Home / Werewolf / TOO FAT TO BE LUNA / CHAPTER 4: MINE

Share

CHAPTER 4: MINE

Author: Sunkissed
last update publish date: 2026-04-05 00:45:05

KAEL’S POV

I smelled her before I saw her.

Blood. Fear. And something else—something that made my Lycan surge forward so violently I almost shifted right there.

Mate.

The word echoed through my mind like a gunshot.

No. Impossible.

I’d already had a mate. Sera had died five years ago, and second chance mates were rare. The Moon Goddess didn’t hand them out like party favors.

But my Lycan didn’t care about logic or probability.

MATE, he roared. OURS. FIND HER.

I was running before I consciously decided to move.

My territory stretched for miles—dense forest, steep ravines, and enough warning signs to keep out anyone with half a brain. Trespassers were dealt with swiftly and without mercy.

That was the reputation I’d built. The reputation that kept my pack safe.

But this trespasser… this one was different.

I found her at the bottom of a ravine, crumpled against the rocks like a broken doll.

Female. Early twenties. Curvy build, chestnut hair matted with blood, wearing a torn gray servant’s dress.

She wasn’t moving.

My Lycan went feral.

I dropped to my knees beside her, pressing two fingers to her throat. Faint pulse. Barely there.

“Don’t you dare die,” I growled. “Not before I figure out what the hell is happening.”

Up close, the mate bond slammed into me with the force of a freight train.

Golden thread. Unbreakable. Binding me to this unconscious woman I’d never met.

My second chance mate.

And she was dying.

I scooped her up carefully—she weighed almost nothing despite her curves—and ran.

My mansion sat in the heart of my territory, surrounded by guards and wards. I burst through the front door, shouting for my healer.

“Marcus! Get Elena! NOW!”

My Beta appeared instantly, took one look at the woman in my arms, and his eyes widened.

“Is she—”

“Get. Elena.” I bit out each word.

He ran.

I carried her to my bedroom—the cleanest, safest place—and laid her on the bed.

Blood soaked through her dress. Her face was pale, lips blue. Scratches and bruises covered every visible inch of skin.

Someone had hurt her. Badly.

My Lycan snarled, demanding revenge.

“Soon,” I promised him. “First, we save her.”

Elena, my pack healer, rushed in with her medical bag.

“Kael, what—” She stopped when she saw the girl. “Oh Goddess. What happened?”

“I don’t know. Fix her.”

Elena’s hands worked quickly, checking vitals, examining wounds.

“She’s got three broken ribs, a fractured wrist, severe bruising, and she’s malnourished.” Elena’s voice was grim. “Kael, these injuries… some are new but others are weeks old. She’s been hurt repeatedly.”

My hands clenched into fists.

“Can you save her?”

“Yes. But she needs rest and time to heal.” Elena started cleaning wounds. “Who is she?”

“I don’t know.”

That was the truth. I had no idea who this woman was.

Only that she was mine.

And someone was going to pay for every bruise on her skin.

ARIA’S POV

Pain.

That’s the first thing I felt when consciousness returned. Sharp, throbbing pain radiating from my ribs.

The second thing was softness. I was lying on something soft. Not my cot in the servants’ wing.

My eyes flew open.

Unfamiliar ceiling. Unfamiliar room. Massive bed with silk sheets.

Where—

“You’re awake.”

The voice was deep, smooth, and came from the shadows near the window.

A man stepped into the light and my breath caught.

He was huge. At least six-six, with broad shoulders and muscles that strained against his black shirt. Jet-black hair, sharp jawline, and eyes… his eyes were the most striking thing about him.

Silver-gray. Like storm clouds.

And they were fixed on me with an intensity that made my skin prickle.

“Who are you?” I whispered.

“Kael Blackthorne.” He moved closer. “Lycan King. And you’re in my territory.”

Oh God.

The Lycan King.

I tried to sit up but pain lanced through my ribs and I gasped.

“Don’t move,” Kael ordered. “You’ve got three broken ribs.”

“I need to leave,” I said, panic rising. “I’m sorry for trespassing. I didn’t mean—”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

His tone left no room for argument.

“But I—”

“What pack are you from?” He crossed his arms. “Who hurt you?”

I hesitated. “Crescent Moon Pack.”

Something flickered in his eyes. “Alpha Derek Stone’s pack.”

I nodded.

“And the injuries?”

I looked away. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

The possessiveness in his voice made me look up sharply.

Why would the Lycan King care about some nobody Omega who’d stumbled into his territory?

“What’s your name?” he asked, his voice softer now.

“Aria. Aria Winters.”

“Aria.” He said my name like he was testing it. “Why did you run into Lycan territory? Everyone knows that’s suicide.”

“I wasn’t thinking.” The truth spilled out before I could stop it. “I just… I needed to get away.”

“From what?”

Everything. The rejection. The torture. The humiliation. Watching Derek and Celeste celebrate while I suffered.

