The Broken Luna's Revenge: Alpha's Regret

I was the anomaly. The Glover heiress who never shifted. To my fated mate, Alpha Bryant, I was lower than an Omega-I was his servant.

When his mistress, Kalia, pushed me into the freezing lake, I screamed for him. I felt the mate bond pull, begging him to save me.

But Bryant looked right at my flailing body, turned his back, and swam to save the woman who had pushed me.

He didn't stop there. To "teach me submission," he locked me in a silver-coated cell that burned my skin like acid, all because Kalia lied about a stomach ache.

He watched her burn my dead mother's journals. He let her slap me until I bled. He told me I was a genetic dead end, a defect that needed to be erased.

I lay in the dark, my bones broken and my heart shattered, wondering why the Moon Goddess hated me.

But she didn't hate me. She was preparing me.

Bryant thought he had broken me. He didn't know that the man who pulled me from the water wasn't a rogue, but the Lycan King.

And he certainly didn't expect me to walk into his gala, hand in hand with the King, and unleash the power of the White Wolf to burn his entire dynasty to the ground.

Chapter 1

Charlotte POV:

Blood tasted like copper and shame. It filled my mouth, pooling under my tongue as I lay on the cold hardwood floor of my bedroom. The room, once a sanctuary in the Glover estate, had become my prison within the Barnes Pack territory.

Get up, Charlotte.

My inner voice was weak. Not a wolf, just me. At twenty-one years old, I was the anomaly. The defect. The Glover heiress who never shifted. In our world, if you cannot shift into your wolf form by eighteen, you are lower than an Omega. You are nothing.

A sharp kick to my ribs stole my breath.

"Stay down, trash," Kalia sneered.

I looked up through swollen eyes. Kalia Baron stood over me, her heels digging into the expensive carpet. She wasn't highborn. She was a nobody who had clawed her way into the pack, but right now, she looked like a queen. Behind her stood two low-ranking enforcers, grinning like idiots.

"You touched his laundry," Kalia spat, crouching down to grab a handful of my hair. "I told you, you wolfless freak. You don't get to touch the Alpha's things. His scent isn't for you."

"I didn't touch it," I rasped, my throat raw. "I was doing my job. Like I was told."

Kalia yanked my head back. A sharp crack echoed through the room. My wrist twisted at an unnatural angle. Pain, white and blinding, shot up my arm. I screamed, but the sound was swallowed by the heavy velvet drapes.

She stepped on my hand. I heard the bone snap before I felt it.

Because I hadn't shifted, I didn't heal like them. A broken bone for a werewolf takes minutes to knit. For me, it would take weeks. Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to beg.

"Get her out of here," Kalia ordered the men. "The lake needs feeding."

They grabbed me by my arms, ignoring my broken wrist. I was dragged down the grand staircase, past the portraits of Bryant's ancestors. The servants looked away. In the Barnes Pack, the future Alpha's mistress held more power than the future Alpha's fated mate.

That was the cruelest joke of the Moon Goddess. Bryant Barnes was my mate.

I knew it the moment I turned eighteen. The scent hit me-rainwater and dark earth. My skin prickled with electricity when he walked into a room. My soul pulled toward him like a magnet. But when I looked at him with hope, he looked at me with disgust.

"A mate who can't shift is a liability," he had said. And he had rejected me in everything but words. He kept me around as a servant, a reminder of his 'mercy,' while he paraded Kalia around as his chosen Luna.

We were outside now. The air was crisp, typical for a New York autumn, but I was shivering from shock. They dragged me toward the pack lake. The water was dark, reflecting the uncaring moon.

"Please," I whispered, panic rising. I couldn't swim well. My body was too heavy, too human.

Kalia laughed. She shoved me.

I stumbled back, my feet slipping on the wet grass. I fell into the water with a splash. The cold was a shock to my system. I thrashed, my broken hand useless, trying to keep my head above the surface.

"Help!" I screamed, swallowing water.

Suddenly, the heavy scent of rain and earth flooded the air. Bryant.

He emerged from the trees, his Alpha aura rolling off him in waves. For a second, relief flooded me. The mate bond, even unacknowledged, demanded he protect me. It was biology. It was law.

"Bryant!" I choked out.

He stopped at the water's edge. His eyes, usually a warm hazel, were cold. He looked at me struggling. Then he looked at Kalia.

