Runaway Luna: Carrying the Alpha’s Heirs

I stood by the river under the blood-red glow of the full moon, its light turning the water into a restless sheet of crimson. Behind me, the forest echoed with the haunting cries of wolves, mourning something only I could truly understand.

My limbs felt numb, but the pain inside was sharp, relentless. Tears blurred my vision, turning the crashing waves into streaks of chaos, a reflection of the storm within me.

Step by step, I waded deeper into the freezing current, the icy water biting into my legs like punishment. I had nothing left. No mate. No family. No pack that called me theirs. The bond I thought unbreakable had been shattered beyond repair.

“Mommy was a fool,” I whispered, clutching my belly. “My poor babies…”

I had walked into that river ready to let go, let go of everything, of the pain, the betrayal, the world, but then it happened. A flutter. A kick.

Small, soft, but fierce enough to stop me cold.

I gasped as if I had been struck by lightning, my hands flying to my swollen belly. My knees buckled, and I collapsed to the muddy shore, sobs ripping from my throat. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t end the lives growing inside me. Not when they were the only good left in my cursed world. Not even if they carried the blood of the monster, I once called my mate.

When I returned to our home, now his pack house, every light was on, glowing like the eyes of predators in the dark.

Aleron, Alpha of the Nightbane Pack, was back from his birthday celebration. Still trembling from the cold and grief, I wiped my tears and forced myself to stand tall before pushing open the door of the home I had bled for.

Every plank, every nail, was bought with years of sleepless nights and triple shifts. While I broke myself to build a home, Alpha Aleron Nightbane claimed he was too “sick” to fight for the pack or lift a claw for us.

The door creaked open, and the scent of him, spiced cologne, alcohol, and someone else's perfume, slapped me in the face. The space that once held warmth now stank of betrayal.

My heart twisted as memories flooded in, Alpha Aleron whispering that our bond was sacred, our love guided by the Moon Goddess, and our love meant everything to him. How easily lies could sound like vows in the hands of a skilled deceiver.

“Elara,” he said, his voice laced with fake concern as he turned toward me. His sapphire eyes held the same warmth he’d shown when we first met, when I was foolish enough to believe it was real. “Why are you so late?”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“It’s my birthday. I thought you’d at least prepare something. No dinner? No surprise?”

I said nothing, just stared at him, this man who had reduced me to nothing in my own home.

“How was the party with your friends?” I asked at last, my voice calm, detached. “I thought you’d already eaten.”

He blinked, caught off guard for just a second before flashing that wolfish grin.

“It was nice. Strange, though, someone tossed a brand-new house key into the trash. Can you believe that? A premium mansion. Worth over a million. But you wouldn’t know, of course.”

My hands trembled.

He was marking territory.

Giving away a new house.

To someone else.

“To Liezel,” I said quietly.

Alpha Aleron didn’t answer. He only followed me into the bedroom like he always did, acting as though nothing had changed, though everything had.

“She’s back,” he said casually. “She’s hosting a gathering tomorrow and wants you there.”

Liezel Duskthorn.

My parents’ adopted daughter. The perfect she-wolf they raised while I, their true blood, was cast aside at birth, lost in a hospital switch, and raised in an orphanage. When I was finally found, they welcomed me with silence, while Liezel remained the shining daughter in their eyes.

“She wants to fix things,” Alpha Aleron added. “She’s been nothing but kind to you. How can you still be so selfish?”

Selfish?

I stared at him, the man I had given my loyalty, my body, my future.

The man who treated me like a maid, never a mate. There was no guilt in his eyes. Only expectation. Control.

“You’ll come, right?”

His words weren’t a question. They were an order.

“Yes,” I whispered, and his smile returned like a predator satisfied with its prey.

He bent down to kiss me, but I turned my face, letting his lips brush my cheek.

“I’m tired.”

His expression faltered for a moment, but he said nothing more.

We lay in silence, my back to his chest. His arm wrapped around me like a chain.

“You need to learn, Elara,” he murmured, brushing his lips against my hair. “Everyone’s trying for you, and you’re still throwing tantrums.”

I clenched my jaw, biting back the sob that threatened to escape. I refused to give him the satisfaction of hearing me break again.

He didn’t know it yet, but the she-wolf inside me, long dormant, long chained, had finally stirred.

And it was enough for me to know she was still there.