Leaving the Alpha Who Broke His Luna

I lay on the healer’s stone bed inside the pack infirmary, my body still weak after losing my pup, when glowing images appeared before my eyes.

In them, my mate and Alpha Axton Bloodridge, was kissing another she wolf.

At first, I believed it was only a cruel vision brought on by pain and moon sickness. But everything shattered when I returned to our den and saw him myself, tangled in bed with Ramona Frostvein, the sister of his closest friend.

“Quiet, Axton. Be gentle,” Ramona laughed softly while I stood hidden in the shadows. “What about Lunessa?”

“She will not wake,” Axton answered calmly. “I gave her a sleeping tonic.”

I thought betrayal was the worst pain I would face. I was wrong.

“That tonic might be the reason her pup died,” Ramona said lightly.

Axton let out a cold laugh. “So what? I never wanted that pup. Lunessa was always annoying, only to show her love to me.”

My blood turned to ice. The Alpha who once swore devotion to me had slowly poisoned my body. He ended our pup’s life because he found my love troublesome.

As if that was not enough, he later bought the moon sapphire necklace I had long wanted and gave it to his mistress. On the night of our bond anniversary feast, he left me alone in the hall to run to her side.

He believed I was weak. He believed I was still the obedient Luna waiting for him at home.

He had no idea how wrong he was, or what awaited him when he returned to see the gift I left behind for our anniversary.

——

I was still resting in the infirmary when the visions came again. Axton kissing another she wolf. I told myself it was my imagination until I saw him with my own eyes in our den, twisted together with Ramona on our bed.

“Quiet, Axton. Be gentle,” Ramona whispered, her voice teasing as her hands slid down his back. “What if she wakes and sees us?”

“She will not wake,” he replied, his voice deep and rough. “I mixed the sleeping herbs into the drink she took earlier,” Axton said casually, as if he were speaking of calming a restless animal. “She will not open her eyes until morning.”

The world seemed to tilt.

Ramona stopped moving. “You are still giving her that? That potion could be why she lost the pup.”

My hand flew to my mouth. I bit down hard to keep the scream from escaping.

Axton laughed.

It was empty and cruel. “That might be true,” he said, shrugging as he pulled her closer. “But who cares? I never cared about the pup. She was the one who kept begging for it. It was annoying.”

Annoying…

My dead pup. My pain. My devotion.

To him, it was nothing.

Ramona traced his jaw with her fingers. “But do you love her?”

“Of course I love my Luna,” Axton replied without pause. The lie flowed easily from his lips. “That is why she must never know. And your brother too. He cannot find out. Understand?”

Then they kissed again, desperate and hungry, clinging to each other while I stood unseen, breaking apart piece by piece.

A laugh escaped me, thin and hollow.

How could he speak of love while betraying me with another?

I stepped away and left them in their filth.

The next day, I waited until Axton left for Alpha duties. He kissed my forehead with that same lying mouth, told me to rest, told me he loved me. I waited until his footsteps faded beyond the pack gates.

Then I dressed.

I pulled on my coat, hiding my shaking hands, and walked out.

I went straight to Maven’s chambers. Maven was an old friend and the pack’s legal keeper, someone who knew me before I became Luna of Bloodridge.

“Prepare the bond severance papers,” I said.

Maven froze, his quill hovering in midair. He looked at me with concern. “Lunessa? Are you certain? It has only been a week since the loss.”

“It was not fate,” I said calmly. “Please do it.”

He leaned back and rubbed his temples. “Very well. I will keep this hidden for now. I will not submit it to the Alpha Council yet. But Lunessa, think carefully.”

He looked at me from head to toe, at my pale skin and weakened body.

“Where will you go?” he asked gently. “You gave up your healer rank. You left your work. You sold your home. You only have him left.”

I lowered my gaze.

He was right. Axton had taken everything slowly. My independence. My strength. My friends. He made himself my entire world so that when he broke it, I would have nowhere to stand.

“He loved you deeply,” Maven said softly. “I have never seen an Alpha so devoted. Remember last winter when you were ill? He never left your side for three days.”

I closed my eyes.

I remembered.

Four years…

Four years trapped inside his lie.

I remembered how perfect it all seemed. The way he looked at me across crowded halls. The way he abandoned meetings for my smallest wish. Once, I mentioned craving a rare chocolate from a distant human land. He did not order it. He flew there himself and abandoned a deal worth a fortune just to place it in my hands.

He carried me when I was tired. He swore I was his faith.

“I would burn the world for you, Lunessa.”

But he did not burn the world.

He burned me.

It was all a performance. A mask hiding the monster beneath.

The soup he fed me likely held the same poison. His care was control. His love was a cage.

The memory of his laughter over our dead pup shattered every sweet moment into ash.

I opened my eyes. Tears burned, but I refused to let them fall.

“Complete it,” I said, standing and straightening my coat. “I want it done in one week. I am leaving this land.”

When I returned to the den, Ramona was stretched across the sofa, flipping through a magazine. Her hair was tangled and her lips swollen. Axton stood nearby, fastening his cuffs. When he stepped closer, the scent hit me at once.

Heat.

Sweat.

Sex.

It clung to him, heavy beneath his expensive cologne.

“Lunessa, my love, where have you been?” he said quickly, taking my hands, his face filled with false worry. “I have been messaging you nonstop.”

He pointed toward a vase on the table. “I picked those moonflowers for you. I planned a private dinner. Just us.”

I looked at the flowers. Then at Ramona, who did not even glance up.

I forced a smile that felt like breaking glass. “I am tired, Axton. I want to rest.”

He did not argue. He played the perfect mate, guiding me to the bedroom and placing a glass of warm milk in my hands.

“Drink this,” he murmured, kissing my forehead. “It will help you recover.”

I nodded.

But the moment the door closed, I went to the washroom and poured the white liquid down the drain.

I did not sleep.

I lay awake in the darkness, staring at the ceiling. The den was quiet, but the walls were thin.

All night long, I listened to the muffled sounds of them together in the guest room.