The Alpha's Lost Luna

2

Rowan

I sat in the back seat of the car, staring out the window as the driver sped us along the winding coastal highway. Six years. Six years since I had last seen the cliffs along the beach of Coral Fang territory. Six years since I had walked the halls of the packhouse that loomed somewhere ahead of us beyond the trees. And yet... nothing had changed.

The land stretched endlessly along the coastline, wild and beautiful in the way only untamed places could be. Dense forests climbed the rocky hillsides, their pine branches swaying beneath the salty ocean winds. The sea crashed violently against the cliffs below, waves slamming into jagged stone and sand before retreating only to surge forward again.

Relentless. Powerful. Ancient. My wolf stirred beneath my skin as the familiar scent of home drifted faintly through the cracked window. Salt. Sand. Pine. Wolf. Territory. Home. The word settled uneasily in my chest.

The land looked exactly the same as it had when I left. The same paths I ran on four paws. The same trees I had marked and played under. The same sand I rolled in. The same rocks I climbed time after time. As if time had frozen here, patiently waiting for something or someone to return and set it in motion again.

Beside me, Cade was talking animatedly with the driver about the celebration our parents had apparently spent weeks planning. I only half listened. The last thing I wanted right now was a celebration. I wanted to stretch my legs and run on my paws through the territory again. I wanted to become one with the land and get to know the pack as the wolf I am now.

I had no interest in lavish welcomes, drunken dancing, or watching half the eligible she-wolves in the territory parade themselves around in hopes of catching my attention. But that was exactly what tonight would become. A spectacle. A political display. My parents had made that painfully clear in every letter they sent me during my years away.

My return. My ascension. My future Luna. They all contained the same things.

I scoffed quietly. My wolf rumbled beneath my skin in agreement. They wanted me to find my mate. Soon. Preferable before I formally took the alpha title from my father. Fated pairs were stronger, they said. The bond between them created stability within the pack. Strength and loyalty. Balance. Your fated mate was your perfect match.

I didn't disagree. But what they didn't say out loud, what they never plainly wrote in those carefully worded letters, was what would happen if I didn't find her in a timely manner. If my mate didn't appear. Then I would be required to take a chosen Luna. Not one I selected. No. One chosen for me. By them. By the council. By whatever political alliances my parents deemed useful.

The thought made my jaw tighten. I felt Cade's eyes on me.

"What's with you?" He asked me, leaning closer. "You've been brooding since we left this morning."

I ignored him, but he didn't care. He grinned and gripped my shoulder. Nudging me with a gentle shake. "Tonight's going to be amazing. Drinks. Music. Bonfires. Women everywhere. We're back, baby!"

His excitement would have been contagious... if I were anyone else. Cade had always been like this. Loud. Confident. Charismatic. At least with our inner circle and me. He balanced me in ways few people ever could. Where I was controlled, Cade was explosive. Where I calculated, he charged forward. At least now, after training. It had been the opposite when we were younger. Perhaps that was because of how I yearned to rebel against the system. Which was exactly why he was my beta.

I shrugged his arm off with a faint smirk. He watched me carefully.

"Is it your parents?" he asked. I nodded.

Cade knew. He had seen the tension between us for years. I hadn't exactly chosen to leave Coral Fang. I had been sent away. Voluntold, as Cade liked to say. My future had been decided before I ever had a say in it. Alpha training. Leadership Academy. Political education. Combat trials. My father would never have a weak heir so he did what he could to ensure that wasn't the case.

Every step had been planned for me since the moment I was born. As if I were a weapon being forged instead of a person.

I hated that feeling. Being controlled. Being manipulated. Being treated like a chess piece in someone else's game.

And yet... I understood it.

That was the burden of power. I had learned that lesson quickly at the academy. Emotion was weakness. Emotion created hesitation. And hesitation in a leader got people killed. Still... There had been a moment during my first year away that had changed the way I saw my father forever.

He had come to visit. I hadn't seen him in nearly a year. When I walked into the training arena that day, something shifted. I had grown. Not just physically, though I had surpassed him in height and build by then. Something deeper had changed. My wolf had matured. Strengthened. And when our eyes met across that arena... his wolf reacted. Not with price. Not with approval. With caution. With submission. I hadn't even released my dominance, but his wolf still felt it.

And at that moment, I realized something that had chilled me to the bone. A threatened alpha was a dangerous alpha. A cornered alpha was worse. He would do what he could to keep himself in power for as long as possible. The visits never happened again after that.

