That night Dominic didn’t return home, instead Beta Jayden showed up with a bouquet of freshly plucked flowers.
“Luna…. Alpha has sent these for you. Like always.”
I looked at the dark red roses, and my mind instantly flooded with the memories of the night when I took a dagger to save Dominic from a rogue attack, the night he finally turned to me, accepted the bond, and made me his Luna.
Kneeling under the moonlight, red roses pressed to his chest he had vowed solemnly:
"Elara, I cannot promise you love. My heart still belongs to Amelia. But I will give you roses every single day so you never forget…you are my true mate, and I will protect you."
I believed that was enough. That if I let him carve pieces out of me…my dignity, my body, my children and smiled through it all… one day he would finally look at me.
My lashes quivered as I touched the petals almost absentmindedly before a thorn pierced my finger, making me stagger back as if burned.
"Throw them in the trash." I said, turning away.
My love for Dominic flickered dangerously, like a candle on its last breath before extinguishing completely.
“Beta Jayden.” My voice came out hoarse, barely above a whisper as I lifted my bloodshot eyes to meet his. “Five years ago, I saved your family, so answer me now.”
“Your loyalty… is it to the Blood Moon Pack… or to me?”A heavy silence followed as he hesitated before finally answering.
“You, Luna.” A faint smile touched my lips, broken and hollow.
“Good…..Prepare for the pack severance bond. Send my message to the werewolf council that I am going to reject Dominic four days from now.”
The color drained from his face. “Rejection? Luna, you can’t! Also, if you sever your bond with the Blood Moon Pack, you will be cast out and become a rogue!”
I didn’t flinch, replying calmly.
“Then let it be….I will take my sons and leave this pack for good.”
Jayden left without another word. The door clicking shut as I sat alone in the darkness, hand pressed to my empty womb, the scent of roses choking the air until I finally closed my eyes.
The next day, my eyes fluttered open to small hands pressing against my forehead.
"Is mommy sick?" my eldest son Alec, whispered worriedly.
For a fleeting second, my heart lurched as I bent instinctively, arms opening to pull him to my chest. "I-I am fine, don’t worry about me-”
“That’s good.” Alec cut in quickly. “If Mommy keeps acting sick, how will she take care of Auntie Amelia?”
My hands froze mid-air, eyes widening as the warmth in them shattered instantly.
“W-What did you say?” My voice came weak as I quivered, praying that I heard it wrong.
“Mom, you shouldn’t lie uselessly.” Leo said innocently, his tone unusually serious for a child. “Auntie just woke up. The healer said she needs a clean, quiet place, so hurry up and clean dad’s room of all your things!”
Alec nodded quickly, tugging at his brother’s sleeve as he looked at me with bright, expectant eyes.
“Yes! Mom it will be better if you move to the storage room beside our nursery, that way, when we need you, you can come quickly!”
Each word landed softly yet it struck me like thousands of needles were prickling my skin.
“Leave.” I swallowed against the rawness in my throat as my fingers curled sharply at my sides.
The children scowled turning away before shutting the door with a loud bang.
In the past, my two sons lovingly fought over me like I was their sun: who got the first morning kiss, who made the best Mother's Day card, who got to curl up in my lap.
I used to laugh at their silly antics before scooping them both into my arms and reassure dotingly- “Mommy loves you both! Stop fighting.”
Now their eyes held no love, only disdain.
The door hadn't even fully closed behind them when Dominic walked inside, setting his cufflinks slowly in the mirror.
“Amelia is coming back in two days, make sure you prepare all her favorite dishes. Its her special welcoming party so don’t wear something too loud.”
When I didn’t move, didn’t rush to him like I always did, his fingers stilled mid-motion.
Only then did he seem to notice me.
Walking towards me he gently pressed his palm against my forehead, checking my temperature.
“Are you still sick?" My eyes locked with his.
For a long moment, I just stared at the man who had once held my hand through twelve hours of labor, sweat on his brow, tears in his eyes. "I wish I could suffer the pain instead of you Elara." he had whispered then.
Gone was that boy who fretted over my papercuts. The bestfriend who filled my lap with hundreds of chocolates to just stop me from crying, was long buried under the ‘Alpha’ title.
If not him..then who else could have poisoned my children’s mind drop by drop until our bond was nothing but a hollow shell.
Dominic frowned. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
I didn't answer, making him sigh. “Elara..is this about yesterday? I am glad that you didn’t throw a tantrum and just gave up the crown.”
