The Luna with Nothing Novel – On my birthday night, my Alpha mate, Kieran Ashwood, and my son, Leo, each gave me a present. One was a worn Mate Bond Certificate. The other was a paternity test report. It turned out their wife and mother… had never been me. It was the maid, Elena Whitmore. Kieran’s eyes were cold, indiferent. “Back then, my parents forced me to mark you. Elena couldn’t carry a pup, so I had no choice but to fake a mate bond with you and have you give birth for us.” “Now that the two of them are gone, it’s time for the Luna position to go back to its rightful owner.” Leo looked at me with the same disgust.
“From now on, you’re the lowest servant in Blackstone Pack. You need to pay back everything my mom suffered!” I didn’t cry or scream. I just nodded in silence. I’d heard them earlier, while I was getting dinner ready. Elena dabbed at her tears, pitiful and sweet. “Luna has everything. I’m an orphan my whole life. I just want to know what it felt like, even for one year, to have a family who love me and stay with me.” Kieran soothed her like she was made of glass. “If you like it, then for this year, you’ll be Luna.” Leo hugged her leg and nodded hard, like he couldn’t wait. “Yeah! Aunt Elena, starting today, you’re my mom!” I watched them laugh together, bright and intimate, and something in me went dead. Fine. If they could pick a new family, so could I. I moved to sit down out of habit, but the chair was yanked away at the last second. I hit the floor hard.
Pain speared up my tailbone so sharply my vision flashed white. Elena rested one hand on the chair back, eyes wide in fake surprise. “Arabella, you didn’t seriously think you were still Luna, did you? I’m the lady of this pack house now.” “A filthy servant sitting at the same table as the masters, having delicacies with us… do you really think that’s appropriate?” She said it like she’d always belonged there, like she hadn’t been doing the exact same thing for years. Kieran frowned at my humiliation. “So you forgot what you are already? No manners.
Get to the kitchen. That’s where the servants eat. It’s not your first time anyway.” A bitter laugh scraped at my throat. Back then, Kieran had pushed for Elena to eat with us, even when my in-laws objected. I’d worried it would stir resentment among the staff, told him it wasn’t appropriate. All I got was his anger. “Arabella, do you seriously have no compassion? Everyone else has family. Elena’s an orphan. What’s wrong with giving her a little extra care?” “Fine. If you’re so worried about ‘fairness,’ then you can go eat in the kitchen with the servants.
That way no one will talk.” That was the moment it started. The Luna of this house had been treated worse than a maid. I forced myself up and headed for the kitchen. “Wait!” Elena called after me, smiling like she’d just remembered something fun. “Arabella, shouldn’t you take off your designer clothes and jewelry and give them back to me? Those are Luna’s, you know.” I froze. The clothes didn’t matter. The only jewelry I had on was the ring Kieran had proposed with. Kieran seemed to realize it too.
He looked away, uncomfortable for half a second. “Elena, that ring isn’t worth much. It’s not good enough for you. If you like rings, I’ll buy you a bigger, better one tomorrow.” Elena’s eyes immediately turned red, wounded and wronged on cue. “Even if it’s not expensive, it means something, Kieran. You said I’m Luna. Were you lying to me?” “Or do you still like her more?” Her voice trembled. “Fine. I’ll go. I’ll just go back to being an orphan nobody loves.” Kieran’s face softened.
He pulled her into his arms, panicked by the thought of losing her. “How could I lie to you? With me and Leo, you’ll never be alone again.” Then he turned to me, impatience snapping back into place. “Arabella, what are you standing there for? Go put on a servant uniform, and take off the ring. Give it to Elena!” Leo, who’d been watching like it was entertainment, tapped his bowl with a spoon mockingly, eyes gleaming. “And don’t change in the master bedroom.
That’s my mom’s room. The guest room you used to stay in, she’s turning into a walk-in closet.” “As for you, you can go live in Baxter’s old shed. You’ve been squatting in someone else’s spot for years. Letting you have a doghouse is already generous.” “You’ve wasted so much of Blackstone Pack’s money. We’re not suing you yet, since you ‘served’ our family for a while, but you’ll pay it back with labor.” “I’ve done the math with Dad. At an average servant’s wage, you’ll be working it off for, what, fifty years? And this time Grandpa and Grandma aren’t here to protect you.”