The Luna You Betrayed Is No Longer Yours

_Rowena's POV_

My bedroom door burst open so hard it nearly flew off its hinges.

"My Luna!" Velvet stumbled inside, her voice sharp with excitement, breathless and gasping. "He's back! Alpha Kaelen has returned! He's in the east wing right now, with his grandmother, Lady Maelis."

My hand jerked. The tip of my pen sliced into my finger, but I barely noticed. Only one thought echoed in my mind.

Kaelen was back.

I pressed my injured finger to my lips, blotting the bead of blood, but I couldn't suppress the surge of joy rising in my chest.

It had been three years since I'd last seen my husband-the Alpha of the Moonreign Pack.

That time had been our wedding night.

We hadn't even had a moment alone before he was summoned to the Federation border.

And ever since, I had served as his Luna, holding the pack together with unwavering devotion, counting the days until his return.

Velvet, my handmaiden, knew better than anyone how I had endured those years. Kaelen hadn't got enough time to mark me. And Kyra-the wolf inside me-had been so long silent that I'd nearly stopped hoping she would ever stir again.

The Moonreign Pack was small, but it was no easy task for a Luna with a fading wolf to care for her ailing mother-in-law, to weather the elders' scrutiny, to balance the pack's countless needs. There were so many nights I had wondered if I could bear it a moment longer.

But I had. And now Kaelen was home. He would mark me. We would shoulder the pack's burdens together. Perhaps we would even raise children of our own.

Everything was about to fall into place.

As these thoughts swirled in my heart, I dressed with more care than I had in years. I fastened my mother's pearl earrings-the ones she had worn as a token of her bond with my father. She had always believed they would guide me toward a marriage as blessed as hers.

I believed it too.

Earlier that morning, Kyra had stirred for the first time in what felt like forever. She paced restlessly in the depths of my mind, her agitation a strange undercurrent beneath my skin. I had found it unsettling then.

But now, I understood.

She had sensed what was coming.

Kaelen had come home.

The walk to the east wing wasn't far, yet each step seemed to stretch endlessly. My usual composure faltered-my stride, once measured and graceful, now carried an unmistakable urgency. But when the doors of the hall came into view, my feet slowed of their own accord.

My marriage to Alpha Kaelen Varkos had begun like a whirlwind.

After my father and brother fell in battle, one after the other, my mother's health had crumbled. Her only remaining wish was to see me wed-to place me in the care of someone she deemed worthy.

Alpha Kaelen was the man she chose.

Moonreign Pack was modest in size, but it had its standing. More importantly, its young Alpha was accomplished and commanding. My mother trusted that he would be my equal, that he would protect me.

We were not fated mates.

But that fleeting wedding night had been enough to sear him into my heart.

He had looked as striking in his military uniform as he had in his wedding attire-perhaps even more so, with a new edge of hardness about him. When those dark, fathomless eyes fixed on me, my maiden heart had thundered in my chest for the very first time.

"You deserve better than this," he had murmured, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "Wait for me, my Luna."

Those words had carried me through three years.

And now he was back.

I stopped before the doors, steadying myself. Through the decorative glass panel beside them, I caught a glimpse of my own red-rimmed eyes. I took that final moment to check my reflection-to ensure I would meet my husband as the woman he remembered.

And that was when I heard it. A voice from within the half-open door. Authoritative. Final.

"Rowena has no say in this."

I needed less than a heartbeat to recognize it.

My husband's voice.

"I have already agreed to marry Virella," he said. "It is done. I am the Alpha of Moonreign Pack."

The words hit me like a bucket of ice water, dousing every flicker of joy and longing in my chest.

Virella? Who was Virella?

My husband-the man who had asked me to wait for him-was now planning to marry someone else?

I pushed open the door without a second thought, the force of it surprising even myself. Every head in the room turned toward me.

Kaelen sat in silence upon his Alpha throne. Grandmama Maelis occupied her customary seat nearby, her face a mask of stern authority. My mother-in-law, Elira, sat just below her, and when her eyes met mine, she exhaled a quiet sigh. The others in the room wore expressions ranging from shock to barely concealed curiosity. But my gaze went straight to the only face I did not recognize.

No one needed to tell me this was the woman Kaelen had called Virella.

She was not conventionally beautiful, but there was something in her bearing-a slenderness that bordered on sharpness, a self-possession that seemed almost practiced. Her features were finely cut, her dark hair swept back to reveal the elegant line of her throat. Yet her eyes betrayed her. They held too much: greed poorly masked, arrogance barely leashed.

