Chapter 1

Evelyn POV

I am married but not mated. I am the wife of the Alpha King of the Red Stone Pack. His wife, but not the pack’s Luna. But that is only a consideration in technicality.

The pack members for the past two years have supported me as the Alpha’s wife and never once made me feel any less of their Luna.

The Red Stone Pack is the ruling pack of many, as our warriors remain undefeated in battle. We offer a strong alliance to smaller packs that in time of crisis can call upon the Alpha King and his warriors to help protect and secure their lands.

“Luna…be careful. Let me do that.” Candice, one of the alpha mansion’s staff members offers to me.

As the acting Luna, I was responsible for the planning and organising of the yearly group pack Moon Conference. We had just completed this year’s event and being the morning after, I was helping with the tidying up. The staff told me not to bother, that I had done all the hard work…but I like to help where I can.

Every year the pack would invite the leading families of the incorporated packs to maintain a good rapport amongst the alliance. Being early summer, I organised the gathering outside this year. The weather held and luckily the last-minute forecast of rain didn’t reach us.

I was currently standing on top of a ladder pulling down some of the thousands of fairy lights and the remaining pack banners. The banners were my new project, I had newly created them for this year’s celebration. They were designed with the symbol of a crown with a wolf howling into the red blood moon, the Red Stone Pack’s symbol.

“I’m fine Candice. You could help by packing some of that food up? Maybe the night watch would like some food this morning as they missed out last night?” I suggest.

“Yes Luna, I’m sure they would. You are very kind to think of them.” Candice agrees before calling another pack member over.

“Just part of being the Luna.” I softly smile, I wasn’t used to compliments here and still wasn’t sure how to take them.

“Michelle, can you help Luna with the lights?” Candice asks Michelle as she heads off to pack up the remaining food.

“Of course. Luna let me do that, before the Alpha has our heads!” Michelle quips.

I want to say something witty, but it could come across as an insult to the Alpha and our marriage. I had no delusions that the Alpha felt anything romantic towards me. He didn’t even like being in my company. We may be married but we certainly didn’t share a marital bed.

In fact, he never touched me, never came close enough for our wolves to bond. Yet I still longed that he would grow to love me, I think that is why I am still here.

Michelle climbs another ladder and starts to help me take down the outdoor fairy lights that were wrapped around a large tree. One of many, at this rate we would be here all morning removing these lights.

“It was a great gathering Luna, you did incredibly well to organise all of this. I don’t think the gatherings were anything like this before, it’s nice to finally have a Luna again!” Michelle smiles at me.

I could smell his scent before he appeared into view. His rich intoxicating sweet leather scent always made my legs tremble and for the first year of our marriage I had to control my wolf every time I was in his presence. He made it very clear that it was a marriage arrangement only to strengthen the packs. He may hold no romantic emotions for me, but I found his presence intense and magnificent.

Growing up I had always fancied my now husband, Reuben. Most girls had a crush on him. Even as a young male he was strong, Alpha built, and had long dark blonde hair that he kept tied back. He was gifted by the moon goddess with bright blue eyes that always reminded me of my favourite lake near my home pack. His maturing years did not disappoint and many of the pack member’s females struggled to form a sentence in his presence.

Reuben had become Alpha King after our marriage with his father resigning and leaving the overall protection and running of the pack to the two of us. In fact, I hadn’t seen his father since he left, their relationship was clearly strained. Not supportive or a secure outlet of unconditional love like the relationship with my parents.

With Reuben’s increasing approach the atmosphere became thick and heavy. I reached higher to unwrap a tangled fairy light to look busy, rather than watch his sexy walk with my drooling mouth.

His tight light grey t-shirt could hardly contain his muscles and the fabric looked like it would split at any moment under the strain. His arms were covered in tattoos, and I had only ever once glimpsed at his ink on his back. Large angel wings spanning both shoulder blades with a small name written underneath that I couldn’t quite see at the time. He was also wearing loose black jeans, his signature look for when on pack lands to be able to shift at any moment.

With my wolf whimpering in my mind at his presence and my legs feeling weak, I somehow lose my footing on the ladder and start to fall. He is there in a flash, catching me, holding me in a tight grip around my waist. Our eyes meet just for second as I feel his warm breath on my neck, where I should hold his chosen mate mark. His eyes flash from the light blue waters to a dark deep thundery sea blue, a signal that his wolf had come forward.

“Erm thanks!” I awkwardly reply clearing my throat. I place my feet on the ground and take a step back from him. His wolf clearly angry that I had touched him without permission.

