Luna Reclaims Her Throne

Pain ripped through my body like a hurricane, each contraction more violent than the last. I gripped the edges of the clinic bed, my knuckles white against the sheets as another wave crashed over me.

"It's coming," I whispered to myself, my voice trembling. "The baby's coming."

Outside, thunder crashed across the night sky, lightning illuminating the Silver Moon Pack clinic in harsh, fleeting flashes. The storm matched my internal chaos perfectly—nature itself seemed to be screaming with me.

"Rhett," I called out through our mate bond, reaching desperately for that sacred connection that had sustained me for three years. "Rhett, please. I need you."

Silence answered me. Not the comforting warmth of his presence, not even the cold distance I'd grown accustomed to. Just... nothing.

Another contraction seized me, and I couldn't suppress the cry that tore from my throat. Three years of being the perfect Luna—obedient, supportive, invisible—and now, when I needed him most, my Alpha was nowhere to be found.

"Please," I whispered again, tears streaming down my face. "Our pup is coming."

I tried to reach for the call button, but another contraction left me gasping. The pack healer had stepped out just minutes before, promising to return quickly. Now I was alone with the storm and my pain.

The clinic door burst open with a bang that made me flinch. Relief flooded through me so intensely that I nearly sobbed.

"Rhett," I called out, my voice breaking. "I'm here."

But the footsteps rushed past my room without slowing. I heard the door to the adjacent delivery room fly open, followed by Rhett's voice—not calm and controlled as I'd expect from an Alpha, but panicked.

"Christina! Thank the Moon Goddess I found you."

Christina? My mind struggled to process what I was hearing. Why would Rhett be looking for Christina Ward in the delivery room?

"Rhett," I called again, louder this time. "I'm in labor. Your pup is coming."

The silence that followed was deafening. Then came the sound of hurried footsteps, but not toward my room. Instead, I heard Rhett's voice, low and urgent, speaking to someone outside my door.

"Elena! Thank the Goddess you're here. Christina needs you immediately."

"But Alpha," came our pack healer's confused response, "Luna Diana is already in active labor. I was just about to—"

"I don't care what you were about to do," Rhett's voice hardened with the unmistakable edge of his Alpha tone. "Christina needs you now. That's an order."

"Alpha, please," Elena protested weakly. "Luna Diana is in distress. Her water has broken, and she's progressing rapidly. I can't just leave her."

"You will obey your Alpha," Rhett commanded, his voice dropping to that dangerous octave that no pack member could resist. "Go to Christina. Now."

I felt the pressure of his Alpha command like a physical weight on my chest. Even though it wasn't directed at me, the mere proximity of it stole my breath.

"Luna Diana," Elena's voice was strained as she fought against the command. "I'm so sorry. I'll... I'll return as soon as I can."

Her footsteps receded, leaving me alone again. The pain intensified, and I could feel something shifting inside me—my pup was eager to enter the world, whether I was ready or not.

"Please," I whispered to no one. "Please don't leave me alone."

From the next room, I heard Rhett's voice, gentle and soothing in a way he'd never spoken to me.

"It's alright, Christina. I'm here now. Everything's going to be fine."

The contrast was like a knife to my heart. In three years of marriage, he'd never once spoken to me with such tenderness.

I closed my eyes, trying to focus on breathing through the pain. But then I heard voices from the hallway—Rhett's and another man's. Beta Derek Stone.

"How long have you known?" Derek asked, his voice low but clear to my enhanced werewolf hearing.

"That Christina was carrying my heir?" Rhett responded, a note of pride in his voice that made my blood run cold. "Since before I accepted the mate bond with Diana."

The world seemed to stop spinning. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think past the roaring in my ears.

"What about Diana?" Derek asked, sounding troubled. "She's your fated mate. The Moon Goddess herself—"

"The Moon Goddess made a mistake," Rhett cut him off coldly. "I never accepted that bond. Not really. Diana was... convenient. Her money saved this pack when we were about to lose everything."

"And she doesn't know?" Derek sounded shocked.

"Why would I tell her?" Rhett laughed, the sound echoing in my chest like a death knell. "She's been perfectly happy playing Luna for three years. As long as she continues to believe in our sacred bond, she'll continue to serve the pack. And now she's given me a pup too. I have everything I could want."

The pain that ripped through me then had nothing to do with childbirth. It was the agony of a truth I'd never suspected—every moment of our life together had been a lie.