Nobody’s Luna

Elaine.

The moment the door opens, every head in the hall turns toward me. I avoid their gazes and focus on the tray in my hands.

“Look who finally decided to show up,” someone mocks.

Laughter follows.

My fingers tighten around the tray. I force myself to keep walking. The music in the hall is loud, mixed with the smell of alcohol, sweat, and roasted meat. Men crowd around long tables while servants rush between them carrying drinks.

And in the middle of it all sits my mate.

Alpha Kael.

Even from across the room, I can feel his presence like a weight pressing against my chest.

Handsome.

Cruel.

Untouchable.

He lounges carelessly in his chair with a woman seated on his lap while another feeds him grapes. His dark eyes move toward me lazily, and amusement flickers across his face.

“There’s my favorite whore,” he says.

The hall erupts into laughter again.

I feel the words like sharp stones against my skin, but my expression does not change. I have long learned it is best not to show any emotion. I walk toward the table and begin serving the drinks quietly.

“Careful,” one of the warriors taunts as I lean toward the table. “She might try to seduce you.”

More laughter.

It scratches my ear, crawls at my skin. These people don’t see me as a living being, they see me as a form of entertainment. Something they can poke fun at and get away with. No one can rescue me from their taunt. Not even my mate.

A hand suddenly grabs my butt.

I flinch.

The warrior grins up at me while squeezing harder. “Or maybe she already is.”

“Enough,” Kael says.

My body relaxes at his word. Maybe I am wrong. Somewhere deep there, Kael still cares about me.

Then he smirks. “You’ll scare her before she does her job.”

The relief dies instantly. I really need to get it through that Kael will never see me as his mate.

The warrior laughs, sliding his hand lower against my thigh as he drops his hand.

I keep serving the drinks. Keep breathing. Keep pretending none of it hurts. That is how I survive here. A servant who reacts gets punished. A whore who complains gets beaten. And I have learned long ago that mates mean nothing when the Moon Goddess decides to punish you by giving you a man like Kael.

The first time Kael rejected me, I was sixteen. I still remember how violently my heart shook when the mate bond snapped into place during the spring gathering. I had looked at him with hope so pure it embarrasses me now.

Mate.

Mine.

But Kael had stared at me like I disgusted him.

Then he laughed.

“You?” he had said in front of everyone. “The daughter of an omega?”

The humiliation from that day never truly leaves me.

Neither does what came after.

At first, he simply ignored me. Then he discovered something worse. He learned that hurting me entertains him. Now I belong to the pack in every way that makes me a form of entertainment and pleasure. I am too filthy to stand beside the Alpha as his mate, but useful enough to be thrown beneath everyone else.

“Elaine.”

Kael’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.

I look toward him.

“Yes, Alpha?”

His eyes roam slowly over my body before he gestures lazily with his drink.

“The Lycan prince is arriving tonight.”

The entire hall quiets at his statement. Even the warriors straighten their backs.

Lycans.

They are bigger than us.

More powerful.

Crueler even, according to the stories.

They rule the northern territories and rarely involve themselves with ordinary wolf packs unless they want something.

Fear curls inside me instantly.

Kael notices.

His smile widens.

“He’s looking to purchase breeders.”

My stomach twists. Every pack has them. Women selected for fertility and sold off through alliances or contracts to strengthen bloodlines. Most of these women never return.

“He is staying in the east wing tonight,” Kael continues. “And since none of the breeders managed to impress him…”

His eyes lock onto mine.

I already know what he will say before he utters it. It has become a pattern at this point. Once visitors aren’t pleased with a deal, Kael sends me to soothe them. He always wants me to pleasure them. Enchant them. Make them soften to accept the deal.

“You have to keep him company tonight.”

The hall goes silent for half a second. Then the snicker begins again.

Heat rushes into my face, but shame is something I can’t allow myself to feel. Shame requires dignity, and Kael stripped that from me years ago.

“Yes, Alpha,” I whisper.

“Good girl.”

I hate that the praise still crawls on my skin.

Hours later, I stand outside the east wing chambers with trembling fingers.

The Lycan Prince guards open the doors for me without speaking. My heartbeat pounds so loudly I can hear it in my ears as I step inside.

