The Lycan's Feisty Mate

Luna's pov

I forgot the thermometer.

That's what I kept thinking as I pulled into the driveway of the pack house. Theo's preschool called twenty minutes ago saying he had a fever, and I grabbed my keys and ran out without the damn thermometer.

I'd been at the market buying ingredients for Marcus's favorite dinner. Venison stew. He'd complained last week that I never made it anymore.

The front door was unlocked. I always locked it.

Even in pack territory, I always locked it.

I heard her high-pitched gasping coming from upstairs as soon as I stepped through the door.

It was coming from the Alpha's bedroom – our bedroom.

My wolf stirred inside me, whimpering. She knew what that sound meant.

My legs moved on their own, up the stairs and down the hallway.

I walked past Theo's room with his toys scattered on the floor that I'd clean up later and past the bathroom where I'd scrubbed the toilet this morning.

The bedroom door was open.

Marcus was on top of her. Some woman with red hair spread across my pillow. Her legs were wrapped around him. His hands gripped her thighs.

He was making sounds I hadn't heard from him in years. Sounds he used to make with me before I got pregnant and everything changed.

His wolf was close to the surface. I could see it in the way his eyes flickered gold and the way his canines were slightly extended. He was losing control with her in a way he never did with me anymore.

I stood there. I don't know for how long but it was long enough to see the birthmark on his left shoulder blade. The one I used to kiss.

Long enough to see her red nails digging into his back. Long enough to smell them. The mate bond I shared with Marcus was screaming in my chest, burning like acid.

He looked over his shoulder and saw me standing there, clutch the door knob so hard that my knuckles turned white but he kept going. Three more thrusts before he pulled out.

"Jesus, Luna. Learn to knock."

The woman sat up. She didn't even attempt to cover herself. Just looked at me like I was interrupting something important.

Her eyes flashed yellow. Of course she was wolf.

"So you're the Luna." She had a nice voice, "Marcus said you were plain, but wow. I didn't realize it was this bad."

I couldn't breathe. The air was too thick with the smell of sex and her perfume and something else. Another wolf's scent all over my mate.

"Get out." My voice cracked. I sounded weak. My wolf was cowering inside me, whimpering. I hated that.

Marcus stood up and started pulling on his pants. "This is my pack house too, Luna. And honestly? You don't get to be upset. Look at yourself."

I looked down. I was wearing the same yoga pants from yesterday with spit-up stains on the thigh and one of his old shirts hanging loose. No bra. No makeup. My hair in a messy bun.

I hadn't shifted in months. My wolf was so weak now, buried so deep I could barely feel her anymore.

"Now look at Sarah."

My eyes darted to Sarah.

She was putting on her lace bra now.

In contrast to me, she looked expensive, like she really took care of herself. Her body was tight. Flat stomach. Perky breasts.

Everything I used to have before Theo ripped his way out of me and left me saggy and stretched. She was strong. I could feel it rolling off her in waves. She was of beta blood, maybe higher.

"You see the difference?" Marcus tucked in his shirt. The shirt I ironed yesterday. "Sarah's the lead enforcer for the Northern Pack. She's powerful. Respected. She can fight. She runs with the pack every full moon. She has a life. What do you do, Luna? You watch our kid and complain about being tired."

"I take care of your son. The future Alpha."

"Our son. And you're suffocating him with your weak wolf energy." He walked past me into the hallway. "I want to break the mate bond. Sarah and I are starting a new pack in the city. You can have this house. I'll send support."

Break the mate bond. The words hit me like silver bullets. Breaking a mate bond was agony. Some wolves didn't even survive it.

Sarah walked past me too but she stopped at the door. "You should really do something about your wolf. This weak, pathetic energy? It's embarrassing for a Luna. No wonder Marcus needed a real she-wolf."

They left. I heard his truck start and drive away.

The bond in my chest was shredding. He was already pulling away from it. Already choosing her.

The preschool called again. Theo's fever was 101 now. Could I please come get him?

I drove there in a fog. My wolf was howling inside me. I signed the clipboard. Theo was in the nurse's office looking small and flushed.

"Mommy." He reached for me with hot little hands.

I picked him up. He was burning. His wolf pup energy was erratic, spiking with fever. "Let's go home, baby."

"My tummy hurts."

"I know. I'll make you soup."

I buckled him into his car seat and started driving. He was quiet for a few blocks. Then, said,

"Mommy, can Mummy come take care of me instead?"

My hands tightened on the wheel. "What?"

"You know. Mummy. The pretty lady with red hair. She's Daddy's friend." He coughed. "She came to the park with us last week when you had your dentist appointment. She showed me how to let my wolf out. Just a little bit. She said I could call her Mummy if I wanted. She said she'll be a better Luna than you."

The road blurred. I blinked hard. My wolf whimpered.

"She plays games with me. Real games. Fighting games. And she doesn't make me eat vegetables." His voice got smaller. "Daddy said you're boring, Mommy. He said your wolf is weak and that's why you're always tired. Mummy Sarah's wolf is strong. She's an enforcer. She's way better than you. Can I live with her and Daddy? I don't want a weak mommy."

I pulled into the driveway of our pack house and sat there with the engine running.

Five years. Five years since I gave birth to him. Five years since I stepped down as Beta of my father's pack because Marcus said his pack needed a Luna, not a warrior.

It had been five years since I stopped shifting regularly because I was too tired from taking care of a pup, since I stopped being Luna the fighter, Luna the Beta's daughter, Luna who had challenge offers from three different Alphas.

Five years of being Luna the mom. Luna the mate. Luna the weak.

And my Alpha mate was fucking a strong she-wolf in our bed. My son was calling her Mummy. My son thought I was weak.

"Mommy? Can we go inside? I'm cold."

I turned off the car, unbuckled him and carried his hot little body into the house.

"I'll make soup with the stars," I said.

"Okay." He pressed his face into my neck.

"Mummy Sarah says stars are for babies though. She says wolf pups need meat."

I watched my five-year-old son reject the one thing I could still give him, and something inside me cracked.

Like ice splitting before it shatters completely.

My phone buzzed on the counter. A notification from my old email account. The one I hadn't checked in three years. The one that still had my maiden name.

Luna Reeves.

I stared at that name for a long time.

Luna Morrison made soup and got cheated on and lost everything.

But Luna Reeves?

I didn't know who she was anymore.

Maybe it was time to find out.