The Ex luna And Her Mates

Malia

"Congratulations, Luna Malia. You're eligible for your first round of Ivf."

I couldn't contain my excitement as I made my way home, eager to share the news with Jackson. The pack doctor had just confirmed that I was eligible for my first round of IVF. My mate, Jackson and Alpha of the Moonblood pack, and I had been trying to have children for what felt like forever, but each time, I suffered heartbreak as I lost the pregnancies. The idea of IVF had randomly come to me one day, and Jackson, being the supportive Alpha and the mate he is, agreed without hesitation.

As I approached our house it felt like I would explode with excitement. I had it in mind to call my best friend, Melissa, first, but I wanted to share the news with Jackson first. I parked my car in front of the house and rushed out of the car without even taking the key out of the ignition. I was that excited.

Trying to have a child has always been a big deal for Jackson and me. I've always had the fear of failing to give him an heir just like I've failed to be a complete Luna.

My gut churned with pain, but I pushed it down. Today is a day of happiness not to recount failures.

I walked inside hastily, not surprised to see Jackson downstairs. He must have finished the pack meeting early. I shake my head at the messy state of his shoes, he always does that, but I never had a problem cleaning or arranging after him. It's the least I could do he's my mate and Alpha, and I love him. I'll arrange the shoes after I tell him.

I have too much excitement to try and contain.

As I neared our room, I noticed a strange noise coming from inside. Confused, but still smiling and excited, I push open the door, only to be met with a sight that shattered my heart into a million pieces.

"Oh, fuck yes!" The moan erupts throughout the room. There, in our bed, was Jackson, my mate and husband, entangled with another woman. Their moans filled the room, drowning out my own heartbeat.

Shock and disbelief washed over me as I stood frozen in the doorway. How could he do this to me? How could he betray our love and everything we had built together? Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision as I tried to comprehend the scene before me. My excitement was buried and long forgotten.

Jackson's movements halt and he stops as he realizes I have caught him in the act. He groans and rolls off the woman slowly, his face had nothing like guilt and regret written on it "Are you incapable of knocking?" he asked roughly, "We were in the middle of something." Jackson uttered without any care for my feelings. The pain in my chest was suffocating, and I couldn't find the strength to respond.

"Jackson... h-how could you? After everything we've been through?" I stuttered, I was in pain. It felt like my entire being had been ripped from the inside out.

My hand instinctively goes to my chest, It hurts so much. Why does it hurt like this? Is this what pain and betrayal feels like?

"How could I what? Cheat on you?" I've been doing it for so long now you were just too busy being a failure to notice." He sneers, delivering another intentional blow of hurt.

The girl beside him laughs tauntingly, but I don't have the strength to look at her. My eyes are on Jackson. The man I've loved effortlessly for two years. The man I thought loved me.

"I love you. Y-you love me too. Why would you do this?"

"I never loved you! I'm just the unlucky bastard who ended up as your mate. I would have rejected you sooner but then who would clean up after me, and you were a decent lay when I needed one." He smirks with pride before looking at the naked girl and kissing her, wrenching my heart even more. "All I had to do was pretend to love you and you did what I wanted."

"Aw, poor Luna." The girl laments and they both laugh. I finally take a good look at her, and I notice she's one of the pack member's daughters. I was too blinded by rage and hurt to notice earlier.

"Think about it, who would ever love a werewolf without a wolf? You're just as good as a human. I even made you a Luna, you should be thanking me for looking elsewhere as gratitude for tolerating your worthlessness for years!" He turns to the girl and smiles lustfully at her. She smiles knowingly, before going under the sheets and taking a mouthful of Jackson's cock in her mouth. I can tell from all the bobbing and the way he moans loudly.

Too frozen in my spot to move, my entire body feels torn apart. There's this aching pain in my chest. "Do close the door behind you. And you're welcome to watch if you want, maybe learn a tip or two so you can use it to pleasure me later tonight." Feeling a surge of anger and hurt, I'm finally able to turn away from Jackson, unable to bear the sight of him any longer. I storm out of the room, leaving the door unlocked. I'm sure they won't mind the audience.

