The Luna Rejected Twice

Before the age of thirty, I had been rejected twice. The first time was by Alpha Easton of the Crimson Pack. On the very day of my healer's checkup, I caught him sleeping with the rogue wolf I had taken in and sheltered. Not only did he refuse to apologize, but he also exiled me from the pack when I broke down and confronted him. The second time, I married my childhood friend who had pursued me for ten years—Alpha Quinn of the Ridge Pack. He never complained about Easton harassing me year after year. Nor did he mind that after three years together, I still hadn't conceived a pup. In our most intimate moments, he would nip at my ear and whisper, "If you don't want to carry a pup, you don't have to. Having you is enough for me." Yet on the day of our mating ceremony anniversary, he suddenly brought home a strange woman and ordered the Betas to throw my luggage out of the Alpha manor. I asked in a trembling voice, "What is the meaning of this?" Holding a cigarette, he looked at me like I had told a joke. "Yara, you're nothing more than Easton's rejected mate. And now, I don't want you either." Quietly, I hid the healer's test results in my hand. The test result burned against my palm like fire. It scorched me over and over. I looked at him, no longer desperately demanding answers like I had the first time. Because the woman's smug gaze and her rounded belly said everything. I picked up my purse and turned to leave. Quinn crushed his cigarette butt and stepped in front of me, a vengeful satisfaction flickering in his eyes. "You kept in contact with Easton behind my back, and I never said a harsh word. You refused to give me a pup because of him, and I never blamed you." "Now that I'm having a pup with someone else—without even making you carry it—why are you looking at me like I'm the one who wronged you?" His grin widened, growing more self-righteous by the second. "We grew up together. She's just a mistress. It won't threaten your position as Luna." A familiar, dull ache bloomed in my chest. He was right. I had been through this before. I was experienced. So this time, I didn't waste my breath. I simply slapped him across the face. "Quinn, you make me sick." Gaps of air were sucked in around the room. The smirk vanished from Quinn's face. He seized my wrist, his gaze turning icy. "You dare call me sickening? You've had two mates yourself. What right do you have to demand absolute loyalty from me?" The test stick in my palm finally snapped under the pressure. It broke in two, the jagged plastic digging into my flesh. I felt no pain, but tears slipped down my cheeks. Quinn's eyes flickered with panic, and he instinctively softened his tone. "Fine. I promise you, once the pup is born, I'll send her away." Looking at the face I had known for over a decade, all I felt was profound estrangement. His fingers brushed against what I was holding, and he paused. "What's in your hand?" I jerked away and threw the broken pieces into the trash can. Lowering my eyes, my voice was barely a whisper. "Nothing important. Just unwanted trash." I meant the pup. And I meant myself, discarded for a second time. Quinn frowned, about to question me further, when a cry of pain from behind drew his attention away. The woman gently rubbed her stomach as she lowered her mask. With a single glance, I froze entirely. She was the very same rogue Easton had pinned against the window—the lone wolf I had sheltered for years, who turned out to be an undercover agent from the Shadow Creek Pack. Three years had passed. Chloe was as radiant as ever, her skin glowing and flawless. That was how Easton had described her back then. He had said he couldn't resist her. He had said that even lying in my bed, his heart and his dreams were filled only with her. My previous departure and sacrifice had only earned her a chance to sink her claws into my second man. And she had conceived his pup before I could. Judging by the size of her belly, they had been together for quite a while. Biting my lip until the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, nails digging into my palms, I walked toward them step by step. "Yara..." Chloe acted as if she had just recognized me, grabbing my hand with faux delight. "After parting ways in San Francisco, I never imagined you'd come back to New York. We really are fated. Even our taste in Alphas is exactly the same..." Without a word, I raised my hand and swung. Slap! The blow didn't land on Chloe. It hit Quinn. He had shielded her with his body. Holding his cheek, his face darkened completely. "Yara, there's a limit to throwing tantrums! Two slaps are more than enough!" "She's delicate and carrying my pup. Don't take your anger out on her! Do you really want a repeat of how pathetic you were three years ago?" My body shuddered violently. It felt like being