His Defiant Luna and the Secret Pregnancy

Joseline POV:

On the night of the full moon, in the side hall of the Moon Temple.

"Smile, Joseline. You are about to become the mate of the most powerful Alpha in America, Hayward Kennedy. Even if his wolf soul is slumbering, he's no different from a dead man."

My stepmother, Jordan Adkins, leaned against the doorframe, her arms crossed over her chest. Her gaze swept over my wedding dress as if she were a merchant inspecting livestock.

The cold silk robe scraped against my skin. The hem was embroidered with silver-threaded moon patterns, worth a fortune. This was the grand ceremony to become the Luna. I was being traded as a bargaining chip to the leader of the wolf pack, even though I did not consent. Rather than becoming Luna, I felt more like a sacrifice.

Two maids I didn't know were pulling tight the laces at my back, cinching my waist until the air caught in my throat. Each tug was a reminder of the gilded cage closing in around me.

I stared at my reflection in the ornate mirror. My face was pale, my eyes hollow, like a life-sized doll-exquisite and empty.

"Where is Dangelo?" I asked. "He said he would definitely take me away."

Jordan let out a cold laugh. "Your little Alpha boyfriend? He's probably busy celebrating your good fortune right now. Look out the window." Her words stung like poison darts.

I pushed the maids aside, rushed to the massive floor-to-ceiling window, and ripped open the heavy velvet curtains.

My heart stopped. There, in the manicured garden below, I saw Dangelo Kennedy-the man who was supposed to be my support, my escape. He was holding my half-sister, Chloe Holland, tightly in his arms. They were embracing in the sunlight.

Chloe seemed to sense my gaze. She glanced provocatively toward the window, then rose onto her toes and pressed a possessive kiss to his lips.

Dangelo did not push her away. He lowered his head, whispering intimately against her ear, making her laugh. That bright, tinkling laugh felt like it could pierce my eardrums.

I watched these two betrayers coldly. From the bottom of my heart, a bitter mockery rose up. I felt that from this moment on, I could only rely on myself to plan the road ahead.

Jordan walked up behind me. Her reflection smiled with satisfaction at my expression. "See? You have no choice but to accept this wedding. Dangelo is just Hayward's cousin, an Alpha who will always live in his shadow. With him, you will never get your father's company back."

I slowly turned away from the window. I looked at Jordan, my voice steady and dead. "When does the ceremony start?"

She blinked, surprised by my quick surrender, then a victorious smile spread across her face. "Right now."

I was led downstairs, through the long stone corridor, to the main hall of the Moon Temple. The Pack's Elders and core members were already gathered there. The air was thick with ancient tradition and the scent of old wood and power. They said this was an ancient ritual, binding two souls together under the watch of the Moon Goddess.

I approached the enormous altar, where the Alpha leader of the Sterling Pack, Hayward Kennedy, lay still. His eyes were closed, his face pale, like a fallen god carved from marble. He had been ambushed by a pack of Rogues using silver poison one month ago, which had caused his wolf soul to slumber. He himself was trapped within, unable to awaken. The doctors said he would never wake. Even so, a pure Alpha aura radiated from him, like a sealed lamp. This was my husband-a living ghost.

An Elder began to chant in a low, guttural language. The torches in the hall flickered, and the power of the Moon Goddess gathered in the air, witnessing the binding.

I saw Dangelo and Chloe hurry in late, standing in the crowd. A flicker of guilt crossed Dangelo's eyes, quickly swallowed by greed. Chloe's face wore a smug expression.

They thought I was finished. They thought I would be a pathetic widow, bound to a sleeping Alpha, while Dangelo, after betraying me, might try to seize control of the Pack. I could not let them succeed.

The Elder turned his gaze to me, his voice solemn. "Joseline Holland, do you willingly bind your life to Alpha Hayward Kennedy, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

Every eye in the hall was on me. I took a deep breath, lifted my chin, and met Dangelo's and Chloe's eyes. In our original plan, I was supposed to reject this wedding as he wished, and then he would walk out of the crowd and take me away.

