Substitute bride

_Rowena's POV_

My bedroom door burst open so hard it nearly flew off its hinges.

"My Luna!" Velvet stumbled inside, her voice sharp with excitement, breathless and gasping. "He's back! Alpha Kaelen has returned! He's in the east wing right now, with his grandmother, Lady Maelis."

My hand jerked. The tip of my pen sliced into my finger, but I barely noticed. Only one thought echoed in my mind.

Kaelen was back.

I pressed my injured finger to my lips, blotting the bead of blood, but I couldn't suppress the surge of joy rising in my chest.

It had been three years since I'd last seen my husband-the Alpha of the Moonreign Pack.

That time had been our wedding night.

We hadn't even had a moment alone before he was summoned to the Federation border.

And ever since, I had served as his Luna, holding the pack together with unwavering devotion, counting the days until his return.

Velvet, my handmaiden, knew better than anyone how I had endured those years. Kaelen hadn't got enough time to mark me. And Kyra-the wolf inside me-had been so long silent that I'd nearly stopped hoping she would ever stir again.

The Moonreign Pack was small, but it was no easy task for a Luna with a fading wolf to care for her ailing mother-in-law, to weather the elders' scrutiny, to balance the pack's countless needs. There were so many nights I had wondered if I could bear it a moment longer.

But I had. And now Kaelen was home. He would mark me. We would shoulder the pack's burdens together. Perhaps we would even raise children of our own.

Everything was about to fall into place.

As these thoughts swirled in my heart, I dressed with more care than I had in years. I fastened my mother's pearl earrings-the ones she had worn as a token of her bond with my father. She had always believed they would guide me toward a marriage as blessed as hers.

I believed it too.

Earlier that morning, Kyra had stirred for the first time in what felt like forever. She paced restlessly in the depths of my mind, her agitation a strange undercurrent beneath my skin. I had found it unsettling then.

But now, I understood.

She had sensed what was coming.

Kaelen had come home.

The walk to the east wing wasn't far, yet each step seemed to stretch endlessly. My usual composure faltered-my stride, once measured and graceful, now carried an unmistakable urgency. But when the doors of the hall came into view, my feet slowed of their own accord.

My marriage to Alpha Kaelen Varkos had begun like a whirlwind.

After my father and brother fell in battle, one after the other, my mother's health had crumbled. Her only remaining wish was to see me wed-to place me in the care of someone she deemed worthy.

Alpha Kaelen was the man she chose.

Moonreign Pack was modest in size, but it had its standing. More importantly, its young Alpha was accomplished and commanding. My mother trusted that he would be my equal, that he would protect me.

We were not fated mates.

But that fleeting wedding night had been enough to sear him into my heart.

He had looked as striking in his military uniform as he had in his wedding attire-perhaps even more so, with a new edge of hardness about him. When those dark, fathomless eyes fixed on me, my maiden heart had thundered in my chest for the very first time.

"You deserve better than this," he had murmured, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "Wait for me, my Luna."

Those words had carried me through three years.

And now he was back.

I stopped before the doors, steadying myself. Through the decorative glass panel beside them, I caught a glimpse of my own red-rimmed eyes. I took that final moment to check my reflection-to ensure I would meet my husband as the woman he remembered.

And that was when I heard it. A voice from within the half-open door. Authoritative. Final.

"Rowena has no say in this."

I needed less than a heartbeat to recognize it.

My husband's voice.

"I have already agreed to marry Virella," he said. "It is done. I am the Alpha of Moonreign Pack."

The words hit me like a bucket of ice water, dousing every flicker of joy and longing in my chest.

Virella? Who was Virella?

My husband-the man who had asked me to wait for him-was now planning to marry someone else?

I pushed open the door without a second thought, the force of it surprising even myself. Every head in the room turned toward me.