The room is enormous. Warm firelight dances across dark walls and expensive furnishings. The scent inside is unfamiliar. Wood smoke, leather, and something deeper. Something wild. Then I see him. The Lycan prince stands near the window with his back turned to me. Tall. Far taller than any man I have ever seen. Broad shoulders stretch beneath a black suit jacket, and long silver hair brushes the middle of his back. Danger radiates from him so intensely that my wolf instinctively lowers inside me. He turns slowly. His golden eyes meet mine. For one terrifying second, I forget how to breathe. He is beautiful in a way that does not feel real. Sharp features. Pale smooth skin. A gaze heavy enough to pin me in place.

His eyes moves over me. Then narrow slightly.

“You’re not one of the breeders.”

His voice is deep and calm, sending shivers down my spine.

I look at the floor, avoiding his gaze. “No, I’m not.”

Silence follows. I wait for the disgust to hit him. For the mockery. For the familiar shift in expression men always get when they look at me long enough.

Instead, he asks, “What is your name?”

The question catches me off guard.

Most men here never bother asking. They just want to be pleasured or entertained.

“Elaine.”

Another silence.

He walks closer. Every instinct inside me screams at the sheer power coming off him. It feels suffocating standing this near. Yet strangely… He does not frighten me as much as he should.

“You are shaking,” he says.

I clasp my hands together. “Sorry.”

His brows pull together. The word comes so naturally from my mouth that I barely notice saying it. His gaze lingers on me for several long seconds before he speaks again.

“Did Kael send you here willingly?”

The question is strange. Nobody has ever asked whether I wanted anything. I am not allowed to want anything.

“He ordered me to come.”

“And if he hadn’t?”

I stare at him blankly, unsure of how to answer.

He studies my silence carefully. Then something shifts in his expression. Not pity. Something darker. Something controlled.

He steps closer until warmth from his body brushes against my skin. I tense, preparing myself. But his hand only lifts slowly toward my face. I flinch anyway. The movement freezes him. A heavy silence fills the room. Then, to my surprise, his fingers brush against my cheek. He isn’t grabbing me. He isn’t hurting me. He is just… touching.

The softness of it nearly undoes me.

“You fear every touch before it happens,” he murmurs.

My throat tightens.

I don’t know why those words hurt more than cruelty ever does.

That night feels unreal.

It wasn’t because of passion, but because of care.

Because for the first time, someone looks at me like I am a person instead of an object passed from hand to hand.

The Lycan prince touches me like he is trying to understand me rather than use me. And somehow, that terrifies me more.

I did not realize I had fallen asleep in his room until the sun ray touched my eyes. Panic slams into me instantly as I look around the room. I sit up too fast.

The bed.

I am still here. I was supposed to leave after—

The doors burst open before I can finish the thought. Kael storms inside. Rage twists his face violently.

“There you are!”

Fear crashes through me. I scramble off the bed immediately and fall to my knees.

“I’m sorry—”

His hand strikes across my face before I can finish. Pain explodes through my skull, blurring my vision.

“You filthy bitch!” he snarls.

Another hit lands.

Then another.

And another.

I curl on instinct as he grabs my arm and drags me out of the room.

“You think spending one night with a Lycan makes you special?”

“I’m sorry—” I repeat like a broken record.

“You were supposed to return after servicing him!”

His boot drives into my stomach. Air leaves my lungs forcefully. I hear ringing. Taste blood. But none of that makes me freeze. What shocks me is the voice that suddenly cuts through the room.

“Enough.”

The entire room stills.

Kael turns.

The Lycan prince stands near the doorway.

Calm.

Cold.

Terrifying.

His golden eyes settle on me where I lie trembling on the floor.

Then he looks at Kael. “How much?”

Confusion flickers across Kael’s face. “What?”

The Lycan prince’s expression doesn’t change. “How much for her?”

Silence crashes over the room. Even my breathing stops.

“What are you saying?” Kael laughs in disbelief. “She’s not a breeder.”

“I know.”

The Lycan prince walks forward slowly.

“But I’ve changed my mind.”

His eyes lock onto mine. And something cold moves through me at his next words.

“I’ll purchase this one instead.”