"It'll be fine," Cade said, breaking the silence and clearing my thoughts. His voice had softened. He knew exactly where my mind had gone. "I've got your back. You know that."

I nodded once. Cade had always been there. My best friend for as long as I could remember. Even when we were reckless teenagers causing chaos and havoc throughout the packhouse halls. Even during the academy trials that nearly broke half of the class. He had been beside me every step of the way. That loyalty meant more to me than most people realized.

"Not much has changed," I murmured, glancing back out the window.

The cliffs rose higher as we climbed the final stretch of road towards the packhouse. Below us, waves slammed in against the jagged shoreline in an endless rhythm. The ocean never stopped fighting the land. Never stopped reshaping it.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I sighed. I already knew who it would be. Heather. I pulled the phone out and glanced at the screen.

Heather: I can't wait to see you, baby! It's been too long!

I rubbed a hand over my face. I had broken things off with Heather the week before I left for the academy. She hadn't accepted it. Not even slightly. Throwing tantrum after tantrum. She showed up at my room in the packhouse every day for a week straight.

The night before I left... I had made the mistake of answering the door. I had been drunk. She had been persistent. And apparently the phrase of "just s*x" meant something very different to her.

To Heather, it meant we were together again. Even though I hadn't spoken to her once in six years. Not a single response. Yet she still messaged me and sent me letters every single day. She was relentless.

I considered throwing my phone out the window. Unfortunately, that would be irresponsible. My phone contained far too much sensitive information for that kind of impulsive stupidity. So instead, I locked the screen and shoved it back into my pocket.

The car slowed. Cade leaned forward in his seat.

"Home sweet home," he muttered.

The packhouse came into view. Even after six years... the sight of it stole the breath from my lungs. The massive stone structures rose from the cliffside like a fortress carved from the bones of the earth itself. Three towering levels of gray stone and dark timber beams stretched across the edges of the land. Arched windows reflected the ocean beyond while ancient wolf carvings lined the outer walls.

Generations of Coral Fang alphas had ruled from those halls. And soon... I would too.

A crowd had gathered across the front lawn. Pack members. Elders. Warriors. Families. Pups darted between adults' legs, laughing as their parents tried, unsuccessfully, to keep them still.

I found myself smiling despite everything.

Pups were the heart of any pack. The future. The ones we fought to protect.

My gaze shifted. My mother stood near the front of the crowd, her posture rigid as she glared at the children running too close to her carefully arranged decorations.

I suppressed a sigh. Most Lunas ruled with warmth. With patience. With quiet authority. My mother ruled with perfection. And cruelty. She hadn't always been like that. But years of my father's infidelity and abuse had carved something bitter into her heart. Their bond had never healed. And I had spent my entire childhood watching the damage that was caused.

Which was exactly why the idea of finding my own mate terrified me.

What if I became like him?

What if I destroyed someone the way he had destroyed her?

The car came to a stop. Cade jumped out immediately. The crowd erupted into cheers.

"Welcome home!"

"Our future alpha!"

"Rowan! Rowan! Cade! Rowan!"

I stepped out of the car slowly. Power rolled off of me instinctively. Not intentional. Just natural. Conversations quieted. Heads bowed. Wolves lowered their eyes.

I approached my parents. My father stepped forward first. His gaze met mine. Held it. A silent challenge. Then he extended his hand.

"Welcome home, son." I took his hand. His grip was strong. But not stronger than mine. "I'm proud of you."

My mother stepped forward immediately after. "Oh, my boy!" She cooed loudly.

"Mother," I said evenly. She hugged me. I returned it stiffly. "It's good to be back."

"Rowan!"

I closed my eyes briefly.

Heather.

Of course. She stood beside my mother in a tight red dress. Her blond hair perfectly styled. She smiled at me like nothing had changed. Like nearly a decade hadn't passed. Like we were still teenagers sneaking around the packhouse.

I let a sliver of dominance slip free. It rolled across the lawn like thunder. Heather's smile faltered. Her head bowed instinctively.

"Heather."

She swallowed. "I've missed you so much, baby."

My mother clapped her hands sharply. "Enough talking! Come inside. Everything is prepared for your arrival!"

I glanced once more at the towering packhouse doors. My family crest carved into the front of the wood. Then I stepped forward. Ready to survive the longest night of my life.