I had never imagined that one day my husband would betray me for such a woman.

"You said you were going to marry whom?" I fixed my gaze on Virella, but the question was meant for Kaelen. My voice carried a weight that made even the younger pack members in the room straighten instinctively.

"Young Luna-" Hannah, the Varkos family's long-serving steward, stepped forward with a strained smile, clearly hoping to smooth things over. "This is merely a misunderstanding-"

"I was not asking you." I cut her off sharply, and then, finally, I turned to face my husband.

Three years had changed him.

He had always been handsome, but now the battlefield had carved something new into him. He sat with a stillness that felt less like composure and more like a predator at rest. Every movement, every shift of his posture carried an undercurrent of danger. This was a man who had learned to make decisions and live with their consequences.

He was studying me too, his dark eyes unreadable. But I did not flinch.

"I am asking you, Alpha Kaelen." My voice did not waver. "Who did you say you were going to marry?"

A cold smile curved his lips, as if my challenge amused rather than troubled him. He reached for the woman at his side and drew her into the circle of his arm with deliberate ease.

"I am marrying Virella," he announced. "She is carrying my child."

His hand settled upon her belly with a tenderness that made my stomach turn.

Only then did I see it-the subtle swell beneath her gown.

So. This was the reason.

The feeling that seized me defied description. It was as if a hand had reached into my chest, seized my heart, and began to squeeze.

I nearly staggered. Velvet's hand caught my elbow, steadying me before I could fall.

"Is this the manners you were raised with?" Grandmama Maelis's voice cut through the room like a blade. "Your husband returns after three years, and your first words are an accusation?"

"Husband?" I swallowed against the thickness in my throat, but when I spoke again, my voice came out sharper than before. "I have held this pack together for three years. I have spent every sleepless night worrying about his safety. And when he finally returns, he brings another woman into our home. What kind of husband is that?"

"Rowena-" Kaelen's voice cut through the air, sharp with displeasure. "Protecting the pack is the Luna's duty."

"It was the agreement we made when our marriage was arranged," he added, as though I needed reminding.

The words lodged in my throat like glass, but I forced them out. "Then you should also remember that agreement came with the promise of respect."

"And have I not given it?" The weight of Alpha command pressed against his every word. "Three years, Rowena. You carry no mark of mine-yet Moonreign has called you Luna. Even knowing you came with no bloodline, no family, no pack."

The smugness curling through his tone made my stomach turn.

Three years ago, I had been foolish enough to feel something for this man.

"So what you're telling me," I said slowly, "is that I've been running your pack, managing your territory, holding your alliances together-and now I'm supposed to step aside gracefully while you parade your mistress in front of me?"

A flicker of irritation crossed his face, gone as quickly as it came. "House Varkos honors its word. I made a promise to your mother. I will not abandon you."

"But Virella," he continued, meeting my gaze with none of the warmth that had graced our wedding night, "I will also take as my wife."

"You've managed the pack well for three years, yes. But you have not given Varkos an heir. Virella carries my child-and she has saved my soldiers, and my own life, more than once on the battlefield."

He straightened, as though delivering a generous verdict. "You may retain your title as Luna. Virella will share equal standing with you. Equal rights. Equal voice in the pack."

The sheer condescension nearly made me laugh.

He hadn't touched me on our wedding night. He'd left at dawn for the front, and by the time he returned, he'd already found someone else. An heir? I would have needed a husband first.

And Virella? She'd bled beside him on the battlefield. I had secured supply lines, negotiated alliances, held the pack together so he'd have something to come back to. But apparently, that counted for nothing.

My eyes burned, but I refused to let the tears fall. This man had never deserved them.

"Equal standing?" My voice came out rough, but steady. "And what makes you think I would accept that?"

I lifted my chin, looking him straight in the eye.

"If this is what's left of your promise," I said, "then I want none of it."

"Let's end this properly, Alpha Kaelen."

My words landed like a blade.

"I want a divorce."

_Rowena's POV_

The word hung in the air between us.

Divorce.

I had said it clearly and steadily without flinching. And for one suspended moment, the entire room went still, Grandmama Maelis, Elira, the pack members along the walls, all of them holding their breath like they were waiting to see which way a flame would lean.

Kaelen's expression didn't crack. But his eyes sharpened.

"You want a divorce." He said it the way someone repeats a word in a foreign language, like the meaning hadn't fully landed yet.

