Twin Alphas' Shared Luna

Vivian Ashford's POV:

Never had I imagined that my engagement would end with me being humiliated in public.

"Oh my God... Adrian is really calling off the engagement in front of everyone?"

"Vivian was dumped? That's so embarrassing!"

"Right. She's always chasing after him, yet he has no interest in her at all..."

The vicious ridicule sent a chill straight through my blood.

I clenched my lower lip between my teeth, digging my nails into my palms. My eyes stung badly, but I refused to let the tears fall!

Only ten minutes earlier, I had been sitting in the very front row of the bleachers beside the football field, cheering on my fiancé alongside my best friend, Celicia Bennett.

"Vivi, I bet some other girl will rush to offer Adrian water again today. You'd better be ready," Celicia called out over the cheering crowd as she waved her pennant in support of the team.

Of course, I understood exactly what she was getting at.

Adrian Shaw, my fiancé, was the Blackwood Pack's Alpha heir and one of the school's most outstanding, highly gifted academic students.

Adrian was the varsity quarterback, and the school had a major football game that afternoon.

Celicia and I had arrived well ahead of time.

"Then we'll just have to be quicker once the game is over." With Adrian's water bottle firmly in my hand, I kept my eyes fixed on him out on the field.

The autumn sunlight was mild. In his black number 10 jersey, he ripped through the opposing defense like a raging cheetah, securing the ball, evading opponents, charging through the line, and scoring a touchdown!

His every move conveyed tremendous strength and fierce intensity, while the air seemed saturated with raw, unmistakable masculinity.

Drops of sweat slid along his defined jaw and landed on his chest as it rose and fell.

With a casual motion, he removed his helmet, exposing a face so handsome it was almost breathtaking.

"Adrian!"

"Adrian!"

The wild cheering and thunderous applause nearly lifted the roof right off the bleachers.

As I watched him dominate the field with such impressive skill, a small smile tugged at my lips. Pride and satisfaction filled my heart.

I had first met Adrian during the year I transferred to St. Jude's Academy, when he was serving as student-body president.

One look at him was enough for me to understand Celicia's remark. "Adrian is so handsome that you simply can't take your eyes off him."

Celicia had warned me, however, that he was the sort of guy to admire from afar, never approach.

But as a member of the Ashford family, I wasn't willing to accept defeat before I had even made an attempt.

I subsequently found all kinds of ways to appear before him, yet none of them stirred the slightest reaction.

Then, just when my hopes were beginning to fade, his parents brought him over to visit my family one otherwise ordinary weekend.

And just like that, Adrian had become my fiancé.

I therefore considered him mine and spent two entire years pursuing him openly, with all the passion I had.

The final whistle brought the game to an end, with Adrian's team claiming victory by an overwhelming margin.

As the celebrating players walked off the field, the girls gathered along the sidelines immediately began moving toward them.

One girl with a sweet face hurried over before anyone else and offered him a bottle of water. "Adrian... you played so well! H-here, have some water!"

Only Adrian, Celicia, and I knew that he and I were engaged; nobody else knew about it.

So Celicia gave me a nudge. "Come on, get over there!"

Holding my bottle of water, I quickly descended the bleachers and headed toward the middle of the crowd.

The students moved aside without being asked when they saw me coming, clearing a path through the crowd.

Before I could utter a word, the girl glanced up and noticed me. Her face drained of color, and she hurriedly hid the bottle behind her back in fright. "S-sorry! I picked up the wrong bottle!"

As soon as she had said that, she turned and fled, behaving as though I intended to make things difficult for her.

I gave a helpless little shrug. But when I lifted my head, I found Adrian staring back at me with cold eyes.

Adrian paused in the middle of wiping away his sweat. His eyebrows drew together, and he spoke in a cold voice. "Vivian, must you always use your family's name and influence to intimidate other people? Stop trying so hard to win me over. I'll never fall for someone who's nothing more than a pretty face!"

The smile on my face froze instantly, and a sudden wave of anger and painful hurt rushed straight to my head.

Was I really using my status to intimidate people? I hadn't even spoken so much as a single word!

In the past, when he leveled such a completely baseless accusation against me, I might have felt tears welling in my eyes and rushed to defend myself.

This time, though, the undisguised disgust in his eyes made something deep inside me finally give way.

