Chapter 2 The Truth Unveiled

Luna's POV

"I don't understand," I whispered, staring at the photo until my eyes burned. "Who is she?"

Celeste sat beside me on the couch, her hand rubbing soothing circles on my back. "Luna, maybe you should sit down properly. This is going to be hard to hear."

"I am sitting down." But I wasn't, not really. I was perched on the edge like I might bolt at any second. Maybe I should. Maybe I didn't want to know.

"The woman's name is Victoria Thorne. She's from the Eastern Ridge Pack." Celeste's voice was gentle, but each word hit like a physical blow. "She's... she's also pregnant, Luna."

My hands flew to my own stomach protectively. "How far along?"

"About five months."

Five months. I was four months pregnant. Which meant...

"He was with her before me," I breathed. "While I was struggling to conceive, while I was taking those awful fertility treatments, he was already-"

"Luna, breathe." Celeste moved closer. "There's more."

More? How could there possibly be more?

"Victoria isn't just some random pack member. She's Alpha Thorne's daughter. This... this looks like it might be a political alliance."

I shot to my feet, pacing to the window that overlooked our pack's territory. Everything looked the same-the same training grounds where Marcus and I used to spar together, the same forests where we'd run as wolves, the same lake where he'd proposed. But it was all a lie.

"A political alliance," I repeated numbly. "What does that make me then?"

Celeste was quiet for too long.

"What does that make me, Celeste?"

"I think..." She took a shaky breath. "I think maybe you were a placeholder. Until he could secure something better."

The words hit me like a physical slap. Three years. Three years of loving him, supporting him, helping him build this pack into something stronger. Three years of enduring his mother's snide comments and his sister's barely concealed contempt because I wasn't "Alpha-born."

"But we're mates," I said weakly. "We felt the bond. On my eighteenth birthday, we both felt it."

"Did we?"

I turned at the strange tone in Celeste's voice. She was looking at me with an expression I'd never seen before-sad, yes, but something else. Something that made my wolf stir uneasily.

"What do you mean, did we? Of course we did. You were there that night, remember? At my birthday party when the bond snapped into place."

"I remember." Celeste stood up slowly. "I remember a lot of things about that night."

A chill ran down my spine. "Celeste, you're scaring me."

"Do you remember what you drank that night? Before you felt the bond with Marcus?"

My mind raced back three years. It had been such a blur-my eighteenth birthday, finally old enough to find my mate. I'd been so nervous, so hopeful. "I... the ceremonial wine. You gave it to me. You said it was blessed by the Moon Goddess for finding true love."

Celeste's smile was small and sad. "It was blessed, in a way."

"What are you talking about?"

"Luna, what I'm about to tell you is going to destroy everything you thought you knew." She moved toward me, and I found myself backing away. "That wine contained a bonding potion. An artificial mate bond."

The world stopped spinning.

"That's impossible," I whispered. "Those are just myths. Old wives' tales."

"Are they?" Celeste tilted her head. "Think about it, Luna. Really think. How did it feel when the bond formed? Was it the overwhelming rush of recognition everyone talks about? Or was it more... gradual? Like warm honey spreading through your veins?"

Warm honey. That's exactly how I'd described it to my diary that night. Not the lightning strike other mated pairs talked about, but something slower, sweeter.

Artificial.

"You're lying." But my voice shook because deep down, I knew she wasn't.

"I wish I was. But Luna, the Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes. If Marcus was truly your mate, why has he been able to form a connection with Victoria? True mates can't betray the bond like that."

I sank onto the couch as my legs gave out. "Why? Why would you do this to me?"

"I didn't. Not really." Celeste knelt in front of me, taking my cold hands in hers. "It was Mother's idea. She made the potion."

Our mother. The pack's former head healer who'd trained me everything I knew.

"She said it was for your own good. You were so desperate to find your mate, so heartbroken watching all your friends pair off. And Marcus needed a Luna who could help him politically. It seemed perfect."

"Perfect for who?" I yanked my hands away. "Not for me! I've wasted three years of my life on a lie!"

"But you were happy," Celeste protested. "You love him."

"I love who I thought he was!" I stood up again, rage finally overtaking the numbness. "But he's been lying to me our entire relationship. Planning to replace me the moment something better came along."

"Luna-"

"GET OUT!"

The words ripped from my throat with such force that every window in the room rattled. My wolf was pushing forward, wanting to shift, wanting to run or fight or something other than sit here and accept this betrayal.

Celeste flinched but didn't move. "Luna, please. Let me help you. We can figure this out together."

"Help me?" I laughed, and the sound was bitter and broken. "You helped create this mess! You've known for three years that my entire life is a lie, and you said nothing!"

"I was protecting you!"

"From what? The truth? From being able to make my own choices?"

Before Celeste could answer, I heard Marcus's car in the driveway. My stomach dropped. I wasn't ready for this confrontation. I needed time to think, to plan, to figure out how to survive what was coming.

But as I heard his key in the lock, I realized that time was a luxury I no longer had.

"Luna?" Marcus called out. "Whose car is in the driveway?"

I looked at Celeste, who was pale with fear.

"Go," I whispered. "Go before I do something we'll both regret."

She hesitated for a moment, then grabbed her purse and headed for the back door. Just before she left, she turned back.

"Luna, I really am sorry. But maybe... maybe this is your chance to find something real."

Then she was gone, leaving me alone to face the man I'd loved for three years.

The man who had never really loved me back