"I do," I said. "We never completed the bond. The marriage was never consummated. There's nothing legally binding us that can't be undone cleanly." I kept my voice even. "You have what you want. Let me go."

Something moved across his face, it was not guilt, or regret. Something closer to offense.

"You're being dramatic," he said.

Dramatic.

Three years of running his pack, managing his accounts, holding his family together while he made promises to another woman three states away, and the word he reached for was dramatic.

"Kaelen." Grandmama Maelis's voice cut in before I could respond. "Enough of this. Rowena, sit down."

"I'd rather stand, Grandmama."

Her jaw tightened. "You are Luna of this pack. You will conduct yourself accordingly."

"I am conducting myself accordingly," I said. "I'm asking for a legal dissolution of a marriage that was never properly formed. That's not drama. That's common sense."

Elira made a small sound and then said nothing, the way she always said nothing when it mattered.

Elvira, Kaelen's sister, from her corner of the couch, tilted her head. "I don't see why you're making this so difficult. Virella is already here. She's already pregnant. What exactly do you think you're protecting?"

I looked at her. "My name."

That landed. Even Elvira didn't have a quick answer for it.

Kaelen stepped forward. "I told you - you keep your title. You keep your standing. Nothing about your position in this pack changes."

"Everything about my position changes," I said. "The moment you brought her in here and called her your wife, you changed it. I'm not asking for compensation, Kaelen. I'm asking to leave."

"No."

The word was flat and immovable.

I stared at him. "You don't want me. You've made that perfectly clear. So why...."

"Because I said no." His voice dropped into that register, the Alpha command, the one that pressed against the air in the room like a physical weight. "This conversation is over."

His command did not break me.

Kyra stirred deep within, claws scraping against the walls of my consciousness. My father and brother had fallen in battle. My pack had been reduced to ashes. But that did not mean I had forgotten the Alpha blood that ran through my veins.

My lip curled. My canines ached to show.

And then Virella moved.

It was subtle, I had to give her that. A soft exhale, barely audible. One hand pressing to her stomach. Her head dipped forward just slightly, like something had shifted inside her.

No dramatic gasping, no performance. Just the quiet suggestion of a woman in discomfort, perfectly timed.

Kaelen turned before anyone else did.

"Virella." His voice changed completely, the command stripped out of it, something almost soft underneath. He crossed to her side in three steps. "What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

"I'm fine," she murmured, leaning lightly into his arm. "Just... the stress. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause all of this."

She didn't look at me when she said it.

And just like that, the room reoriented itself around her. Grandmama Maelis rose from her chair. Elira's helpless expression shifted to concern. Even Elvira straightened, the mocking curiosity fading from her face.

And Kaelen-Kaelen looked at her as though she were the only person in the room.

I watched it all.

Three years I had given this pack. Three years of holding them together, of sleepless nights and endless negotiations, of bleeding for people who had never once looked at me the way they now looked at her.

A cold smile touched my lips.

I turned and walked out of the hall.

Let Kaelen refuse. Let him command. Let him pretend this marriage was something worth keeping.

It did not matter.

I would have my divorce.

**

I wasted no time.

The moment I returned to my chambers, I set Velvet and Grace to work cataloging my dowry.

I unlocked the strongbox where my mother had stored every document she had transferred to me upon my marriage. She had always been meticulous. Every asset tracked. Every transaction recorded. Property deeds, investment accounts, pack infrastructure funds, the medical endowment-anything she had moved into Moonreign Pack's name when I married Kaelen was documented in her neat, slightly slanted handwriting.

I turned to page four.

Moonreign Pack-Pre-Wedding Financial Assessment.

Before agreeing to the match, my mother had commissioned a discreet third-party evaluation of the pack's finances. I had read it once, years ago, then set it aside. It had seemed irrelevant then. We were married. We were building a future together. The numbers belonged to the past.

Now I read it again.

When I married into the Varkos family, Moonreign Pack had been three months away from collapse. Kaelen's father had died young, leaving behind debts that his family had spent years draping in fine clothes and careful illusions. The estate. The cars. The servants. All of it held together by borrowed credit, wounded pride, and the quiet hope that something-someday-would turn their fortunes around.

What turned them around was my mother's money.

The Ashthorne funds-transferred in full on my wedding day-had cleared every outstanding debt, covered two years of operating expenses, and established the medical fund that still paid for Grandmama Maelis's monthly treatments.

I set the document down. A plan was already taking shape in my mind.