Reuben was a very proud being. He wasn’t Alpha King for his friendly nature. He didn’t have a happy disposition; he was cold and ruthless. In fact, we really didn’t suit one another at all. I was more of a happy soul than him, caring of others and enjoyed the social aspect of being a pack’s Luna. Whereas Reuben was abrupt and on first appearance, cold. However, my wolf could sense he only acted cold, that there was warmth under this façade.

“You shouldn’t have put them so high.” He tuts at me, shaking his head.

“Then they wouldn’t have worked Alpha. Luna has done an excellent job.” Michelle defends me as she steps off her ladder, placing a pile of fairy lights on the ground.

“Yes, you’ve clearly worked hard Evelyn.” He compliments tonelessly, yet my wolf sings at the mention of my name from his lips.

“Thank you, Alpha.” That’s the best I can do, I internally slap my hand on my forehead as my wolf groans at my response.

“Do you need help packing the decorations away?” He asks maintaining the same tone.

“No, we should be fine, I’m sure you have lots to sort out?”

“Of course.” His lips forming a straight line.

“So Alpha, when are you going to give the pack a pup? We are all desperate for you both to have a baby.” Candice chuckles walking over with the packed-up meat. As an omega, she was confident in her approach to the Alpha.

“Candice, you can’t ask them that?” Michelle scolds Candice.

Is my face red? It feels red. I turn my head slightly to look at Reuben. I find him scowling at Candice, his anger clear in his eyes from her playful banter. His intense aura being released onto her. Poor Candice if she were in wolf form her tail would be in-between her legs. Catching me watching him, he looks just as awkward by the sudden turn of the topic and glances away without commenting.

What the pack didn’t know is that I was desperate to have a baby with Reuben. I wanted to give the pack and its alpha a lasting gift, secretly hoping it would make Reuben want to finally mark me. Want to finally start being a family and provide a stable future for the next generation of the pack.

I didn’t think that was possible now. In the last two years of marriage, Reuben has only slept with me once and that was only two months ago. For me it was the most incredible night of my life and I dreamt of it often. Waking up in a cold sweat each morning with distant memories of the tingles that I felt that night, often left me unsatisfied for the entire day.

That night, Reuben had received some bad news and I found him with two empty bottles of whiskey in his office. He was passed out on his desk, and I helped take him up to his bedroom. I didn’t want his staff to find him in such a state, so I helped him get upstairs. Things led from there and the sexual frustration I had been feeling since I married him got the better of me. I gave in to his advances.

Reuben never touches me, he never shows me any compassion and I could tell he regretted it the next day. The way he scrambled from his bed and rushed out of the room said it all. I think he felt guilty and I know why. I’ve seen pictures of her in his desk drawer, of them together, looking incredibly loved up. She is what he wants, what he craves…but instead he has me.

I first noticed her in a photograph when it was framed and placed on his bedside table when I moved here. I was given a tour of the alpha mansion by Michelle, who naturally assumed that would also be my room. Little does she know that two months ago was the first time I slept in his bed. In the first year I had told myself daily that once we have children he would warm to me, he would start to love me like he did her. Into my second year I lost that childish romantic notion and concentrated on being a good Luna to the pack. Perhaps a way to a cold heart was hard work and dedication.

My face still burning red from the making a baby comment, I return to the task of detangling fairy lights. Candice makes a quiet murmur about the food being ready and Reuben uses this as an excuse to take the food, hastily leaving our awkward encounter. Both Michelle and Candice are left confused by their Alpha’s response and make odd glances at each other. I could feel their eyes burning into the back of my head when I start to feel dizzy.

“Do you both mind finishing up?”

“Of course, Luna. Are you feeling okay, you look very pale?” Michelle steps towards me. A sudden feeling of nausea takes over me and I stagger on the spot, a dizzy spell overwhelming me.

“Luna…” Candice runs over to me.

“I’m okay, I think this evening’s entertainment and the planning has taken it out of me.” I say, trying to slow my racing heart.

“We will finish up here Luna, maybe just get checked out by a doctor just to be sure?” Michelle suggests.

“Yes, thank you Michelle, I think I will.”

……..

Before heading to the Alpha mansion, I diverted to the pack medical centre, just to get checked out. It wasn’t usual for she-wolves to suffer from dizzy spells. I knew one of the doctors would have no qualms in seeing me at short notice. My doctor!

“Yes, enter!” His sweet steady voice calls out to me as I knock on his office door. As I enter the room his eyes light up from my presence.

