Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The day of my twenty-fifth birthday should’ve been sacred, my first celebration since becoming Alpha Damien’s Luna. I had spent five years as Luna by name, raising a boy that wasn’t mine and sleeping beside a man who still whispered my sister’s name in his sleep.
Five-year-old Nathan handed me a cup of ice cream through a girl I barely recognized. I didn’t think much of it. Just a gesture. He watched me from a distance, his expression unreadable. I took a bite, it was cold and comforting.
By the third spoonful, the pain hit sharp, curling in my gut like a blade. My body stiffened and my knees buckled. I clutched at a bench nearby, gasping for air.
Despite my cries, Nathan just stared-emotionless, like his father. No concern, no fear in his eyes. Just a smile of satisfaction.
I begged him to call the doctor but he didn’t move.
“All you want is to replace my mother,” he spat. “Don’t think the pack will respect you jus because you wear her title.”
Then, his tone turned colder. “When I become Alpha, I’ll kick you out of this pack.”
My stomach clenched-not just from the poison, but from the words. I tried to reach the doorknob. My body was too weak.
“It-it was you who poisoned the juices. You packed cockroaches in the gifts last year,” I gasped.
Nathan smirked. “You’re just figuring it out? No one wants you here.”
I listened, my heart tearing apart. I’d raised him, loved him and sacrificed for him.
Perhaps it was time to let go. It’s clear that I’m not wanted here.
But after I left, they came crawling back-Damien, Nathan, even the pack members.
********
“Luna Alice, are you sure you want to step down as Luna?” Beta Zane asked gently as we sat in the pack’s garden. “Nathan is still young. He needs you.”
I met his gaze, my voice calm, “You pleaded with me once. I only accepted this because I owed my sister my life. He’s grown up now. Nathan doesn’t need me.”
I had promised to step down when Nathan turned five. Throughout the five years, I played the perfect Luna-tending to the pack, caring for Nathan, serving Damien. But it would end on the next full moon.
When I walked into the pack house, I didn’t realize my clothes had caught fire. How it happened, I have no idea.
The servants walked past, laughing under their breath. No one warned me. I only noticed the burning when the heat licked my skin. I screamed for water yet none came. I beat at the flames myself, finally putting them out-but not before my leg burned.
Nathan approached me, his arms crossed and his eyes full of disdain.
“Told Beta Zane about me again? Guess that lesson wasn’t enough. I should’ve added more fuel
so you’d know what my mother felt.”
I was stunned by his words and the memories of an hour ago came flooding back.
Earlier, I had visited the orphanage for my birthday.
I never celebrated them with cakes or fancy stuff. It wasn’t my kind of celebration. I chose to carry on my sister’s legacy like she does and that always enraged Nathan.
I brought over fifty gifts, carefully packed. I forgot my jade necklace, so I ran back to retrieve it. When I returned, the carriage was already loaded.
At Lovely Pup Orphaned Home, the attendants were wary, as always. But Sister Miriam smiled. “The children are grateful, Luna Alice.”
I smiled back at her, feeling relieved that what happened last year didn’t stop them from accepting the gifts and singing me a birthday song.
Just as I was about to leave, I heard loud screams and cries from inside.
The children were vomiting and clutching their stomachs as they were being rushed to the hospital.
“That witch,” I heard someone hiss. “Last year it was cockroaches. Now poison?”
At the hospital, the doctor confirmed the drinks had been drugged. Fortunately, the children were stable now.
Damien arrived with Nathan by his side.
“It’s good you’re here,” I said, relief washing through me. “The children are safe.”
Damien didn’t smile. “What have you done, Alice?” he growled.
I looked around. Eyes were watching us from every corner of the hospital. We had agreed to maintain the image of a perfect Alpha and Luna in public and continue our indifference behind closed doors. Damien was supposed to play along, smile even if it was forced.
“What do you mean, Damien?” I tried to smile. “The kids getting drugged wasn’t my fault. I didn’t mean to harm anyone.”
Damien looked ready to snap again, but got interrupted by the doctor’s call.
While I waited for him to return, a young girl approached me with a cup of ice cream.
“Luna, this is for you,” she said. “Someone asked me to give it to you.”
I smiled at her and took it without question.
The sweetness numbed me and the cold calmed me. But pain followed, my tummy twisting.
That’s when I saw him.
Nathan. Watching from a distance and Just smiling.
I should’ve known better, he was behind the poison in the juices.
4:02 pm
