Mate's Rejection, Brother's Obsession

He Knows My Name

MEIRA

“You’re a disgrace to this pack!” Former Luna Sophia’s voice cracked through the Alpha’s quarters like a whip, her fury blazing in her eyes.

I stood before her with my head bowed, my lips pressed shut. Speaking would only feed her rage.

“When are you going to give us an heir?” She growled, each word dripping with menace.

Still, I kept silent.

“I’m talking to you, Meira!” Her voice rose, sharp enough to make my wolf flinch inside me.

“I’m… trying my best,” I murmured, my voice barely above a whisper, eyes fixed on the floor.

“You aren’t trying enough.” Her tone turned cold, lethal. “You have three full moons. After that, your replacement will arrive.”

My chest tightened, but all I could do was nod.

She turned on her heel, the slam of the door echoing through the room and rattling my bones. I stood frozen in the deafening silence, my heart pounding like a trapped thing in my chest.

Tears blurred my vision as I made my way back to our chambers. Four years. Four long years mated to Alpha Kaelan, and still no heir.

“Hey, honey, is something wrong?” Kaelan’s deep voice filled the room as soon as I stepped inside. His eyes softened when they caught the shimmer of tears on my cheeks.

“Your mother just left,” I said quietly, my voice tight. I didn’t need to explain more. He would understand.

“Come here,” he murmured, pulling me into his arms. His embrace was warm and steady, the only place I felt safe. “We’ll have an heir when the time is right,” he whispered, brushing a gentle kiss across my forehead.

When he pulled away to grab his jacket, my chest ached. I hated when he had to leave, but duty called, and lately the office had consumed most of his time. “I’ll be back before dinner,” he promised with a faint smile before disappearing through the door.

The silence that followed was heavy, and I couldn’t shake the gnawing fear that no matter how much I loved him… time was running out.

Kaelan had been my crush for as long as I could remember. So when the Moon Goddess chose to bind us as mates, I thought my heart might burst with joy. Fast forward four years, and life wasn’t the fairytale I’d imagined—but through every storm, I clung to one unshakable truth: Kaelan loved me. And that love… it was the one thing that still felt whole.

Minutes after Kaelan left, my gaze snagged on an envelope resting against the rumpled sheets. He’d mentioned an important meeting with the neighboring pack, so I assumed the contents were related.

It was the perfect excuse to see my heartthrob again before dinner and maybe steal a sweet kiss.

Warmth crept into my cheeks at the thought as I scooped up the envelope, swept my blonde hair into a messy bun, and made my way toward the pack’s headquarters.

“Good morning, Luna. We… weren’t expecting you,” the receptionist stammered as I arrived at the headquarters, her fingers fidgeting with a strand of hair as if it might shield her from my gaze.

“That’s fine,” I replied smoothly. “Has the meeting started?” It was the only reason I could imagine for barging in unannounced.

Her eyes darted away. “No… I mean—yes… no.” She shifted in her seat, her gaze flicking around the room like a thief caught in the act. My wolf bristled. Something about her discomfort scraped against my instincts.

“I have something to give the Alpha,” I said, holding up the envelope.

“Uh… I can drop it off for you,” she offered quickly, her smile strained.

“No, thank you.” My voice left no room for argument. “I can’t give this to you.” Without waiting for her reply, I walked past, ignoring her half-formed protest, and pushed open the door to Kaelan’s office.

My heart didn’t just skip a beat—it plummeted, twisted, and crashed all at once.

Kaelan, my Kaelan was locked in a fevered make-out session with a woman whose reddish-brown hair I knew all too well. Their bodies were pressed together like they’d been starved for each other, hands roaming, lips devouring, completely oblivious to my presence.

The room tilted. My pulse roared in my ears. This couldn’t be real. But the taste of betrayal was sharp on my tongue, and with every second, it felt less like I was standing and more like I was falling… dying… in slow motion.

“Kaelan…” His name slipped from my lips in a trembling whisper as the file slipped from my hand and hit the floor with a dull thud.

The woman pressed against him was a familiar shade of reddish-brown—the same face that had haunted my nightmares, the same viper who had tormented me… and my late mother.

They turned.