thrown right back into that snowy night. After I caught Easton in the act, he dropped all pretense, demanding coldly: "A woman's shelf life with me is three months at most. With you, it was a whole year. I already made an exception for you, so what more do you want?" "Even if I love you, I'm not going to give up the entire forest for one tree." To force me into submission, he used every brutal Alpha method at his disposal—cutting off my pack resources, stripping me of every penny, and driving me out of the pack territory like a stray dog. In the dead of winter, during a heavy blizzard, covered in bruises, I was pinned into the snow by a gang of rogues. Blood stained the white beneath me; my face was deathly pale. Then Quinn dropped from the sky like a savior. He fought off the rogues, his eyes bloodshot as he pulled me tightly against his chest. "Don't be afraid, Yara... I'll protect you with my life." How utterly laughable.Back then, Chloe had knelt at my feet, swearing to repay me with her life—and she repaid me by climbing into my mate's bed. And Quinn swore to protect me with his life, yet three years later, without exception, he fell for the exact same ungrateful traitor. The snow outside was light. Yet it felt colder than that night years ago. Wiping the tears from the corners of my eyes, I picked up my phone without sparing them another glance. I intended to find an ordinary pack quarter to spend the night. "Wait," Chloe spoke up suddenly. Right in front of me, she wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck. "Didn't you promise I could stay in the south-facing master bedroom? Making love by the window is so much more thrilling anyway." Chloe locked eyes with me as she drawled out the last sentence. Quinn let out a low chuckle, met my gaze, and scooped her up into his arms before carrying her inside. That room had originally been our master suite. The ceiling had skylights because Quinn had said he wanted to hold me and look at the stars until we fell asleep. Later, it was remodeled into a nursery. He had told me he wanted our future pups to wake up to the sun every morning. And now. Before our pup could even be born, this sanctuary of love was about to become their filthy love nest. The rug, the sofa, the balcony outside. Just like Easton before him, Quinn would pin this woman down. They would pant, they would scream... I closed my eyes. The heavy slam of the door was like a blade, carving my heart wide open. I leaned against the wall, barely able to keep my balance. The tears could no longer be held back. In the dead silence of the hallway, my phone buzzed. A text arrived from an unknown number: "Yara, don't you want to know why Quinn betrayed you for Chloe?" "Tomorrow at nine in the morning. I'll be waiting at the Rose Garden Restaurant." No need to guess. The sender was my former mate, Easton. The Rose Garden Restaurant was where we first met. When the auction for my late mother's final heirloom fell through, my eyes had burned with heartbreak. The very next day, he knocked on my door holding that exact heirloom. For the next six months, an endless stream of gifts piled up like a mountain in the Muir living room. My father wanted to sell me off for a high price. Seeing that Easton was the wealthy Alpha of the Crimson Pack, he turned down the Ridge Pack and accepted him. As the daughter of an elite Crimson Pack lineage, I was used to superficiality and greed. I had never expected much from a mating bond. Yet he broke through my frozen walls with clumsy, handwritten love letters. When I fell overboard during a yacht party, he leaped into the dark ocean without a second thought to pull me out. I was unscathed, but his legs were savaged to the bone by a school of aggressive predators. When severe cramps made me curl into a ball in bed, he abandoned pack duties and stood by the stove until his fingers were red and blistered, just to brew me herbal tea. Overjoyed, I thought I had found my true mate. So I brought the stray rogue I had taken in, Chloe, to San Francisco. And in return, they turned me into an abandoned female, exiling me into the cold. Recalling these memories, the sting was gone. Just like seeing Easton again brought no lingering sorrow. He looked the same as ever—dark, brooding eyes, impossibly handsome, just a bit leaner than before. "There's something I need to tell you." Seeing me sit down, he slid his phone across the table. "What is this?" Easton hesitated for a second, but ultimately swiped the screen open. A single glance made my entire body tremble violently. On the screen was a video: Quinn, holding a cigarette between his lips, handing bundles of cash to a group of rogues. Seeing me frozen in shock, Easton adjusted his glasses. "When it comes to cruelty, I can't compete with Quinn. I was the one who exiled you back then, but... the one who