The Luna He Left in the Rain

Kael and I were fated Mates, and for seven years, I poured my soul and my family's wealth into saving his failing pack.

But everything changed when he brought home Selene, a supposedly fragile Omega.

During a freezing downpour, I watched my Alpha hold his umbrella entirely over her, leaving me to stand soaked and shivering in the rain.

Things only got worse from there. He let her move into my newly built Luna villa, wear my custom silk pajamas, and drink from my mugs.

He even demanded I hand over my family's sacred, ancient amulet just to soothe her nervous system.

Whenever she squeezed out a few fake tears, Kael would unleash his Alpha aura to suppress anyone who questioned her, publicly humiliating me and calling me a cold-blooded, jealous monster for refusing to yield my territory.

I had funded his entire pack. I couldn't understand how the boy who once threw his broken body over mine to save me from a rogue bear couldn't even hold an umbrella straight for me now.

My endless patience had only taught him that my boundaries were meant to be crossed.

So, I decided to stop playing the understanding Mate.

At his mother's grand birthday banquet, in front of all the regional elders, I placed my silver engagement ring on the table.

"I, Elara, reject you, Kael, as my mate."

I severed our bond, demanded the immediate return of my thirty million gold coins, and prepared to expose the filthy, feral secret his precious Omega was hiding.

Chapter 1

Elara POV

The downpour did not so much fall as it did hang in the air, a thick, gray curtain that smudged the street lamps outside the Pack Enterprise building into greasy yellow stains.

I stood under the grand stone archway, the dampness making my cashmere coat cling to my shoulders like a sodden weight.

A spasm, like a clenched fist, tightened deep beneath my ribs-an anxious thrum from the beast within.

She was waiting for our Mate.

We had recognized each other on our eighteenth birthday-not as a collision, but as a slow, inevitable alignment of the senses. His scent, a severe composition of winter pine and raw earth, had been an anchor to my restless spirit, a silent declaration that I had arrived. And in return, my wolf had answered with a low, possessive thrum that resonated in my very bones: Mine.

When his fingers had first brushed my wrist, a strange, static-like warmth had traveled up my arm, a current far quieter and more profound than any violent shock.

But tonight, the rain felt colder than usual.

A sleek black car pulled up to the curb, its tires hissing through the standing water.

The door opened, and Kael stepped out, holding a large black umbrella.

My heart gave a familiar lurch, but it settled like a stone as I saw the figure huddled against his side.

It was Selene.

She was an Omega, the lowest rank in a pack, and she was shivering violently, her small hands clutching the lapels of Kael's jacket.

Kael walked toward me, but the umbrella was tilted entirely over Selene.

Half of Kael's broad shoulders were exposed to the torrential downpour, his expensive suit clinging to his wet skin.

His attention was a palpable, focused thing, a shield directed entirely at the trembling girl. A cloying sweetness now tainted her usual green tea scent, a chemical note that scraped at the back of my throat and made the beast under my skin recoil. It was as if her very presence was designed to artificially trigger his most basic, protective urges.

"Elara," Kael called out over the sound of the storm, his voice carrying that natural authority of an Alpha.

"Wait right there for a minute. Let me get Selene into the car first."

My jaw tightened, the muscles along it aching with the strain, and I heard the faint rasp of my own knuckles grinding together inside my coat pockets.

"She is an Omega, Elara," Kael explained, his tone carrying a hint of impatience.

"Her constitution is terribly weak. If the damp cold gets into her bones, she will be bedridden for weeks."

The back of my neck prickled, and I had to force my lungs to draw a slow, even breath, fighting the urge to let out a sound of my own.

I remembered the year of our first Shift. A rogue bear had breached our training grounds, and Kael had thrown his half-shifted, broken body over mine without a thought. I once believed the man who would shield me from a bear's claws might, at the very least, hold an umbrella steady against a simple downpour.

Now, he couldn't even hold an umbrella straight for his Mate.

The contrast was a physical thing, a tightening in my chest that made each breath a conscious effort.

"I am not waiting," I said, my voice eerily calm despite the storm.

I kicked off my expensive high heels, the wet leather slipping easily from my skin.

I picked them up and tossed them directly into the nearby metal trash can.

"If an Alpha cannot even hold an umbrella to protect his Mate, he is useless to me," I told him, my eyes locking onto his.

Kael's jaw tightened, a flash of irritation crossing his face.

"Elara, stop being unreasonable!" he shouted, stepping forward, but still keeping the umbrella over Selene.

I turned my back on him and stepped out from under the stone archway.

The freezing rain hit me instantly, soaking my hair and clothes in seconds.

I walked barefoot across the rough asphalt, ignoring the sharp stones cutting into the soles of my feet.

The physical sting of the rocks slicing my skin was nothing compared to the hollow ache in my chest.

A low, desolate sound echoed in the hollows of my mind, a grief too deep for human expression.

I walked all the way back to the territory of the Silver Fang Pack, my clothes dripping water onto the polished marble floors of my family's manor.

My mother, the current Luna of our pack, was waiting in the grand foyer.

Her gaze, sharp and assessing, missed nothing. Her nose twitched, catching the acrid scent of my distress.

"Your scent is sour with sorrow, Elara," she said, her voice a low, dangerous purr. "What did he do?"

I looked at her, my vision blurring slightly from the cold.

"I am going to sever the bond," I said, my voice steady, though the steady, forward-moving narrative I had constructed for my life simply... stopped.

My mother didn't gasp or argue; she simply nodded and guided me to the stairs.

When I reached my bedroom and bent down to take off my wet coat, I noticed the bloody footprints I had left on the carpet.

I looked at the crimson stains, a stark reminder that the boy who once carried me through two towns to a healer now could not be bothered to shield me from the rain.

After a long, scalding shower, I sat on the edge of my bed, wrapping a towel around my hair.

Suddenly, a sharp pressure pressed against my temples.

It was the Mind-Link, the telepathic web that connected wolves, allowing us to speak mind-to-mind.

Elara, Kael's voice echoed in my head, sounding exhausted.

I waited, a foolish, tiny part of me hoping for an apology.

Selene is freezing, Kael's voice continued. Send over some of those unused couture dresses you bought last month. She needs something warm and soft that won't irritate her skin.

A cold, bitter laugh bubbled up in my throat.

Sure, I replied, my mental voice a silken thread of thought, woven with the coldest courtesy I could muster.

I will have them sent over. In fact, I should send you along with them. An unused Alpha is the perfect accessory for a helpless Omega.

Elara! Kael growled in my mind.

I slammed my mental walls down, violently severing the connection.

Cutting a Mind-Link abruptly causes a sharp sting, like a rubber band snapping against the brain, but I didn't care.

A second later, my phone buzzed on the nightstand.

It was a text from Kael.

You are acting like a spoiled child. You lack the grace and generosity required of a Luna.

The text glowed on the nightstand, a neat little epitaph for the boy I thought I knew.