He doesn't know the full picture, Kyra said.

"He knows part of it. Not all."

"Then he's going to be very surprised."

"Yes." I ran my fingers over the papers my mother had left me-her final gift, though I had never expected to use it this way. "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this."

I drew a breath.

"Grace."

"Yes, my Luna?"

"Freeze every fund originating from the Ashthorne accounts. All of them. Assets, endowments, recurring transfers. Nothing moves without my written authorization." I paused. "And find me a family law attorney. Someone outside the pack. Someone who owes Kaelen nothing."

Grace's eyes lit up. She gave a sharp nod and turned, moving quickly-as if afraid I might change my mind if she did not act fast enough.

I looked out the window. Night had fallen. But the chill in my chest had settled into something cold and steady.

Let Kaelen try to stop me.

Without my money, the pack would feel the weight of its choices within a month.

_Kaelen's POV_

She walked out without looking back.

I stood beside Virella, watching her go from the corner of my eye. The words to stop her did not come.

I told myself the tightness in my chest was nothing more than irritation. Pure irritation. Nothing more complicated than that.

"You know exactly what it is", Shade said.

My wolf had been restless since the moment Rowena walked into that room-crouched low in my mind, pacing with an agitation I rarely felt from him. Like a warrior bracing for a battle he did not wish to fight.

Several times, he had tried to take control. I held him back. I knew he had not abandoned his ridiculous loyalty to our Luna. Even if Rowena did not deserve it.

"You wronged her."

"She should not have challenged my authority in front of the pack."

"You would not be sitting in that chair without her."

"Enough!"

I pushed Shade down. He went quiet, but he did not settle. He never did when he believed I had made a mistake-and lately, it seemed he believed I made nothing but mistakes.

The tension in the room eased when the pack healer confirmed that Virella and the child were unharmed. Grandmama Maelis lowered herself back into her seat. Elvira unfolded herself from the arm of the sofa.

My mother crossed the room and stopped beside me.

"Go and speak with her," she said quietly. It was not a suggestion. From my gentle-natured mother, it was as close to a command as she ever came. "She needs time to calm herself."

"She is not merely angry, Kaelen." My mother's voice carried a careful deliberation. "She is resolved. Those are two very different things. And before you dismiss that out of hand..." She paused, choosing her words with care. "You should consider that in three years, she has never given this family a single reason to doubt her. Not once."

Across the room, Elvira let out a soft laugh. "She has simply grown comfortable. That is the problem. Three years of running a household, and now she imagines she has more say in this family than she actually does."

She examined her nails with studied indifference. "This talk of divorce is nothing more than posturing. She is not going anywhere. What Alpha would take a woman with no family, no pack, and no wolf to speak of?"

I wanted to agree with her. She was right-Rowena had no better option. Her mother had confirmed that herself three years ago.

But the look in Rowena's eyes when she said divorce kept surfacing in my mind. Some part of me knew she was not bluffing.

"Kaelen." Virella's voice came from beside me, still soft from her earlier distress. "Do not trouble yourself on my account. I can leave. I told you from the beginning-I would never be the reason you lose everything."

I looked at her.

She held my gaze, sadness softening her features. I knew she meant every word.

That was who Virella was. She never asked for more than I could give. She had fought beside me in conditions that would have broken most people. She had made decisions under pressure that had saved lives-including mine. She did not complain. She did not demand. She simply stayed, and trusted me to do right by her.

I reached out and covered her hand with mine. "You are carrying my child. You are not going anywhere."

The glistening of tears in her eyes softened something in my chest. Virella had never been one to cry easily-pregnancy had made her more sensitive, that was all. Protecting her and the child was my responsibility.

I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I will make her agree," I said, the words coming out with more conviction than I felt.

"I will make her understand. She cannot defy her Alpha."

**

The hall between the main wing and Rowena's suite was longer than it needed to be.

I had walked it only once before.

Our wedding night. We had walked it together then, nerves and anticipation tangled between us. I had meant it when I promised her mother I would care for her. I had meant it when I asked her to wait for me.

But in the end, Rowena had never truly been mine.

The war was brutal, but I had not forgotten my wife waiting at home. I wanted to end it quickly, to return to her. Then I learned the truth about her past.

She had chosen me because she had no other choice. Her fated mate had abandoned her when her family fell. She had agreed to marry me only because her mother wished it. I could have overlooked all of that. But when I learned she still carried a torch for the man who had rejected her-that she had been making plans to run away with him while wearing my Luna's title-whatever tenderness I had felt for her withered.

