Chapter three

ARABELLA POV

I hurried back to the Blue Moon Pack with nervous excitement fluttering inside my chest.

For the first time in my life, I believed I had something valuable to offer Adrian.

I was Arabella Cross—the surviving daughter of the Cross family, heiress to one of the strongest wolf packs in the region. I had blood, status, and a family powerful enough to stand beside the royal Lycans.

Perhaps Austin would finally no longer hold back from marrying me.

I imagined telling him everything. I imagined the surprise on his face when he discovered that I was not an orphan with no future. Perhaps he would realize that I was worthy of becoming his Luna after all.

The thought made my heart beat faster.

Nine years back, a group of rogues had infiltrated the Blue Moon Pack, slipping past the outer patrols and attacking anyone in their path. Adrian had been cornered near the southern border. By the time I found him, blood covered his clothes, and one of the rogues was about to tear out his throat.

I had not stopped to think.

I shifted and threw myself at the rogue despite being wolfless, fighting with everything I had. I still remembered the taste of blood in my mouth and the pain of the claws that raked across my side. Somehow, I managed to protect Adrian until reinforcements arrived.

Afterward, Adrian had stayed by my bedside for two weeks. He had held my hand, called me brave, and told me he could never forget that I had saved his life.

Then he had asked me to be his girlfriend.

I had accepted because, for the first time, his tenderness seemed genuine. I thought he had finally seen me—not as an orphan, not as the girl the pack pitied, but as Arabella.

I had chosen to stay by his side, praying and hoping that one day, we would finally go official in front of the pack. And now… the moon goddess has worked in my favor.

My body vibrated with joy.

I entered the pack house and began searching for him.

A servant told me that Adrian had gone toward the eastern wing with several of his friends. I followed the sound of voices down a quiet hallway.

Then I heard my name.

I stopped outside a half-closed door.

“Arabella actually believes you could love her?” one of his friends asked, laughing.

I recognized the voice as Gerry’s, one of Adrian’s closest friends.

Adrian answered with a cold chuckle.

“She has always been delusional.”

The happiness inside me vanished so quickly that it left me dizzy.

I pressed myself against the wall and listened.

“She’s only an orphan,” Adrian continued. “She has no real family, no status, and no future. Why would I ever love a nobody like that?”

My fingers went numb.

Only an orphan.

The words had been used against me my entire life, but hearing them from Adrian hurt more deeply than I could have imagined. I thought he never minded about my ordinary status like the rest of the pack?

“Then why have you stayed with her for so long?” Jayden Hales asked this time.

Adrian laughed again.

“Because she was useful.”

My breath caught.

“Useful how?”

“Whenever I fuck her, I only imagined it was Celine. Arabella was nothing more than a toy—something to use until I could have the woman I actually wanted. I can't put Celine through such a strenuous task so I let Arabella do the hardwork herself. ”

The hallway tilted beneath my feet.

I gripped the wall, fighting to remain silent.

A hot, painful shame spread through me. I remembered every time I had surrendered myself to him, believing that our intimacy meant something. I remembered lying beside him afterward, listening to his heartbeat and imagining that one day it would beat only for me.

Had he really been thinking of Celine all along?

“Besides,” Adrian added, “how could I ever be with a woman who has already aborted three times for me? What if she can’t even have children anymore? What kind of Luna would that make her?”

The room erupted in laughter.

I covered my mouth to stop the sound rising from my throat.

I remembered those days clearly. Each time I got pregnant, Adrian would hold my face in his hands and told me he was still young. He had said he could not gather the courage to speak to his parents yet. He promised that he would remain with me until he became stable—and next he would force me to the infirmary and have my pups aborted.

I had foolishly believed him.

I had worshipped that man. I had worked hard to please his parents, endured their insults, and sacrificed my entire life for the future he promised me.

And this was how he repaid me?

By turning my suffering into entertainment?

"What if the moon pities her and she chooses a token that has your name this time?" Another asked.

