Luna's Regret: Reclaimed The Broken Luna

A month ago

That same night, Alpha Ryder received a mind link from Selene, reporting rogue sightings near the pack; the excruciating pain in me made me rush into the infirmary alone.

While rushing, I ran into Rowan Crest, the dominating Alpha of Bloodstone and a close friend of Alpha Ryder, who had come to visit the pack.

Rowan helped me to the infirmary, which was when it should have been my mate.

Right there and then, the pack doctor broke the shocking news, "Luna Aria, it is with a heavy heart that I will announce you are pregnant, yet the baby's heart has stopped beating."

Oddly enough, after hearing the news, I was on cloud nine, relieved. As I left the infirmary, I knew it was time to sever our broken bond.

In a blink of an eye, I returned to my senses, seeing Alpha Ryder's stare darkened on me.

He never dared ask why I did it; he knew how often I tried to mind-link him only to be ignored and neglected.

"Well, that just proves how bad you are as a mother," he reasoned.

Then Alpha Ryder stood up, walked upstairs to his study, and shut the door.

For eight long years, I endured this forced mateship. We argued countless times, but it was always me who swallowed my pride and made amends.

Well, not anymore. I was tired and pleaded with the Moon Goddess to let all my sufferings end and let our bond be shattered.

Flashback.

The news dropped like a bombshell and astounded me to the core. When Ravenwood Pack's current Alpha threatened my father to be killed, as well as besieging our pack, we were terrified out of our wits.

"If none of you want to bite the dust, then I'll only ask for one thing," Alpha Ryder's father said, turning to me. "Let your goddess-like daughter be shoved into a mateship with my son, Ryder."

To prevent it from happening, he saw me as the solution, forcing me to mate with Ryder. I, Aria Steele, the trailblazing Luna of Moonshadow, had to endure my Alpha father's ill-conceived strategy.

When my father said, "Drink this potion, and you'll feel a powerful bond with Alpha Ryder."

Stunned, I was ready to flee the pack, but my Alpha father ordered the warriors to restrain me while forcing me to drink the potion in one gulp.

Instantly, my loathing for Ryder began to turn into affection. Despite my struggle to maintain my hatred, the forced bond ultimately made us mates.

Since then, my father reminded me, "Just accept your fate. Think of this as Moon Goddess' plan for your dream perfect future that I couldn't give you as a father."

Since then, I began to despise him and dreamed of meeting my real parents to learn my true story and avoid this fate.

At that moment, they sent me to Ravenwood Pack, heavily guarded and scared stiff that I might escape the pack.

Given our situation, the pack members and Alpha Ryder's parents didn't welcome me with open arms. Instead, they mocked me, believing I deserved to be treated as a slave rather than a mate.

Despite everything, the acceptance ceremony went ahead. With the elder's lead, I recited, "I, Aria Steele, Luna of Moonshadow, accept Alpha Ryder as my mate."

When I seized the moment to escape Ravenwood, I returned to our pack in the shadows to confront my father. Unfortunately, our argument ended with me being battered and brushed while he was drunk.

When Alpha Ryder sensed I was in torment, he rushed to rescue me now that we were mated. He scooped me up and brought me back to his pack, racing to the infirmary.

As the pack healer tended to my wounds, Alpha Ryder turned his back, his shoulders shaking and his hand constantly rubbing his face. The amused and baffled healer asked, "Alpha, it's not you who's been hurt; why are you so torn up?"

Shaking his head, he reasoned, "I know, but her pain is mine as well. We're mates. What do you expect me to feel?"

In the ward, Alpha Ryder awkwardly peeled an apple and said, "I don't want to feel this way anymore. Aria, please don't get hurt again. I'm begging you."

End of flashback.

In the present, I brushed it aside and didn't dwell on the burdens of this mateship. Instead, I threw myself into my duties as Luna, pushing forward with programs despite lacking full support from the Alpha and the Council of Elders.

Everyone doubted me because I was seated as Luna, and since then, no one dared to back me; only a few did.

All thanks to Alpha Rowan, who regularly dropped by our pack for Alpha Ryder and took the time to check in on me and see how I was holding up.

He always supported me wholeheartedly, even asking, "When will you end your mateship with Alpha Ryder? Don't be fooled."

However, I always replied, "When the time comes, my true fated mate arrives."

No one could rescue me from this trap, not even myself. The idea of rejecting this bond and stepping down as Luna felt like a distant dream.

When he once said, "I'm here to rescue you from all your suffering," I blushed but shook it off.

Since he was an Alpha and a friend of Ryder's, it was no shocker that he would also want to play with me.

"I endured lots of pain, Alpha Rowan. Don't string me along, too," I said, keeping zipping the fact that while he lent a hand to the infirmary, he was oblivious I lost my child.