He studied me for a moment, then his voice softened. Almost gentle.
“It's good that you are being obedient like this. Don’t worry, if you continue to be reasonable, I will make sure you lack nothing. You will have a place in this pack. The children will visit you and no one would cast you out.
Once Amelia recovers and understands the…circumstances, I will give the Luna position back to you.”
It was then he leaned down without a warning and pressed his lips to mine as if reassuring me.
The instant his mouth touched my skin, revulsion crawled through me like thousands of insects squirming under my flesh.
The sounds of those lewd moans detonated in my head with full force as bile rose my throat. I gagged, scurrying away instantly.
Dominic’s eyes deepened with meaning.
“You….don’t tell me you got pregnant again?”
“Stop it, I am not pregnant.”
But Dominic did not paid any attention to my words, He yanked me towards himself, urgently trying to confirm the pregnancy.
"You have done well, this is perfect timing." he said, almost to himself. "Mom is expecting you to give birth to atleast five sons, even if there are one or two daughters along the way, it is of no issue." He grabbed my arm, already pushing me inside the bathroom.
"Go. Take the test. We need to confirm."
I stood there, shaking. My hand pressed to my hollow womb.
Earlier, the excitement that made butterflies flutter in my stomach now appeared excessively hypocritical.
Minutes later, I opened the door. The test in my hand indicating what I had already known all along.
[Not pregnant.]
Dominic took it from my fingers. His face, which had held a flicker of hope, darknened immediately.
"Negative." His voice was quiet. Controlled. "How?"
He grabbed my shoulders gently and yet his eyes that bore into my skull were full of suspicion. "Don’t tell me….are you taking contraceptives behind my back?"
“Now that you say it.” I gritted my teeth “I regret not taking them sooner.”
“Elara!”
Dominic snapped before he pinched the bridge of his nose like it was another tantrum.
"We've been trying for months now! Right when I desperately need an heir blessed with a white wolf, you fail me again!” He stopped, looking at me like a tool that had gone faulty.
“Every single time something goes wrong. You conceive, and then…you fucking miscarry.” He stepped closer. "Something is wrong with your womb, Elara-”
“Wrong?” My wet lashes quivered as I barely looked at him, suppressing my erupting hatred.
Two years ago, heartbroken, with wide open eyes, I had bled on the operating table as the doctors removed my seven-month-old fully developed fetus from my body.
It was then I had heard the doctor whisper to my ‘devastated’ husband:
‘Alpha, Luna’s womb is badly scarred. She needs time to heal. Even if she is a pureblood omega her body cannot endure another pregnancy so soon. If pushed again… she may not survive.’
Yet a week later, Dominic still walked into our bedroom and gently fed me a soup laced with the fertility serum that immediately forced any she-wolf into heat.
That night, he had embraced me, apologizing with bloodshot eyes:
‘Elara, my uncle is eyeing the Alpha position. I received a report that he is colluding with rogues to usurp my throne. I don't know how long I will live to accompany you but…only with strong heirs can I protect you...so don’t hate me.’
He was the one who ruined me step by step and yet, still had the audacity to blame me?
"Wasn’t this all orchestrated by you?!" I spat. "Even when the doctor said my body couldn’t bear to carry another pregnancy-”
“The doctor knows nothing!” His jaw clenched hard “Your body is made for this!”
Made for this.
His words landed like a fist to my gut, knocking the air straight out of my lungs.
He kept pushing my broken body into heat. After every miscarriage, he waited weeks, sometimes days and tried again.
And all along he thought my body was made to endure such pain?
The truth that I have been avoiding since so long stood stark naked at this moment. In all five years of marriage, Dominic had never once seen me as his mate…from the first day of our marriage he had been planning a glorious return for my adopted sister.
Since she was a human who could not survive giving birth to an Alpha pup he was using me as her surrogate all along.
My fingers curled sharply at my sides despite the agony jabbing my heart.
“Elara, even if you had contraceptives these days.” Dominic stepped closer, towering over me. "...It ends tonight. You are my wife, so don’t forget it's your duty to serve your husband."
My blood turned to ice as he embraced me, his fingers already unbuttoning my top.
For a second I almost lost all my reason and shoved him away hard.
"No! I don’t want it!"
Dominic's eyes turned cold. "No? Are you refusing me now?"
