All Chapters of The Unwanted Plus-Size Luna: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Maren cut through the crowd like she meant to fight someone, grabbing Wren's wrist and hauling her sideways into an empty storage alcove before Selene had even finished her smile."I heard three different versions in the last hour alone," Maren said."Only three? I'm almost disappointed," Wren answered."Don't joke. I nearly bit someone's ear off near the granary.""Please tell me that's an exaggeration,""Barely." Maren's eyes swept over her, checking for damage the way she always did, quick and thorough. "You're pale.""I'm fine," Wren said."You keep saying that," Maren pointed out."Because it keeps being mostly true," Wren replied."Mostly isn't the same as entirely, and we both know it.""No," Wren admitted. "It isn't."Maren studied her a long moment, something fierce and unguarded moving behind her eyes."I'm proud of you," she said. "I need you to know that, genuinely

Kade was halfway through a border report when the words reached him. He had been standing near the weapons rack with two of the younger patrol leads, listening to their account of fresh tracks along the eastern ridge, when a pair of women carrying water jugs crossed behind them and one of them said, clear enough to cut through the rest of the noise, that the unwanted one had been chosen again. Second chance. The hybrid. Confirmed. The report in his hands stopped making sense. He turned before he fully decided to. The women had already moved on, still talking, already reshaping the details for whoever they found next. One of the patrol leads was still speaking, something about double watches and supply lines. Kade did not hear the rest of it. “Say that again,” he said. Both younger wolves looked at him, confused. “The tracks,” one of them started. “Not the tracks. What they just said.” The two of them glanced at each other. The shorter one cleared his throat. “About Wren, Alph

Selene waited until the last of the evening voices faded from the path outside her window. She counted the silence that followed, making certain no late footsteps would interrupt what came next. A single pair of boots passed in the distance and then the night settled again. Only then did she cross the room, draw the curtain fully shut against the thin moonlight, and let her face change. The soft concern she wore for Kade, the careful sisterly patience she offered Maren, the pleasant neutrality she showed the rest of the pack. All of it dropped away at once. What remained was colder. Older. A pressure that had lived under her ribs since she was old enough to understand the difference between being chosen and being tolerated. The difference had never been subtle. It had simply been ignored by everyone who found it inconvenient to acknowledge aloud. She had stopped expecting anyone else to name it years ago.

The side courtyard behind the supply sheds was empty after supper. Most of the pack had drifted toward the main fires. Wren had come looking for quiet and found Darius already there, seated on the low stone wall with a small cloth bundle open beside him.He looked up when she stepped into the light of the single lantern hanging from the post."Sit if you want," he said.She sat. The stone held the day's warmth. Between them on the cloth were a few strips of dried meat, a small wedge of hard cheese, and two flat rounds of dense bread that did not look like anything the kitchen made."From home," he said, when he saw her notice. "I keep a little. Habit.""You brought stores with you.""Enough for nights when the local food feels wrong. Old instinct."Wren picked up one of the bread rounds. It was heavier than it looked, dark, scored across the top in a pattern she did not recognize."You made this here?"

The Alpha’s study was smaller than the main hall and built for closed conversations. Thick walls. One door. No audience.Kade shut that door behind them and did not invite Darius to sit."You will not speak to her that way again in front of me," Kade said.Darius stood near the map table, hands relaxed at his sides. He had not been summoned. He had been intercepted on the way out of the courtyard and directed here by two Betas who clearly wished they were somewhere else."Clarify," Darius said."Last night. The way you positioned yourself. The way you answered for her. You do not have standing in this pack to insert yourself between an Alpha heir and anyone.""I have standing where she is concerned.""You have a bond the Elders have not finished debating. That is not the same as authority."Darius looked at the map for a moment, then back at Kade. His expression did not change."You asked for this conve