With blurry eyes, as I made my way out of the house, his voice followed me, filled with disdain and cruelty. He insulted me, belittling my worth and mocking my numerous failed attempts at shifting. As if it's my fault I don't have a wolf.

The weight of everything crashes down on me. I collapse against a wall, tears blur my eyes to the extent of my vision temporarily disappearing. The space around me becomes small and the world suddenly seems to lack enough oxygen. The ache in my chest from earlier comes back with force and spreads rapidly, I almost cry out.

Why does it hurt so much?

My breathing becomes erratic, and I begin to hyperventilate as the state of my life crashes into me like a car.

I'm a Luna without a wolf.

I spent two years unknowingly being an unpaid maid for a man I loved.

With shaky steps and breath, I gradually make my way to my room. Unable to bear the pain anymore. I reach onto my shelf and grab the bottle of wolfsbane at the back. Opening the top, I take a small gulp from the liquid before I can change my mind.

I manage to walk slowly to my bed and lay in it, with tears dripping down my eyes I wait for the darkness to come so I can succumb to it.

Malia

I woke up feeling groggy and disoriented, my head pounding with a dull ache. As my eyes fluttered open, I was surprised to find Jackson, my mate, and the pack doctor standing by my bedside.

"Alpha, she's awake!" The pack doctor's mouth moves but I'm unable to decipher the words coming out of it yet.

"W-what's happening? Where am I?" I try to sit up but there's a sharp ache spreading through me.

"Luna, be careful. You're still in recovery." The doctor says before fixing a table behind me.

"Recovery?" I mutter weakly. Confusion washed over me, but I'm more confused as to why Jackson has decided to keep a distance. As I stretched my hand out to reach out for Jackson, suddenly my head was filled with the memories of his infidelity yesterday, they flooded back, weighing heavily on my heart.

I remember everything. The wolfsbane, my suicide attempt...

How am I here?

"It's because of me..." a voice whispered weakly. Almost as if it was in recovery too.

I looked at the doctor and Jackson but neither of them had uttered a word.

"Yeah. After you left the hospital two days ago, you left behind your bag. I came to drop it off after closing hours and found you with the almost empty bottle of wolfsbane in your hand," The doctor explains. My gaze drifts to Jackson who has been quiet since I woke up, he checks his time impatiently as if he'd rather be anywhere but here.

Maybe with that whore who he cheated on me with. That even hurts more than the fact that I was passed out for two days.

My chest tightens.

"Enough of this chit-chat. Is she well enough to comprehend things or not?" Jackson asks roughly finally tired of waiting.

"Uh, yes. I just need to run more tests. With the amount of aconite intake I detected, no werewolf should be able to survive it. Especially one with your... condition, Luna." He's talking about my curse, my fist clenches. "Even a shifter werewolf can not survive that sort of aconite poisoning. So, how did you?"

"We're alive because of me." The voice from earlier whispers again. I am now one hundred percent sure it wasn't either of the people in this room. My eyes were on them.

"Who said that?" I ask before I can stop myself. Jackson and the doctor look at me like I'm crazy.

"Unbelievable," Jackson's sneer of disgust cut through me like a knife. "First you fail at being a true werewolf or Luna, now you fail at a suicide attempt too? You're a natural failure." Jackson laughs. "At least we know you're good at something other than cleaning up after me. Failing." The way he wasted no time in belittling me made me realize that I never knew the real Jackson. "It's probably your fault that the entire women in your generation are cursed too." My chest clenches with pain at the way he wastes no time in blaming me for the curse that seemed to run in my family.

"Jackson, please stop," I begged weakly trying to wipe away tears.

All I've done is cry since I caught him. I've cried so much in the last couple of days than I have in my entire life.

Jackson produces a folded paper from his pocket, "Sign this." He sneers, throwing the paper on my body. "I'll take pity on you and keep you as a mate, but I do not want to be bound to you in marriage." In front of the pack doctor, he offered me divorce papers, as if our bond meant nothing to him anymore.

Still reeling from the betrayal, "Is this why you saved me? Just so you can divorce me?"

