The Barren Luna Was a Princess

I was a wolfless Omega, and Ethan was the only home I had ever known.

So when his fertility report came back, I changed it and let his pack blame me for five barren years.

Then he moved his pregnant cousin into our house, and his mother forced a mate-severing potion into my hand.

They thought I had nowhere to go.

They didn’t know I wasn’t an orphan—I was the lost daughter of the Sterling royal line.

Nor did they know the pup his mistress carried could never have been his.

I left as Leah Carter, the Luna they threw away.

I returned as Princess Vivienne Sterling.

And the heir they celebrated?

A lie I was about to expose before the entire pack.

————

Ethan and I met at Northwood Academy  and bonded after graduation.

Back then, I was only a wolfless Omega trying to survive. I had no inner wolf, couldn’t shift, and had no family name that mattered to the other students. They made sure I knew it.

I had almost nothing growing up. My parents were never in the picture, and the only person who ever truly cared about me was my grandmother.

But after she died, I was left with nowhere to go, and I started envying anyone who had a family waiting for them.

After Grandma died, I depended on Ethan more and more. At the academy, when other wolves mocked me for being an Omega without a wolf, he was the one who stepped in.

He was patient with me, paid attention when I spoke, and never acted as though my background embarrassed him.

I was too young to know the difference between being protected and being loved, so I treated his kindness like it was everything.

When he asked me to bond with him, he promised me a real home and a complete family. I was so happy that I agreed without hesitation.

But once our bond was announced, the Holloway pack made their feelings known. They laughed behind my back, called me a stray Omega trying to climb above my station.

They insisted on a fertility examination before the bonding ceremony.

The results showed that Ethan had congenital azoospermia. The doctor had been clear about his particular case: the condition was permanent, and he would never father a pup. I loved him too much to let him face his family with that news, so I changed the report before anyone else saw it.

By the time the report reached the pack, the problem was no longer his. It was mine.

I let everyone believe my body was the reason we could not have pups.

I told myself it was worth it. He’d never have to stand in front of his relatives and hear them question whether he was fit to lead. We could still have a good life together. As long as we loved each other, I thought, it wouldn’t matter that we couldn’t have a pup of our own.

We could always adopt. That was the future I kept picturing. No one else in the pack saw it that way.

After the bonding ceremony, Ethan’s mother, Marjorie Holloway, began finding reasons to criticize everything I did. Each demand sounded small enough on its own. Living with all of them was another matter.

First, she insisted I quit my job. As Ethan’s mate, I held the title of Luna. In her opinion, a proper Luna devoted herself to her pack, her Alpha, and the family that had taken her in. Paid work had no place in that arrangement.

I was supposed to stay home, manage the estate, attend pack dinners, receive guests, look after Marjorie, and focus on giving the Holloway bloodline an heir.

I refused at first.

But Ethan kept trying to change my mind. I didn’t need a job anymore, he said. His mother was getting older and needed someone at home. The pack expected more from his mate than a paycheck and a job title . He promised he would provide everything, and all I had to do was stand beside him and take care of the family.

I believed him, resigned, and stayed at the Holloway estate.

What followed was endless humiliation.

Every morning I rose before daylight to start breakfast, check the kitchen, deal with the laundry, and have the main rooms presentable before Marjorie appeared downstairs.

When guests were expected, I arranged flowers, laid the table, and stayed available all day. Even then, she always found another task to pile on me.

One afternoon, just as I was finally about to sit down, Marjorie tossed a bundle of silk slips and stockings onto the sofa beside me.

It was not the first time.

I looked at the bundle on the cushion beside me. “Those are your things. You can wash them yourself.”

She’d been sending voice messages to the women she had over for cards and gossip. Her thumb stopped on the screen. She raised her head and looked at me as though I’d said something filthy.

“When I give you an order, you follow it. When did you get the nerve to talk back to me?”

I refused.

I left the bundle in the laundry room and started to walk out. Her voice cut after me immediately.

“So now you think you’re above this? Did this pack take you in so you could be waited on? Look at yourself. A wolfless Omega with no family, no wolf, no heir, and you still act like some noble Luna. Come back here right now, or I’ll have my son deal with you.”

I finally snapped.

“I joined this pack as Ethan’s mate, not as your maid. If you need someone to wait on you, pay for one.”

I went upstairs, shut the bedroom door, and cried on the bed.

Of course Marjorie called Ethan first.

When he came home, the first thing he did was pull me up and say, “Leah, apologize to my mother.”

Every single time, he chose her.

I wiped my tears and turned away. “Why should I apologize? She humiliates me every day, treats me like hired help, and you still expect me to bow my head?”

Marjorie followed him in and sneered, “I told you not to claim her. It hasn’t even been that long, and she’s already trying to rule this house.”

Ethan pushed her back toward the hall. “That’s enough, Mother. I’ll talk to her.”

Then he came back, handed me a tissue, and softened his tone.

“My mother is older. Her health isn’t great. You know how she is. Just let this one go and make peace with her.”

He knew I was softhearted. He knew I would do almost anything to avoid a scene.He could tell me to apologize, then sit beside me and speak gently until I wondered whether I was the one being unreasonable. By the time he finished, I was usually the one who gave in.

And every time I yielded, Marjorie learned she could push harder.