Adrian laughed arrogantly.

I leaned forward and stared through the narrow opening in the door.

Adrian sat lazily in a chair, one ankle resting over his knee while he held a wine in the other. His friends surrounded him, grinning like wolves feasting on a helpless animal.

He did not look ashamed. He looked proud.

“I don’t need the Moon to choose her. I’ve been controlling the ceremony for years.”

Silence fell briefly.

I stopped breathing.

“What do you mean?” Gerry blinked.

Besides him, Ethan, Adrian's beta, coughed uneasily.

"Every year, I put Celine’s name on a token and have Ethan switch the boxes before Arabella reaches for one," Adrian smirked. "She always picks the blank token because that is what I arranged.”

The world seemed to freeze.

A cold wave poured over me from head to toe.

The blank tokens. The humiliation. The pitying looks. The way Celine always drew Adrian’s name immediately after I failed.

It had never been the Moon rejecting me.

It had been Adrian.

He had stolen my hope with his own hands.

"Isn’t that a little cruel?” someone asked, though his mocking tone made it clear he did not truly pity me.

“That's what she gets for falling in love with me, gods, anytime I see her work tirelessly like a dog to please me or my family? She looked pathetic,” Adrian replied. “Besides, Celine deserves to be my mate. She is beautiful, wealthy, and from a respectable Beta family."

Everyone listens attentively.

Adrian continued. “If at all I were to marry Arabella it's only for one purpose and that is to serve Celine.” Adrian sounded pleased with himself. “Celine deserves a loyal servant, and Arabella has spent years proving she is willing to do anything to stay near me. Since Arabella is used to suffering, she’s perfect for it.”

A sharp pain pierced my chest.

Their laughter echoed through the room.

My legs trembled, but I refused to collapse.

I had come back ready to tell Adrian that I was an heiress.

I had believed my new identity might finally make me worthy in his eyes.

Now I understood that I had never been the problem.

He had simply never loved me!

Adrian’s phone began to ring.

He glanced at the screen, and his expression softened.

“It’s Celine.”

The others exchanged amused looks.

Adrian answered immediately. “Hello, sweetheart.”

The tenderness in his voice stabbed me.

I had begged for that tone for nine years.

“Where are you?” Celine asked through the phone. Her voice was faint, but I heard it clearly.

“With the others. I was telling them you are beautiful, delicate, and far more suitable to be my Luna than anyone else.”

Celine giggled. “You always know what to say.”

“Have you taken your medicine?”

“Yes. But I still feel weak.”

“Then rest. I’ll come to you as soon as I can.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Celine was silent for a moment. Then she asked, “What about my sister?”

Adrian laughed. “Arabella's nothing to worry about.”

“I hope she doesn’t draw your name at the ceremony.”

“She won’t,” he said confidently. “I already arranged everything.”

My heart stopped.

Celine gave a soft, satisfied hum. “Good. I don’t want her pretending she belongs beside you again.”

So she knew.

She had always known about the switched tokens.

She had watched me stand before the pack and suffer, knowing that my rejection had been manufactured. She had accepted Adrian’s name while I endured their laughter.

“I’ll come see you soon,” Adrian said.

“Bring me a gift.”

“Of course, I already ordered the Red Hearts necklace worth 2million just for you."

“Goddess, you spoil me too much, Adrian. Arabella would be heartbroken."

He replied ruthlessly, "I don't care. Let her hit her head on the wall and die I care less."

My breath hitched.

His friends burst into laughter, teasing him but he only grinned.

I stepped away from the door before they could discover me.

My vision blurred, but I refused to cry in that hallway. Adrian and his friends had already taken enough from me. I would not give them the satisfaction of seeing me fall apart.

I walked through the silent pack house until I reached the front entrance and ordered the driver to bring the car around.

The driver hurried toward me. “Miss Arabella, where are you going?”

“The Obsidian,” I said.

His face paled. “Are you certain?”

“Drive.”