The Human Luna They Betrayed

“Dad, I want a different mom,” my son blurted.

I stood frozen in the hallway, the grey envelope in my hand trembling so hard that the paper rattled.

The words rushed through me, slicing through seven years of devotion.

For a moment, I thought I heard wrong. No way my son would have uttered those words.

My eyes fell on the diagnosis report clutched in my white- knuckled grip.

“You’ve been diagnosed with a Terminal Lycan Sickness, and it's totally untreatable in the werewolf world.”

The words printed boldly on the white sheets stared right at me.

The doctor's words echoed in my skull.

“Your human body is rejecting every treatment given here. If you want even a chance to get better, you must return to the Human world tonight.”

Exhausted and drained, I had returned home, ready to stay, even if it meant dying there.

To remain in the arms of the man I loved, with my son beside us.

I was ready to defy the doctors just to be with them. But inside the study, my ears were thick with a conversation I wasn't supposed to hear.

My husband, Silas, a powerful delta of the silver moon pack stood by the window.

Our six year old son, Leo, sat on the mahogany table.

Their lips weren't moving and expressions were calm also.

Then I began to hear random whispers

I was stunned and searched around to hear where the sound had come from.

A calm and clear voice entered my mind just then.

“Mom is just a bloody human,” Leo's voice sounded in my head, dripping with disdain.

“Don't speak that way,” Silas cautioned, eyes darting around.

“There's no way she can hear us dad. Humans don't mindlink, remember?”

Silas nodded, agreeing.

“Please dad. I really think you should be with auntie Elena. Aunty Elena is stronger and can teach me how to fight. Mom just cooks and.. worries. She's freaking boring.”

My vision went white. I stumbled back, hitting the hallway wall.

I was human. I had always been “Just” a human, in a world of predators.

Humans cannot hear mindlinks. It was a biological impossibility. But the doctor had warned me.

“The breakdown of your cells is causing a rare side effect. Your nervous system is becoming hyper sensitive to mental waves. You might hear things — things you shouldn't hear.”

This was my curse now. I was eavesdropping on a frequency never meant to be tuned into by a human.

“Exercise patience Leo,” Silas voice entered into the link. It was deep, resonant and possessed a warmth he hadn't shown me in years.

“Things will change soon. We just have to handle the transition delicately. Your mother… she's fragile.”

“How soon?” Leo pressed, his hands tightened into fists.

“I'm tired of pretending to like her bland human food. Auntie Elena promised we'd go to the Northern run as soon as she's Luna of this house. Mom always kicked against me going there.”

“Soon; Very soon, son. Once we settle things on Elena's side, you won't have to pretend anymore.”

Pretend!!

The word felt like a death knell. My fingers dug into the cardboard of the cake box I was holding.

It was a vanilla cake— Silas's favourite.

I spent two hours making sure the frosting was perfect.

I'd even asked them to write ‘Family Forever ‘ in gold script. Oh, how elated I was.

For seven years, I lowered my head and learned their customs just to survive in this pack.

I thought love could bridge the gap between us. I was wrong.

Next , a loud thud.

The cake box slipped from my numb fingers, hitting the hardwood floor, a sickening wet sound accompanying it.

The lid opened. “Family forever” smeared into a mess

The door to the study swung open. Silas stood there, his towering frame swallowing me whole. His eyes, usually piercing and sharp, seemed annoyed and displeased.

“Evelyn? What are you doing lurking in the hall?” Leo scrambled off the desk, his face momentarily flustered. The guilt of a child caught in a lie flickered in his eyes.

It vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by a practiced scowl. “Mom! That's rude,” he snapped, his arms crossing.

“You didn't even knock, and to make matters worse, you startled us.”

My gaze lingered on my son— the boy I had labored thirty hours to bring into this world. The boy whose fevers had kept me awake through a thousand nights.

He glared at me, his stare exactly the same he had for servants who managed to annoy him.

Silas glanced down at the ruined cake, then at me. His lips curled into a thin line of disgust.

