The Unwanted Luna's Defiant Second Chance

s's

ors of the main

t of pine and distant snow. My fiancé, Alpha Darius

n silence. The wedding had been set for last spring. Then, without explanation, he had postponed it. A "delay due to unrest," his letter claimed. But everyone

mself looked carved from the northern mountains he commanded. His dark

ton, at the head. My mother, Catherine, beside him. As his fianc

d be different. That he would finally see me. That I

s a

r with a flicker of acknowledgement, over my mother with cool respect, and then...

after making me wait for a wedding he clearly had no intention

but I swallowed it down. My

kipped over me, the precise tilt of his head-it was as though I had stood in this exact moment b

d to scream at him. I wanted to demand w

ither. I

lench. My nails had dug

emotion. He nodded to my father. "The skirmishes in the Red

replied. "Your efficiency

nding there, a decorative statue. The perfect, silent fiancée. I

miliation burned, but I held my ground. I would n

n the patterns to keep myself grounded. My finger

ir discussio

nnounced. "I must return before the fir

ther looked surprised. A vi

He had not even acknowledged our engagement, discussed the wedding that had been postpo

t-but a quiet, violent crack in my chest. I was not just a treaty. I was

for a different rea

ning lurch that I already knew what I was about to say-and how he would an

I hated that I was about to beg

g myself to meet his gaz

oked. His eyes held cold, impatien

-cut deeper than any rejection. I was an inconve

whatever dignity I had left. But I stayed froze

es," he said, his tone leaving no room

was swift, pub

ery syllable. The memory was smudged, like ink washed by rain. But I knew, with a bone

had humiliated myself in front of everyone-all for noth

I hated him. In that moment, I truly hated him for making me feel s

unger cousins. My mother's hand tightened on my father's

," I whispered, retreatin

ed back to my fathe

inner, I sat beside him, the space between us a froze

m of conflicting emotions. Anger. Shame. Loneliness. And beneath it all, that haunting fami

did it feel like remembering was