Rejected Luna's New Beginning

The stack of pack documents felt heavier than usual in my arms as I organized them on Darren's mahogany desk. Three years as his Luna, and I still found myself tingling whenever I entered his office—the space that smelled of him, of pine and musk and power.

My fingers traced over the embossed Silver Creek Pack logo on the folder. "Just a few more minutes," I whispered to my wolf, Aria, who stirred restlessly within me. "Then we can go for that run you've been begging for."

Aria huffed. *We deserve more than scraps of attention.*

I pushed away her complaint, focusing instead on alphabetizing the territorial agreements. Darren had been distant lately—busy with pack matters, he'd said. But I understood. Being Alpha meant sacrifice. Being his mate meant understanding.

The door to the adjoining room remained slightly ajar, and I heard Darren's voice drifting through—not directed at me, but at someone else. Beta Marcus, perhaps?

"—can't keep doing this," Darren was saying, his voice lower than usual. "The guilt is eating at me."

I froze, my hand hovering over a file labeled "Northern Territory Disputes."

"It's been three years," came Marcus's reply. "You've done what you needed to do."

"What I needed to do?" Darren's laugh was hollow. "Forcing a mark on a sixteen-year-old girl during her first shift? Breaking my engagement to Tommy's sister?"

The documents slipped from my fingers, scattering across the polished floor.

*Oh goddess,* Aria whimpered inside me. *No, no, no.*

"I did what was necessary," Darren continued, oblivious to my presence. "Sloan was convenient—available when I needed to break free from Tommy's sister. And now she's useful as Luna."

My lungs constricted. Convenient. Useful. Not loved. Not fated.

"But Macy—" Darren's voice softened in a way it never had for me. "God, Marcus, you don't understand. It's always been her. From the moment I saw her at that pack gathering five years ago. But she was too young then, and Sloan was... there."

The room tilted. My knees buckled as I sank to the floor, desperately trying to breathe through the crushing weight on my chest.

"And now?" Marcus asked.

"Now I have to keep playing this game," Darren sighed. "Sloan's wolf is too weak to challenge me directly. And Macy understands... she's been patient. So damn patient."

I clutched my stomach, nausea rising like a tidal wave. Three years of believing we were destined. Three years of ignoring how he'd found me during my first shift, vulnerable and alone. Three years of excusing how he'd marked me so roughly, so possessively.

All lies.

I stumbled to my feet, documents forgotten, and somehow made it to the door. The hallway stretched before me, endless and blurry through my tears.

---

"The nausea is normal," Dr. Elena Vasquez said gently, her weathered hands still resting on my abdomen. "Especially in the first trimester."

I stared at the ceiling of the pack clinic, unable to process her words. "Pregnant?"

She nodded, her kind eyes crinkling at