"Adrian, open your eyes and pay attention. I never said a word to that girl. She ran off all by herself. And besides, you're my fiancé. How is bringing you a bottle of water the same as trying to win you over?" I took one step toward him and pushed the bottle of mineral water straight against his chest.

Adrian made no attempt to lift his hand and catch it, simply allowing the bottle to fall past him onto the ground.

"Adrian, don't push your luck! What on earth has Vivian done to offend you? What gives you the right to take your anger out on her?" An enraged Celicia rushed forward and scolded him. "If she weren't in love with you, her family's standing alone would have men lining up for her all the way down the street!"

"Celicia, let it go." I reached toward her and gave the sleeve of her shirt a gentle tug.

Looking at the discarded water bottle lying where he had carelessly let it fall, I was suddenly overcome by an overwhelming sense of relief.

For the last two years, I had believed that if I kept trying hard enough, I could eventually thaw his cold attitude toward me.

Only at that very moment did I finally understand that, to a person who didn't love me, no matter how much effort I made, I would remain nothing more than an unwelcome nuisance and an annoyance.

My love was something valuable, and I shouldn't have allowed it to be wasted so carelessly on him.

Drawing a deep breath, I suppressed the ache in my chest and met his cold blue eyes before calmly asking one last question. "Let's leave that aside. A new movie comes out this weekend, and even though you're officially my fiancé, you've never gone on a date with me. Would you come see it with me?"

I was giving our two families' arrangement, and my two years of unreturned affection, one final test.

"Oh my God, Adrian is actually engaged to Vivian?"

"When did the two of them get engaged? If they're already engaged, why on earth is Adrian treating Vivian this way?"

"Because he clearly doesn't like her. What other explanation is there?"

The surrounding students began whispering more loudly, and countless curious, gossip-hungry eyes turned toward the two of us.

Adrian swept his eyes around at the entire crowd. The oppressive force of his presence gradually brought everyone around us to silence.

At last, his eyes returned directly to my face, and he replied in the indifferent tone he always used, "I don't have the time, and I won't go with you. And let me make this absolutely clear to you today: there is no way I will ever bond with you. This weekend, I'll have my parents come to your house in person to formally end our engagement."

He was ending our engagement?

After all my devotion?

How had I, a daughter of the Ashford family, ever sunk so low that I would tolerate this kind of public humiliation?

That was enough.

I had genuinely had more than enough of it.

The crowd promptly broke into startled gasps and an ever-growing chorus of hushed conversations.

"Oh my God... Adrian is really calling off the engagement in front of everyone?"

"Vivian was dumped? That's so embarrassing!"

"Right. She's always chasing after him, yet he has no interest in her at all..."

The vicious ridicule sent a chill straight through my blood.

I clenched my lower lip between my teeth, digging my nails into my palms. My eyes stung badly, but I refused to let the tears fall!

My pride would never let me shed even one tear in front of the man who had humiliated me before everyone!

Among both werewolf society and the human upper class, the Ashford family had always enjoyed an exceptional, almost untouchable standing. We bowed our heads to no one.

I straightened my back under the full force of his freezing stare and gave a cold, scornful laugh. "So you want to end our engagement? Fine, Adrian. Those were your own words!"

I fixed my eyes on the face I had once adored so deeply and spoke with deliberate clarity. "You'd better remember what you've said today. Even if you come begging me to return, don't expect me to spare you another glance!"

Then I turned away without hesitation, determined not to look at him even once more.

"Vivi! Hold on, wait for me!" Celicia shot Adrian one last furious glare before quickly running after me.

At the very moment I turned my back on him, the tears I had struggled so hard to contain finally rolled down my cheeks.

Adrian, I had loved you for two whole years, but from that very day onward, I would never love you again!

Vivian's POV:

The humiliation I suffered on the football field weighed on my chest like a heavy piece of lead.

For two days, I hadn't gone to school. Instead, I shut myself inside my room.

I might have seemed strong and composed out on the field, but whenever I found myself alone, all the overwhelming hurt swept over me like a tidal wave.

Again and again, I looked through the pictures of Adrian I had secretly kept on my phone. In the end, I gritted my teeth and deleted them all.

That Saturday, while I waited anxiously for Adrian to arrive with his parents, I heard the butler make a respectful announcement from the hallway. "Ms. Ashford, Alpha Arthur and his Luna are here. Please come downstairs to the drawing room."