He frowned, racking his fingers through his hair before looking at me with quiet, terrible certainty.
"Elara. Have you completely forgotten who is the one keeping your White Luna Pack afloat now? Your mother and little brother all depend upon me.”
Blood rushed to my ears and for a moment I almost thought I misheard before he continued.
“If you don't behave, you can forget about your father's medical treatment."
My father-Alpha Alexander of the White Luna Pack was Dominic’s mentor, the man who helped him claim his position as Alpha and treated him like a son.
His last words before falling into a coma by poison was to ask Dominic to protect me for life.
And now he was using my own father as a bait?
The fight drained out of me like blood from an open wound. My arms fell limp at my sides before trembling as they fumbled with the hem of my shirt.
Dominic sighed. “Now, its not that hard is it?” His eyes didn't waver. They moved over my body like he was inspecting livestock.
I pulled the shirt over my head, my skin burning raw as his took in my breasts, my stomach, the scars from the miscarriages pale, silvery lines he had never bothered to notice before.
When he laid me down on bed I clenched my jaw tightly, tears pooling in my eyes as my body trembled beneath him while he took whatever he wanted and labeled it as love.
"Get cleaned up." He finished, standing up before straightening his clothes.
Minutes passed as I turned my head away, my entire body quivering as I refused to even glance at him.
All those innocent memories I had clung to like a lifeline now appeared like a brand of red hot iron on my soul.
Eight years ago, the son of a rival Alpha had cornered me in the garden almost ready to defile me when Dominic found us.
Beating the man until he lay unconscious in a pool of his own blood, Dominic hadn’t even cared about the punishment that came as fifty whiplashes, splitting his back open.
The mate who raped me tonight was the same boy who pulled me close beneath his blanket that night, his arms trembling around me. ‘No one’ he had whispered against my hair ‘dares lay their hands on you Elara.’
Watching my frail back shuddering with silent sobs, Dominic’s tone softened a bit “Elara, I am doing everything for your own good.”
Good?
Building a life where Amelia would have your heart and throne, and I would have the storage room and secret midnight visits like a dirty mistress was for my good?
“If you take care of Amelia she will recover soon….once she is completely stable, I will tell her the truth about our arranged marriage, I am sure she will forgive you.”
Forgive me?
Something inside me snapped, anger seeping through cracks in my composure.
In four days I will reject you.
This mate bond that you trampled upon…I will tear it apart with my own hands.
I will become the first she-wolf in wereworld to reject her mate.
I didn’t even realise that I had passed out until I woke to the empty space beside me. Dominic was already standing by the window, shirtless, running a hand through his hair.
His eyes found me still curled on the bed, still wearing the clothes I had pulled on after he finished before he looked away.
"Elara." His voice was quieter than usual. ”I was really angry about the test, so I handled you roughly."
My body still reeling from the shock, recoiled when he came close wordlessly and kept a transparent glass box on the bed.
I recognized it instantly, the red sapphire, passed down through generations of Lunas that I always desired, and yet when I accidentally touched it once, Dominic’s voice had called the butler coldly: ‘Send it for cleaning, its all dirty now.’
Now he kept it there without a word like a makeshift band-aid meant to mend my trampled heart.
He paused, then added, almost like an afterthought "Are you okay?"
The man who had forced himself on me, threatened my father's life, used my body like a vessel now asked if I was okay.
I swallowed the bile rising in my throat.
"I will be." I said softly. "If you help me with something."
I lowered my gaze, hiding the storm rising beneath it.
His brows furrowed slightly. “What is it?”
“A property transfer.” I replied without hesitation, already turning toward the drawer. “I want to invest for Leo and Alec’s future.”
I pulled out the document, my fingers steady despite the tremor running through my chest.
Dominic’s eyes softened instantly, a flicker of pity reflecting in them.Then something else….something almost smug.
“I know Elara.” he said, almost under his breath. “You’ve always put me and the children first.”
“Don't worry,” he added, almost gently. “I won't mistreat you.”
He barely spared the document a glance before taking it from my hands and signing without a question like he was being generous.
He patted my cheek. “Today, prepare a grand feast for your sister, make sure she is well settled.”
He walked out. The door clicked shut as I looked at the documents.
[PACK SEVERANCE BOND- Elara Quinn, no longer a member of Blood Moon Pack.]
I stood there, the divorce papers clutched in my hands until they turned ash white. Throwing the documents inside a suitcase, I collected all my belongings and prepared for departure.
