Luna's Escape from Deceit

The formal alliance meeting with Shadowmoon Pack was supposed to be routine diplomacy. I sat in my designated Luna chair beside Wayne's imposing Alpha throne, maintaining the perfect picture of pack unity despite the hollow ache in my chest. Three days had passed since our confrontation at the construction site, and Wayne had been conspicuously absent from our shared quarters.

"The terms of our hunting territory agreement are acceptable," Wayne announced to the gathered representatives. "But there are some... private details I'd like to discuss with your Alpha's daughter."

Lyra's eyes met mine across the room, a smug smile playing at her lips. She wore a dress that hugged her curves in ways that made me acutely aware of my simple Luna robes.

"I'll join you shortly," I murmured to Elena, my assistant healer, who had accompanied me to the meeting.

Wayne led the Shadowmoon delegation toward his private office. I followed at a distance, my wolf Luna restless beneath my skin.

*Something's wrong,* she whispered in my mind. *His scent is all over her.*

I approached Wayne's office, intending to announce my presence with a knock. But as I raised my hand, I heard it—the unmistakable sound of passionate breathing, a feminine gasp, and Wayne's low growl.

"Mine," he was saying, his voice thick with desire. "You've always been mine, Lyra."

I froze, my hand suspended in mid-air. Through the crack in the door, I could see them—Wayne pressing Lyra against his desk, his mouth on her neck in the exact spot where a mate mark should be placed.

"This changes everything," Lyra murmured, her fingers tangled in his hair. "What about Selene?"

"She'll accept it," Wayne said confidently. "She always does. The pack needs this alliance more than it needs her feelings."

The marking was swift and deliberate. I watched as Wayne's teeth sank into the tender skin where Lyra's neck met her shoulder, leaving a perfect crescent moon scar that glowed with the unmistakable aura of a mate bond.

My stomach lurched. Not a chosen mate. Not a political arrangement.

A true mate mark.

I stumbled backward, bile rising in my throat. Luna howled within me, a sound of such raw anguish that I had to clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from echoing it aloud.

---

"Your mother and I have spoken with Alpha Wayne," my father announced, his voice echoing through the Luna's quarters where I'd retreated after witnessing the marking. "And we agree that this arrangement is best for everyone."

I looked up from where I sat on the edge of my bed, still in shock. My parents stood before me, their expressions a disturbing mixture of determination and satisfaction.

"Arrangement?" I repeated numbly.

"Wayne has explained everything," my mother said, smoothing her perfectly coiffed hair. "The Shadowmoon alliance will strengthen our pack beyond measure. And Lyra's bloodline—"

"Is apparently more important than our mate bond," I finished bitterly.

My father's eyes flashed. "You will not speak of your Alpha that way."

"It's not about bloodlines or politics," I protested, rising to my feet. "He marked her. A mate mark, Father. While I'm still his Luna."

"Enough!" My father's Alpha command hit me like a physical blow, forcing me back onto the bed. "You will accept this. For your daughter's sake, if not your own."

My mother stepped forward, her hand gentle on my shoulder but her eyes hard. "Think of what this means for little Emma. With both bloodlines represented in the pack leadership, her future is secured."

"She already has a future," I whispered. "As my daughter."

"And as the potential heir to two powerful bloodlines," my father added. "Don't be selfish, Selene. This is bigger than your hurt feelings."

---

The stress of the confrontation left me feverish and weak. I collapsed into bed that evening, my body aching with exhaustion and betrayal. Luna whimpered within me, our bond frayed by the day's revelations.

Through the thin wall separating my quarters from Wayne's office, voices drifted to me—Wayne and Lyra, speaking in hushed tones that my heightened werewolf hearing couldn't miss.

"It's all arranged," Wayne was saying. "Selene's parents have convinced her to stay."

"And the plan?" Lyra asked, her voice eager.

"Both of you will bear my pups," Wayne confirmed, his tone clinical. "Simultaneously."

I struggled to sit up, my heart pounding.

"When they're born," he continued, "we'll switch them. No one will know that the pup with Shadowmoon blood will be raised as Selene's heir."

"But what if..." Lyra began.

"There are no 'ifs,'" Wayne cut her off. "Selene will never know. And by the time either of you might suspect something, it will be too late. The stronger bloodline will lead our pack—and I'll have ensured my legacy."

The room spun around me as the full horror of their plan sank in. Not only had Wayne betrayed me with another mate mark, but he was planning to steal my child's birthright—to replace my pup with Lyra's in the cruelest deception imaginable.

Luna's growl rumbled through my chest, a sound of pure maternal rage.

*We will not let this happen,* she promised fiercely. *Whatever it takes.*