My Mate Gave My Luna Seat to His Mistress

The drive to Silverpeak Lodge should have been romantic. Three years. Three years since Jaxton marked me under the full moon, since the Moon Goddess herself bound us as mates, since I became Luna of the Black Moon Pack. Three years since I left my family's ancient territory and brought with me every alliance, every treaty, every scrap of political leverage the Ashford bloodline had spent generations building.

I wanted this anniversary retreat. Just us. No pack business, no border patrols, no warrior briefings. Just my mate and me, the way it used to be when he'd run through blizzards to reach me during my first shift, when he'd sleep outside my door during the awakening fever because he couldn't stand to be separated by even a wall.

But when I stepped into the lodge's warm entry hall, pine-scented and glowing with firelight, I smelled her before I saw her.

Alexis.

She was leaning against the reception desk, laughing at something the attendant said. Her warrior leathers were gone, replaced by soft civilian clothes that somehow made her look more dangerous, not less. When she saw me, her smile didn't falter. It widened.

"Roselyn! You made it." Not Luna. Never Luna. Just my name, casual and warm, like we were old friends.

My wolf went still inside me. Not the frozen stillness of fear. The deliberate stillness of a predator deciding whether to strike.

"What are you doing here?" I kept my voice level. Calm. The attendant's eyes flicked between us.

Alexis tilted her head, all innocence. "Jaxton didn't tell you? He asked me to come up early and make sure everything was ready. You know how he is about details." She said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like pack sisters always crashed mating anniversary retreats.

I felt the bond before I saw him. That pull in my chest, the one that used to feel like coming home and now felt like a leash. Jaxton emerged from the corridor leading to the suites, his Alpha aura filling the space the way it always did—commanding, undeniable.

"Rose." He crossed to me, pressed a kiss to my temple. Perfunctory. The kind of kiss you give someone because it's expected. "You're late."

"I'm exactly on time," I said quietly. "Jaxton, why is Alexis here?"

His jaw tightened. I knew that look. The one that said I was about to be difficult. "She's helping with the setup. Don't make this a thing."

"This is our anniversary." I kept my tone soft, reasonable. "Our private anniversary. I thought—"

"You thought wrong." His voice shifted. Not quite Alpha tone, but close. A warning. "Alexis is pack. She's practically family. If you have a problem with that, we can discuss it later."

Later. Always later. Never now, never in front of anyone, never where my objections might actually matter.

I felt the weight of eyes on us. The attendant had gone very still. Two pack warriors I recognized from Black Moon were visible through the archway, pretending not to listen. Jaxton's aura pressed down, a subtle reminder of who held the power here.

"Fine," I said. The word tasted like ash. "Later."

Alexis's smile never wavered.

Later came that evening, in our suite. Alexis had been installed in the room adjacent to ours—of course she had—and I could hear her moving around through the shared wall as I unpacked.

Jaxton was on the balcony, checking something on his phone. I stepped outside, closing the door behind me. The mountain air was cold enough to sting.

"We need to talk," I said.

He didn't look up. "About?"

"About Alexis. About why she's here when this was supposed to be just us."

Now he looked at me. His expression was patient. Too patient. The kind of patience you show a child throwing a tantrum. "Rose, you're being dramatic."

"I'm being—" I stopped. Took a breath. "Jaxton, this is our anniversary. Three years. I asked for one thing. Just us. No pack business, no interruptions. And you brought her."

"I brought a pack member to help coordinate logistics." His tone sharpened. "You're my Luna. You should understand pack responsibilities don't stop just because we're on a personal trip."

"She's not here for logistics." The words came out harder than I intended. "She's here because you want her here."

His Alpha aura flared. Not a suggestion. A command. "Enough."

I felt it slam into me—the undeniable weight of an Alpha's dominance, the thing that made every wolf in the pack instinctively bare their throats. My wolf snarled inside me, but my body responded the way it was designed to: stillness, submission, obedience.

Through the glass door, I saw movement. The two warriors from earlier, passing by our suite. They would have heard that. Heard their Alpha use his tone on his Luna. Heard me being put in my place.

Jaxton's voice softened, but the command lingered underneath. "Go get some rest. We'll talk in the morning when you're calmer."

When I'm calmer. Like I was the problem. Like my perfectly reasonable objection to having another she-wolf crash our anniversary was Luna dramatics.

I turned and walked back inside. Alexis was in the hallway, leaning in her doorframe, wearing sleep clothes that somehow looked deliberate. She met my eyes and smiled. Warm. Sympathetic. Victorious.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

I didn't answer. I closed our door and locked it.

My wolf was no longer still. She was awake. And she was furious.

But I wasn't ready to act yet. Not until I knew exactly what I was dealing with.

So I waited.