Chapter 4%
When I turned eighteen, everything shifted. My father, consumed by ambition for power and territory, began to disregard my mother, who had once been just an ordinary she–wolf before becoming Luna. He sought out the daughter of a powerful Alpha from another pack, lured by the promise of dominance and prestige. Without hesitation, he cast my mother aside, rejecting her as his mate, and instead bonded with this other woman, ultimately claiming the position of Alpha in the Phantom Moon Pack.8
That was the kind of man he was–selfish beyond measure.
Without looking back, he abandoned us. “You and Adeline should come with me,” he had said, his voice void of affection or concern. “There’s nothing for you here.”%
But I couldn’t leave my mother behind. “I’m staying with Mom, I had responded with unwavering resolve. “She needs me.”
Adeline, however, was different. She craved the status, the influence, the life that came with our father’s new rank. Without hesitation, she chose to follow him, leaving me and our mother behind without so much as a second thought.
I watched her leave that day, standing at the very edge of our pack’s borders. “Adeline,” I had called out, my voice raw with desperation. “Don’t go.“%
She had turned back only once, her gaze distant and devoid of warmth. “This is our opportunity, Anastasia,” she had said, her tone eerily detached. “I’m not wasting it.”
In the years that followed, I became the target of Ronan’s resentment. He blamed me for everything–for keeping him from following Adeline, for trapping him in the Obsidian Howl Pack, for holding him back from the future he thought he deserved. And when I became his mate, his hatred for me only deepened.”
As a child, I had always admired Ronan, trailing after him like his shadow. I adored him. He was my world. So when I turned eighteen and discovered that he was my mate, I was overjoyed. I thought it was fate–that we were meant to be together.
But Ronan didn’t see it that way. The moment I told him we were mates, his reaction crushed me.%
“No, he had said, his voice cold and final. “This isn’t right. I was supposed to be with Adeline.“2
His words shattered me. “Ronan, please,” I had begged, tears streaking down my face. “We’re fated to be together. You can’t just leave me.“%
But he had been ready to walk away, prepared to abandon me, to follow Adeline and pledge himself to the Phantom Moon Pack.
Then, my mother fell ill. And on her deathbed, she made Ronan swear an oath–to stay by my side, to protect me as his fated mate. Out of obligation to the woman who had raised him, he agreed. But in his heart, I knew he resented her for binding him to me, for forcing him to remain where he didn’t want to be.”
And after my father’s departure, leadership of the pack fell to me. Even then, I knew how much Ronan craved power, so I willingly handed him the title of Alpha, content to serve as Luna in the background. Yet, despite our bond, despite everything, he never once announced me as his Luna.”
One day, I confronted him. “Ronan,” I had asked, my voice steady despite the storm raging inside me. “Why haven’t you acknowledged me as your Luna?”
His response was a dagger straight to my heart.”
“Your mother forced me to mate with you. And now you expect me to make you Luna too? Keep dreaming, Anastasia. That title will always belong to your sister.“%
His words wounded me deeper than any physical attack ever could. At that moment, I knew–I was nothing to him. I had no place in his heart. That space had always been reserved for Adeline./
But I had one last plea, one final desperate wish: Kieran’s trip to the ocean. I was ready to set Ronan free, to finally let him go. But even then, he refused to grant me that one moment of peace.”
He could never love me–I had come to accept that. But how could he be so cruel to Kieran? How could he turn his back on his own
son?%
D
12 PM
