Chasing Back My Rejected Luna

Carolina Pov

The moment I realized I didn't belong in Ace world wasn't on our wedding day, neither was it the moment he told me the world could never know of our marriage, nor the day he refused to mark and claim me.

It was three years later, in this very moment of me standing in the grand hall of the pack house.

Everything looked perfect, from the Crystal chandeliers shimmering above, to the polished marble floors.

The atmosphere was bubbling with life, laughter, and music, filling every corner of the mansion. Alphas and their Betas from allied packs had gathered, dressed in elegant silks and tailored suits, their voices blending into a symphony of celebration.

While I remain at the corner, invisible. My fingers tightened around the tray I carried, as the weight of the reality I had long ignored grounded me.

“Careful,” one of the servants whispered as she brushed past me. “You shouldn’t just stand around, or Luna Helen will be displeased with you” she scoffed as she walked away.

My throat tightened at her words, because they were true. Luna Helen, Ace's elder sister, had always seen me as nothing. A mistake made by the Goddess, the girl, who would never belong to this family. She brought me down to nothing but a servant.

Her bullying has become even more constant since their parents vacation.

I lowered my gaze and continued moving, weaving silently through the crowd, and refilling their glasses, whilst I avoided their gazes.

No one knew about the bond I shared with Ace, in their view, I was just another servant. And yet, three years ago, Ace had stood before me, his beautiful silver eyes filled with what I thought was love and desire, and said the words that bound my life to his.

“I accept you as my mate.” and right after, dropped the bombshell, “No one can know about our marriage.”

Like a fool, I agreed without hesitation, because I loved him and I believed that one day… he would choose me, stand before everyone and say…

This is my Luna. Carolina Riverton.

How foolish I had been.

A sudden cheer erupted, snapping me out of my thoughts, and I looked up instinctively to see him.

Ace Blackwood, Alpha of the Silvercrest pack, my husband. He stood at the center of the room, tall and commanding, dressed in a black tuxedo,  his dark hair perfectly styled, his aura suffocatingly powerful. Every eye in the hall was on him, as it should be.

He was Alpha after all. But it wasn’t his presence that made my chest tighten.

It was the woman beside him.

Ella Suvellia.

Daughter of Alpha Suvellia of the Crescent Moon pack, and Ace childhood best friend.

She stood too close to him, her arm tangled around his as if it belonged there. Her pale blue dress flowed as water, dark wavy hair rested smoothly on her back, and her delicate features glowed under the lights.

She looked… perfect. Like the Luna this pack deserved, and the woman everyone already believed she was.

“Alpha Ace and Ella!” someone called out. “The perfect pair!”

My chest constricted painfully, jaw clenching as I turned my gaze away from the heart-wrenching sight.

The perfect pair? This wasn't the first time I had heard those words. Rumors and whispers of Ace's alliance with her pack, talks of a political marriage for the pack's betterment.

I refused to believe any of it, confident that Ace wouldn't ruin our bond as fated mates.

But here I was, standing in the corner, watching it unfold before my very eyes, and to make matters worse.

Ace wasn't denying it.

“Hey, you! Over here.” A voice called from the centre of the crowd, and I looked up to see Ella.

“Yes, you. My glass is empty.” She said in a sultry voice, beckoning me to come forward.

My eyes met Ace, expecting him to say something, even if it meant dismissing me to avoid this humiliation, but instead, he turned his gaze, leaving me no choice but to oblige.

I stopped before Ella, with the bottle, lifting it to fill her glass, and I suddenly felt a sharp pain pierce through my feet. Stumbling backwards, the bottle fell out of my hand and crashed on the floor, breaking into a thousand pieces.

“Ahhh!” Ella screamed as if she had been stabbed, she grabbed her leg and kept screaming. “It hurts, oh my foot!”

A wide range of worried gasps filled the room as all eyes turned to me. Their gazes filled with scorn.

“I am s–sorry…I didn't…” My words were cut short by a thunderous slap landing on my cheek.

I staggered to the side, tears clouding my vision almost immediately, “You fool, how dare you cause Ella pain? How could you be so careless!” Luna Helen yelled at me, her hand reaching for my hair,she pulled it hard and then pushed me to the floor.

My body landed on the broken glass and an intensely sharp pain spread through my entire being, yet I suppressed my scream to a tiny sob.

“Sister, that's enough! It was a mistake.” Ace finally spoke, but his words didn't matter, not when the damage had been done.

“Get out of here,  low-life peasant!” She gritted out.

Blinking back the tears that threatened to spill, I stood up from the floor, holding my bleeding arm as I walked away from the crowd and out of the hall.

I returned to my bedroom, the one Ace and I had been sharing for the past three years, until Ella showed up, and he became absent, avoiding our space like it was suddenly a plague.

I sat at the edge of the bed, watching the cuts on my arm slowly heal and disappear. My wolf was weak from Ace neglect, but still she managed to always come through for me.

In silence I remained, everything replaying in my head once more, until my phone buzzed beside me.

I picked it up and it was a message from Ella, another video of Ace lying on her bed, fast asleep. Below was another one of her taunting messages.

Ella: Has he ever slept this peacefully by your side?

I smiled through my tears, unsure of what to feel at this point. This had become a daily routine for  Ella, a reminder of how incompetent I am and will always be.

I was about to toss my phone aside and cry myself to sleep as always, when I saw it.

A headline.

Alpha Ace Blackwood of the Silvercrest pack, set to marry Childhood Sweetheart Ella Suvellia of the Crescent Moon pack.

My phone trembled in my hands as I opened the article, each word hitting harder than the last.

The perfect alliance.

The Great Union.

A love match

The future Luna of Silvercrest.

A broken laugh escaped my lips. Three years…of loving him, believing in him, working by his side, and helping him in the best way possible.

And this was the truth, that I was a nobody, that I meant nothing to him. I wasn't his Luna, I was a secret he never intended to keep forever.

The door opened, but I didn't turn, I knew it was him as the scent of him, mixed with Ella's perfume swept across the air.

“Carolina.” His voice filled the room,  but the warmth I had grown to love was suddenly no longer there.

“You saw it.” He said, not a question,  but a statement.

Still, I replied, “Yes.” and a heavy silence stretched between us.

“It's not what you think, there's an explanation.” He continued, “Ella is dying.” He announced and my heart skipped a beat.

Turning slowly to face him, I asked, “And what does that have to do with the headline?”

“Everything.” He replied, “This marriage is her last wish, and I am fulfilling it.”

“And me? What do I become?”

“You remain my wife, Lina. Nothing is ever going to change that. This is just for the time being. When Ella is gone, we will go back to normal.”

Normal? What was normal?

Being hidden, ignored, humiliated, and forgotten.

My chest burned as I nodded, too broken to disagree. “I understand,” I said quietly, because in this moment I finally understood my place in his life.