Adrian's parents had come.

A sudden tightness gripped my chest.

So it had finally happened. The moment I had dreaded was here.

Fear, humiliation, and panic all knotted together, leaving my stomach painfully twisted.

Looking at my pale, worn-out face in the mirror, I drew in a long, steadying breath.

Even if our engagement truly ended today, I was determined not to appear miserable or defeated.

I washed my face with cold water, put on something suitable, and made my way down the stairs.

Yet the drawing room was nothing like the oppressive, tense place I had imagined it would be.

My father was quietly discussing important matters with Adrian's father, Arthur Shaw. The packs' territorial defense plans and the quarterly cooperation agreement lay spread across the table between them.

Meanwhile, my mother and Adrian's mother, Alice Shaw, sat drinking their coffee with elegance.

"Vivian, come over here," my mother called with a smile, beckoning me toward her.

I tried to calm my pounding heart before approaching them and offering a greeting. "Good afternoon, Alpha Arthur, Luna Alice."

"My dear, come and have a seat." Alice reached for my hand, looking at me with the same affectionate warmth she always had. "It hasn't been long at all, yet you look even more beautiful than before."

I slowly lowered myself into a seat, rigid with tension, expecting them to raise the painful subject of ending our engagement at any moment.

Instead, one minute passed after another.

My father and Arthur continued talking about pack business, completely absorbed in their discussion, while everything remained pleasant and easygoing.

Neither of them knew about the incident.

Adrian hadn't told his parents anything about what happened on the field!

That realization struck me with the force of lightning, and I could only sit there in shock.

But why? What reason could he have for keeping quiet?

Was it possible... that some small part of him still cared about me?

I stamped out that thought as soon as it entered my mind.

I had to stop giving myself so much credit!

How could I keep fooling myself like this?

Had he cared about me at all, even a little, would he really have humiliated me so thoroughly in front of everyone?

Despair and hope battled fiercely inside me, and all that relentless doubt and uncertainty made it difficult to breathe.

"Vivian, sweetheart?" Alice's voice drew me back from the turmoil inside my head. She gave me a tender smile, gently patting the back of my hand. "We're having an outdoor dinner party at our place next weekend. Adrian will be there too. Will you come over and join us?"

I managed a courteous smile, though I could barely force down the bitterness lodged in my throat. "Certainly, Luna Alice. If I'm available, I'll make sure to come."

Once the Shaws had left, I sagged against a pillar on the porch, feeling completely drained of whatever strength I had left.

"Vivian." My father came toward me, a faint crease forming between his brows. "What's been going on with you over the last couple of days? Has something happened at school?"

My mother joined him, concern evident in her eyes. "Sweetie, do you want me to call your personal doctor again?"

Seeing the unmistakable worry reflected in both my parents' faces brought a sudden, painful sting to my nose.

Still, I couldn't find the courage to explain what had taken place on the field.

Holding my tears in check, I gave a small shake of my head. "No, Mom, Dad. It's just... I think I might have a mild fever. A few days of rest should make me feel better."

My mother came closer and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. "I'm glad you're all right. Never forget that you're our daughter. Whatever happens, we'll always stand by you."

...

On Sunday morning, Celicia flung open my bedroom door with a resounding bang. "Vivian! Are you seriously going to keep hiding in here because of some heartless jerk?"

She pulled the curtains apart, letting the glaring sunlight pour straight into my room.

Then she strode up to my bed and furiously snatched the covers away from me. "Get up, Vivi! Someone as gorgeous as you can have any guy you want. Let's go shopping today. You can choose anything you like, and I'll pay for it!"

Thinking about Adrian still filled me with emptiness, but I couldn't bear to keep making the people who loved me worry.

My parents were among them. So was Celicia.

I tapped my cheeks, pushed my sadness aside, and finally climbed out of bed. "You're absolutely right. Why keep making myself miserable over someone who doesn't deserve it? Come on, let's go. I'm maxing out your credit card today!"

...

By that afternoon, the downtown plaza was crowded with people and alive with noise.

We wandered from boutique to boutique, until shopping bags filled both our hands.

But when we walked across the middle of the plaza, I suddenly slowed to a stop.

A massive digital billboard was showing a worldwide advertisement for a leading luxury watch brand.

In the commercial, the model was dressed in a tailored black suit, and his striking, cool appearance looked utterly perfect on camera.