But now, I changed my mind. My voice was not loud, but it echoed in the silent hall. "I do."

I saw Dangelo's expression crack instantly. I added, "I do, as Hayward Kennedy's lawful and only mate. The Luna of the Sterling Pack."

The Elder nodded, took an obsidian ritual dagger from the wooden box beside the altar, and made a small, swift cut on my fingertip.

A drop of blood welled up. The Elder guided my hand, letting the crimson bead fall onto Hayward's pale lips.

When my blood touched his skin, a faint golden light flickered across his body, like fragments of moonlight spreading along his form, vanishing too quickly-I almost thought it was my imagination.

Then I saw his finger move. But no one else noticed. A wolf's roar exploded in my ears, the sound echoing deep within my soul, making my heart almost stop.

Could that drop of blood, this ritual, have accidentally awakened part of his wolf soul? Was this the Moon Goddess or a twist of the fated bond? I felt startled and uncertain.

"The ritual is complete," the Elder announced. "The Moon Goddess has witnessed your union."

I felt an invisible chain lock around my soul-a cold, unbreakable connection between me and the sleeping man on the bed. It was a mate binding, the will of the Moon Goddess.

The crowd dispersed, leaving only me, Hayward, and an older woman in a housekeeper's uniform in the vast room.

All that remained in the air was a dull, stifling atmosphere. I stood by the bed, looking at my husband. This man was even more scheming than Dangelo. I stared carefully at his face, suspecting that he might open his eyes at any moment.

But no matter what Hayward would be like when he woke-whether he rejected me or hated me-I had to survive in this world of wolves.

Joseline POV:

I turned to the housekeeper beside me, intending to pry some information out of her. I was not at ease about my husband.

My gaze shifted to her, and I asked, "What is your name?"

The old housekeeper bowed slightly to me. Her posture was respectful, but her eyes maintained a cautious distance.

"Luna, I am Martha Gable, the head housekeeper. I am in charge of the Alpha's care. From today on, I will also follow your orders."

"Luna." I repeated it, feeling the heavy shackles and responsibility behind the title. I was just Joseline. "Please, just call me Joseline," I said softly.

Martha shook her head, her expression gentle but firm. "You are now the Alpha's mate, the mistress of this Pack. We must observe the proper customs. Calling you by your name directly would be disrespectful to you."

I did not argue. That was not my purpose. My gaze returned to the man on the bed. I needed to find out the truth.

"He... has he always been like this?"

A flicker of sorrow crossed Martha's eyes. "The Alpha has been in a deep healing sleep for one month, ever since he was ambushed by a group of Rogues. The Pack doctors say his body is repairing itself, but everyone believes he will never wake."

I asked her, "Could the blood from the Luna ceremony have accelerated the awakening of his wolf soul? Or is it possible that he is already awake now?"

"It is not impossible," Martha explained, her voice low. "But he has been asleep for a month, and the silver poison was severe. He may never wake." I thought of that inexplicable wolf howl. If he kept sleeping, it would actually be the most advantageous situation for me. If I could, I hoped he would sleep forever.

The bedroom door was suddenly thrown open. Dangelo stormed in, his face pale with fury, his eyes filled with suppressed rage.

"Joseline! Why didn't you refuse as we agreed? Didn't we have a plan? I would take you away!" He reached for my hand, as if the affair and betrayal in the garden had never happened.

I jerked back, letting his fingers touch only air. "Don't touch me. Take me where? To the bed you share with Chloe?" My voice was ice.

Dangelo's expression froze. He glanced at Martha, then lowered his voice, hissing as if conspiring. "Joseline, this is all a misunderstanding. We need to talk. I know you're angry, but I did all of this for us. Hayward will never wake up. If you help me, the entire Pack and Sterling Tech will be ours!" Sterling Tech was Hayward's business empire, a fusion of Pack power and modern enterprise.

The shamelessness in his words made me sick. He was not apologizing; he was trying to recruit me into another betrayal.

"You mean you want me, his Luna, to help you steal my husband's fortune?" I laughed, a mocking sound. "I refuse."