Noah was my best friend. He followed me from the Silver Moon pack when I married Reuben. Noah was on target to be a beta back home but having trained as a doctor, he wanted to make sure that the Red Stone pack had the facilities in place for me. He never left after that, he remained as my personal doctor. Not that I ever mentioned it to him, I was grateful for his presence. He was a positive in my life and someone I enjoyed seeing every day.

As I close the door behind me, I glance at my reflection in a long mirror. Yes, I did look pale. The blood that flamed my face earlier out of embarrassment had worked just as quickly in removing itself from my face. I touch my cheek concerned with my paleness, as I take in the rest of me. White blonde long hair, bright green eyes that were looking dull today, pink plump lips and a slim figure that I cover up with baggy clothes. Some days I even get away with not wearing a bra, my breasts are petite, and Reuben never noticed when I tried to make an effort, so I stopped trying.

“Evelyn, is everything okay?” Noah looks at me with concern through his chocolate brown eyes that match his chocolate brown hair. He was wearing his gold rimmed glasses that he wore when he was tired and had been reading too much.

I walk away from the mirror and slump myself down in his patient’s chair. I didn’t need to stand on ceremony with Noah, he was my only true ally, my oldest friend.

He was twenty year’s old like me, whereas Reuben was a year older at twenty one. Noah was incredibly protective of me, but he lacked the strength in character to say it out loud to Reuben. In the first year I often spent an evening crying in his arms. Questioning what I had agreed to, what I had let myself in for.

In my second year as Luna, I stopped. I couldn’t keep putting Noah through my heartbreak, he may not comment but I could tell in his eyes he thought I made the wrong choice. The only benefit of not being marked by Reuben is that I kept my pack mind-link. I am too far away to use it with my parents and pack, but with Noah here, we use it often. It helped to have a friendly voice in my head during Alpha banquets or defence meetings.

“I had a dizzy spell when packing up. I’m fine now but some of the staff suggested I got checked out.”

“That’s not like you. Here, come sit on the bed for me and I’ll give you a quick check.” He gestures for me to sit on the blue medical bed.

“How are things in general?” He questions as he places his stethoscope on my chest to hear my heart and lungs.

“Fine, I’ve been busy with the planning of the Moon Conference. But now that it’s over, things should calm down slightly!”

“And things with Reuben? Did he comment on your hard work?” He keeps his eyes away from mine as he moves now to my back to check my lungs again.

“Does he ever!” I sigh. This was my safe place, only to Noah would I ever admit my feelings.

“Why do you bother…he’ll never change Evelyn. Two years we have been here, and I’ve not seen him once show an inkling of feelings towards you.” His wolf growls lowly from his chest.

“If I can just show him…” I start to disagree.

“Two years you have shown him!”

“Well too late to change my mind now. I am the Luna to this pack and as one of them, you will support my decision.” I bluntly reply, making my voice heard.

A few minutes later and Noah has checked my vitals and I was now laying down on the bed while he checked my abdomen.

“Are you and Reuben sexual nowadays?”

“Noah!” I gasp, I can’t believe he just asked me this. Noah most of the time knew me better than I knew myself. Where I was able to pretend Reuben and I were somewhat happy to the pack members, Noah knew that our marriage wasn’t as romantic as I would have liked.

“Be honest?” He enters into doctor mode.

“Erm about two month’s ago….” I can’t make eye contact with him. I could tell by the way his back stiffened, he was disappointed by this.

“Why?” I ask with a frown.

“You’re pregnant! I’ll have to book you in for a scan to confirm, but I would say around eight weeks pregnant.”

“What?” I respond having entered a state of shock.

“I want you back here tomorrow and I will order you some vitamins to take to help with your energy levels, but yes you are pregnant.”

“I need to go tell Reuben!” I squeal with excitement. I spring up from the bed and rush out the door. I race back to the alpha mansion with happiness warming me that a pup, his pup, was growing in my tummy. That I could give the pack what they finally desired, a secured future. All my hoping and praying to the Moon Goddess had finally paid off.

I was so wrapped up in my emotions that I didn’t notice the new scent that lingered in the hallway as I headed towards his office.

As I opened the office door, I find Reuben embracing a female tightly in his arms, a female that was sobbing into his chest. The excitement that empowered me for such a short time had now disappeared. My heart was breaking into tiny pieces.

On noticing my arrival, Reuben pushes the female out slightly from his chest, but keeps a strong hold around her waist. I can finally see her face, the female that cries into my husband’s chest as I should be allowed to. She looks slightly different from the photographs, but I knew instantly that this was Vicky, Reuben’s true love, his mate, the one that should be his Luna.