The Rise of a Forsaken Luna

SERAPHINA

His words caught in his throat just as my eyes rolled to the back of my skull, ecstasy zapping through me like blood itself. 

“Like heaven.” He completed, his voice thickened with pleasure. “Fuck, Sera…” 

The sweet sensation of his breath fanning my clit was nothing compared to the euphoria that crashed through me when he stuck his tongue out, licking and sucking me like I was his favorite candy.

“Alpha R-Rexton…” I cried out, fingers digging into my soon-to-be husband’s soft black curls as climax shattered through me, rocking my core. 

My wolf purred within me, stirring with satisfaction as Alpha Rexton pulled away, grinning from ear to ear. His chest was still heaving, and the musky scent of his own orgasm hung in the air while our gaze connected. 

“I’ll miss this,” He muttered, his gaze dark and intense. His muscled arms possessively found my bare waist as he added, “I’ll miss you, Seraphina.”

Butterflies erupted in the depths of my belly as my name rolled off his tongue. Moments like this were exactly what I needed to know that I was wanted and loved by the strongest Alpha in the realm.

“You'll be gone for only a few days, Alpha Rexton—” I whispered, still recovering from the wave of pleasure.

“Rexton.” He corrected me, faking a frown as he settled on the bed beside me. 

Leaning into his strength and wondering how I got so lucky after living the first seventeen years of my life in a world void of love. I blinked rapidly, catching myself before I could drift into the past. 

“You know I can’t call out your name intimately until we get married, Alpha. It’s the law.” I stated. 

However, he countered, “I make the law, my love and…” 

He dragged out that last word, withdrawing his arms and sliding off the bed. I immediately missed being engulfed in his warmth, even though his intoxicating natural scent tickled my nostrils. 

My eyes stayed on him as he walked up to the coat I had picked for his trip. He retrieved something small but undeniably catchy from the inner pocket. The silver flashed as he glided back to me in all his naked glory. 

“W-what is—” I stuttered, eyes widening with realization and surprise. “Y-you didn’t have to.”

Alpha Rexton ignored what I had to say, showing me the most gorgeous ring I had ever seen as he picked up from where he stopped, “And when I return from the borders, I'll give you the grandest wedding and coronation ceremony this pack has ever seen, Sera.” 

The sincerity in his voice caused my eyes to sting, tears welling up. 

“You’ll be my only Luna, and this ring is proof of my vow to you,” He promised softly, took my shaky hand, and slipped the ring onto my finger. 

Tears trickled down my cheeks. Emotions rushing through my body like wildfire. For the first time in nineteen years, I finally felt like I belonged here in Crimson Moon Pack, even though I have lived here all my life. 

I wasn’t always the adored soon-to-be Luna. In fact, I have been everything but that. I have been adopted into the powerful Beta family. I have been the bullied one, the one who has to remain strong, despite the constant tear-down I had to endure. 

I thought I had escaped that life when my adoptive parents made a deal with the Alpha’s family to make me his Luna and solidify the alliance between both families. But that belief evaporated a year ago, on my eighteenth birthday, when we all found out that I wasn’t Alpha Rexton’s destined mate.

“How can you shame us like this?” My mom, Elara Ashford, had lashed out at me that day, her face twisted with disappointment. “The only reason we took you in was that you made us believe you were going to be the next Luna.” 

Before I could ask how I deceived them when I was just a baby, my dad, Rolan Ashford, barked, “The prophetess at the orphanage swore you were the descendant of the goddess.”

“Descendant?” Ethan, the only biological child of the Ashford family and Beta to Alpha Rexton, chuckled, his eyes glistening with the same mischief he had shoved down my throat since I could remember. “More like the goddess handmaiden.” 

My eighteenth birthday, a day that was meant to be special, became my worst nightmare until the newly crowned Alpha Rexton stepped in and announced, “I'll marry her. She will be my Luna.” 

At that point, I wasn’t sure whether he was doing that to save me from further humiliation, for political reasons, or because he hadn’t found his destined mate despite being two years older than me. But now, after a year of dating him, I was convinced his reason was love. 

“We can’t wait to have you back home.” I breathed amidst tears, rubbing my palms on my stomach. “Our baby and I, Rexton.” 