"It's not stealing!" he insisted, his voice rising with urgency. "It's taking back what belongs to the Kennedy family! He is a tyrant! All you have to do is get the key to his safe."

"I refuse your offer. I will not help you steal anything. I am Luna, not your pawn. From the moment you kissed Chloe in the garden, we were finished." I spoke word by word, my tone utterly resolute.

Dangelo's face went from pale to ashen, then from ashen to an angry deep red. "You think being Luna will protect you? When he wakes, he will reject you! You will lose everything..."

He did not finish his sentence.

On the altar, Hayward's fingers curled slightly, more noticeably than during the Luna ceremony.

Dangelo and I froze at the same time. I realized something worse might be about to happen.

Dangelo's face turned deathly pale. He stared at Hayward in horror, as if he had seen a ghost.

Hayward's eyelids fluttered.

"He... he moved..." Dangelo's voice trembled with extreme fear. He scrambled backward on hands and feet, as if the bed were on fire.

He shot me a terrified, incredulous look, then turned and rushed out of the room, running as if a beast were chasing him.

My heart was also pounding against my ribs. I kept backing away until my shoulders hit the wall. Was he really going to wake up? If he woke up and found himself bound to a stranger, what would he do to me?

A comatose Alpha was my shield. A waking, angry Alpha was a death sentence.

Martha hurried to the bedside and checked Hayward's vital signs. Her expression was calm.

She turned to me and gave me a reassuring smile. "Luna, please do not be afraid. This is not a sign that the Alpha is about to wake."

I stared at her in confusion. "But he moved..."

"That is his Inner Wolf reacting to your presence," Martha explained. The Inner Wolf, a separate consciousness within him, was a completely new concept to me. "Because of the binding ceremony, your scent now has a soothing and stimulating effect on him. His wolf senses his mate, and therefore... is agitated. But he is still very far from waking."

I nodded, trying to digest the information. The rules of this world were still a complex maze to me. I was just a human trapped in a supernatural web. Without a wolf soul.

"However, this is a good sign," Martha continued. "This is the first time he has shown such a significant reaction since he fell into his sleep. Perhaps your arrival truly is a gift from the Goddess."

I looked at the man. He was once again lying quietly on the bed, motionless. A good sign? It felt more like a countdown.

Martha arranged for me to stay with him for now, explaining that it was "for the convenience of caring for the Alpha and checking on his condition in time."

I lay on the large, soft bed. After all the chaos-betrayed by my boyfriend, my current husband possibly waking-my emotions surged and fell. I fell into a deep sleep beside that man.

The dream was damp and chaotic. I dreamed of white mist everywhere. A black wolf with a silver-white moon pattern on its chest walked out of the mist, its ice-blue eyes gazing at me. It lowered its head and touched my abdomen. It shifted into the outline of a man, pressing me down onto the damp earth, its burning lips against my neck, low and hoarse as it uttered that word, "Mine." Then everything turned to white light.

Everything felt so real.

Joseline POV:

The morning sun sliced through a gap in the curtains, but I felt no warmth. I woke on the edge of Hayward's bed, still fully dressed, my body stiff from sleeping in an awkward position. The memory of the dream clung to me like cobwebs-the white mist, the black wolf with the silver moon pattern on its chest, its ice-blue eyes, the burning touch of its lips on my neck.

I sat up slowly, my hand instinctively moving to my abdomen. The dream had felt so real. Too real. But it was absurd. A dream. Nothing more. Yet something in my gut whispered that it was not just a dream. It was a warning. Or a prophecy. I didn't know which, and the not knowing made my skin crawl.

A soft knock came at the door. It was Martha, carrying a breakfast tray. "Good morning, Luna. The Matriarch of the Pack, Mrs. Beatrice Kennedy, wishes to see you."

Beatrice Kennedy. Hayward's grandmother, the true power of the Kennedy family. A knot of ice formed in my stomach. The real test was about to begin.

I changed into a simple, respectable dress and followed Martha through long, silent corridors to the manor's main dining hall.