He wanted to enjoy both pleasures: the purity of his childhood sweetheart and the utility of the mate he had broken, too bad I had enough.
His pack, his support or even his love, he could keep them all to himself!
With that I picked up the luna broach I once desired like a dream and weighed it in my palm, a miserable smile clouding my eyes as I communicated with the werewolf auction house.
[Sell this antique broach to the highest bidder in two days. Five years ago my wedding jewelry costed 2 million dollars, make sure you get rid of that thrash and convert it into hard cash today.]
Since my father’s life is so cheap to you Dominic, I will drain all your resources and transfer him back to the White Luna Pack.
Soon the day of Amelia's welcome party arrived.
The packhouse was drowning in the sickly sweet scent of white roses as the grand door swung open.
“You must along with her, Elara.” Dominic murmured under his breath, his hand settling on my shoulder in a light squeeze. “Don’t embarrass me.”
Wearing a high-slit white gown, Amelia looked like an angel descending from the heavens, unlike my plain self, who was almost invisible.
"Sister!" She held my hands, yet her eyes strayed toward Dominic, looking at him like she was wronged.
“I was so worried about you.” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “Do you… hate me, Elara?”
I stilled.
“We are sisters, but you never once came to see me in the hospital.” Her lashes lowered, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. “I almost thought… you didn’t want me to wake up.”
A few nearby guests had already begun to turn, drawn in by her soft, breaking voice.
“I was just busy.” I replied coldy not wishing to even look at her eyes shining with hidden pleasure.
I was about to turn away when her loud voice made me freeze in my tracks.
“Elara no matter what happened to our pack… I never would have guessed that my own little sister would become the pack breeder."
The word landed like a slap, making me freeze..
"If Father knew" she continued, her voice trembling with manufactured sorrow, "he would be so sad."
“Shutup!!”
She flinched just enough to look convincing before a vicious gleam sparked in her eyes..
“I know” she rushed to say, shaking her head as if blaming herself. “You’re angry… you have every right to be. It’s all my fault.”
“After I fell into a coma, you had to become your brother-in-law’s breeder and even gave birth to mine and Dominic’s children.
I-I don’t blame you for sleeping with my fiancce Elara…Now that I am back, I will surely compensate you, whether its money or jewelry that you fought with me all those years ago, I will give them all to you.”
Amelia’s tears trickled, acting like a saint who was showing mercy.
The moment those words fell, the entire atmosphere turned to ice, gossip erupting like wildfire.
[I always thought Elara was the victim. Turns out she's just a greedy gold-digger who seduced her sister's husband!]
[To think she acted so noble all these years when really, she was just renting out her womb for cash and jewels.]
[A lowly woman like that doesn't deserve to be Luna. No wonder the Alpha is giving the crown back to the real one!]
My eyes shook violently as my vision swarmed red with rage when Dominic’s gaze bore into my skull.
Cold, sharp and heavy with warning.
‘Endure it. Don’t forget who’s been supporting your family.’
I almost sneered, looking at the pair of lovebirds in contempt. Setting my wine glass with a heavy thump, I looked Amelia dead in the eyes.
"If you're so sorry, sister, then perhaps you can find a good man for me to marry.
Since you're so generous with compensation don’t forget to add the grand villa and mansions my blood father transferred to you, an adopted daughter out of charity."
Amelia’s smile froze, the gentle fragile mask flickering dangerously.
“It seems Elara has drunk herself to madness.” Dominic’s dark eyes locked into mine as his hand clutched my arm tightly, making blue bruises bloom on my skin.
His voice dropped in rage. “Don’t act all innocent and wronged, its not like you didn’t went out of your way to seduce me to fuck you. Now that Amelia is extending her hand for forgiveness why can’t you accept it?!”
With that he pushed me away like a pest before walking towards Amelia, taking her into his hold like she was a treasure.
“Elara has no reason to be angry, if anything she must apologise to you properly. She took away your place beside me and tried to surpass you, its all her fault.
I will make sure, she spends rest of her life repenting her sins.”
My chest tightened as my lungs were squeezed painfully.
Despite knowing the years of neglect I had endured by his side….the miscarriages, the fertility serum, the way he had used my body as a vessel for Amelia's future children, Dominic spoke for me like I was a child throwing a tantrum.
My heart sank with an anguish so deep I thought I might drown in it.
