LOGINLuna sat on the long sofa, the twins flanking her on either side, both sets of eyes fixed on Valerian, who stood before them. Luna couldn't bring herself to meet Valerian's gaze after he'd learned the truth about her. She could still fight to conceal her omega status, but in that moment, Luna didn't know how she could deny him the truth about her twins – twins she didn't even know were in Valerian's hotel."Well? Aren't you going to say something?" Valerian asked, his tone serious, but Luna was unable to speak."I'm asking you, Luna. Now that you've verified that you're the omega from eight years ago, and you've hidden your identity for almost a year, why don't you explain who these two children beside you are, and why they look so much like me? You said you didn't get pregnant that night when I knotted you, so who are they?" Valerian stated, barely holding back his frustration. He desperately wanted a straight answer from her."Luna! I'm talking to--""--Don't yell at my mom!" Leon i
"So, are you telling me your secretary isn't a beta, but a recessive omega?" Valerian heard Samuel say from the other line."Yeah, and she lied about her status to me. I called HR earlier, and they knew about Luna being an omega." Valerian replied, frustration lacing his tone."That means she only kept her omega status a secret from you. And you said her pheromones have the scent of tangerine, just like the omega you were with eight years ago, right?" Samuel pressed, his voice thoughtful.Valerian sat at his desk, glancing at Luna, who was still unconscious on his sofa. Her pheromones had subsided, but if she was still in her heat cycle, Valerian was sure what happened earlier would happen again, so he immediately asked for a suppressant for Luna to take once she woke up.Samuel was on the other line as they discussed Luna."I don't want to assume Luna was that omega eight years ago, but they have the same pheromone scent. And her effect on me was so intense; I felt a hint of craving
The next morning, Luna woke up feeling unwell for no apparent reason. She was feverish and slightly dizzy. She remembered feeling fine the previous day, but she hadn’t expected to wake up with her body humming with a strange, restless heat.“Why do I feel so weak all over?” Luna said as she slowly got up from her bed, her limbs trembling slightly.Even though every muscle in her body screamed for rest, she still needed to go to work. Luna forced herself out of bed, quickly washed up, and changed into her office attire, the fabric feeling too tight against her overheated skin.When she went downstairs, she headed straight to the kitchen, where she found her twins having breakfast.“Good morning, Mama!” the twins greeted her together, their cheerful voices making Luna manage a weak smile.“Good morning. Where’s your Aunt Dianna?”“She went out to buy eggs because we ran out,” Leo replied, while Leon stared at her with a furrowed brow.“Mama, are you okay? You look pale,” Leon asked, and
“Damn!”Valerian shot up from his chair, clutching his temples as he turned toward the office window. He’d barely made it halfway through the stack of resumes, yet his motivation had already evaporated. Every female omega applicant felt unremarkable—most were already married. A dull ache throbbed in his skull. He’d never expected finding the omega he’d mated eight years ago would be this hard, even though he knew she worked somewhere in his hotel.“Why do I even want to find her? Eight years have passed. If she’d wanted money, she would’ve come to me long ago. So why does it matter so much now?” he muttered, spinning around as a knock echoed at the door.When he opened the door, Luna stepped in—and for no discernible reason, the world seemed to slow to a crawl as his eyes landed on her. His brow furrowed. What was this sudden, frantic thud in his chest?What the heck?! Why is my heart racing like this? Valerian wondered silently.“Mr. Rutherson?!”Valerian flinched at her voice. Luna
Valerian’s hand closed around the throat of the man who had tried to strike him with a pipe, his grip so tight the attacker gasped for air, unable to break free from his strength. Valerian’s clothes were stained with blood from the earlier men who had tried—and failed—to kill him.With a powerful heave, he threw the choking man against a steel post, bending it slightly on impact. Several of the attacker’s companions were already facing off against Samuel’s men.“You’ve killed enough, Valerian,” Samuel said, having just finished with his own opponent.Valerian had arrived at the south port and immediately engaged the Lane clan’s men—men who feared him, yet still dared to destroy his business and threaten his life.Valerian glanced at Samuel, whose eyes never failed to widen at the sight of Valerian’s golden irises. What Samuel had yet to witness, however, was Valerian’s werewolf shift—a power Valerian still couldn’t control, especially when he lost himself in the heat of the moment.“I
“Why did you go to the Lacrose Hotel alone? Do you know how dangerous that was, Leo?” Luna’s voice trembled as she faced her sonA wave of panic had washed over her earlier when Leo and Leon’s teacher called to say Leo had gone to the hotel alone. At eight years old, her twins were still too young to venture out on their own—especially to the place where she worked. What if something terrible had happened to him?Beneath the worry, a flicker of fear lingered: the thought that Valerian might have seen one of the twins. But their last conversation had given no hint of that, so she forced herself to breathe.Earlier, shame had burned through her after what happened at Lacrose. She’d had no choice but to relieve the heat that Valerian’s pheromones had stirred in her. But now, that shame was gone, replaced entirely by concern for Leo.Leo sat on the sofa, his small shoulders shaking as he held back tears. Luna’s heart ached for him, but she knew she had to make him understand.“You know wh







