Replaced by the Hero’s Orphan

The moment I signed the contract, my wolf howled in mourning.

Just then, my mate, Rhys, walked out of Chloe’s room.

I had to talk to him. I stepped in his path.

“Not now,” he said, cutting me off before I could speak.

He didn’t even look me in the eye. “I have to check the moonstone reserves with the Alpha. I need to personally test the energy in Chloe’s room tonight, make sure it’s enough to nourish her wolf.”

He rushed past me, distracted, and planted a quick, empty kiss on my forehead.

“Wait for me. Be good. This is for the pack’s honor. We have to take care of the hero’s orphan.”

Then he was gone.

I touched my forehead and forced a bitter smile.

I remember the day my wolf woke up.

My first shift was brutal. The pain of my bones breaking and reforming had me screaming.

I was writhing on the floor. I needed him.

But Rhys wasn’t there.

He was with Chloe at a human music festival.

It was the anniversary of her father's death, and he had to “distract her.”

I walked out of the gleaming new mansion.

My three suitcases were dumped by the door.

My mother pointed to the old Omega quarters at the edge of the woods. “You can stay in a guest room there for now.”

It was a building with no heat. No fireplace. Just bone-chilling cold.

“Mom, is there really no other room in the main house?” I gripped my luggage handle.

Her brow furrowed. “You used to live in the Omega quarters, didn’t you? Eliana, you’re the future Luna. You need to prove yourself. You can’t always be coddled.”

I laughed. A hollow, bitter sound.

Living in a freezing room was how I proved myself?

Ten years ago, I had my own room.

Then the Blood Moon War happened. Chloe, whose Beta father had died, had nightmares every night.

To comfort her, my mother moved her out of the Beta dorms and straight into my room.

And I was kicked out. Into the cold Omega quarters.

“It’s just for a little while,” she’d said. “Until she’s stable.”

A little while. Ten years.

Now, in the brand-new Pack House, they gave Chloe a bigger, better room.

And they completely forgot I needed a place to stand.

I didn’t argue. I dragged my bags to the Omega quarters.

The smell of mildew hit me the second I opened the door.

Damp. Just like ten years ago.

The windows were so small, no moonlight could get in.

The feast was held in the main hall.

The long table was loaded with roasted venison and sweet berry mead. All of Chloe’s favorites.

Jasper, red-faced, was telling the whole pack again how Chloe’s father had taken a silver bullet for him.

Rhys cut the choicest piece of venison heart from his plate.

He gently passed it to Chloe.

“Eat this. It will make you stronger.” His voice was so tender.

I sat at the very end of the table. In a corner.

My plate? A single, dry piece of rye bread.

No one even looked at me.

I stood up and went to the kitchen.

A sharp pain stabbed my stomach. I just wanted a glass of milk.

“What are you doing?!”

The kitchen door flew open. My mother stood there, furious.

“Everyone is out there listening to the story of a hero, and you’re in here hiding and drinking milk?” Her eyes were like ice. “You’re not just disrespecting a hero, you’re disrespecting Chloe!”

“Mom, they gave me one piece of bread tonight,” I said, my voice flat. “I’m hungry.”

“Eliana, don’t be like this.”

Rhys’s tall frame appeared behind my mother.

He frowned, his eyes blaming me.

“It’s a special day. Don’t throw a tantrum now.” He sighed, like I was a spoiled child. “You’ve always been so strong.”

Strong.

Because I was strong, I was supposed to choke down dry bread. Live in drafty Omega quarters. Watch my own mate give all his attention to another woman.

The mate bond spiked with sharp, suffocating agony. I slammed my mental walls shut, blocking him out. I pulled out my phone.

I looked at their righteous faces and suddenly felt so tired.

I picked up the glass of milk.

Tipped my wrist.

The white liquid vanished down the drain in a swirl.

My mother stared, shocked. I put the empty glass down.

“I won’t interrupt your hero worship.”

I walked past them without a word, out of the noisy mansion.

Back in the lonely Omega quarters, I shut the flimsy door.

The wind whistled through the window cracks, but I didn’t feel the cold anymore.

I tapped the screen on my phone.

A final confirmation from the Lycan Research Institute.

[Dr. Eliana, we look forward to your arrival in 20 days.]

I leaned against the damp wall, my heart set like stone.

If there was anything I was reluctant to leave behind before, it was gone now.

I didn’t care about any of it.

In twenty days, I would be gone from this pack for good.

And they probably wouldn’t even notice I was missing for a long, long time.