Alpha's Loss, Pack's Gain

The moon hung full and luminous in the night sky, casting silver light across the territory I'd called home for six years. Sleep eluded me after the humiliation at the pack meeting. My wolf, Selene, paced restlessly within me, her anger mirroring my own.

"He's gone again," she growled. "His scent leads to the sacred clearing."

I slipped from our bed—cold and empty as it had been for months now—and pulled on a simple dress. The sacred moonlit clearing atop our territory was meant for mate ceremonies and pack rituals, not midnight trysts. Yet something pulled me there, some masochistic need to confirm what my heart already knew.

The forest whispered around me as I moved silently through familiar paths. Selene's superior night vision guided us, her senses alert for any sign of danger. But the only danger tonight was to my already fractured heart.

I smelled them before I saw them—Marcus's pine and smoke scent intertwined with Amanda's cloying perfume. Concealing myself behind the ancient oak that bordered the clearing, I watched as moonlight bathed the scene before me.

Marcus stood tall and powerful in the center of the sacred stone circle, his dark hair gleaming under the moon's glow. Amanda knelt before him in a white ceremonial dress—the traditional garment for a Luna's mate ceremony. My ceremonial dress.

"Rise, my chosen," Marcus's voice carried clearly through the night air. "Let us practice for when we make it official."

Amanda stood, her face flushed with triumph as she tilted her head to expose her neck. "I've waited so long for this, my Alpha."

Marcus lowered his head, pressing his teeth against the temporary mark he'd given her earlier. "Soon this will be permanent," he murmured against her skin. "And you'll be my true Luna."

Selene howled in anguish within me, the sound echoing in my mind but silent to the world. I must have made some sound, a gasp or step, because Marcus's head snapped up suddenly, his eyes finding mine in the darkness.

"Victoria." My name was a snarl on his lips. He pushed Amanda behind him, but not before I saw her smirk of satisfaction.

I stepped into the clearing, moonlight washing over me. "The sacred clearing is for true mates, Alpha. Not for rehearsing betrayals."

Marcus's aura rolled toward me like a physical force, attempting to push me to submission. "You have no right to question what I do here."

"I have every right." I stood my ground, feeling Selene's strength flowing through me. "As your Luna. As your fated mate."

"A title you've never deserved," he spat. "A mate who's never been enough."

The words struck like physical blows, but I refused to flinch. "And the training system? Was stealing my life's work part of your plan all along?"

Amanda stepped forward, her hand possessively on Marcus's arm. "Your scribblings were nothing until I refined them. Marcus sees my true value."

Marcus's eyes flashed dangerously. "Accept Amanda's credit or leave, Victoria. The pack doesn't need your jealousy or your pathetic attempts at contribution."

His Alpha aura rolled over me, attempting to force compliance, but something had changed within me. Perhaps it was seeing them in our sacred space, or perhaps it was the culmination of years of neglect, but his power felt different now—less overwhelming, less absolute.

"My worth isn't yours to decide, Alpha." I straightened my spine, meeting his gaze directly. "Nor is my work yours to steal."

Fury contorted his handsome features. "You forget yourself, Luna. Your position exists only through me."

"And you forget the meaning of honor," I countered, turning to leave before my composure cracked.

I spent the remainder of the night in my private study, a small room adjacent to the Luna quarters where I'd conducted most of my research. As dawn broke, I made my decision. I would contact my father, Alpha Hayes of the Moonridge Pack, for counsel.

Closing my eyes, I reached for the familial mind-link we shared, carefully constructing my message: "Father, I need—"

Pain exploded behind my eyes, white-hot and blinding. I gasped, clutching my head as Marcus's Alpha command slammed into my consciousness.

"You will not contact other Alphas without my permission," his voice thundered in my mind, the mental block severing my connection with brutal efficiency.

I collapsed to my knees, blood trickling from my nose as the mental assault continued. Through the haze of pain, I heard my study door crash open, Marcus's imposing figure filling the doorway.

"Did you think I wouldn't feel you attempting to undermine me?" he growled, towering over me. "You are MY Luna. MY mate. You will obey ME."

As consciousness began to fade from the pain of his mental assault, one clear thought formed in my mind: No matter what happened next, I would never truly be his again.