Chapter 2: The one he waited for.

Lyra POV

Vivienne Hartley. The biological daughter of Gerald and Diane Hartley, the Beta couple who had taken me in and Asher’s childhood sweetheart.

Asher was on his feet before the captain finished speaking. He moved past me without a word or a glance and disappeared through the door while I stood alone in his office, one hand pressed to my stomach, the other still half-raised around a sentence I never got to finish.

I followed him down the stairs, trying to keep up.

He moved faster than I had ever seen him move for anything in three years. He didn’t even move like that for pack emergencies, border breaches, or the night a rogue ambush killed two of our sentries, and I was the one who organised the medical response while he was away. None of that had ever made Asher Voss run.

But Vivienne's name did.

By the time I reached the eastern courtyard, a crowd had already gathered. Pack members pressed forward, voices tangled in shock and relief and something close to worship. And there, at the centre of it all, was Vivienne Hartley.

She was nestled in Asher's arms, sobbing beautifully. Her hair was tangled, and her clothes were torn. Tears streamed down her face as she clung to his chest, her voice breaking over every other word.

"I only left because I was angry," she whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear. "I didn't mean to go far. But the rogues found me before I could come back. For years, I tried to escape, but they kept dragging me back. Every time I ran, they caught me. Every time I fought, they hurt me worse." Her fingers curled into Asher's shirt. "The only thing that kept me alive was you. Knowing that one day, I would find my way home to you."

The crowd ate it up. Poor Vivienne. Brave Vivienne. Vivienne, who suffered all those years while Lyra sat comfortably in her stolen throne.

Then she saw me.

Her eyes locked onto mine over Asher's shoulder, and for a split second, something hard flickered behind the tears. Then it was gone, replaced by a trembling smile.

"Sister." She called out to me sweetly. "Have you been well all these years?"

Sister.

That was what she had called me when we were young, before the Hartleys stopped pretending we were the same.

A few years back, when the Moon Goddess revealed Asher as my mate, I had thought fate had decided to bless me, but I was wrong.

Asher had looked at me like the bond itself had insulted him.

Everyone in this pack had expected Vivienne to become Luna long before the Moon Goddess chose me instead. They grew up together, promised to each other in everything but ceremony. When the Council of Elders forced Asher into a contract marriage with me, Vivienne left the pack in a rage and disappeared without a word. For three years, the entire pack mourned her as if she were dead.

Everyone except Asher. He never mourned her. He searched for her, quietly and relentlessly, in every intelligence report, every border patrol debrief, every late night spent in his office. 

Three years of marriage to me, and he spent every single one of them looking for her while I’d spent three years unloved. A Luna in name only.

At that moment, Vivienne's parents were pushing through the crowd to reach her. Diane was already crying, hands clasped over her mouth. Gerald's face was tight with emotion as he pulled Vivienne into a trembling embrace.

Then Diane turned to me.

"This is your fault." Her voice trembled with hatred. "If you hadn't taken what was hers, she never would have left. She never would have suffered like this. My daughter spent years in the hands of rogues because of you."

The accusation was false, but no one corrected her. Not Gerald, not the elders or even Asher.

I had not asked the Moon Goddess to choose me. I had not asked the Council to bind Asher to me. I had not asked Vivienne to leave, yet I was blamed for all of it, and now that she had returned, the pack had finally been given permission to say it to my face.

"You're home. You're safe. You will never have to leave again.” Asher said, stroking her hair and mumuring promises. 

I stood there and watched the man I loved hold another woman as if she were the only thing in the world that mattered.

I had spent three years trying to be enough for a man who saw me as a placeholder — something to keep the seat warm until the woman he actually wanted came back to claim it. The Council of Elders declared me the Moon Goddess's chosen Luna during a critical leadership transition. Asher needed legitimacy, and the pack needed stability. So, I became the compromise no one wanted, but everyone accepted.  

Now Vivienne was back. And the small, dangerous hope I had carried out of that clinic, that maybe this baby could be the thing that finally bonded us, crumbled.