On Isabella’s face bloomed a slow, poisonous smile, satisfaction dripping from every curve of her painted lips.

But Kaelan… Kaelan’s expression was different. Surprise flickered in his eyes, just for a heartbeat, before it was buried beneath an unreadable mask, the kind that hid a thousand sins.

“Oh, well, well, well… Looks like we have a birthday girl in the house,” Isabella purred, her voice dripping with mock sweetness. Every syllable was a dagger, twisting deeper into the raw wound already bleeding inside me. She wanted me to hurt and she was succeeding.

I searched Kaelan’s face, desperate for an explanation, even though I knew deep down that no words could soften the weight of what he had done.

But he didn’t explain.

“Go home, Meira,” he said instead, his voice cold… distant. “We’ll talk when I’m back.”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

From the corner of my vision, Isabella’s lips curved into a slow, satisfied smirk. Her hand drifted to her stomach, caressing it with mock tenderness.

“Don’t you want the pack to have an heir?” She asked sweetly, the poison in her tone sinking deep into my bones.

Kaelan’s voice came again, sharper this time.

“You can’t blame me. I needed an heir.”

My heart split open. “And you had to choose my sister?” I choked out, my voice breaking, my eyes raw from tears.

“Stepsister,” Isabella corrected lazily, settling into a chair and crossing her legs like a queen surveying her court.

The air in Kaelan’s office felt suffocating, the walls closing in until I could barely breathe. Before either of them could say another word, I turned and bolted. My vision blurred as I tore through the hallways, not from speed but from the tears I refused to let fall.

I tried to mask it. Goddess, I tried. But the pain was too sharp, too consuming to hide.

I couldn’t go back to the pack house. Not tonight. Not with the echoes of their voices still shredding my heart.

Instead, I drove. Aimlessly at first, the steering wheel slick beneath my trembling hands, until the lights of the neighboring pack came into view.

Kaelan’s words looped in my head, over and over, cutting deeper each time.

I had been there when Isabella shattered him, when she ran off without a trace. I had been the one to pick up the pieces, to stay when he had nothing left to give. And now… she was back. And he was more than willing to take her and give her what I had always wanted.

It felt like my world was crumbling in slow motion, every heartbeat an ache I couldn’t escape.

By the time I reached the club, I was running on pain and adrenaline. I shoved a cap over my head and pulled a mask over my face, hiding from anyone who might recognize me. The bass thumped through my chest as I ordered more liquor. I needed it. I needed something, anything to drown the storm inside me.

I slid onto a barstool, the glass cold against my fingers as I took a long swallow of the liquor I’d ordered. The burn did nothing to numb the ache in my chest.

That’s when I felt it, an unmistakable sensation of eyes on me.

Slowly, I turned.

In the VIP section, lounging like he owned the entire room, sat a man who didn’t just exist in the space… he dominated it. Broad shoulders filled out his black shirt; the fabric stretched over a frame carved with power. His jaw was sharp enough to cut glass, a faint shadow of stubble darkening his skin.

But it was his eyes that stole my breath—molten gold, burning with a predatory intensity that made the hairs on my neck rise.

Every movement he made was precise and calculated. The way he leaned back in his seat, one arm draped casually over the backrest, screamed confidence… and danger. It was the kind of presence only an Alpha could possess.

His gaze pinned me before I even saw him.

I turned…

But before I could take a step, his voice slid into my ears like a dark caress, low and rich enough to make my pulse stutter.

I hadn’t even realized he was moving toward me.

One moment he was seated across the room, the next… he was close. Too close.

Then came the voice.

Deep, commanding, and dangerous.

“Luna Meira.”

My breath caught. The sound of my name on his lips sent a shiver down my spine, every nerve sparking with something I couldn’t name. His eyes swept over me, slow and deliberate, as though committing every inch of me to memory.

The mask and the costume, I had taken every measure to disappear tonight. I wasn’t supposed to be here, in this club. Luna without her Alpha was a scandal waiting to happen.

I rose from my seat, my heart pounding against my ribs, the urge to flee warring with the need to know who he was. I could feel his gaze trailing me.

Who was this man?

And how, in the moon’s name, had he recognized me?