THE BIKER KING’S HIDDEN LUNA

**Chapter 1**

*Luna's POV**

I had loved Damien Blackthorn for three years.

Three years of standing beside him at pack events, smiling when he forgot to introduce me, shrinking myself when his eyes swept past me in a crowded room like I wasn't there. Three years of telling myself it would get better. That he was just stressed. That leading the Silver Crescent Pack was a heavy thing and I needed to be more patient.

I had been so patient.

Tonight was supposed to be different.

He had called a formal pack gathering and told me to dress well. Something important was happening, he said. I'd spent an hour in front of the mirror, convincing myself this was finally it. The announcement. Him claiming me properly in front of everyone.

I walked into the packhouse hall with hope sitting stupidly in my chest.

Two hundred pack members filled the space. The chandeliers above cast everything in warm gold light and the room buzzed with anticipation. I smoothed my dress with both hands and searched for Damien's face in the crowd.

I found him at the front.

Then I saw who was standing beside him.

Selene Hart.

My stomach dropped immediately.

She was everything soft and polished, copper hair falling over one shoulder, a white dress that fit her like it was made for her specifically. She had this way of standing that made her look fragile, like a strong wind could knock her over. The entire pack adored her for it.

I had never trusted her smile.

I walked forward anyway. The crowd parted and I felt their eyes on me, curious and quiet in a way that made the hair on my arms rise.

I stopped a few feet from him. "Damien."

He looked at me.

Something in his expression made my wolf whimper.

"Luna Dawn." His voice was formal. Pack Alpha tone, the kind he used for announcements and judgments. Not for me. Never for me before tonight. "I have called this gathering as a witness."

My heart was beating too fast.

"I am formally severing the mate bond between us." He paused a while as if letting that sit with me, then continue. "I reject you, Luna Dawn, as my mate and as Luna of the Silver Crescent Pack."

The words landed like a blow to the chest.

I stopped breathing.

The hall erupted in whispers immediately. I heard every single one of them. Too weak. Always knew it. Never really fit here. Her wolf could barely shift, what did anyone expect?

My wolf cried out from somewhere deep inside me and the sound of it nearly buckled my knees. The rejection bond tore through my chest like something physical, and I pressed a hand flat against my sternum just to have something to hold onto.

"Why." My voice came out cracked but I kept it upright.

"You are not strong enough," Damien stated simply. "A Luna must be an asset to her pack. Powerful. Respected. You have never been any of those things."

He wasn't wrong about what the pack thought. I knew that. But hearing it from his mouth in front of all of them split something open in me that I didn't know could still be hurt.

"And her?" I asked quietly.

He reached over and took Selene's hand.

She looked at me over his shoulder and smiled.

"Selene will be the new Luna of Silver Crescent," Damien announced. "She carries my child and she is everything this pack needs."

The murmurs shifted approval rippling out from the front rows, and someone near the back actually started clapping. I stood there and watched it happen like I was outside my own body.

She was pregnant.

He had been with her long enough for her to be pregnant and I had been standing in front of mirrors believing tonight was going to be the night he finally chose me.

The humiliation was so complete I almost laughed.

"Accept the rejection." His voice was quieter now. There was no kindness in it, just done.

My wolf was fading. I could feel her pulling back like she wanted to disappear inside me entirely and I couldn't blame her. The bond breaking was a physical thing. It moved up my spine in waves and my eyes burned but I refused to let a single tear fall in front of any of them.

"I, Luna Dawn, accept your rejection."

The bond snapped.

The pain was blinding for one second and then it hollowed out into emptiness. A silence where something living used to be.

I breathed through it.

Then I looked at him one last time and I made sure my face gave him absolutely nothing.

"I'll be gone before morning."

I turned and walked toward the doors at the far end of the hall. My legs shook with every step but I kept moving, kept my chin up, kept my eyes fixed forward. Nobody spoke. Nobody moved to stop me.

I was almost at the doors, when...

"Wait."

Selene's voice. Soft and sweet, the way it always was.

I stopped.

Her heels clicked across the floor as she walked around to face me. Up close her eyes were bright with pride. She looked at me the way you trash.

"Since you're leaving anyway," she said, tilting her head gently. "And you no longer have any use for your strength, the least you can do is give something back to the pack you failed."

My hands curled into fists at my sides.

I felt my nails bite into my palms and welcomed the sting of it. It was the only thing keeping me upright.

"Give something back," I repeated slowly.

"Mmm." She nodded, her expression still warm and gentle, performing concern for the audience around us. "Train our new recruits before you go. A farewell performance." Her eyes swept around the hall briefly then came back to me. "Something for everyone to remember you by. As former Luna, it's the least you can do."

I stared at her.

"Damien approved it," she added lightly.

I looked past her shoulder.

Damien stood exactly where he had been since the beginning of this nightmare. Arms at his sides. Jaw set. Eyes on me with an expression so blank it turned my stomach.

He said nothing.

Not a single word.

I looked back at Selene. Her smile was patient and unhurried.

"What new recruits?" I asked.

From my knowledge, we haven't welcomed any new recruits lately.

She stepped aside.

Three men walked forward from the back of the crowd and my blood went cold.

I knew these men. Every wolf in Silver Crescent knew these men. They were not recruits. They were not fresh members who needed guidance. They were three of the strongest warriors in the entire pack. Garrett, who had never once lost a sparring match in five years. Cole, who could shift in under two seconds flat. And the third one, the one they called Wraith, who had put two senior warriors in the medical ward last winter during a training exercise that got out of hand.

These were not recruits.

Selene watched my face as I understood. She was enjoying it.

"A farewell performance," she said again softly. "Give the pack something to remember you by."