Second Chance Luna: His Rejected Mate is the Golden Wolf

Toward an Unknown Territory

Paris’ POV

I had never left Moon’s Bright before, so I wanted to take in everything the truck window had to offer: the wide highways, the dense forests, the tall mountains I had only ever seen from afar, all from within the supposed safety of a pack that, over the years, had grown increasingly suffocating, toxic, and destructive—until Alice’s betrayal finally made an already brimming cup overflow. I still found it hard to believe. That she had let herself be persuaded by my stepsister in exchange for the rank of Gamma.

“You look deep in thought,” Conlan said from my side. “Is something troubling you?”

I turned my gaze away from the window and met his broad, bright brown eyes, watching me with curiosity.

“It’s just that I’ve never left pack territory before, so everything feels new to me,” I said shyly, unsure of what he might think upon learning that the Alpha’s daughter of Moon’s Bright had effectively been confined since birth. But instead of the reaction I feared, Conlan smiled kindly.

“I know what you mean. This was the first time I visited Moon’s Bright, and also the first time I traveled through the place where we met—and you saw how fascinating it all seemed to me.”

I blushed, realizing the implication. I raised my hand to brush aside the fringe that had fallen across my face when a sharp pain reminded me I was injured. My eyes drifted to the bandage Conlan had placed over my skin.

“I’m sorry I didn’t have something more suitable for your wound,” he said, gently adjusting the dressing with his hand. “But I promise you’ll receive the best medical care once we reach Hope Moon.”

I lifted my gaze again and met his. Conlan was strikingly handsome—perhaps too much so—and the way he looked at me only made me tremble. His eyes held the wild intensity of an untamed beast, concealing both gentleness and fierce determination—the same resolve with which he had defended me against Doris and Dave, standing firm against the men who tried to pull me away. Thinking back on it, I could hardly believe it had all happened, that I was now sitting in that truck with the Alpha of another pack, heading toward his territory.

None of it felt real, and he kept piercing me with those captivating eyes of his…

I needed to say something, or I would look foolish.

“I heard you’re a close friend of my father’s,” I said, the first thing that came to mind. “But I’d never heard about you before.”

I instantly regretted those last words and hoped I hadn’t offended him, but if I had, he hid it well.

“You’re right, Paris—and thank you for pointing that out. I haven’t formally introduced myself to you, and if your father kept information about me from you, it’s because I asked him to.”

That intrigued me.

“My full name is Conlan Ironclaw, and for a little over two years now I’ve been the Alpha of Hope Moon—a pack my father brought to its greatest height before his death. Since then, all my attention has been on preserving his legacy, which, of course, begins with making the woman I want to share it with happy.”

His eyes shone even brighter, and I knew he wasn’t lying—that he truly meant it, that he genuinely wanted me by his side to help protect the legacy his father had left him. Still, I needed reassurance, especially given how unworthy I felt because of my weakness.

“Do you really mean that, Conlan?” I asked. “Or is it what you say to all the girls you convince to leave their pack and follow you?”

I hoped I sounded playful rather than rude. He seemed to take it that way, because he smiled.

“All the girls?” he repeated. “Paris, you’re the first—and the only one—I’ve ever taken from her pack.”

I smiled too, though my gaze fell anyway, unable to stop myself from thinking that I would probably never live up to his expectations.

“What is it, Paris? Did I say something wrong?”

“Oh, no, it’s not that—it’s just…” It was hard to say, even though my greatest flaw was already known to him. “Conlan, you do realize I don’t have my wolf, don’t you?”

I needed to be sure he understood—truly understood—that he hadn’t exactly chosen the finest she-wolf Moon’s Bright had to offer.

He placed his hand over mine.

“Of course I know, Paris. But that doesn’t change my decision in the slightest. I’m certain I chose the best woman Moon’s Bright has, and I mean that.”

“I don’t know,” I went on, gathering the courage to speak. “I feel like she’s there—that there is a wolf inside me—but for some reason I can’t reach her. I can’t communicate with my wolf, and of course I can’t transform. Whatever the reason, my wolf hasn’t awakened.”

I half-expected him, after that confession, to tell the driver to turn back—to return me to Moon’s Bright, to order me out of the truck and send me back to my father, to the place I never wanted to return to. But he didn’t. Instead, his grip on my hand tightened; he brought it to his lips and kissed it tenderly.

“I know all of that, Paris,” he said. “And even if you told me you don’t have a wolf at all—and never will—that wouldn’t change anything. In fact, it would only reinforce my choice.”

I looked at him, still skeptical. It seemed impossible that a man so handsome and remarkable could truly want to accept me. Everyone who learned about my missing wolf had rejected me. First came the family friends, who quickly turned to whispering and inventing cruel rumors—some even claiming I wasn’t my father’s daughter. Then my father himself, who lost faith in me when Doris, younger than I, proved stronger simply because she had a wolf. That was the real reason he offered Dave the position of Alpha, though it should have been mine by right as his eldest daughter—but how could a woman without a wolf lead a pack?

And lastly, Alice—the only one who had offered me shelter in her friendship for a time—only to reveal herself as false and self-serving. She hadn’t hesitated to betray me, even to attempt my life, when she was promised a position in the new order that now ruled Moon’s Bright.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner, Paris,” Conlan continued after a moment. “I wish I’d found you earlier—visited Moon’s Bright during any of the many times your father invited me. If I had, I’m certain I would have recognized you, found you, and spared you everything you endured there.”

Then he wrapped his arms around me, and I let myself be held. I needed it. I wanted to feel the genuine warmth of his embrace around my body. The comfort I felt reminded me of how he had protected me from my own family—from those who should have been closest to me but offered only humiliation, rejection, betrayal, and even an attempt on my life. With him now, accepted despite my flaw, I felt truly protected—and, above all, loved.

For the first time in many years, I knew I was no longer alone.