Asher straightened and turned to the crowd. His voice carried his Alpha command.

"I will be reconsidering wedding arrangements with Vivienne."

For a second, I thought I had misheard him, but the gasps around me confirmed it followed almost instnatly by nods and murmurs of approval. Of course, he would marry Vivienne. It had only ever been a matter of time.

Vivienne pressed her face into his chest, and I watched her lips curve into the faintest smile against his shirt.

Then she pulled back slightly, her brow creasing with hesitation. "But... what about Sister?" She glanced at me with wide, concerned eyes. "She is still the Luna, after all."

Asher didn't look at me. He didn't even turn his head.

"Her position was only ever temporary," he said. "When the contract ends, everything will go back to the way it was."

The air went still. A few pack members exchanged glances, but nobody objected. It was as if every single person in that courtyard had been waiting three years to hear those words.

The last trace of warmth I had been holding onto in my chest went cold.

Temporary. That was all I had ever been.

"Lyra." Asher's voice reached me.

I looked up.

"Arrange a room for Vivienne on the Alpha floor. Make sure she's comfortable."

I dug my nails into my palms until I felt the skin break. Then I nodded.

"Of course, Alpha."

I turned and walked away before my emotions could betray me.

Behind me, the murmur of the crowd swelled, voices bright with excitement, already discussing wedding plans, flower arrangements, ceremony dates. As though the Luna walking past them had already ceased to exist.

The walk back to my room felt longer than it should have, but I finally made it there and closed the door.

I sank to the floor slowly, my back against the wood. For a long time, I did not cry. I only sat there with one hand over my stomach, trying to understand how the world could change so completely in a single afternoon.

Eventually, I forced myself up and opened the drawer beside my bed.

The contract was still there, its pages soft with age, the creases deep from the dozen times I had folded and unfolded them over three years. I knew every line by heart because I was afraid of breaking a clause. My eyes moved over the familiar clauses until they stopped on one line near the bottom.

If the Luna becomes pregnant during the contract period, full custody of any offspring shall default to the Alpha and his bloodline.

The words blurred. My hand dropped to my stomach.

If I told Asher, would this child even be mine to keep? But if I did not tell him, how would I get the mark? How would I save the baby?

I was still sitting on the floor, trapped between two difficult choices, when the door swung open without a knock.

Vivienne walked in and closed it softly behind her.

The fragile, tearful woman from the gate had disappeared; for a second, I wondered if anyone else had ever seen her at all. She looked around my room with a faint smile, then finally let her gaze settle on me.

“You really held on for three whole years,” she said. “I almost admire your patience.”

“Finished performing?” I retorted. “What do you want now?”

She ignored the question. “Three whole years, and he still chose to keep the bond weak rather than mark you. Do you know what that means, Lyra?” She tilted her head. "It means that in his heart, you were never a real Luna. You were just keeping my place warm."

I rose to my feet. "Get out of my room."

"Your room?" She laughed softly. "Nothing in this pack is yours. It never was."

“Fine,” I said coldly. “Now, leave.”

Her eyes glinted. “Make me.”

I reached for her arm, intending only to push her out, but she moved faster. Her hand clamped around my wrist and dragged it upward, pressing my palm against her throat.

Cold fear shot through me as I tried to pull free, but her grip was iron, her fingers locked around mine, pinning my palm to her neck. Her eyes gleamed with mischief.

“Vivienne, what are you—"

Then she screamed.

The sound ripped through the room and into the hallway. The door flew open a second later, and Asher stormed in, chest heaving, eyes blazing.

And what he saw was my hands wrapped around Vivienne's throat.

His expression turned to ice. He didn't ask questions or hesitate. He crossed the room in two strides, wrenched me backwards so hard I stumbled, and pulled Vivienne into his arms.

"It's okay," he murmured against her hair. "I'm here. She won't touch you again."

Vivienne buried her face in his chest and over his shoulder; her eyes found mine. 

She smiled.