Jackson scoffs, "I didn't save you. I had no idea you were dying until he called for me." I wonder who he was doing I think to myself sarcastically. "He saved you. Your pulse was low, but you still had one according to him. Left to me you would have rot in this room for days." Jackson sneered. Every word he uttered was full of disdain and pride and I had to ask myself how blind I must have been for two years not to notice the hate he harboured for me.

Heartbroken and tired of the maltreatment and disrespect, I took the divorce papers and signed them. At that moment, I couldn't bear the thought of being tied to someone who saw me as nothing more than an object.

An idea flickered in my head, and I relished the small victory it would give me. "I, Malia Bailey, Luna of the Moonblood pack reject you Alpha Jackson Kenner." I rejected him before he could reject me, a flicker of defiance igniting within me. Our hands instinctively go to the space where our hearts are located. I sigh in relief as I feel the mate bond being broken.

It hurts, but it's the first step in finding freedom from what I once perceived as love.

There's a small gasp in the room, probably from the long-forgotten doctor. Jackson's anger flares, "How dare you reject me! I offered you everything. You ungrateful bitch!" his words dripping with venom. "You'll regret this. No one will ever accept you the way I have, whore!" As his threats echoed in my ears, a mixture of sadness and determination welled up inside me.

I knew deep down that I deserved better than his toxic love and constant reminders of my perceived failures. It was time to break free from the chains that bound me to him and find my path, even if it meant facing the unknown.

"Anything is better than you, Jackson Kenner." I get up from the bed and walk to the table. I grab anything I can think of before walking out of the house.

"It hurts..." the voice speaks again and I jerk a little at the unexpected sound, but I don't stop moving until I'm in my car.

I have to get out of here. Not just this house, this pack. Not long now, the entire pack will hear of the rejection. Knowing the real Jackson, I'm not surprised he'll try to spin the story to favor him. The only other person that knows the truth is the pack doctor and he's bound by duty to his Alpha.

"Malia..." The voice speaks again and I almost scream. I have to park the car abruptly, pausing my journey to my best friend, Melissa's house.

Am I losing my mind?

"Who are you? Who's speaking?" I must be truly crazy for speaking to an unknown voice that only I seem to be hearing.

I sigh defeatedly when I don't hear anything anymore. Starting the car again, I concentrate my breathing and try to clear my head as much as a newly divorced Luna can before resuming my drive to Melissa's house.

Just as I take the turn that leads to Melissa's street, the voice speaks again, whispering the most shocking thing I've heard in years.

Malia

I arrived at my best friend Melissa's house, feeling a mix of emotions. I needed someone to confide in, but I was hesitant to reveal the full extent of my pain. As we sat down in Melissa's cozy living room, I took a deep breath and began to share my story.

"Melissa, you won't believe what happened," I started, my voice trembling. "I caught Jackson cheating on me. I thought I knew him, but he's not the man I thought he was. He's a monster." As I explained everything to Malia- Well, almost everything. I decided to hold back the part about my suicide attempt, feeling embarrassed and not wanting my best friend to think any less of me. I know Melissa would never do that, but I don't want her worrying about me. I already worry about myself, and I know how draining that is.

I can't do that to her.

Melissa's eyes widened in shock. "Oh my gosh, Malia, I'm so sorry. That's awful. You deserve so much better than him," she said, her voice filled with sympathy.

I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes. "I know, right? It hurts so much because I trusted him completely." I paused, gathering my thoughts. "But there's something else I need to tell you. I haven't been completely honest. I... I tried to... end my life." I changed my mind and confessed. She's my best friend, we've shared everything since I moved to Moonblood back, and married Jackson.

Melissa's face turned pale, her eyes filled with concern. "Oh, Goddess! Malia, why didn't you tell me? I'm here for you, no matter what. You're not alone in this." Her eyes filled with tears and she pulled me into her embrace. The sounds of our sobs filled her cozy home.

I sniffled, wiping away my tears. "I was scared, Melissa. Scared of judgment, of being seen as weak. But I'm grateful to have you by my side." I tell her truthfully. Melissa Banner is an angel sent from the moon goddess.

She's been by my side for years.