hired those rogues to violate you was him." The world exploded in my ears. "To possess you, he stopped at nothing. He would rather destroy you..." As his words echoed, twisted, grinning faces flashed in my mind. Taunts, jeers, the tearing pain in my body, the crushed remains of an unborn embryo. "Shut up!"I screamed, shooting to my feet, gasping desperately for breath. My face was wet and ice-cold. Whether from the phantom agony of that horrific night, or because his single revelation had shattered the last three years of love into dust. I glared at him, gritting my teeth. "Are you any better than him?" "You're only telling me this to prove that the man I dragged myself back to New York for was worse than you..." My voice was raw and ragged. Tears spilled down like broken strings of beads. "You want to prove that leaving you meant I could never find happiness! That you'll always be my best option! But between you and him... what difference is there?" Easton went silent for a moment before speaking softly. "I was a bastard. I wronged you. But I never intended to replace you. Yet I heard that the Ridge Pack is about to get a new Luna." "He's been parading Chloe around pack events behind your back. He brought her to the core lands of the Ridge Pack. In fact..." He paused, his piercing gaze locking onto mine. "He even held a mating ceremony with her in the assembly hall. Back then, I only exiled you, but he threw you out of the bond entirely. Yara, come with me." A sudden numbness washed over my nerves. I felt completely hollow. The kind of blankness that only follows absolute, unbearable pain. I parted my lips, about to refuse, when my neck was seized in a violent grip. A furious roar erupted beside my ear: "Easton! In your fucking dreams!" Quinn was squeezing with all his might. He was practically crushing my windpipe. "Have you no shame at all? The second you feel wronged by me, you run straight to your ex-Alpha for comfort?" I didn't speak. I didn't struggle. I merely stared at him with hollow, dead eyes. Easton rose abruptly. "Let go of her!" In the next second, a ring of pack guards surrounded him. Quinn sneered, a sinister cruelty flashing across his features. "You have no say here! Don't forget, she's my mate now!" "You sent her expensive gifts year after year, refusing to let go. If you loved her so damn much, where were you back then?" Easton went pale, his fists clenched tight enough to split skin. "Quinn, don't get cocky. You're going to walk the exact same path I did!" With that, Easton turned to look at me. "Yara, whenever you make up your mind, come find me." Before Quinn could react, Easton shoved his shoulder past him and stormed out. The air in the room felt thick and suffocating. Heavy, unbearable silence. I bypassed Quinn and got into the car first. He followed close behind, snarling in frantic frustration: "You are not allowed to leave with him! You won't see him, and you won't ever contact him again!" When I gave no response, he snapped, gripping my shoulders and shaking me violently. "I'm talking to you! Did you hear me?!" "You've already been rejected once. You don't want to be rejected a second time, do you? When he threw you away, the Crimson Pack discarded you like trash." "I was the only one who treated you well! Yara, don't let him poison your head! Just be a good Luna..." Treated me well? The kind of good that involved lying to me, trampling on me, and destroying my life? A low, broken laugh escaped my throat. Quinn yanked my chin around, raw desperation bleeding into his gaze. "What are you laughing at?" Refusing to meet his eyes, I asked in a barely audible voice, "Besides Chloe, is there anything else you're hiding from me?" Quinn's body stiffened. He averted his gaze unnaturally toward the window. He didn't confess. Yet his silence admitted everything. My laughter grew louder and louder. Louder, and all the more heartbreaking. The ragged sound sliced through the cramped interior like a razor-sharp blade. "Enough! Stop laughing!" Quinn raised his voice, reaching out to cover my mouth. Fury surged in my chest, threatening to tear me apart from the inside. I grabbed his hand and bit down with all the strength left in me. I didn't let go until the metallic tang of blood filled my mouth. "Quinn! You're a monster!" "Haven't you always wanted to know who I loved more? Fine, I admit it! I love Easton! I regret being rejected by him!" "Because no matter how vile he was, he never murdered my pup!" Quinn's breath hitched, his eyes darkening with savage fury. He grabbed my throat with one hand, his eyes blazing red. "You think I don't regret this?" "I'm Quinn! I could have had any she-wolf I wanted! Yet I settled for a used ex whose womb had already buried a dead pup!" "Easton had damn good taste. Chloe is ten times more fun than you, and a hell of a lot better in bed!"A thunderclap seemed to detonate inside my skull. The pain was so agonizing I couldn't breathe. When I parted my lips to speak, he clamped his fingers down on my jaw. "What, got a taste for biting now?" "Chloe was right. You two never really cut ties, did you?" Quinn's enraged face blurred before my eyes, stripped bare of any lingering tenderness. Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth. Darkness encroached on my vision. And then, I passed out. When I opened my eyes again, cold iron chains bound me to the bedposts. Chloe sat by the edge of the mattress, a sweet, venomous smile on her face as she held a steaming bowl of dark liquid. "Quinn said your emotions were too out of control. He told me to make sure you drink your medicine." With no one else around, she didn't bother wearing her mask. She grabbed a fistful of my hair, forcing my head back. Gritting my teeth against the pain, my voice shook as I demanded: "I treated you like a sister... why did you do this to me?" Chloe squeezed my jaw, letting out a sudden, mocking laugh. "Why? Because you're pathetic! You're a fool who insisted on playing the saint!" "I despise the self-righteous, high-and-mighty attitudes of you highborn pack wolves, and I hate hypocritical idiots like you even more! You loved handing out charity, didn't you? Then I'm going to grind you beneath my heel!" The moment the words left her mouth, she forced the bitter brew down my throat. The pungent liquid hit my stomach, instantly triggering violent, tearing cramps that made me curl into a shuddering ball. My fingernails scraped against the wall as I choked out: "What... what did you give me?" She smiled sweetly, enunciating every word: "Medicine, of course." "Laced with wolfsbane. In ten minutes, your second pup will turn into bloody, mangled tissue, draining out of you onto these sheets." Her hysterical laughter rang in my ears. I trembled against the headboard. My gaze drifted toward the silver fruit knife resting on the bedside table. Chloe was still gloating maliciously: "In five months, my pup will be born into this world. While yours will rot away into nothing. You useless failure, you can't even protect a single pup—" Chloe never got to finish her sentence. I lunged forward, pressing the edge of the silver knife straight against her throat. My grip tightened instinctively, and a line of scarlet welled under the blade. She let out a piercing scream. "Stop!" Quinn rushed into the room, his face storming with fury. It wasn't concern—it was the blinding rage of someone who felt his worst suspicions had just been confirmed. "You're trying to commit murder over Easton? You love him that damn much?!" "Quinn, she's completely lost her mind over Easton! Save me... save our pup..." Chloe clutched her belly, sobbing pathetically. "Don't be afraid. Nothing will happen to our pup!" Hearing Quinn's tender, protective promise, a broken laugh bubbled in my throat. Their pup would be safe and sound... What about mine? Instinctively, I looked down. The white sheets beneath me were soaked in a brilliant, widening pool of crimson. My eyes burned with agonizing tears. The hand gripping the knife began to shake uncontrollably. In the next second, the knife was ripped from my fingers and tossed aside. Quinn frowned, his voice laced with confusion. "Yara, where are you hurt?" Chloe cut in hastily, "It's... her monthly cycle." Quinn froze for a moment, a flash of disappointment passing over his features. I simply watched him carry the woman who had just murdered our second pup over to the sofa. I watched him pour her water, wrap a blanket around her, and tenderly tuck in the corners. Meanwhile, beneath me, the cold grew deeper, the red spreading further. Stumbling, I dragged my chained body toward the sofa, reaching out a trembling hand. "Ah!" Chloe shrieked in terror! Without looking, Quinn instinctively snatched up the knife and swung around. Pain truly makes a person weak. When I was thirteen, I fell from a tree swing. Quinn threw himself underneath me, acting as my human cushion. I didn't have a scratch on me, but three of his ribs were fractured. I had cried and cursed at him, asking why he didn't just move out of the way. He had offered a goofy, sheepish grin: "Silly girl, if I moved, you would've gotten hurt. I never want you to feel even a fraction of pain..." The fifteen-year-old Quinn couldn't bear to see me hurt in the slightest. Yet at thirty, he drove a blade straight toward my heart without hesitation. Squelch! The blade pierced flesh. Blood splattered before my eyes. I watched Quinn's pupils dilate in horror. His eyes turned bloodshot. His face drained of all color. My trembling fingers reached up, lightly touching his grief-stricken face. "Why did you... hire those rogues to destroy me?" "Why did you murder... one pup after another...?"