The Luna He Betrayed, The Alpha She Chose

Three years ago, I became the Luna of the Shadowwood Pack. Its Alpha—and my fated mate—was Reynar.

Back then, I thought I was lucky.

Reynar was the kind of man people noticed before he even entered a room. Tall and broad-shouldered, with neatly combed chestnut hair and dark brown eyes, he could silence others with a single look. In the human world, he was known as the owner of several companies and a regular at charity galas and private auctions. In ours, he was the Alpha who yielded his territory to no one.

But to me, he was my mate. The man I was supposed to love for the rest of my life, according to the laws of the Moon.

And for the first year, I truly did love him.

Because back then, Reynar at least pretended to love me in return. He noticed which dress I wore. Asked about my day. Thanked me for everything I did for him and his pack. Sometimes he even looked at me as if the Moon really hadn’t made a mistake in binding us together.

By the second year, I was merely trying to convince myself I still loved him.

Reynar stopped hiding Vivian. He stopped hiding the fact that he’d been cheating on me with her since the very first day I became Shadowwood’s Luna, too. We hardly spoke about anything except pack business and household matters. How I looked, what I wanted, what I needed—none of it mattered to him anymore. At formal dinners, charity functions, and private gatherings, Vivian sat beside him while I stayed home and made sure those events happened at all.

The food didn’t order itself. Invitations didn’t go out without me. Guests didn’t arrive on time just because Reynar had chosen a date. While he smiled for cameras with Vivian on his arm, I coordinated menus, guest lists, security, and donations. And social events were hardly the only things resting on my shoulders.

I oversaw Shadowwood’s lands, the clearing of woodland drainage channels, road repairs, and the planning of patrol routes. I settled disputes between clans, monitored supplies, and negotiated with neighboring packs when they strayed too close to our borders.

Meanwhile, Reynar spent his time with Vivian. Sometimes he came home and, for a few hours, resembled the man I’d once fallen in love with. He spoke to me gently, touched my hand, and promised things would change—always just enough to make me stay a little longer.

During the second year, I still argued with him. Asked why Vivian mattered more than I did. Demanded that he stop taking her to events the Luna was supposed to attend.

By the third, I had simply learned to keep quiet. Because every attempt to talk about Vivian ended the same way: humiliation, insults, and sometimes punishment. More than once, Reynar punished me for supposedly laying a hand on his precious Vivian.

Even though I’d never so much as touched her. I didn’t know how much longer I could live like that. And I didn’t know what I’d do when I finally reached my limit. After all, you couldn’t change your fated mate.

Could you?

Dusk was already falling outside the windows.

Today, as on most days over the past two years, I was alone—eating dinner, receiving guests, listening to problems that should have been the Alpha’s responsibility. This evening, representatives of Shadowwood’s five oldest wolf clans had come to see me. The very clans our pack owed its existence to.

I’d been expecting them, so the table in the reception room had been set in advance.

“Lady Mara.” One of the representatives bowed deeply, then kissed my hand. “As always, you’re far too generous.”

“The heads of our clans have started joking that we’ll soon come over to your side; you feed and welcome us so well,” another added, bowing too.

They said it as a joke. Or at least they tried to make it sound like one. But everyone in the room understood the truth: more and more often, people in Shadowwood came to the Luna for help instead of the Alpha. To me, anyone who crossed this threshold was an honored guest. It was my duty to listen, find a solution, receive them graciously, and see them off with the same care. The problems changed from day to day, but I was always the one who had to solve them. Because that was my duty as Luna.

I tried to laugh, but somehow I didn’t have the strength. Instead, I forced a smile and gestured toward the table. The representatives quickly took their seats while the servants filled their glasses and served the hot dishes. We spent a few minutes exchanging pleasantries and eating a little. Only then did they move on to the real reason for their visit. This time, several matters needed my attention at once.

The drainage system in the outlying lands was clogged again, leaving water stagnant among the trees and the forest beginning to die. Strange wolves had been spotted near the borders several times, and excessive hunting had almost wiped out the game on the old clans’ lands.

My dinner cooled slowly on the plate as I listened, asked questions, and took notes in my notebook. Half the pages were already filled with tasks completed and crossed out. On the last page, more than a dozen urgent matters were still waiting to be dealt with.

The representatives of Shadowwood’s five oldest clans talked more and more about the problems that had piled up and eaten away at them. And the longer our conversation went on, the less of their initial politeness remained on their faces—especially as they realized, yet again, that the Luna would be the one handling everything.