Melissa reached out and held my hand. "You're strong, Malia. And you're not defined by this dark moment. I'm here to support you through it all." She hugs me again and I decide to quit trying to fight the ugly tears and just let them fall.

As we continued talking, Melissa asked where I planned to go next. "You're welcome to stay here for as long as you want, but I doubt you'd want that. Seeing as your ex is the leader of.... yeah." She trails off

I sighed, feeling the weight of uncertainty. "No, I can't stay here. I think I'll go back to my parents' house. It's the only place I have right now." As sad as it was, it's true. My parents and Melissa were all I had now. I was only twenty-one when my former pack came to sign a treaty with Jackson's pack. That was how we met. My father was Alpha of my former pack, The Shadow Moon tribe. But after I mated with Jackson and we got married, his pack became mine, and he became my family.

How stupid I was back then.

"That sounds like a good idea. I'm sure they'll be glad to have you. Without hesitation, Melissa offered, "I'll drive you there, Malia. You need some rest and time to heal after these chaotic days."

When we arrived at my parents' house, my heart sank as I anticipated their reactions.

"Malia?" My father called out surprised before greeting me with open arms. His embrace felt warm and welcoming as if it was offering me comfort and understanding. "Hi, Melissa. You girls didn't tell us you were coming. We would have prepared." Dad announces happily. He always loved having people over.

"Sorry, Dad."

"Sorry, Mr Bailey." Melissa and I say at the same time.

"Where's mum?" I ask before looking behind him for my mother.

"She should be at the back. Let's go inside, I have a fire running. It's windy outside, you must be cold." Dad says before guiding us over the steps and leading us into the warm house.

After some time my mum joined us. Surprised as well as Dad was. They looked so happy that I came to visit. And I know they are just itching to ask why Jackson isn't with me, that's how I know I need to stop beating around the bush and tell them.

"Dad, Mum, uh..." I clear my throat and Melissa gives me a small nod of the head urging me to go on. "Jackson and I are divorced."

My parents look at each other, "Divorced? What do you mean? Is that even a thing among us?" Mum chuckles nervously.

"It is," I reply, making sure to ignore the way my mother is looking at me.

Dad nods knowingly. He's always been a calm and understanding parent. "How do you feel about everything, Malia? Losing a mate is no easy pain to bear."

I bite back tears at my father's understanding tone, "It's difficult, Father. And it hurts... a lot. I spent years loving a man who cheated on me repeatedly, disrespected me, and never saw me as anything but a maid. How could I have been so blind to everything?" I feel Melissa's hand on my back moving up and down in a consoling manner.

My dad's jaw clenches, and he's about to say something but mum beats him to it. "So, you left him because he cheated? You left an Alpha. You destroyed your position as Luna of a powerful pack, just because he cheated?" Mum sneers.

"Lilah, stop it! She just separated from her mate." Dad says angrily.

"Yeah! And it's probably all her fault. Did you please him enough?" She scoffs, "Of course, you didn't so why won't he cheat? Even if you did that was a very stupid reason for leaving the life you had behind!" My mother, Lilah's face twisted with anger and disappointment as she looked at me. "You should have stayed, Malia. No one would want a werewolf that can't shift."

"Lilah!" Father yells angrily before scoffing with disbelief and walking out of the room.

"Mum, why would you say that? It's not my fault that I can't shift. And I left Moonblood because Jackson treated me horribly, he insulted me!"

"You could have stayed! Oh, so you can't handle a few insults?"

"Mrs Bailey, with all-"

"I wasn't talking to you, Melissa." Mum dismisses her.

"Mum, don't speak to Melissa that way. And you have absolutely no idea the amount of disrespect I received from Jackson. Breaking the mate bond hurts, but it was necessary." I tell her angrily. I hate the way my mother is talking. Why can't she just support me?

"You did the right thing," Melissa says, consoling me. However, my mother, Lilah, didn't share the same supportive sentiment. She looks at me with anger and disdain before walking out of the house.

It was time for Melissa to leave so I thanked her for everything and waited until her ride came to get her. While we waited I wanted to tell her about the voice I had been hearing, and the information that was revealed about it. I was unsure, so I decided to hold back on telling her.