005| THE LUNA WHO DIED

~VIXEN~

I sat there, clutching the bead necklace Paul had given me, my fingers curled so tightly around it they ached.

It was a simple crooked necklace with uneven letters spelling Mommy, but it was the only proof I had that any of it had been real.

That I had been real.

Tears slipped down my face in silence.

Then the dungeon door creaked open.

I didn’t look up at first, until the voice came.

“I thought you might be awake.”

My spine stiffened.

I raised my head slowly.

Olaine stood just beyond the threshold, her expression careful, almost hesitant, like someone stepping into a room they didn’t belong in.

“Kael told me I shouldn’t come,” she said softly. “But I didn’t want you to think I was afraid of you.”

I laughed bitterly under my breath. “What do you want?”

She stepped closer, her gaze drifting to the necklace in my hands.

“He talks about you,” she said lightly. “Paul, I mean. He says you used to sing to him when he couldn’t sleep.”

My heart clenched.

“I didn’t know whether to thank you,” she continued, her voice gentle, “or feel guilty.”

I stood up, trembling. “Stop.”

She looked at me then, eyes wide with something that could almost be mistaken for concern.

“Please don’t blame Kael, I never meant to cause trouble,” she said. “Everything is already… complicated.”

“You slept with my mate,” I hissed.

Her lips parted slightly, as if surprised.

“I didn’t know he was your mate at first,” she said quietly. “And by the I did… the bond had already pulled us together. But that doesn’t change the fact that you tried to kill me.”

The lie slipped easily from her mouth.

Anger rushed through me. “Stop fucking lying. You disappeared,” I said. “You let everyone believe you were dead, and now you are going to pin it on me? I never even knew you with Kael.”

Her gaze softened. “I was scared, Okay. There is no need to cover it up, Vixen. The men you sent confessed. I had to lay low for a while.”

My breath caught.

She took another step closer, lowering her voice. “When I see the way you look at me,” she whispered, “I wonder if I should’ve stayed gone.”

Rage surged through me.

“What do you intend to gain from this, huh? You’re poisoning him against me,” I said. “You’ve taken everything I loved in the past. Haven’t you done enough?”

Her eyes flickered toward the door for just a second, as though checking for someone.

Then she leaned in, close enough that only I could hear her.

“Sister, you’ve always been so easy to replace,” she murmured. “Even your mate chose me… without knowing who I was. Don’t blame me.”

Something broke inside my chest.

I lunged at her.

My hand struck her shoulder, my anger exploding after years of swallowing pain.

But she didn’t fight back. She stumbled, fell and cried out.

“Please, I only came to apologize. Don’t hurt me!”

The door slammed open.

Kael.

“What is happening here?” he demanded.

Olaine curled in on herself, tears spilling.

“I shouldn’t have come,” she sobbed. “I just wanted peace… I didn’t know she hated me this much.

His gaze burned into me.

In a blink, his hand closed around my throat.

“You will not touch her again,” he growled. “Ever.”

Moments later, he released me as if I disgusted him.

I collapsed, gasping.

He lifted Olaine into his arms, his voice suddenly soft. “You’re safe.”

As they left, I stared after them, numb.

The door slammed shut, as silence took over.

For a long moment, I stayed where I had fallen, my cheek pressed to the cold stone floor, my lungs burning as I struggled to breathe.

My throat throbbed where his hand had been.

Not once had he looked at me.

I laughed softly, the sound broke and ugly.

So, this was it.

Five years of loving him.

Five years of waiting for warmth.

Five years of convincing myself that patience would be rewarded.

I dragged myself upright and sank against the wall, curling in on myself as the weight of it all crashed down.

I had been his Luna in name only.

A placeholder for his true love.

My fingers trembled as they found the necklace again.

Mommy.

The beads dug into my skin as I pressed it to my chest, finally letting the sobs tear free.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered into the darkness. “I’m so sorry, Paul.”

I had loved him as though he had come from my own womb.

Held him through fevers.

Stayed awake through nights of nightmares.

And yet, the moment his real mother returned, I had become nothing.

A threat.

Footsteps echoed faintly outside the dungeon later that night.

Two guards discussed amongst themselves, their voices low.

“I feel sorry for her. At this rate, the elders won’t tolerate this.” One muttered.

“She attacked the Alpha’s chosen lover twice. If that doesn’t call for execution, I wonder what would.”

As their footsteps faded, I sat there unmoving, their words settling into my bones.

No, I can’t let my story end like this.

Something stirred inside of me.

If I stayed here, they would kill me.

I wiped my face, the tears drying into something colder.

I cleared the floor, took a stick and began writing with shaking hands.

Kael,

Oneday, when I am no longer here to suffer your choices, you’ll realize what you lost.

The woman you trust so much, don’t forget to investigate the words she tells you.

I hesitated, then added another a final line.

Tell Paul… I never stopped loving him.

I put some dried leaves over the writing, knowing they would find it soon.

Then, I let the words leave my mouth slowly.

“Kael, I reject you as my chosen mate.”

The pain that followed was much more intense than I had expected it would be.

Taking the chance, I cried out in pain.

As expected, a guard rushed in then upon hearing my screams.

I waited the lock shifted and he entered the cell.

Then, I attacked.