At a massive mahogany table long enough to seat thirty, a single woman sat. Her hair was a crown of silver, her posture ramrod straight, her expression severe. That was Beatrice.

I approached and gave a small, respectful dip of my head. "Good morning, Madam."

Beatrice lifted a pair of sharp, intelligent eyes and surveyed me from head to toe. Her gaze was so penetrating it felt like it could see the secrets hidden in my soul. "Sit," she said, her voice cool and clipped.

The breakfast was a work of art, but the food tasted like ash in my mouth. The atmosphere was so heavy it felt hard to breathe.

Beatrice sipped her coffee with deliberate slowness. Only after she had finished did she dab her lips with a linen napkin and fix her gaze on me again.

"I don't care what family you come from, and I don't care about your past entanglements with Dangelo," she began, her tone devoid of any emotion.

"You are Hayward's mate now. The Luna of Sterling Pack. You have one job."

My hands, hidden in my lap, tightened into fists. I waited for my sentence.

Beatrice leaned forward slightly, her voice dropping to a low, intense command. "You will provide Hayward with an heir. An heir with his pure Lycan bloodline." The way she said 'Lycan' was with a reverence that underscored its supreme importance.

I looked up, shocked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "But... his wolf soul is trapped. He's been in a healing sleep for one month."

"That is not your concern," Beatrice dismissed with a wave of her hand. "The Pack's medical center has its methods. They will extract what is needed from Hayward. The rest is your responsibility." The Pack had technology that could make this happen.

A chill went through me. They didn't just want me bound to a ghost; they wanted me to be an incubator. A breeding machine.

"Why?" I couldn't stop the question from escaping. "Why me?"

"Because you are the Mate the Moon Goddess chose for him. Only you have the highest probability of conceiving the strongest offspring," Beatrice stated, her tone leaving no room for argument. "And this Pack needs an heir to stabilize it. To put a definitive end to the ambitions of men like Dangelo."

I understood then. It was a political move. A child was the most powerful weapon they could wield to secure the Pack and fight off Dangelo's challenge.

My mind was a whirlwind of chaos. If I refused, I would be cast out immediately. My father's company would go under. I would be left with nothing, at the mercy of Dangelo and Chloe's cruelty.

If I agreed, I would be reduced to a vessel, my life forever chained to the bloodline of a man I didn't love, a man I feared.

But then I thought of the dream. The black wolf. The silver moon mark. The word "Mine." If that dream was real-if the Moon Goddess had already bound us in a way I didn't understand-then maybe this child was not just a weapon. Maybe it was my only hope.

I thought of Dangelo's greedy face, of Chloe's triumphant smile. If I refused, I would be handing them exactly what they wanted. They would celebrate my downfall and the Pack's instability.

A surge of defiance, of cold, hard resolve, rose in my chest. Why should I let them win?

I lifted my head and met Beatrice's imperious gaze. I made the most insane decision of my life.

"Fine," I heard myself say, my voice so calm it startled me. "I'll do it. But on one condition. I want my position as Luna recognized and protected under Pack Law. If the Alpha wakes and tries to harm me or the child, the Elder Council will intervene."

A flicker of surprise crossed Beatrice's features. Then her eyes narrowed. "You are in no position to bargain."

"I am the Luna," I said. "If I am to carry the heir, I want it in writing."

She had clearly prepared a long speech to persuade me, and now it was useless.

I saw my stepmother, Jordan, and my father emerge from a side door. They had been waiting in the wings, ready to apply pressure if I refused. The looks on their faces shifted from prepared intimidation to utter astonishment.

Beatrice quickly regained her composure, a nod of satisfaction. "Good. You are smarter than I thought. Martha will arrange for your appointment at the bloodline continuation ceremony at the medical center tomorrow."

I didn't say another word. I simply stood, gave her a slight bow, and turned to leave, feeling the weight of their shocked, complicated stares on my back.

I didn't go back to my room. I walked to Hayward's.

I pushed open the door and walked to his bed, staring down at his sleeping face. My hand, trembling slightly, came to rest on my flat stomach. This body would soon carry his child-if it didn't already. My weapon. My chains. And my only hope.