Meaning me.

When it should have been the Alpha.

“Thank you for bringing these matters to my attention,” I said, closing my notebook. “I’ll immediately—”

“Lady Mara…”

I would have recognized that voice among thousands. He was the only wolf in this house who still cared what happened to me.

And even before Steven entered, I knew the news was bad.

“Lady Mara, forgive the interruption.” Steven entered the room and bowed deeply.

A year ago, I would have excused myself, stepped outside, and asked him what had happened. But tonight, I no longer had the energy to pretend anything in this house was worth keeping under lock and key.

“Speak.” My gaze moved from my guests to Steven.

He was an older man who had been in this house for as long as I had—perhaps even longer. At first, I’d thought Reynar had assigned him to spy on me. Then Steven had tended the wounds on my back with his own hands after a whipping. Reynar had beaten me because Vivian claimed I’d pushed her down the stairs.

From that day on, Steven became the one person who knew almost everything I carried inside. Even when I cursed Reynar, no one but Steven ever found out.

“Lady Mara.” Steven bowed again, lower than usual this time, and placed his phone in my lap.

A post with a photograph was open on the screen. Reynar stood in front of a charity foundation’s banner, wearing a dark suit. Vivian leaned against his shoulder, one palm resting on his chest.

I slowly lowered my eyes to the words.

“Congratulations to Mr. Reynar and his wife, Vivian!

Today they joined our charity auction with a generous donation to support children in need.

Thank you to Mr. Reynar and Mrs. Vivian for your support.”

I read the post twice, but the words didn’t change.

Their generous donation. That was what the post called the money I’d personally transferred from Shadowwood’s charity account that very morning.

I’d prepared the documents myself, agreed on the amount with the foundation, and informed the organizers that the donation would be made on behalf of the pack. I’d done everything. All Reynar had done was appear before the cameras with his wife, Vivian.

His wife.

That was what he allowed people in the human world to call her, while at those events I might as well not have existed. As far as anyone knew, I barely existed outside this house at all. The fingers holding the phone began to tremble.

For three years, she’d been his mistress. For three years, she’d taken my place beside him. And now she’d taken my name as well. How long would this go on? How much longer would I keep solving his problems while forgetting my own desires, my health, myself?

The phone crunched in my hand. A fine crack spread across the screen from one edge to the other. I stared at it for a few seconds, then held the phone out to Steven.

“Take it.”

He carefully took it from my fingers.

“Buy yourself a new one. I’ll pay for it,” I said without thinking twice.

“Lady Mara…” Steven began, but I didn’t let him finish.

I merely looked at him, and he fell silent. The broken phone wasn’t his fault. I was the one who’d crushed it, so I would be the one to pay.

“Lady Mara, we’re truly grateful that you received us,” the first representative spoke up. “You always listen to our clans and help us. So if you ever need help yourself, we’re ready to offer it.”

I tightened my grip on the pen in my other hand and forced myself to smile.

“Thank you for your support.” Then I turned to Steven. “Send a crew to the outlying lands first thing tomorrow morning. Have them clear the drainage system and inspect every channel. The work must be finished within three days. If the contractors delay the repairs again, terminate the contract and find someone else.”

Steven took a small notebook from his pocket and began writing quickly.

“Increase patrols around the lands of the five old clans for the next three weeks. Stop and question every outsider. If they can’t explain where they’ve come from or why they’ve approached our borders, bring them in for interrogation,” I continued, laying out the plan.

Steven wrote so quickly it seemed he could capture every word before I even said it.

“Ban hunting in the outlying lands for at least six months. Temporarily restrict permitted hunting to the newly annexed territories. Use that time to restore the game population and assess the condition of the forest.” I took a deep breath and stood. “If there’s anything else you need, please call.”

They always promised to call, yet they came in person instead. Perhaps they weren’t visiting solely because of their clans’ problems. Perhaps they genuinely wanted to see me. But after three years of neglecting my own wishes, my health, and myself, I found that difficult to believe.

Who would come all this way just to see me?

I waited until the guests left the reception room before finally letting my shoulders sag.

“Steven,” I called.

“Yes, Lady Mara?” He stopped by the door.

“Bring me a bottle of wine,” I said, keeping my eyes on him.

Steven studied me for a moment.

“And a glass?” he asked.

I looked at the cracked screen in his hand, then turned my gaze toward the dark window.

“No. And don’t send anyone after me. If they come looking, you don’t know anything.”