His icy blue eyes looked out from the screen with a distant, almost freezing expression.

It was Adrian.

Even appearing in an ordinary advertisement, he looked almost impossibly stunning.

I remained motionless, looking at the face I knew so well yet now felt so far away from, while a dull pain built in my chest.

"Vivian? What are you staring at? Come on, hurry!" Celicia called from somewhere ahead of me.

Before I had a chance to answer, however, the moving crowd pushed us away from each other.

When I finally rushed forward to find her, Celicia was already lost among the people.

"Celicia!" I called out her name two times, but the plaza's loud music and all the surrounding noise swallowed the sound of my voice completely.

I pulled out my phone, intending to call her, only to find that the screen showed no reception.

Trying to get away from the dense stream of pedestrians, I slipped onto a narrow path beside the main road, hoping to catch sight of her.

Without realizing how far I had gone, I found myself in an alley that led toward a parking lot behind the street.

There were hardly any pedestrians left in that area, and the tall, dirty brick walls lining both sides kept the alley shrouded in shadow.

I was just about to turn around and head back to the main street when a thunderous engine roar sounded from farther along the alley.

A few heavily modified motorcycles raced around the corner and slid sideways, pinning me against the wall and cutting off my escape.

The tattooed men riding them slowly sized me up, their looks openly predatory and full of lust.

"Well, would you look at that? A pretty little thing, all alone." The leader, whose arm was covered in tattoos, aggressively twisted his throttle. Thick, foul-smelling black smoke filled the air as he gave me a revolting grin. "You must be feeling lonely, being out here on your own. How about I give you a ride?"

"Leave me alone," I replied, pretending to be calmer than I was. "Get out of my way before I lose my patience."

If my wolf had already awakened by then, men like these wouldn't have frightened me in the slightest.

But I still hadn't turned eighteen, and my wolf remained dormant. As things stood, I couldn't possibly take on a whole gang of grown men.

"Oh, look at that attitude." One of the other men laughed suggestively and edged his motorcycle closer, sealing off the only way past. "I couldn't care less who you are. Since you've come all the way here, you're not going anywhere until you've shown us a good time."

The leader switched off his motorcycle, climbed down from the seat, and stretched his filthy hand directly toward my shoulder.

"Leave me alone!" I recoiled, hitting my back hard against the brickwork. There was no longer anywhere for me to escape.

As those repulsive faces moved closer and closer to me, cold perspiration began to cover my skin.

In silence, I begged for someone, anyone, to come to my rescue.

At that exact instant, a black motorcycle sped straight into the alley, its tires screeching loudly as it made a sharp, controlled drift and stopped squarely between the thugs and me.

Its rider was tall and commanding, dressed in a black leather motorcycle jacket. A completely black, full-face helmet hid every part of his face.

Yet the moment he stopped right there before me, I saw that broad, intimidating outline and felt the unmistakably cold presence that seemed to surround him, and I suddenly gasped for air.

That back... it was actually Adrian!

Vivian's POV:

Could it really be him?

As soon as the possibility crossed my mind, the memory of what had happened on the field pierced my chest like a blade.

I couldn't bring myself to believe it was Adrian.

The helmet had completely concealed his face, leaving me with no way to tell who he was.

There were countless men who rode motorcycles. Besides, he despised me. What reason could he possibly have for coming all this way just to rescue me?

"Mind your own damn business, you filthy bastard! I'll kill you!" Furious at being interrupted, the arm-tattooed leader charged at the motorcyclist, throwing a powerful punch straight at him.

The rider didn't even rise from his seat.

With nothing more than a slight tilt of his head, he let the punch whistle past him. In the next instant, he seized the leader's wrist with a reverse grip, dragged him forward, and drove a vicious elbow into his ribs!

A horrifying crack rang through the narrow alley as the leader's bone gave way.

Although my wolf had never awakened, being born into the Ashford family meant I understood werewolf laws and abilities better than most.

Among humans, every werewolf was required to abide by the Werewolf Pact.

Unless faced with an immediate threat to our lives, we were forbidden from transforming, revealing our fangs, or displaying strength beyond human capabilities in public.

And yet, the man before me had taken down a towering six-and-a-half-foot brute with one effortless move, using nothing but astonishing reflexes and sheer physical force.

The leader's pained howl sent the remaining thugs rushing toward him all at once.

