The Substitute Bride

His Discarded Luna, the Rival's Obsession

Lila

"No wolf. No family. Harmless. Useful. The second I am done with her, the Luna title is yours." Eira Crawford heard those words through her husband's office door. For four years, she had been Sebastian Vale's hidden mate. She managed his household, entertained his relatives, cleaned up his messes, and lived on the three thousand dollars he gave her each month like charity. Even buying a new coat required an explanation. But for his first love, he casually prepared three hundred thousand dollars in research funding. To Sebastian, Eira was nothing more than a wolfless Omega from an orphanage. A quiet, obedient wife with no pack, no power, and no value beyond being useful. He had never introduced her publicly as his Luna. His family treated her like a servant. His sweetheart mocked her as a woman who could only survive by clinging to an Alpha. So Eira stopped crying. She recorded the affair, filed for mate dissolution, and placed the divorce papers in front of Sebastian. Even then, he thought she was throwing a tantrum. He signed without hesitation, certain she would come crawling back once she realized no one else would want a discarded, wolfless Omega. He was wrong. The woman he left at home washing dishes was a Stanford-trained electrical engineer. The "useless" wife he ignored was the hidden chief engineer behind a national self-developed chip project. Her movements were classified. Her disappearance could alert the federal authorities. Her name, once revealed, was enough to shake the entire scientific community. And Sebastian knew nothing. After walking out of his house with nothing but her freedom, Eira crossed paths with Killian Sterling, the coldest and most powerful Alpha in the north. He did not know her name yet, but his wolf recognized something in her that everyone else had missed. Meanwhile, Sebastian finally realized that Eira was not bluffing. He searched the entire city like a madman. For the first time in four years, he publicly called her his wife. He demanded she return. He begged for another chance. But by then, Eira was no longer waiting in his house. She was seated at the Sterling Pack's dinner table, dressed with quiet confidence, while the most feared Alpha in North America stood beside her. In front of everyone, Killian Sterling placed his hand at her back and said coldly, "Eira is not anyone's discarded Omega." "She is my Luna."

Werewolf Love triangle Alpha Billionaires Hidden Identities Billionaire Ex-wife Kickass Heroine

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The main screen flashed green.

SUCCESS

For one stunned second, the clean room went silent.

Then the lab exploded.

"We got it!"

Cheers broke out across the room. Someone slapped Eira on the shoulder as Professor Davies pushed through the crowd and pulled her into a quick hug.

"Eira, look at those numbers. This is huge. We just changed the game."

A researcher behind him let out a low whistle. "National pride, military contracts, and enough money to make half the country lose its mind. Not bad for one night, Dr. Crawford."

Davies leaned closer so she could hear him over the noise.

"Your husband is Alpha Sebastian Hale, right?"

Eira nodded.

"This could give Hale Pack a serious edge," he said. "If they get access before the other Packs, they'll leave everyone else in the dust."

His words hit harder than she expected.

She pictured Sebastian opening the certification report. His face would go still first. Then his eyes would sharpen. Maybe, just maybe, he would look at her with something close to respect.

She had wanted that look for four years.

"I'll tell him tonight," Eira said.

Davies grinned. "Good. Let him see what you've been up to."

Eira smiled, but her fingers tightened around the folder.

[No, ]she thought.

[I'm giving him the biggest advantage of his life because I'm his wife.]

She cleared three security checkpoints, changed out of her clean-room suit, and collected the final certification documents.

Her name was printed across the first page.

Dr. Eira Crawford.

She ran her thumb over the title.

This time, no one could call her useless. No one could brush her off as a wolfless omega. No one could say she had nothing to offer an Alpha.

She had built something powerful enough to make entire Packs fight for access.

And tonight, she was going to put it in Sebastian Hale's hands.

The VIP elevator took her straight to the top floor of Hale Tower an hour later. Alpha Sebastian used the private suite for late business meetings, and sometimes he slept there when he claimed Hale Group's work ran too late. Eira had brought him dinner there more times than she could count.

This time she brought him a future.

She stepped out of the elevator with the folder held against her chest. The hallway was quiet, thick with expensive carpet and soft yellow wall lights. She was twenty feet from his office when her steps slowed.

Her nose knew before her mind did.

Cedar. Sharp, familiar, warm in the way only Alpha Sebastian's scent could be. It was the scent she had fallen asleep beside for four years, even when his side of the bed stayed cold too long.

But under it was something else.

Sweet. Floral. Not hers.

Eira stopped.

The office door was not fully closed. A thin line of light spilled through the gap, and with it came the mixed scents of two people standing too close.

Then Alpha Sebastian spoke.

"Serena, you know I've always loved you. She means nothing."

The folder slipped slightly in Eira's grip. She caught it before it fell.

Serena's voice came next, soft and wet around the edges, but there was a thin blade of amusement underneath. "If you love me, why did you let that Omega orphan become your Luna? Why didn't you come after me when I left?"

Alpha Sebastian gave a low laugh. Eira knew that laugh. He used it when he wanted someone to feel foolish for doubting him. "You're jealous?"

"Shouldn't I be?" Serena asked.

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