But I couldn’t say that to this dangerous stranger.

“From my pack,” I said simply.

Kael studied me for a long moment.

“You’re malnourished. Covered in old and new injuries. Wearing a servant’s uniform despite smelling like Beta bloodline.” His eyes narrowed. “What did they do to you?”

“Nothing I didn’t deserve,” I whispered, repeating the words I’d heard for six months.

His expression darkened. “Who told you that?”

“Everyone.”

Silence stretched between us.

Then Kael did something unexpected. He pulled a chair close to the bed and sat, his massive frame somehow less intimidating at eye level.

“Listen carefully, Aria Winters,” he said quietly. “Whatever happened to you in that pack—whatever they told you—you didn’t deserve it. No one deserves to be hurt like this.”

Tears burned behind my eyes. “You don’t know what I am.”

“I know you’re brave enough to run into Lycan territory rather than stay where you were being hurt. I know you’re strong enough to survive injuries that would’ve killed someone weaker.” His silver eyes held mine. “And I know you’re my mate.”

The world stopped.

“What?”

“You heard me.” He leaned forward. “The moment I found you, the bond snapped into place. You’re my second chance mate.”

“That’s… that’s impossible.” I shook my head, ignoring the pain. “I already had a mate. He rejected me six months ago.”

Understanding flashed across Kael’s face. “Derek Stone.”

I nodded miserably.

“He’s an idiot.” Kael’s voice was flat. “And you’re better off without him.”

“He rejected me because I’m—” I couldn’t say it. Couldn’t voice the words that had destroyed me.

“Because you’re what?”

“Too fat to be his Luna.” The words came out broken. “That’s what he said. In front of the entire pack.”

Kael went very, very still.

“He said that to you.” Not a question. A statement filled with barely controlled rage.

“Yes.”

“And then what happened?”

I told him. Everything. The rejection ceremony. Being demoted to servant. Celeste becoming Luna. The six months of torture and humiliation. The nursery. The celebration. The warriors who’d chased me.

All of it came pouring out like a dam had broken.

When I finished, Kael’s hands were clenched so tight his knuckles were white.

“They did all of that to you,” he said softly, “because of how you look.”

“I’m not… I’m not what an Alpha’s mate should be.”

“Look at me, Aria.”

I forced myself to meet his eyes.

“You are exactly what a mate should be. Strong. Brave. Beautiful. And anyone who made you feel otherwise is a fool.”

“You don’t have to lie—”

“I don’t lie.” He stood, towering over me again. “And I don’t make mistakes. The Moon Goddess gave you to me for a reason. Do you feel it? The bond?”

Now that he mentioned it… yes. There was something there. A golden thread, faint but present, connecting my chest to his.

“I feel it,” I whispered.

“Good.” His expression softened slightly. “Now here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to stay here and heal. You’re going to eat proper meals and rest. And you’re never going back to that pack.”

“But I don’t have anywhere else—”

“You have here. With me.” He moved toward the door. “I’ll have Elena bring food. You need to eat.”

“Wait.” I struggled to sit up despite the pain. “Why are you doing this? You don’t know me.”

Kael turned back, his silver eyes intense.

“Because you’re mine, Aria. And I protect what’s mine. Always.”

He left before I could respond.

I sat there, stunned, trying to process everything.

The Lycan King—the most feared wolf in North America—was my second chance mate.

And he’d just claimed me.

My wolf, silent for months, finally stirred.

Safe, she whispered. Finally safe.

Maybe she was right.

Or maybe this was just another nightmare waiting to begin.

Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Comments (1)
goodnovel comment avatar
Samantha Bradley
I have happy tears.Relax girl he loves you
VIEW ALL COMMENTS

Latest chapter

  • TOO FAT TO BE LUNA   CHAPTER 94

    Aria’s POV I named her Seraphina. Not alone — Kael and I decided it together, the evening after Sera died, sitting in the east wing with the twins asleep and Seraphina in Dr. Chen's care two corridors away and the specific quality of a night that had taken something significant and left a person in its place. "Seraphina," I said. Kael looked at me. "So she carries her mother's name," I said. "So she always knows where she came from and that it was something worth carrying." He was quiet for a moment. "Yes," he said. That was all. It was enough. --- I had thought, in the weeks before Sera's death, that loving Seraphina would require effort. Not the love itself — I had understood from the beginning that the child was innocent, that innocence was the only relevant fact about her, that whatever complicated feelings surrounded her existence had nothing to do with her and everything to do with circumstances she hadn't chosen. I had understood all of that intellectually. I had

  • TOO FAT TO BE LUNA   CHAPTER 93

    Kael’s POV I looked at Dr. Chen and I said, "Save both." She looked back at me with the expression she used when she had already considered every available option and was delivering the conclusion of that consideration rather than the beginning of it. "Kael —" "Save both," I said again. "There has to be a way. There is always something else to try, another —" "There isn't." Not unkind. The specific directness of someone who understood that kindness in this moment meant accuracy rather than softness. "I need you to hear me. This is not a situation where more effort produces a different outcome. The procedure required to save the baby will not be survived by a body in Sera's condition. And stabilizing Sera means the baby doesn't get what it needs in time." She held my gaze. "I have been doing this for thirty years. I am telling you there is no third option." I looked at the door behind her. At the specific solidity of it. Thought about a basement. Twenty cells. Five years of a b

