After My Mate Replaced Me with His New Luna

The silence in the Grand Hall was heavy, a physical weight that pressed against my chest, making it hard to breathe. I stood in the center of the polished wooden floor, feeling like a criminal awaiting a death sentence rather than a victim recovering from a sacrifice. A thousand eyes bore into me, their gazes sharp with judgment and devoid of pity.

My hand trembled as it rose to touch the thick, white gauze wrapped tightly around my neck. The wound beneath throbbed in time with my frantic heartbeat, a jagged remind of the rogue’s claws that had stolen my voice just three days ago. I wanted to scream, to plead my case, to tell them that I was still me, still Rachel. But when I opened my mouth, only a ragged, wet gasp of air escaped. The connection to my wolf was gone, severed along with my vocal cords, leaving me hollow and terrifyingly alone inside my own mind.

I looked up at the dais, desperate to lock eyes with the one person who was supposed to protect me. Alpha Wesley sat on his velvet chair, his posture rigid. He was my fated mate. The Moon Goddess had designed us for each other. But as his dark eyes met mine, I didn't see love or concern. I saw calculation. I saw cold, hard indifference.

Beside him stood his mother, the former Luna Louise. She wore a sneer that didn't even try to hide her disgust. She leaned down, whispering something into Wesley’s ear, her eyes flicking over my bandaged throat as if I were a broken toy that needed to be discarded.

And then there was Aviana. My heart cracked a little more. The Alpha’s daughter, the girl I had shoved out of the way of that lethal rogue attack. I had taken the blow meant for her. I had bled for her. But now, she stood behind her grandmother, her shoulders hunched. When I tried to catch her gaze, begging for just an ounce of acknowledgment, she turned her back on me. She stared at the wall, ashamed to be associated with the mute, wolfless girl standing in the center of the room.

Wesley stood up. The movement was sharp, commanding immediate attention. The murmurs of the pack died down instantly.

"Rachel," he said. His voice wasn't the warm baritone that used to whisper promises of our future. It was the voice of an Alpha addressing a problem.

I took a step forward, my hands clasping together in a silent plea. *Wesley, please. It’s me.*

He didn't flinch. "The Black Moon Pack requires strength. It requires a Luna who can command, who can lead, and who carries a strong bloodline to ensure our future. You have lost your voice, and with it, your wolf. You are no longer whole."

The cruelty of his words hit me harder than the rogue’s claws ever could. I wasn't whole because I saved his bloodline.

Suddenly, the air in the room grew