Chapter002
1408 Words
Broken vows
Eliana’s POV
The headache had gotten worse in the night, coupled with pain so deep I couldn’t even get up to call the healer. Thankfully, it had eased by early morning.
The other side of the bed was still cold.
He never came back. I hugged myself, pushing down the ache that had nothing to do with my sickness.
Then my phone buzzed.
I went still. I breathed in slowly. If this was what I thought it was… this was the message I had been waiting on for a long, long time.
I picked up the phone.
Congratulations! You have been accepted to join the Perfect Crown Hotel as a chef…
I screamed.
The door burst open before I even finished. “Luna! Are you okay?”
It was none other than Kyle. So overprotective it was almost funny. I’d found him half-dead in a beast trap two winters ago… the beasts hunt wolves all through these mountains, and the traps their hunters leave behind are worse than the beasts themselves.
I’d carried him home and stayed by his side until he healed. Ever since, he had been nothing but loyal.
“I’m fine, Kyle.” I was already throwing on a robe. Nudity meant nothing to wolves… we shift too often to be shy… but I never fancied walking around bare, even if plenty did. “Where is my mate?”
Before he could answer, I was already out the door, following the thin thread of our bond.
The closer I got, the clearer it became. The thread led straight toward my sister’s room. So he was still there.
Good, I told myself. I’d share the news with both of them at once.
A sharp pain hit my chest. Worse than the usual sickness. Far worse. I pressed my hand against it, pushed it aside, and opened the door.
“f**k… f**k, yes, Alpha…”
I gasped and stumbled back.
My mate. My Alpha. Taking my sister from behind, her hands fisted in her own sheets, his fingers gripping her hips as he owned them.
Pain seized me so hard my knees buckled. Tears rushed to my eyes. I turned and barely made it to the hallway before I threw up.
“Fuck.” Daniel’s voice. Footsteps. His hand closed around my arm, and he dragged me back inside the room. “Why would you walk in like that?”
Why would I…
Sharon had pulled the sheet up to her chest, her eyes wide, like she couldn’t believe she’d been caught.
“What…” I clutched my chest. “What was that?”
“I… I thought the door was locked,” she said.
“Is THAT the problem?! Why are you f*****g my mate?!”
“I’m sorry!” Tears spilled down her cheeks on command. “I was scared last night, and he was comforting me, and…”
“Shh. Don’t cry.” Daniel moved in front of her like a shield. Like she was the wounded one.
Then he looked at me, and his eyes were cold.
“She did nothing wrong. And now that you’re here… I’ll say it.” He straightened. “This woman is the love of my life. I want to be with her. Not you.”
The room tilted. “What do you mean? I’m your mate.”
“And?”
“The Moon Goddess paired us. You marked me. You…” My voice cracked. “If you wanted her, why didn’t you reject the bond? Why lead me on for three years?”
“Reject you?” He rolled his eyes, like the suggestion alone proved I was stupid. “I will never reject you. You are my mate. Wanting your sister doesn’t change the fact that you are also mine.”
Also mine. Like a spare coat. Like a side thought.
Sharon slipped out of the bed, wrapped in my mate’s shirt, and came forward to hug me. I was too numb to stop her.
“Sister, please don’t be mad,” she murmured into my hair. “You’ll always be Luna. But Daniel needs someone strong… health-wise. Someone who can bear him an heir. You’re not strong enough, and I… I worry for you. And besides…” She pulled back and smiled through her tears. “We love each other.”
The pain radiated through me again, deeper than bone.
“This can’t be happening.” I was blinking tears faster than they could fall. “I can’t share my mate. I won’t.”
“Why are you even here?” Daniel asked, bored.
A broken laugh escaped me. “I got a job at the Perfect Crown. I wanted to share it with you. But you were f*****g my sister.”
His face twisted into a sneer.
“My Luna won’t work in such a place. It’s not befitting of your status. And I won’t allow it. So I suggest you forget that little dream of yours.”
I blinked back tears as the pain kept building in my chest. I couldn’t breathe.
“Kyle.”
The Alpha barely raised his voice, and in less than a second Kyle was at my side. His jaw was tight, his eyes burning… but he was one wolf, and Daniel was his Alpha. There was nothing he could do either.
“Take Luna to her chambers. She needs rest.”
“Wait.” Sharon’s voice was calm. Sweet, even. “I feel like it’s best if she moves into another room.”
I turned to her slowly. “What are you saying?”
“Well…” She lowered her eyes, one hand drifting to her stomach. “I didn’t want to say this now. But… I’m pregnant. I’m expecting Alpha's child.”
The room stopped.
“Wait. Are you serious?” Daniel crossed to her in two strides, his hands cupping her face like she was made of glass.
Sharon’s eyes filled with joy. She nodded. “Yes. So, sister… If you don’t mind, can I please take that room? There are so many others in the pack house.”
“Of course you can take it.” Daniel laughed… actually laughed… and pressed his forehead to hers. “Do you know how long I’ve been longing for an heir?”
I watched them in their little bubble, and everything started to sound distant. Underwater. My wolf was clawing at my chest, howling, begging to fight… but in our current state, even shifting could kill us. All that rage, and nowhere for it to go.
I breathed in, trying to control myself.
“I want to leave,” I said.
Nobody even looked at me.
“Give me the contribution rights to the project I did for our people,” I said, louder. “The seed. My research. Give me what’s mine, and I’ll go.”
Something warm slid over my lip. Blood was dripping from my nose.
Daniel glanced over. He rolled his eyes.
“No. You’re too weak to handle that responsibility.” He turned back toward Sharon, already done with me. “And don’t spoil our happy day with your melancholy face. Please.” A dismissive wave of his hand. “Kyle. Prepare another room for Luna. And clear that chamber properly… make the space comfortable for my new chosen bride.”
Chosen bride.
The words hit the room like a dropped glass. Even Kyle flinched.
I was still Luna. Still his marked, fated mate. And I had been moved out of my own bedroom to make space for my sister and the heir I was too broken to give him… while my blood dripped onto the floor of a pack house that my seed had saved.
Kyle’s hand closed gently around my arm.
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