Rejected Luna's New Strength

I woke to sunlight streaming through the curtains and an unfamiliar sensation rippling through my chest—pure, radiant joy emanating from somewhere deep inside me. My wolf was practically purring, a sound I hadn't heard from her in years.

*Pup,* she whispered, her voice trembling with excitement. *Pup, pup, pup.*

My hand flew to my stomach, fingers splaying across the fabric of Levi's old t-shirt I'd worn to bed. Nothing felt different, not yet. My belly was still flat, my body unchanged. But my wolf knew. After eight failed attempts spread across ten years of our mate bond, after countless disappointed mornings and whispered conversations that died in my throat, after becoming the subject of pitying looks and hushed speculation—finally, finally, new life was growing inside me.

I sat up slowly, afraid the dream would shatter if I moved too quickly. My enhanced senses reached inward, searching for confirmation my human consciousness could barely comprehend. There it was—the faintest flutter of a second heartbeat, so small and fragile I might have missed it if my wolf hadn't been singing.

Tears slipped down my cheeks before I realized I was crying. Ten years. A decade of hoping and trying and failing, of enduring the pack's whispers about the Luna who couldn't give her Alpha an heir. The shame had carved itself into my bones, made me question my worth as a mate, as a woman, as a wolf.

But not anymore.

I touched my stomach again, this time with reverence. "Hello, little one," I whispered. "I've been waiting so long for you."

Levi was on morning patrol, wouldn't be back until late afternoon. Perfect. I had time to plan something special, something worthy of this miracle we'd finally been given. My wolf danced inside me as I threw off the covers and headed for the kitchen.

For the next few hours, I lost myself in preparation. I made his favorite meal—rosemary garlic steak with roasted vegetables, the scent filling our home with warmth. I set the dining table with candles, pulled out the good wine glasses even though I wouldn't be drinking. My mind spun with possibilities for how to tell him. Should I just say it? Wrap up a pregnancy test? Let him figure it out through our mate bond?

I was chopping herbs when the first intrusion sliced through my mind.

*He promised me,* a female voice purred directly into my consciousness, bypassing every natural barrier that should have protected our private mate bond. *Promised he'd be there for every appointment.*

I froze, the knife clattering against the cutting board. My wolf snarled, hackles rising at the violation. No one should be able to breach our mate bond like this. No one except—

*Such strong hands,* Waverly's voice continued, dripping with false intimacy. *The way he touches my stomach, checking on my pup. So gentle. So protective. Just like he used to be with me before the Moon Goddess made her... mistake.*

The room tilted. I gripped the counter, knuckles white, as more images flooded through the corrupted connection. Levi's hand intertwined with Waverly's. His Alpha aura wrapping around her like a protective shield. The pack hospital's sterile white walls.

"No," I breathed. "No, no, no."

My wolf was howling now, a sound of pure anguish that reverberated through my skull. I clutched my head, trying to block out the invasive messages, but Waverly's presence had already wormed its way into the sacred space that should have belonged only to Levi and me.

*He's mine,* her voice hissed. *He always has been. You were just an interruption.*

I should have severed the connection. Should have thrown up every mental barrier I possessed. But some masochistic part of me needed to know. Needed to see.

Through the mind-link that should never have existed, I watched my mate—my fated mate of ten years, the man whose mark still burned on my neck—hold Waverly Harper's hand as she reclined on an examination table. The pack hospital's fluorescent lights cast harsh shadows across his face, but his expression was soft. Concerned. Devoted.

The way he used to look at me.

A prenatal monitor beeped steadily in the background. Waverly's hand rested on her rounded stomach, and Levi's larger hand covered hers. His thumb traced gentle circles across her skin while the healer—not Silas, someone else—moved the ultrasound wand.

*There's the heartbeat,* the healer's distant voice filtered through. *Strong and healthy.*

Levi's face broke into a smile I'd been craving for years. Pride. Wonder. Joy. Everything I'd dreamed of seeing when I told him about our miracle.

Except he was giving it to her.

My legs gave out. I crumpled to the kitchen floor, one hand still pressed against my own stomach where new life grew, the other clutching at the tile as if it could anchor me to reality. The mate bond that had sustained me for a decade now felt like a noose around my soul, choking me with the truth I'd been too blind to see.

Waverly hadn't claimed pregnancy. She was pregnant. With his pup. While I—

My wolf whimpered, her earlier joy extinguished like a candle in a storm. The corrupted mind-link finally severed, leaving me gasping for breath in the ruins of our kitchen, surrounded by the romantic dinner I'd prepared to celebrate a miracle that suddenly felt like a cruel joke.

The scent of rosemary made me nauseous.