Chapter 2

The cottage sat at the edge of Moonveil's residential quarter, modest but well-maintained. Nothing like the Alpha's residence. Nothing like where a Luna should live.

But Allyson wasn't a Luna. She was just—

I stopped myself. Sebastian had been clear about what she was. What she carried. My fingers trembled as I smoothed down my dress, the same emerald one I'd worn for our anniversary dinner that never happened. I hadn't changed. Hadn't slept. The fabric was wrinkled now, clinging to my skin in the morning humidity.

Through the window, I could see her moving inside. Allyson. The Beta's daughter. The chosen mate. The mother of his heir.

I dropped to my knees in the dirt outside her door.

The earth was still damp from last night's rain, seeping through the expensive fabric immediately. Cold. Unforgiving. I clasped my hands together and stared at the wooden door, waiting.

Sebastian's command echoed in my skull: *You will ask her to return. You will beg if necessary.*

An hour passed. Then another.

My knees ached. The sun climbed higher, beating down on my neck and shoulders. I didn't move. Couldn't move. Inside me, my wolf—the one that had awakened so late, the one I'd been so grateful for—whimpered softly, confused by my submission.

*We shouldn't be here*, she whispered.

*We have to be*, I told her. *We have no choice.*

Movement in my peripheral vision. Pack members emerging from their homes, drawn by the spectacle of their Luna kneeling in the dirt like a common Omega. I kept my eyes down, but I heard them. Their whispers carried on the morning breeze.

"Is that Luna Josephine?"

"At the Beta's daughter's cottage?"

"I heard she's pregnant. With the Alpha's..."

"Three years and the Luna gave him nothing."

Each word was a blade between my ribs. More wolves gathered. Some stood at a respectful distance, faces carefully neutral. Others leaned against buildings, arms crossed, watching with expressions that ranged from pity to contempt. A few younger wolves pulled out their phones.

I wanted to stand. To run. To disappear into the forest and never return.

But Sebastian's Alpha command wrapped around my bones like iron chains.

The third hour was the worst. My legs had gone numb below the knee. Sweat trickled down my spine. Someone had brought a chair and was sitting now, eating breakfast while watching me like I was street theater. Others joined them. The crowd swelled.

Then the door opened.

Allyson stood in the threshold, one hand resting on her rounded belly. She wore a simple sundress, pale yellow, her hair loose around her shoulders. She looked fresh. Rested. Glowing with that particular radiance pregnant women were said to have.

She looked down at me with something that might have been surprise if her eyes hadn't been so calculating.

"Luna Josephine." Her voice carried sweetly across the gathered crowd. "You shouldn't have troubled yourself."

I opened my mouth. The words Sebastian had demanded stuck in my throat. *Beg her to come back. Tell her the pack needs her.*

"Please," I heard myself whisper. The crowd leaned forward. "Please return to the pack house. The Alpha... Sebastian requests your presence. The pack—" My voice cracked. "The pack needs you."

Allyson tilted her head, considering. She let the silence stretch. Let everyone watch as I knelt before her, three years of Luna authority dissolving in the morning sun.

"I suppose I could consider it," she said finally. "Though I'm quite comfortable here."

Behind her, movement. My heart stopped.

Sebastian emerged from the cottage's shadows, his shirt partially unbuttoned. He'd been inside. The entire time I'd been kneeling outside, he'd been inside with her.

He moved to Allyson's side, his hand finding the small of her back with easy familiarity. His eyes met mine briefly—empty of apology, empty of regret—before he leaned down and pressed his lips to Allyson's neck. The same neck I'd watched him kiss hundreds of times before. The place where a mate mark should be.

Where mine wasn't.

Had never been.

Allyson sighed softly, leaning into him, and her free hand came up to touch his jaw. Possessive. Claiming.

"Well," she murmured, loud enough for the crowd to hear. "If the Alpha himself is here, perhaps the pack house isn't so far away after all."

Sebastian's arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her close. They stood framed in the doorway together—Alpha and chosen mate, her belly swollen with his child between them—while I remained on my knees in the dirt below.

Someone in the crowd laughed. Not loud. Just a quiet sound of amusement quickly stifled.

It was enough.

I stood. My legs nearly gave out, numb from three hours of kneeling, but I forced them to hold. Dirt clung to my dress, my skin. My carefully styled hair had come loose, strands sticking to my damp neck and face.

I didn't wait for dismissal. Didn't bow. Didn't say another word.

I turned and walked away from that cottage, from the gathered crowd, from Sebastian's arm around another woman's shoulders. My vision blurred but I didn't let the tears fall. Not yet. Not where they could see.

The forest called to me. Wild. Safe. Away.

Behind me, I heard Allyson's bright laugh, Sebastian's low response. The crowd's murmurs swelling into open conversation now that the show was over.

I walked faster. Then ran.

By the time I reached the tree line, the first drops of rain began to fall.