“You wasted food, again. You're becoming increasingly clumsy and hysterical, Evelyn.”

I gasped, dumbstruck. No concern for why I was pale. No question about the papers I held.

Only disdain.

“I heard you,” I whispered, my voice sounding like it was coming from underwater.

Silas stiffened for a fraction of a second, his wolf instincts reacting to the shift in the air.

Then he scoffed, a dry mocking sound. “Heard what? We weren't even speaking.”

“Dad, she's human,” Leo added, his voice loud and hysterical, as if he were speaking to his age mate. “She can't hear the link.”

They chuckled, forgetting for a while I was there. “She's probably just having another one of her human headaches.”

My gaze settled on Silas, heart hardening into a block of ice. “So you weren't planning a vacation? A trip to the Northern run… with Elena?”

The silence that followed was deafening. Silas's amber eyes widened, a flash of genuine shock breaking through his mask.

“How do you know that?” He demanded, his voice dropping an octave into a low, dangerous growl.

“So it's real?” I blurted, a single hot tear escaping and trailing down my cheek.

“All those nights you both were busy with pack business. All those birthdays you missed.. you were with her. You were a family with her?”

Silas remained unflinching. Not even the decency to look ashamed. He stepped forward, his presence suffocating.

“This is not something you should meddle in, Evelyn. Elena is an important person in the pack and she's currently hospitalized. It's also my duty as the delta to ensure she's protected.”

“So? What does that have to do with you? Or me? Or this family? How about your own duty to me, your wife?”

He chuckled. “I'm the delta of the pack, and like I earlier mentioned, She is my responsibility. I have to go now.”

“And what about me? I am your wife, Silas.”

“I really don't think you understand what I just said. Well, it's fine. I never expected that you'd understand anyways.”

“Silas!! How can you be so cruel? What about my own stress, my life?”

“Oh please! You're being unnecessarily emotional,” he replied coldly. “Elena doesn't need the extra stress of your jealousy.

I held out the diagnosis, more tears streaming down my face. He didn't even look at the papers.

He rubbed his temples, the picture of a man exhausted by a nagging child.

“You're fine Evelyn. You've always been fine. You're only seeking attention because I've been busy.”

Seeking attention? Was this a joke? I was stupefied, my jaws dropping.

“We’ll discuss better when you've calmed down.” He turned to walk back into the room, dismissive and cruel.

“No,” I said, my voice suddenly steady. “I want to talk to you now, and you're going nowhere until that has happened.”

He paused, his back to me. Just as those lips parted, his body went rigid.

His head tilted slightly as a new voice flooded my mind. Soft and sickeningly sweet.

“Silas!” The mindlink whispered. “The moon- fever is back, and it hurts a little.”

It was Elena.

I watched Silas's hand clench into a fist, the worry on his face, something he had never offered me.

“I'm coming,” Silas replied through the link, his mental voice oozing an agonizing intimacy.

“I'm leaving now. Just hold on, my love.”

I shook my head, pain coursing through me. He didn't even realize I was standing right there, hearing him call another woman his love in the privacy of his soul.

He faced me, eyes already elsewhere, and his mind, halfway to the hospital.

“Say whatever it is you have to say. I have an emergency at the pack clinic.”

The “Emergency” was a flirtatious woman who wanted his attention.

Within seconds, the woman in me who had done nothing but please her husband, and had wanted to stay for a family that didn't want her, vanished into thin air.

I straightened my back and wiped the tears from my face with the back of my hand, smearing a bit of vanilla frosting across my face.

“I’m not fine Silas,” I began, my voice echoing with a coldness that made Leo blink in surprise. “But you're right. We don't need to talk.”

“Good!” he, with excitement, reached for his jacket.

“That's because I want a divorce.”

The room went dead silent. Silas froze, one arm halfway through his sleeve. Leo's jaws dropped.

“What did you just say?’ Silas asked, his voice low and predatory. No one divorced a delta. Never!

“I want a divorce,” I repeated, a strange sense of freedom bubbling in my chest.