Kalia let out a dramatic sob and threw herself onto the grass. "Oh, Bryant! She tried to drown me! I pushed her in self-defense!"

It was a lie so blatant it was laughable. I was drowning. She was dry.

But Bryant didn't look at logic. He looked at the woman he wanted, not the mate he was stuck with.

Save her, my heart screamed.

Bryant dove into the water.

My heart soared. He was coming. He was fighting the instinct to reject me. He was coming to me.

But then, he swam past me.

He swam right past my flailing body to the edge of the bank where Kalia was pretending to faint near the shallow reeds. He scooped her up in his strong arms, cradling her like she was made of glass.

"I've got you," I heard him growl softly.

He turned his back on the lake. He turned his back on me.

I stopped thrashing.

The cold water filled my lungs, but it was nothing compared to the ice spreading through my chest. The bond-that thin, golden thread I had visualized connecting our hearts-snapped. It didn't make a sound, but the vibration shattered my soul.

My wolf, usually a silent, dormant presence deep within me, let out a single, mournful howl in the back of my mind. And then, silence.

I sank.

Darkness took me. I welcomed it.

...

I woke up coughing water onto muddy boots.

Rough hands pounded my back. "Breathe, kid. Come on, breathe."

My eyes fluttered open. A man with a scarred face and wild eyes hovered over me. A Rogue. A wolf without a pack. In our society, they were considered criminals, scum.

But this scum had just saved my life.

"Why?" I rasped, shivering violently.

"Orders," he grunted, pulling a blanket around me. He tapped an earpiece. "Target secured. She's breathing. Barely."

I was loaded into a black van. Not a pack vehicle. This was military-grade.

I drifted in and out of consciousness until the sterile smell of a hospital woke me. Not the Barnes Pack infirmary. A private clinic in the city.

My wrist was casted. My lungs burned. But my mind was clearer than it had ever been.

The door opened. The Rogue stood there, holding a secure phone.

"For you," he said, handing it to me.

I took it with my good hand. "Hello?"

"Charlotte."

The voice on the other end was deep, resonating like a cello in an empty hall. It wasn't an Alpha's command, but it held more authority than Bryant ever possessed.

"Jaden?" I whispered.

Jaden Holt. The scholarship student I had secretly funded through college years ago. The boy with the intense eyes who had vanished.

"I felt it," he said simply. His voice was tight with suppressed rage. "I felt you die, Charlotte."

"How?"

"Because the Moon Goddess plays the long game. You aren't wolfless, Char. And you sure as hell aren't Bryant's."

Tears finally fell. Not for Bryant. But for the years I had wasted waiting for a man who would let me drown.

"Are you ready?" Jaden asked.

I looked at the cast on my arm. I thought of Kalia's smirk. I thought of Bryant's back as he swam away.

"Yes," I said, my voice trembling with a new, dark fire.

"What's the play?" he asked.

I gripped the phone. "Burn this pack, Jaden. Burn it all down."

Charlotte POV:

The first thing I did when I returned to the apartment was purge.

It was a penthouse Bryant and I technically shared, though he spent most nights at Kalia's townhouse. The closet was filled with clothes he had bought me-drab, grey things meant to make me blend into the background.

I dragged them all to the fireplace.

The silk, the wool, the cotton-everything that carried his scent. To a wolf, scent is identity. His smell used to comfort me. Now, the notes of rain and earth just smelled like rotting leaves and mud.

I struck a match.

The flames licked the fabric, curling the edges. I watched the smoke rise, feeling a strange lightness in my chest. The bond was still there, physically. I hadn't done the Rejection Ceremony yet. But emotionally? It was ash.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The door slammed open. Bryant stood there, his chest heaving. He looked disheveled, his eyes wild. He sniffed the air, confused.

"Spring cleaning," I said calmly, throwing a tie he had left on the chair into the fire.

He stomped over, grabbing my arm-the broken one. I flinched, but I didn't scream.

"You've lost it," he hissed. "And what is that smell? You smell... like antiseptic. Cold."

He leaned in, inhaling deeply at my neck. I stiffened. Usually, I smelled like lavender and fear. Now, thanks to the hospital scrub and my own cold rage, I must have smelled sterile.

"Get off me," I said.