The only reason she was still here was that I had returned victorious. Because she still had enough sense to care about what remained of her family's reputation.

Without my Luna's name, she had nothing. She did not dare to leave me.

"Confident, aren't you?" Shade's voice dripped with mockery from somewhere in my mind.

I did not answer.

I stood in the corridor, staring at the door before me. On the other side, I could feel something-not a mate bond, nothing so clear or definitive, but something I had never found the right words for. It had been there on our wedding night. Three years of silence and distance had not erased it entirely.

I raised my hand to knock.

And then I heard Rowena's voice from somewhere inside.

"And find me a family law attorney. Someone outside the pack. Someone who owes Kaelen nothing."

The cold fury I had nursed for years surged through me.

I pushed the door open.

"You're so eager, aren't you, Rowena?"

I let my Alpha presence fill the room. Her handmaidens flinched at the weight of it but still managed to execute their bows-barely.

Rowena sat on the edge of her bed, her spine rigid. The only sign of weakness was her fingers, white-knuckled where they gripped the bedsheet. A woman, after all.

I eased back on my presence. Velvet, her maid, immediately stepped forward.

"Alpha," she said, her voice trembling but her words bold, "you should not enter without knocking."

I let out a cold laugh. "Since when do I require permission to enter my wife's chambers in my own pack?" I kept my eyes on Rowena. "Is this how you teach them to speak to their Alpha?"

Rowena's brow flickered, but she did not scold her maid. She rose to her feet and faced me squarely.

"What brings you here, Alpha Kaelen?"

The distance in her voice made something twist in my chest. This woman had never truly wanted me home. And now this talk of divorce-it was nothing but an excuse. She wanted to cast me aside and run back to the man who had abandoned her.

The thought took root the moment it appeared, and the more I turned it over, the more it explained everything.

I lowered my voice. "Everyone out. I wish to speak with my Luna alone."

Neither maid moved. Their eyes stayed fixed on Rowena, waiting-waiting-for her permission. Fury coiled in my gut. Three years away, and they had forgotten who held authority in this pack.

Before I could act, Rowena spoke. "Grace. Velvet. Leave us. I can handle this."

They withdrew at last, though I heard them stop just outside the door. As if I posed a threat to my own wife.

"Say what you came to say, Alpha Kaelen." Rowena moved to the table and poured herself a cup of tea.

"Virella stays." I made my voice hard. "She has no family. She saved my life and the lives of my soldiers. This pack owes her a debt, and I promised her a home."

Rowena took a sip of tea. I braced for her protest.

Instead, she smiled-a cold, thin thing. "Did I say I objected?"

I blinked. "You... agree?"

"Do I have the right to object?" She tilted her head. "She carries your child. Did you truly expect me to demand you cast her out?"

Some of the tension in my chest eased. "I am glad you see reason."

"Since I am giving you what you want." She was still smiling, but her eyes had gone flat. "I expect the same courtesy. Give me a divorce. Then we owe each other nothing."

"Owe each other nothing?" I repeated the words slowly, as if tasting them for the first time.

I crossed the room in two strides and closed my hand around her throat. Not enough to hurt-but enough to make her understand.

"I gave you a home when you had nothing. And this is how you repay me?"

"You promised her a home." She did not fight my grip. Her hands stayed at her sides, but her voice came out tight, strained. "What am I supposed to do? Sit beside her and pretend I am content? You cannot have two wives, Kaelen."

"And why not?" I tightened my fingers-just slightly. Just enough to feel her pulse hammer against my palm. "I am the Alpha. I make the laws in this pack."

She wrenched herself free before I could react, stumbling back a step with her hand pressed to her throat. Her composure had finally cracked.

"Have you lost your mind?" Her voice rose, raw and shaken. "You want to make me a laughingstock? Make us both a laughingstock?"

She drew a ragged breath, forcing herself back to calm.

"You do not love me. We have never even consummated this marriage. By any measure that matters, we are not husband and wife. So tell me-why does letting me go cost you anything at all?"

Never consummated.

The words hit me like a spark catching dry tinder.

I closed the distance between us before she could move. My arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her against me. She gasped, her hands coming up to push at my chest, but I did not let go.

"Never consummated," I murmured, my voice low. "Is that what this is really about? Not being truly married?"

I looked down at her-at the flush spreading across her cheeks, the way her breath had gone shallow. "Perhaps I should remedy that."

Her eyes widened.

I kissed her.