THE LUNA'S LAST LIE

"Kieran, we need to talk."

My fingers grip on the material of my cloak as I stand at the door of his work area. I can feel the heartbeat of my heart in my throat.

My Alpha, my mate, and the guy I once believed to be my lover, Kieran Blackwood, doesn't even look up. He's sitting behind his bulky oak desk, looking through files as if I'm not there.

"Kieran."

Nothing. No response.

The room's air is heavy and oppressive. His smell smoke and pine, which used to soothe me now seems like a faint memory, something I can't identify.

At last, he speaks in a distant, clipped voice. "Selene, express whatever you came here to say. I have no patience for your foolishness.

No sense.

Though it hurts more than it should, I swallow the word. I shouldn't have been shocked. This situation has persisted for weeks, if not months. ever since Lydia returned. Kieran has been treating me like a burden rather than a partner ever since.

I steady myself by putting a hand on my tummy. Despite my internal burning secret, I will not allow my voice to falter. "I'm pregnant."

The words linger in the atmosphere, brittle and anticipatory.

Kieran remains silent. He didn't move in his chair or blink. Then, as if I had just given him bad news, he slowly leans back and lets out a breath.

He chuckles. A chilly, sarcastic laugh that chills me to the bone.

"You expect me to believe that?" His voice is piercing, with a hint of threat.

I blinked. "What?"

His massive frame casts a shadow over me as he stands. "This is a joke, right?"

I take a step forward and shake my head. "Kieran, I wouldn't"

He speaks with a whip like quickness. "Then who's the father?"

I go cold.

The walls seem to close in, making the space feel smaller. I keep my gaze fixed on the borders of my blurry eyesight. I am unable to.

"You think I'd fall for this?" He has a steely voice. "Selene, you're desperate. clinging to me since you are aware of what is about to happen."

I feel chilled. "What's coming?"

He doesn't respond. Rather, he approaches the window and looks out over the packhouse as if the topic is boring him. "I'm rejecting you."

Under me, the ground disappears. My breath catches.

No.

Not in this manner.

"You're lying," I mumble. "You don't mean that."

With a simple "I do," Kieran turns back to face me. "Selene, you mean nothing to me. You weren't.

falsehoods. They must be.

He is my friend. My Alpha. The man who vowed to keep me safe.

My throat gets constricted. "What about the infant? This is your child our child Kieran.

He gives a headshake. "I don't believe you."

The last blow. The one that breaks the world.

I'm not sure when I'll start crying. I don't recall stepping back. I can't breathe because of the weight in my chest, even though my wolf is roaring in pain and clawing at me.

"You're leaving me for her, aren't you?" I can hardly speak over a whisper.

He clenches his jaw.

That's the only response I require.

Lydia. The woman who vanished for years and then reappeared out of nowhere. The woman who poisoned his ear, took his time, his love, and his attention.

I ought to have known.

I did know.

I was simply too stupid to acknowledge it.

I plead, "Kieran, please," as I hold onto the edge of his desk for balance. "You don't have to do this."

His eyes cannot be read. "Selene, you'll go in silence. Or I'll force you to."

A danger. A caution. A pledge.

Something breaks inside of me.

The agony is intolerable. Desperate to stay together, a sexual bond tugs, yet it is breaking. He is violating it.

And he doesn't give a damn.

With the world tilting, I stagger back. My gut is twisted painfully, and my chest hurts. But I won't plead, even though I want to yell, become angry, and **make him see**.

No more.

My only reason to keep fighting is my baby, my tummy, which I hold.

Kieran's voice pierces the quiet like a knife. "Get out, Selene."

I can't recall how I left. As I bypass through the group members such an apparition, I don't notice their gazes or feeling my feet moving.

The world is collapsing and spinning.

I cover my stomach with my hand. "I'll stay safe," I mumble. "I swear it."

Then, before I even get to the doors of the packhouse

I hear it.

Just one voice.

"The Alpha has rejected his mate."

And suddenly

It all goes dark.

It slams into me like a tidal wave, engulfing me in pain I had no idea existed.

It feels like the air has been squeezed out of my lungs as I slump to my knees outside the packhouse, struggling to breathe. Every nerve in my body feels like it has been set on fire, my vision becomes muddy, and my chest burns.

It's breaking The mate bond.

Not shattering, no. Crying.

Around me, wolves congregate, and I can hear their muffled growl. Some whisper, some gasp, but none steps forward to assist.

"Did you detect?"

"The Alpha rejected her."

"She's not our Luna anymore."

I want to yell. I want to fight and demand an explanation for Kieran's actions toward me and our relationship. All I can do, though, is clench my stomach, to keep the last of him safe.

Inside of me, my wolf screams and paws at my chest, refusing to believe the reality. He wiped us out, not simply rejected us.

My stomach aches sharply, so violently and suddenly that I choke on a cry.

No. Not my child.

Not the only thing keeping me alive.

The world tilts, and before I can stop it, I force myself to breathe through the pain.

I am completely engulfed by darkness.

I'm startled awake by a hard slap.

The glaring light of the pack hospital causes my eyes to open, and a familiar, unwanted visage glares at me.

Lydia.

She grins triumphantly and coldly. "You really are pathetic, Selene."

My body won't move when I try to sit up. My stomach still hurts, my head is spinning, and my limbs are limp.

The infant.

My hand goes to my stomach, but before I can say anything, Lydia leans in and whispers something poisonous.

"You should have left when you had the chance," she says. "Kieran is not interested in you. He didn't.

I feel a brand-new type of pain. Even worse than being rejected. Even worse than the bond breaking.

I despise her. She stole him from me, and I detest her for it. for inciting him to oppose me.

in order to win.

"You think he'll love you?" My voice is rough and hoarse. "You think he'll choose you?"

Tracing a manicured nail over the edge of the hospital bed, she lets out a quiet laugh. "He already has."

A door opens with a squeak. footsteps that are heavy. Kieran, I recognize that aroma all too well.

I don't look around. I don't have to. His presence stabs me in the back like a knife.

He speaks without feeling. "Leave us, Lydia."

She pauses for a moment. She smiles, though, since she already knows she has won.

Her perfume clings to the air between us like poison as she sweeps past him.

There is a pause. A dense, oppressive quiet.

Following that "You should have left when I told you to."

His remarks are as icy as ice and cut right through me.

I ignore the vertigo and make myself sit up. "Kieran, why? Why are you acting in this way?

He clenches his jaw. "Because it's over, Selene."

My throat aches, but I'm not going to cry. Not before him. Not right now.

I whisper, "You're carrying my child." "Does that mean nothing to you?"

Something flickers in his eyes for the first time. Feeling guilty? Uncertainty? He buries it just as fast, so I can't tell.

He declares, "It's not mine,"

The ultimate betrayal.

I have tunnel vision. My hands tremble.

I sigh, "You're a liar."

He doesn't answer.

He is not need to.

The solution lies in the stillness.

My vision is blurred by tears, but I'm not letting them go. Okay, if he wants me gone. I'll leave with my head up high if he decides to ignore me.

However, one thing is for sure.

I will not pardon him.

And I'll keep him away from my kid at all costs.

Pushing past him, I swallow the lump in my throat and leave the hospital room, leaving his life behind.

One notion consumes my thoughts as I enter the chilly night air.

This is something he will regret.

And when he does... He won't be saved by me.