Severing Luna Mate Bond

I stormed into our bedroom, slamming the door behind me with enough force to rattle the pictures on the wall. The sacred Harvest Moon ceremony had been completely derailed, and now I needed answers—real ones, not the rehearsed lies they'd fed me in front of the pack.

Levi followed me moments later, his face a mask of practiced concern that didn't reach his eyes.

"Roselyn, you need to calm down," he said, adjusting his Alpha ring—once, twice, three times. "What happened out there was unfortunate, but—"

"Unfortunate?" I whirled to face him, my Luna aura flaring protectively around me. "Your mother and your chosen mate ambushed me during a sacred ceremony with a baby they claim is yours, and you call it *unfortunate*?"

He at least had the decency to look away, his gaze fixed on the window behind me. "It's complicated."

"Then uncomplicate it for me," I demanded, stepping closer. "Because from where I stand, it looks like you've been plotting behind my back for months with your mother and Zara."

Levi's jaw tightened as he finally met my eyes. "We did what was necessary for the pack."

"Necessary?" My voice dropped dangerously low. "Was it necessary to humiliate me in front of the entire pack? Was it necessary to demand money from your own Luna?"

"Don't be dramatic," he muttered, his hand moving to adjust his ring again. "Mother explained why the financial arrangement was necessary. The child needs proper care, and as Luna—"

"As Luna, I'm supposed to be informed of these things," I cut him off. "Not ambushed at a sacred ceremony."

Levi paced the room, his movements restless and agitated. "You're not thinking clearly. This is about the Hamilton bloodline, about ensuring our pack's future."

"Your pack's future," I corrected him, feeling something cold settle in my chest. "Not ours."

"That's not what I meant." But his eyes slid away from mine, confirming what my heart already knew.

I moved to my dresser, pulling out my phone with trembling fingers. "I'm calling my father."

Levi froze mid-stride. "Don't be ridiculous. This is pack business."

"Your mother made it personal when she demanded money from me," I replied, scrolling through my contacts. "And now I want my birth pack involved."

"You can't do that," he said, his voice taking on a harder edge. "That would violate pack protocol."

"Pack protocol?" I laughed bitterly, my finger hovering over my father's number. "Like the protocol that says a Luna should be respected? Or the one that says mate bonds should be honored?"

Levi moved toward me, his Alpha aura pushing against mine in a way it never had before. "You're overreacting. Mother and I have been planning this for months, and it was working perfectly until you decided to make a scene."

"Planning it for months," I repeated slowly, letting the words sink in. "So you've been lying to me for months."

"I did what was necessary," he insisted, his hand moving to his ring again—a nervous habit I once found endearing but now seemed like a tell of his deception.

I straightened my spine, feeling my Luna authority surge through me. "Then I challenge your authority as Alpha."

The words hung in the air between us, heavy with implications neither of us could undo. Levi's face paled slightly, but his jaw remained set in defiance.

"Challenge me?" he scoffed. "You're my mate, not an Alpha."

"But I am still Luna," I reminded him, letting my aura expand until it pressed against his. "And I will not be blackmailed or manipulated."

Before he could respond, my phone buzzed with an incoming message. Then another. And another.

"What's happening?" I whispered, looking down at the screen.

Levi's expression shifted from confusion to understanding, then to something darker. "They're starting the mind-link communications."

As I read the messages flooding in from pack members, my blood ran cold. Accusations of instability. Questions about my fitness as Luna. Concerns about my "emotional breakdown" at the ceremony.

"They're saying I'm having a mental crisis," I breathed, staring at the screen in disbelief.

Levi didn't deny it. Instead, he straightened his shoulders and moved toward the door. "The pack needs stability right now, Roselyn. I think it's best if you rest."

"Rest?" I echoed incredulously. "You're suggesting I'm having some kind of breakdown?"

"It would explain your behavior," he said smoothly, opening the bedroom door. "No one expects a Luna to handle pack politics perfectly when she's not well."

I watched him leave, my mind racing with the implications of what was happening. The Hamiltons weren't just trying to manipulate me—they were actively working to discredit me entirely.

My phone continued to buzz with messages, each one another knife in my back from pack members I'd served loyally for years.

"They planned this," I whispered to the empty room. "All of it."