. They were beautiful. Beautiful things could still wound. Roses proved that. They looked delicate enough to crush between your fingers, but their thorns would slice open careless hands without hesitation. Beauty and pain. Two sides of the same blade.

I turned away from the balcony doors and descended the stairs leading into the gardens. Gravel crunched beneath my boots as I walked deeper into the moonlit paths, leaving the noise of the party behind. The gardens stretched across the edge of the cliffs like a carefully sculpted wilderness. Ancient stone pathways wound through hedges and flowering bushes planted generations ago. My grandmother had designed most of them before she died. She had believed beauty should exist even in places truly ruled by predators.

I walked until the scent of the ocean grew stronger, and the crashing waves echoed clearly against the rocks below. Eventually, the garden opened to the cliff's edge. I sank down onto the ground, letting my legs drape over the rock ledge. The drop was enough to kill a human instantly. But I felt no fear.

The wind rushed past me while the moon illuminated the endless stretch of dark water beyond our territory. My wolf relaxed instantly. He loved the open land. Loved the freedom of the wild beyond the stone walls and political games. Out here I could pretend I wasn't the future alpha. Almost pretend I was just another wolf beneath the moon.

I grabbed a small rock beside me and turned it over and over slowly in my hand before tossing it over the edge. It disappeared into the darkness below. Gone. Swallowed by the sea. Was that all we were in the grand design of fate? Rocks thrown into the world wherever destiny decided we belonged?

The thought lingered in my mind only briefly before my wolf stiffened. A rustle came from behind me. Someone had followed me. My lips pulled back in a snarl, a warning growl rising in my chest before my wolf suddenly went still. Alert. Curious. Interested. I inhaled deeply. Lavender. The scent hit me like lightening striking directly through my spine. My eyes nearly rolled back in my head as instinct surged forward. A low purr vibrating through my chest before I could stop it.

A small figure burst from the garden. She moved quickly, gracefully despite her obvious haste. I couldn't see her face yet — only long brown hair that cascaded down her back in loose waves. My fingers twitched with the strange urge to run them through it. Was it as soft as it looked?

She carried a plate of food clutched carefully in both hands as she hurried toward the stone stairway carved into the side of the cliff. The stairs had been built centuries ago by pack members who preferred the quiet solitude of the beach below. She moved down them quickly, barefoot and sure-footed. I frowned.

Everyone in the pack was supposed to be attending tonight's celebration. Yet, she wore a thin nightgown that barely reached her knees. The fabric was worn and slightly tattered. Nothing like the elaborate ballgowns filling the room upstairs. Whoever she was, she clearly hadn't been invited to the party.

She reached the beach and stepped onto the sand. From my position high above, I watched as she tilted her face toward the moon. Her shoulders sagged slightly. Relief. I recognized it instantly. I felt it too everytime I escaped the suffocating politics of the packhouse.

She climbed onto one of the large rocks scattered along the shoreline and sat down carefully. The wind shifted. Moonlight revealed even more than I expected. My brows furrowed. She was thin. Too thin. Even from this distance I could see the sharp angles of her shoulders and the faint discoloration of bruises along her arms.

My wolf snarled in anger. Why hadn't her wolf healed those injuries? What had happened to her?

She began nibbling cautiously at the food on her plate. Not devouring it. Not eating with the hunger of a wolf who had just finished a run. Just... nibbling. It wasn't enough. Not nearly enough for a werewolf. Not even enough for a growing pup. My eyes narrowed as questions began piling up in my mind.

She stiffened suddenly. Her instincts sensed something. Her head turned slightly as she scanned the cliffs above her. She hadn't spotted me. But her body knew she was being watched. Good girl. Impressive. Then she turned her face just enough for the moonlight to reveal her face. The delicate curve of her nose. The softness of her lips. Her cheekbones. The freckles I could see even from here. The pale green of her eyes. And the world stopped. The bond snapped into place with a brutal force. Not gentle. Not subtle. Violent. Like chains locking around my soul.

My wolf surged forward with a possessive snarl. Mine. The word echoed through every corner of my mind. And suddenly I knew exactly who she was. Elizabeth Thorne. The orphan girl our pack had taken in years ago. A faint memory surfaced — a quiet child standing behind our older pack members, always watching but never speaking. I had been a teenager then, 19, preparing to leave for the academy. I had barely noticed her. Now fate had decided she was my mate.

Anger exploded through my chest. I stood abruptly, glaring at the sky. This had to be a joke. Of all the women in the world.... of all the wolves fate could have chosen... this? My mate was a servant. Weak. Powerless. Titleless. The one woman my parents despised more than anyone else in the pack. I dragged my hands through my hair, pacing along the edge of the cliff.

I could reject her. I should reject her. An alphas mate was not just a partner. A Luna was power. A Luna commanded respect. A Luna stood beside her alpha as the backbone of the pack. My pack would never accept Elizabeth Thorne as their Luna. I should end it now. Reject the bond before it grows stronger. But the thought alone made my stomach twist violently. My wolf snarled in warning at me. Rejecting her would destroy something deep inside both of us.

I forced myself to look back down at the beach. Elizabeth sat quietly on the rock, staring out at the waves. Did she feel it too? Did she know what had just happened? Or had fate decided to torture only me tonight? Questions filled my mind. What did I know about Elizabeth Thorne? Nothing. Only whispers and assumptions. I had never truly spoken to her. Never bothered to learn who she really was.

Perhaps everything I believed about her was wrong. Or perhaps this was just another illusion, like the ballroom above us. I exhaled slowly. I wouldn't reject her. Not yet. I needed information first. I would watch her. Observe her the way I would any potential enemy. Study her strengths. Study her weaknesses. Learn everything there was to know about her before deciding our fate. And until then... No one would know. Not my father. Not my mother. Maybe Cade. But no one else. Because whether fate liked it or not... this game had just become more complicated.