The rider casually got off the motorcycle and moved in front of me, placing himself between me and the attackers.

I stared in amazement as he took apart the group of muscular thugs one after another in mere seconds, until they were sprawled across the pavement, groaning in pain.

He had defeated every one of them with nothing but his bare hands.

As I gazed at his broad back, an unfamiliar tension gripped my chest. My heartbeat thundered so loudly that I could hear it in my ears.

His movements lacked the savage instinct and bloodthirsty aggression that usually gave away a werewolf. Was it possible that he was simply an exceptionally skilled human who happened to be passing through?

"Get out of here." His tone was chillingly cold. Though the helmet muffled his voice, its deep resonance still carried an intimidating authority that was impossible to ignore.

The color drained from the thugs' faces. They hurriedly picked themselves up, helping one another to their feet before scrambling onto their motorcycles and speeding out of the alley as fast as they could.

Silence descended over the alley again, broken only by the lingering haze of dust and the sharp, unpleasant smell of scorched rubber.

Although the threat was gone, my heart was still pounding in my throat.

I had noticed the smell of blood earlier and naturally assumed it came from the thugs.

Yet the thugs had disappeared, while the unmistakable metallic scent remained.

I watched the rider's chest rise and fall steadily, then swallowed nervously and found myself moving closer. "A-are you all right?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry," he replied in a slightly weak voice.

I retreated a few steps, examining him from head to toe.

That was when I noticed a deep tear across the pristine black leather covering his left shoulder. A dark stain was spreading through the torn seam as blood slowly seeped out, leaving the leather glistening with a wet sheen.

He must have been injured during the fight when he intercepted a surprise attack aimed at me.

"You're hurt..." I exclaimed in alarm.

Fear and concern swept away every trace of hesitation. I instinctively reached for his shoulder, wanting to check the injury. "How serious is it? Hold on, stay still. I'm calling an ambulance!"

Maybe he heard the panic in my voice, because he suddenly stopped moving.

He took his time removing his bloodstained gloves. With effortless familiarity, his long fingers reached for the clasp beneath his helmet.

A soft click sounded as the clasp came undone. He lifted off the helmet and tucked it beneath one arm as casually as if nothing had happened.

The warm afternoon sunlight slipped through the narrow space between the buildings, scattering patches of light and shadow across his face.

His tousled hair, damp with sweat, fell against his smooth forehead.

Underneath those thick eyebrows was the face I could never forget. I had seen it in my dreams more times than I could count over the past two years.

His well-defined jaw, those familiar, striking features, and the icy blue eyes that seemed to have no end-all of them were unmistakable. And right then, those eyes were looking directly at me.

I was so stunned that I couldn't think straight.

There was no mistaking him.

It was Adrian!

I couldn't find the words to make sense of what was happening. The whole situation felt ridiculous, and a bitter ache was building inside me.

Only a week ago, he had crushed my pride without giving it a second thought.

Barely thirty minutes earlier, I had been glaring at his face on a billboard, clenching my jaw as I vowed never to let him back into my life.

Yet, at the very moment I felt most helpless and had nowhere else to turn, he showed up out of nowhere and rescued me like some kind of hero.

How was I supposed to do?

He had hurt me more than I could put into words, yet he had also put himself in harm's way to protect me. What was I meant to make of that?

All the feelings I had tried so hard to bury-the love, the resentment, the hurt, and the nervous flutter in my chest-came rushing back. They spread through me like poisonous vines, tightening around my heart until I could hardly breathe.

Despite the storm of emotions inside me, my family upbringing kept me grounded. He had, after all, just saved me. I couldn't deny him that much.

I pulled myself together, raised my chin, and met his gaze head-on. Keeping my voice steady, I said, "Thank you, Adrian."

I expected him to respond with his usual mocking smile, or casually brush it off as nothing worth mentioning.

But to my surprise, the stern expression he always wore softened into the faintest smile. "That's all I get? A thank-you?"

His low, slightly rough voice broke the silence of the alley, sending a strange shiver through my already frayed nerves.

Perhaps I was seeing things, but his gaze didn't have its usual cold detachment. There was something intense and unsettling in his eyes, as though a predator had just fixed its sights on its target.

Before I could make sense of his unexpected behavior, he offered me another helmet, holding my gaze as he spoke. "Why don't you come along while I get this wound taken care of?"