After My Mate Left Me to Burn, I Became Luna

The scent hit me before I even opened the door to our cramped apartment. It wasn't the smell of the cheap pine cleaner I scrubbed the floors with until my knuckles bled. It was vanilla and cloying sweetness—Ava’s scent.

My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic bird trapped in a cage. I adjusted the heavy bag of groceries on my hip, wincing as the strap dug into my shoulder. I was seven months pregnant, my ankles swollen, my back aching from a double shift at the pack house kitchens. I had picked up extra hours just to buy Reece the stethoscope he needed for his final exams.

"Reece?" I called out, my voice trembling.

Silence. Then, a soft giggle.

I pushed the door open. The sight that greeted me shattered my world faster than a dropped mirror. Reece, my childhood sweetheart, the man I had starved myself for, was in our bed. But he wasn't alone. Ava, my best friend—the girl I had pulled out of the gutter when we were kids—was tangled in the sheets with him.

They froze. Reece scrambled up, not with shame, but with annoyance.

"Lara," he said, his tone flat. He didn't even try to cover himself. "You're home early."

"Why?" I whispered, the grocery bag slipping from my numb fingers. Eggs cracked against the floor, a wet, pathetic sound. "Reece, the baby... we're mates."

"Mates?" Ava sat up, smirking as she pulled the sheet over her chest. "Oh, honey. You really thought a future Beta like Reece would settle for a wolfless Omega? You're a genetic dead end, Lara."

Reece ran a hand through his hair, looking at me with cold, unfamiliar eyes. "She's right. I need a mate who can strengthen my bloodline. Ava… she has Alpha blood. We checked the archives. You? You're nothing. You can't even shift."

He stepped forward, the air around him crackling with a pressure that forced me to my knees.

"I, Reece Cole, future Beta of the Black Mountain Pack, reject you, Lara Sanders, as my mate."

The pain was instant. It felt like a physical blow to the chest, a tearing of my very soul. I gasped, clutching my stomach as the bond snapped, leaving a gaping, bleeding hole in my spirit.

"No," I sobbed, reaching out to him. "Reece, please!"

Before he could answer, a scream pierced the air from outside. Then another. The sky through the window turned a terrifying, glowing orange.

"Fire!" someone yelled from the street.

My blood ran cold. The workers' quarters. My parents were visiting this weekend. They were staying in the guest block right next to the kitchens.

"Mom! Dad!" I scrambled up, ignoring the agony in my chest. "Reece, we have to help them! My parents are in there!"

Reece looked out the window, then back at Ava. "The fire is spreading fast. If we go down there, we could get trapped. We need to get to the Beta house. It’s safer."

"But they're trapped!" I screamed, grabbing his arm. "You're a healer! You have to help!"

He shook me off like I was dirt. "My duty is to the pack's future, Lara. Not to a couple of Omegas."

He grabbed Ava's hand, and they ran. They left me there.

I stumbled out into the inferno. The heat was blistering, the smoke thick and choking. I tried to run toward the guest block, but the structure was already a skeleton of flames. I could hear them screaming. I screamed back, clawing at the heat, until my legs gave out.

The stress, the rejection, the horror—it was too much. A sharp, tearing pain ripped through my abdomen. I collapsed onto the ash-covered ground, darkness swallowing me whole as I felt the life inside me slip away.

***

I woke up in the stark white of the pack infirmary. My body felt hollow. My parents were gone. My baby was gone. The only thing left was a burning rage.

I tried to sit up, but straps held me down. The door opened, and Ava walked in. She was wearing a nurse’s uniform, but her eyes were cold and predatory. Reece stood in the doorway, his back to me, refusing to look.

"You're awake," Ava said softly, closing the door. She held a steaming mug in her hands. "Reece told the Alpha it was an accident. A kitchen fire. But we both know you'll tell them the truth, won't you? That we left them to burn."

"Murderers," I croaked, my throat raw from smoke. "I'll tell everyone."

Ava smiled, a cruel, twisted thing. "I can't let you do that. Reece's future depends on his reputation. And mine."

She moved closer. The smell of the tea wasn't herbal. It was acrid. Wolfsbane. Concentrated.

"Reece!" I screamed, thrashing against the restraints. "Help me! She's going to kill me!"

Reece didn't turn around. He just stood there, a coward in a white coat.

Ava pinched my nose shut. I gasped for air, opening my mouth, and she poured the scalding liquid down my throat.

It was worse than fire. It was liquid acid, shredding my vocal cords, burning through the soft tissue, searing the very ability to make sound from my body. I tried to scream, but only a gurgling, choked noise came out. The pain was blinding, absolute.

As my vision blurred with tears and agony, the last thing I saw was Ava’s triumphant grin and Reece walking away, closing the door on my screams that would never be heard again.