Chapter 2 — The Spare Daughter

POV: Selene

I always knew Kieran didn't love me.

That wasn't a secret. Six years ago, on the night before the grand Draven-Ashcroft wedding, my beautiful older sister Jessica packed her bags and ran away. She wanted freedom to be with other men, not an arranged marriage.

But our parents couldn't afford to lose the powerful alliance with the Draven pack. So, they dressed me in Jessica's leftover wedding gown, pinned my hair up, and handed me over to Kieran instead. I was nineteen, the spare daughter, the backup plan.

For six long years, I swallowed my pride. I smiled through his coldness. I raised our daughter, Amelia, and tried to be the perfect Luna. I thought if I just loved him enough, if I was just loyal enough, he would eventually forget about Jessica. I stayed up late waiting for him to come home from pack meetings. I made sure the mansion was run perfectly. I tried so hard to fix our broken family.

But as I stood in the doorway, staring at them on the couch, the truth finally slapped me in the face.

I expected Kieran to be busy, cold, literally anything else, but not this. I had just spent three months in a coma fighting for my life. Our unborn son had just died. And my husband was busy fucking the hell out of my sister who threw him away.

After what felt like eternity, they finally noticed me.

They didn't jump apart. There was no panic, no guilt, no scrambling to cover up.

Jessica slowly moved off his lap, smoothing down her tight skirt with a lazy, satisfied smirk. Kieran simply let out a heavy sigh, acting like my presence was nothing more than a minor annoyance. He calmly buttoned his shirt and stood up.

"You're back," he simply said, his voice flat.

It was like I'd come back from a vacation, not a coma.

He didn't rush over to hug me. He didn't ask if I was in pain. He didn't even mention the car crash or the baby we lost. He just looked at my clothes with pure disgust.

"I'm awake," I whispered, my voice shaking. "I just got out of the hospital, Kieran. I almost died. Our baby is dead."

Kieran didn’t even flinch. "I know. The pack doctor kept me updated. It is a tragedy, but the pack has to move forward. And frankly, Selene, you look terrible."

I stared at him, my brain refusing to process his cruelty. "What?"

"Let's not make a scene, Selene," Jessica suddenly chimed in, walking over to stand right next to him. She linked her arm through his, resting her head on his shoulder. "You've always been so dramatic. You need to rest, and Kieran has been under so much stress trying to run the pack without a Luna by his side."

"Get away from him," I choked out, taking a step forward. "This is my house. You don't belong here, Jessica."

"Actually, she does," Kieran interrupted smoothly. He didn't even have the decency to look ashamed. He looked me right in the eye. "Jessica is moving in permanently. In fact, her things are already in the master bedroom."

My heart stopped. "What are you talking about?"

"I am taking Jessica as my Second Mate and wife," Kieran announced, his tone as casual as if he were ordering dinner. "The elders already know, and the pack fully supports it."

"Second Mate?" I repeated, the words burning my throat. "I am your wife!"

"You were a replacement!" He snapped, his patience snapping. He took a step toward me, his Alpha aura flaring heavily in the room, trying to force me to submit. "You were supposed to fill her shoes, Selene. But instead of improving yourself to gain my approval over the years, you've only grown worse. You're weak. You're quiet. You embarrass me at pack events because you have no presence."

Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let them fall. "I gave you six years of my life. I gave you a daughter. I carried your son!"

"And you lost him because you were careless enough to drive alone at night!" Kieran shot back, throwing my deepest trauma right in my face. Wasn't it his fault for refusing to take me to the hospital himself when I felt pain in my abdomen?

He continued, "The Draven pack cannot afford a weak Luna who spends months sleeping in a hospital bed while the territory falls apart. Jessica is strong. She's the mate I was supposed to have from the very beginning. She will be my Second Mate, and you will learn to accept it."

"It's for the best, little sister," Jessica said with a fake, pitying smile. "You can just stay in the guest room and focus on resting. I'll handle the duties. We can all be a happy family."

Something inside of me shattered.

The naive, hopeful girl who had spent six years begging for scraps of love died right there on the living room floor. All the warmth in my blood turned to pure ice.

I stopped shaking and stood up perfectly straight, ignoring the sharp pain in my stomach. I looked at the man I had loved for six years, and for the first time in my life, I felt absolutely nothing for him.

"So, that's it," I said, my voice shockingly steady.

Kieran raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised that I wasn't on my knees crying and begging him to change his mind. "Yes. That's it. The mating ceremony is in a few weeks. You will be the one arranging it since all you've done was laze around."

"I have a question, Kieran," I said softly, tilting my head.

"What?" 

"If you are allowed to have a second mate," I asked, looking him dead in the eye, "am I allowed to have one too?"

For a second, the room was dead quiet.

Then, Kieran threw his head back and laughed. It was a loud, booming, cruel laugh that echoed off the high ceiling. Jessica giggled beside him, covering her mouth with her hand.

"You?" Kieran mocked, wiping a tear of amusement from his eye. He looked me up and down like I was a piece of trash on his expensive rug. "Look at yourself, Selene. You are pale, weak, and completely broken. If anyone actually wants your pathetic self, be my guest. But we both know no one is ever going to look at you."

He paused, his smile dropping into a cold, hard line. "But I'm marrying Jessica and that's it."

Before I could even process the sting of his words, the front doors opened.

Rapid, tiny footsteps echoed across the marble floor.

My heart leaped into my throat. Amelia. My sweet, beautiful five-year-old daughter. The only reason I had fought so hard to wake up from that coma.

Amelia walked into the living room, her school backpack hanging off her shoulder.

She looked at Kieran, then at Jessica.

"Did I just hear that's right?”