He pulled back, looking offended. "I'm your Alpha, Charlotte. Don't forget your place."

"I'm your mate," I corrected, my voice flat. "Or I was. Until you decided Kalia's dry dress was more important than my life."

Bryant rolled his eyes. "Stop being dramatic. Kalia was in shock. She's delicate. You're... sturdy. You always pop back up."

Sturdy. That was his word for me. Not beautiful. Not cherished. Sturdy. Like a mule.

He walked over to my jewelry box on the vanity. He rummaged through it until he pulled out a silver chain with a crescent moon pendant. The Luna Necklace. It had belonged to his grandmother. It was supposed to be mine on our mating day.

"I'm taking this," he said, slipping it into his pocket. "Kalia needs something for the Sterling Gala tonight. She's insecure about her lineage. This will help the pack respect her."

He was giving my birthright to his mistress.

"Take it," I said, turning back to the fire. "It's fake anyway. Just like her."

Bryant growled, a low rumble in his chest. "Watch your mouth. You're coming tonight, too. As staff. We need to show the other packs that the Glover family is still subservient to the Barnes."

He slammed the door as he left.

I stood there for a moment, the silence ringing in my ears. Then, a sensation brushed against my mind. It wasn't a voice, but a feeling. Like velvet wrapped around steel.

Go to the Gala, Charlotte.

I gasped, looking around. No one was there.

It's me.

Jaden.

Mind-linking without a pack bond or a mating mark was impossible. Only the most powerful Lycans could project their thoughts over distances.

How are you doing this? I thought back, testing the connection.

I am coming for you, his voice echoed in my head, warm and possessive. But first, you must stand. Wear the blue dress. The one you designed.

I went to the back of the closet, to the hidden section where I kept my prototypes. My company, AURA, was my secret. I designed smart-fabrics that stretched with a wolf's shift, preventing the shredding of clothes. It was revolutionary, but I used a proxy to run the business. Bryant thought I was jobless.

I pulled out the gown. It was midnight blue, made of a shimmering, liquid fabric that hugged every curve. It was a queen's dress.

I put it on. I applied makeup to hide the bruises on my face, but I left the cast on my arm exposed. Let them see.

The Sterling Gala was held in the grand ballroom of the city's neutral territory hotel. The air was thick with the scents of hundreds of wolves-pine, musk, amber, citrus. It was intoxicating and overwhelming.

When I walked in, silence rippled through the room.

I wasn't the grey, invisible mouse anymore. The blue dress clung to me like a second skin. My hair, usually tied back, cascaded in blonde waves down my back. I held my head high.

"Look at the Glover girl," someone whispered.

"I thought she was a cripple?"

I ignored them. I grabbed a glass of champagne and stood near a pillar.

Across the room, Bryant was holding court. Kalia hung on his arm, wearing the Luna Necklace. It looked tacky on her. She saw me, and her eyes narrowed. She whispered something to Bryant, then sauntered over to me.

She cornered me on the terrace.

"You have some nerve showing up here," she hissed.

I took a sip of my drink. "It's a free country, Kalia. Even for fake O-negatives like you."

Her face twisted. She hated that I knew she used scent blockers and synthetic pheromones to mask her low-born rogue scent.

"You think you're special because you didn't drown?" she taunted. "You're still a defect. A genetic dead end. Bryant keeps you around for the inheritance. Once the paperwork clears, you're gone."

She stepped closer, her eyes flashing yellow. Her wolf was near the surface.

I didn't flinch. I stared into her eyes. And for the first time, I pushed back. Not with hands, but with presence. I let the cold, hard knot in my chest expand.

Kalia stopped. Her eyes widened. She took a step back, trembling.

"What... what are you?" she stammered.

Her wolf was whining. I could hear it. Her inner beast was terrified of me.

I stepped forward. "I am the nightmare you created, Kalia."

She panicked. The fear made her irrational. With a screech, she extended her claws-a partial shift-and swiped at my face.

I dodged, my training kicking in. But I let her graze my shoulder. I needed witnesses.

"Help!" I shouted, my voice cutting through the chatter inside.

The doors burst open.

Charlotte POV:

The terrace doors shattered outward, not from impact, but from the sheer force of Alphas rushing to the scene.