  • TOO FAT TO BE LUNA   CHAPTER 92

    ARIA’S POV I learned what peace felt like that winter.Not the absence of threat — I had experienced that before, in the gaps between crises, and it had always carried the specific quality of waiting. The suspended alertness of someone who knows the next thing is coming and is simply unclear on the timing.This was different.This was the specific texture of a life that had been fought for and won and was now simply — being lived. Daily. Without the waiting underneath it.I learned what it felt like and I held it carefully, the way you hold things you understand are not permanent but are real while they last.---The twins changed every week.That was not an exaggeration — Dr. Chen documented it with the thoroughness she brought to everything she considered unprecedented, which was everything about our children, and the documentation showed measurable development every seven days with the consistency of something that had decided catching up was a project with a deadline and was meet

  • TOO FAT TO BE LUNA   CHAPTER 91

    I didn't answer immediately.Not because the answer wasn't there — it was there, had been there since the moment Aria sat down across from me with that specific quality in her face that meant she had already done the work of arriving at the right question and was now waiting for me to do the same with the answer.I didn't answer immediately because the answer deserved the respect of being given precisely.I looked at the table.At the records spread across it — three centuries of documentation of what happened when people decided that certain lives were less valuable than others. What happened when ideology was given enough time and enough commitment and enough willingness to treat human beings as variables in a calculation.I thought about my daughter's gold eyes.My son's silver ones.The specific weight of a small person in my arms and what that weight had done to every previous understanding I'd had of what mattered and why.I looked at Aria."Yes," I said.One word.I let it sit

  • TOO FAT TO BE LUNA   CHAPTER 90

    ARIA'S POVI stood in the corridor for a long time after Sera left.Not processing — I wasn't processing yet. Processing requires a kind of internal organization that the first several minutes after certain information arrives doesn't allow. What I was doing was simpler and less functional than processing. I was standing. Breathing. Existing in the specific suspended state of someone whose mind has received something it hasn't yet decided what to do with.Three months.The baby would be born in three months.Kael's child — biologically, undeniably, regardless of the circumstances of conception. The Purity Pack had taken his DNA years ago, Sera had said. Before he knew her. Before any of this. Before the ravine and the mate bond and the twins and three years of building something real on top of the rubble of everything that came before.They had taken something of his without his knowledge and used it in a basement and the result was a child who would arrive in three months and was in

  • TOO FAT TO BE LUNA   CHAPTER 89

    ARIA'S POVMaren requested the meeting.That was how I knew it was serious — not because Maren didn't take things seriously, she took everything seriously, but because she requested rather than suggested, and the distinction in her vocabulary was meaningful. A suggestion from Maren meant she had information she thought would be useful. A request meant she had information she thought couldn't wait.She came with Aldric and Petra.Dr. Chen was already in the room when they arrived — I had asked her specifically, because whatever the Council was about to explain would have medical dimensions and I wanted Dr. Chen's precision available in real time rather than translated through my own imperfect understanding afterward.Kael sat beside me.We had not spoken again about the bond since three in the morning. Not because it wasn't present — it was present continuously, the reactivated thread running alongside the one between us with the specific persistence of something that had been suppres

  • TOO FAT TO BE LUNA   CHAPTER 1: You’re Too Fat To Be My Luna

    ARIA’S POVThe Moon Goddess hated me.That was the only explanation for why my fated mate—the man destined by the universe to love me unconditionally—was currently staring at me like I’d crawled out of a sewer.“No,” Alpha Derek whispered, his blue eyes wide with horror. “No, no, no… this can’t be

  • TOO FAT TO BE LUNA   CHAPTER 38

    ARIA’S POV“PLEASE—”The word dissolved before it finished.Not because the pain stopped.Because something else started.Vivian’s working hit the original curse the way she’d designed it to — finding the architecture she’d built twenty-three years ago, feeding it power from outside while it pulled

  • TOO FAT TO BE LUNA   CHAPTER 3: Breaking Point

    ARIA’S POVSix months.That’s how long I’d been living in hell.Six months of scrubbing floors until my knees bled. Six months of serving meals to Derek and Celeste while they pretended I didn’t exist. Six months of whispers and cruel laughter following me everywhere.Six months of surviving. Barel

  • TOO FAT TO BE LUNA   CHAPTER 2: The First Night of Hell

    ARIA’S POV I ran through the pack grounds, past the training fields where warriors stopped mid-drill to stare. Past the gardens where I used to play as a child when my parents were alive and the world made sense. I ran until I reached the edge of pack territory, where the forest grew dark and th

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status