I dared to use his name without his title, and he beamed at me, placing his hands over mine as he stared at my flat stomach. 

“I still can’t believe I am going to be a dad.” He said, his voice barely a whisper. 

Mental images of the happy dance he performed when I broke the news about my pregnancy to him two weeks ago flashed through my head. My heart swelled with undiluted happiness, but I soon found myself fighting sadness as Rexton and I kissed goodbye. 

“See you in five days.” I let out as he drove off, fighting back tears. 

Those five days stretched into ten agonizing months. 

The border dispute escalated into war, and Rexton had to stay, leaving me alone in the Alpha mansion, which slowly transformed into a tomb of echoing silence. The pack, knowing that I had no one to fight for me, pounced on me during Rexton’s absence. 

“Are you crazy, Seraphina!” My mom scorned. “Pregnant out of wedlock?”

“Have you not disgraced this family enough?” Of course, Dad had to take his pound of flesh.

My parents didn’t hesitate to distance themselves as rumors about my pregnancy spread through the pack. My honor was stomped on with Rexton gone. 

Loneliness became more than a feeling. It became a constant ache in my bones as every meal was ate alone and every night, I lay in a bed made for two, staring at the cold ceiling. 

Eight months into the unwanted solitude, the sudden wrenching pain of violent labor hit me earlier than expected.

“Ahhh…” I cried out in pain. “H-help m-me!” 

But my voice echoed back to me.

I was all  by myself. 

It took every ounce of my wolf’s strength to get my pain-stricken body to the pack hospital  and deliver my Celeste, surrounded by strangers. 

When a familiar face finally showed up the next day, it was masked in anger. 

“You couldn’t even give him an heir to come home to?” Victoria, Rexton’s mom and the former Luna of Crimson Moon Pack, snapped at me, her voice sharp as glass even though Celeste and I were still fighting for our lives. 

“Shame on you, Seraphina.” She spat and left 

The pack followed her lead, hating on Celeste, and every day for the next two months, I died slowly as I repeatedly failed to shield my daughter from their disdain. 

But then, my hope was renewed when I found out Rexton would be returning today from random pack members as no one thought to inform me—not even Rexton himself—

“H-he just crossed the border into the pack, Sera…” My wolf was elated when she sensed Rexton’s presence for the first time in ten months. 

Her excitement pumped rapidly in my veins as she squealed, “We’ll s-see him soon!”

My facial muscles stretched into a smile, and my eyes flickered to my two-month-old daughter, Celeste, whom I was holding close to my chest.

I traced the faint scar on her temple, remembering how close I came to losing her as I responded to my wolf, “Yes, we can reunite and finally become a family, Kia.”

Bliss surged within me, and my smile widened at the thought of introducing Celeste to Rexton. Goddess, I couldn’t wait to see sheer happiness when he realized that Celeste was my replica with her doe blue eyes and light blond hair.

Without wasting another second, I dressed up, wearing a deep sapphire blue dress—the most beautiful one I owned—and carried Celeste, walking into the great hall, which has been decorated with red banners and golden crests to welcome Rexton home. 

The pack members were already murmuring happily. Thankfully, they all ignored me. 

All but Victoria, who began to walk towards me the second she sighted me. 

“Goddess, not today!” I whimpered under my breath.

I suddenly wished I could be absorbed by the gathering bodies of the murmuring pack members because that seemed like my only hope to escape.

Until a sole gasp silenced the murmurs and stopped Victoria dead in her tracks, cutting through the tension and saving me, “Alpha!”

The rest of the world ceased to exist in that moment. 

His scent hit me hard, causing my body to turn so fast I almost lost my balance. Relief flooded my being, dulling the ache of loneliness in my heart as I pushed past the bodies standing between us while holding our baby.

“Rexton,” I uttered when I saw him.

I expected his eyes to be searching the crowd, hungry to see me. However, they were on her—the strange woman beside him.

My wolf stilled.

Heck, my entire world froze.

I couldn’t help but scrutinize her as if she were a bitter reminder of the time I had lost with Rexton. Her silky nude dress, her shimmering gold jewelry, the curve of her belly.

But what struck me most was her belly because it seemed like she—

“She’s pregnant.” Kia whimpered within me, completing my thought as my heart stopped.