Kalia stood there, claws dripping with a tiny amount of my blood, her chest heaving. But the moment she saw Bryant, her posture collapsed. She crumpled to the floor, retracting her claws instantly.

"She attacked me!" Kalia wailed, clutching her stomach. "My baby! Bryant, she tried to hurt our pup!"

The lie hung in the air, toxic and heavy. Werewolf hearing is acute; everyone heard her claim. A pregnancy. The ultimate trump card.

Bryant's eyes turned crimson. The colour of an Alpha blind with rage.

He didn't look at the scratch on my shoulder. He didn't smell the fear radiating off Kalia which was fear of me , not for a child. He only saw his 'Luna' on the floor.

He crossed the distance in a blur of speed. His hand wrapped around my throat, lifting me off my feet.

"Bryant, no!" I choked, clawing at his hand with my good arm.

"Silence!" he roared.

Then, the pressure in the air changed. It became heavy, crushing, like gravity had increased tenfold.

"Kneel!"

The Alpha's Command.

It wasn't just a shout; it was a psychic hammer blow. Every wolf in the vicinity flinched. For a pack member, disobeying a direct command from their Alpha causes physical agony, like nerves being set on fire.

My knees buckled. My body screamed to obey. To submit. To bare my neck.

But I bit my lip until it bled. I locked my legs. I stared into his red eyes.

"No," I wheezed.

Bryant looked shocked. An Omega, a wolfless one at that, resisting a Command? It was unheard of.

"You defy me?" he snarled, tightening his grip. "You attack a pregnant mother? You are a monster."

"She's lying!" I managed to say. "She's not pregnant! Smell her!"

Kalia let out a high-pitched scream. "My belly! It hurts!"

Bryant didn't wait. He dragged me to the edge of the terrace. We were on the second floor. Below us lay the stone patio of the hotel gardens.

"You need a lesson in submission, Charlotte," he said coldly.

He held me over the railing. The wind whipped my hair. The guests inside were gasping, some murmuring, but no one moved. No one interferes with an Alpha's discipline.

"This is for the heir," Bryant whispered in my ear. "Pray she doesn't lose it."

Then, he let go.

I didn't scream. I just watched his face as I fell. There was no regret there. Only annoyance.

I hit the stone with a sickening crunch.

Pain exploded in my leg. My right femur snapped. My head slammed against the pavement, and the world spun into a kaleidoscope of black and grey.

I lay there, broken, unable to move.

From the balcony above, I heard Kalia's voice, clear and mocking. "Oh, thank goodness, Bryant. I feel better now. It must have been just a cramp."

Just a cramp.

I lay on the cold stones, rain starting to fall, mixing with the blood pooling around my leg.

I closed my eyes.

Wake up.

The voice inside me was louder this time. It wasn't Jaden. It wasn't my human thoughts.

It was Her.

Deep in the marrow of my broken bones, something ancient stirred. It felt like white fire. It didn't heal me instantly-I was still too blocked, too suppressed-but it took the pain and turned it into fuel.

I was taken to the hospital again. This time, the Pack hospital. They threw me in a room and left me.

I lay there for hours. My hearing, usually average, sharpened. I could hear the nurses gossiping at the station down the hall.

"Alpha Bryant is with Miss Kalia in the VIP suite," one whispered. "She's getting a pedicure."

"And the girl? The Glover heir?"

"Just give her some aspirin. Alpha's orders. No rapid healing serum. He says she needs to learn pain."

I stared at the ceiling. The tears didn't come. I was done crying.

The door opened. I expected a nurse.

Instead, a shadow fell over my bed.

It wasn't Bryant. It wasn't Jaden.

It was a delivery man. He looked nervous. "Package for... Miss Glover?"

He placed a box on the bedside table and ran, terrified of being seen near the outcast.

I reached out with my trembling hand and opened it.

Inside was a smartphone. The screen lit up. A message from an unknown number.

They broke your body. Don't let them break your spirit. The game is just beginning. - J.

And below that, a file attachment.

I opened it. It was a video file. Security footage from the AURA lab.

It showed Kalia breaking in two nights ago. It showed her stealing my design portfolio.

I smiled. My lip split, and blood trickled down my chin, but I smiled.

They thought I was just a girl who fell off a balcony. They didn't know I was the CEO of the company they were wearing.

And I was about to fire them all.