Chapter 2

Bella's POV

I had always known that my father hated me.

From the very first day my mother brought me to his mansion decades ago and told him that I was his daughter, his hatred had been clear. He had sent us away that same day, threatening to kill her if she ever dared to return and ruin his reputation.

But my mother had gone to the Alpha Council.

And because of that, he was forced to take her in as a concubine—a decision she had never expected. Knowing that Beta Maxwell would never truly accept an omega elevated into his household, she fled with me instead.

Days later, the house we took shelter in burned to the ground and she had died in that fire.

I survived only because I had been outside when it happened.

With nowhere else to go, I was forced back to Moonstone Pack and my father took me in as one of his children.

But I never knew his hatred still ran just as deep as it had all those years ago.

“Peony is my legitimate daughter,” his voice echoed in my head as I recalled what he had told me earlier.

“By tradition, she is the one meant to be Jaxon’s mate. I don’t know what dark magic you used to steal her mate bond three years ago and made Jaxon's wolf recognize you instead, but it ends today. Request a rejection from him if you still want me to consider you my daughter.”

His words had been merciless and void of feelings as he said them.

“I’ll die in peace knowing he is mated to Peony instead of you,” he had continued. “An omega-born shame. A stain on my family name. Knowing you are the one crowned Luna disgusts me.”

Walking toward Jaxon’s chambers with those words replaying in my head, disgust twisted violently in my chest.

All these years, I had done everything I could to earn my father’s acknowledgment.

When Peony became Jaxon’s mistress, I stayed silent for him. I believed that allowing her to be Jaxon’s lover, even his future concubine, would ease his hatred of me being Luna and Jaxon’s mate instead of her.

But that had never been his goal.

A tall wooden staff was raised, blocking my path as I approached Jaxon’s door. The warriors standing guard crossed it firmly before me.

“The Alpha is in an important meeting and cannot see anyone right now, Luna,” the first said, stressing the last word. “Anyone.”

“Mindlink the Alpha and tell him I am at his door,” I commanded. “I have something urgent to discuss with him.”

“Mindlink my Alpha?” the second guard mocked, looking at me with open disgust.

“I am the Luna, do you not—” I began, my voice rising, ready to threaten them like I always did.

But I stopped.

Because threats had never worked.

“Shouldn’t a Luna be able to communicate through the pack’s mind link?” the second guard continued, feigning sudden realization. “Oh… I probably forgot.”

His gaze raked over me slowly and I understood exactly what he meant.

I was wolfless.

Even though I was mated and marked by Jaxon, my wolf remained dormant.

When I turned nineteen and his wolf marked me during his coronation ceremony, I had believed my own wolf would awaken because of it.

Three years had passed.

I still hadn’t heard even a whisper.

That alone made me powerless and unable to access the pack’s mind link.

A sharp pain suddenly tore through me, ripping through my chest.

My knees buckled and I lost my balance and fell hard to the floor.

The guards burst out laughing at the sight of me.

“Has the wolfless mutt become too weak to even stand?” I overheard one guard whisper to another.

I was wolfless, that much I knew. But I still possessed some werewolf traits and senses even sharper than those with wolves. One of them was my hearing. No whisper was ever truly quiet to me, no matter the distance.

Pain ripped through me again and I didn’t need anyone to tell me the cause.

Jaxon who was having sex with Peony.

The bond we shared betrayed me, carrying her pleasure straight into my body. I could hear her sounds through it and even feel the rhythm of his movements.

That was the “important meeting.”

I forced myself to stand.

This wasn’t the first time I’d endured the pain of his betrayal. So why should this one break me? I asked myself, clenching my fists.

“Move,” I commanded the guards still blocking my path, rage surging through my veins. I was ready to cause a scene if that was what it took.

“I am the Luna,” I added coldly. “Consider how badly it would look if I sent a message to the Alpha Council about how I am treated in this pack.”

Moonstone Pack might disrespect me, but the Alpha Council would not tolerate it. Tradition bound them all, just as it had bound Jaxon to me when his wolf marked me against his will.

Three years, that was all the time tradition allowed.

And those three years ended today.

No pack defied the Alpha Council and walked away unscathed. Everyone feared them, everyone except the Lycan King of the North, whose pack had long been cast out for refusing their laws.

Jaxon would never risk that fate.

The guards stepped aside and i didn’t hesitate after they did.

I pushed the door open, the heavy wood slamming against the wall with a sickening thud.

The sound was enough to announce my presence but not enough to stop them.

My breath hitched as Jaxon and Peony didn’t pause nor separate, didn’t even try to hide what they were doing. If anything, Peony noticed me and grew bolder, clinging to him, flaunting the intimacy that had always been denied to me.

She wanted me to see and feel it.

And through the bond, I did.

I stood there for agonizing moments I couldn’t count, watching my mate take pleasure in my sister, knowing they were fully aware of my presence.

“Bella,” Jaxon’s voice finally broke through my haze. “What brings you here?” he asked when he had cum inside her.

I turned my gaze to the bed where he sat up slowly, still naked and utterly unbothered. Peony remained behind him, triumph written plainly on her face as her hands traced his chest. She never broke eye contact with me.

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat.

Just moments ago, I had come here to plead and beg him not to believe whatever lies he might be told about me in the future. I had planned to endure and sacrifice again, to wait even.

The realization burned that for years that had been all I did for a man who never spared me a single thought.

Three years had passed yet nothing had changed.

I released a long breath and lifted my head, something inside me finally snapping into place.

For the first time, I wasn’t begging.

“I, Bella Maxwell,” I said steadily, gathering the courage I had denied myself for years, “have come to reject you, Alpha Jaxon.”