Five: Confrontations in the Dark

SAGE

The heavy silence that lingered after Alpha Ethan's departure wrapped itself around the room, suffocating in its stillness. I stood there, watching Asher—Beta Asher—my chest tight with a strange mixture of anger, confusion, and hurt. His face, once familiar with passion, was now cold and his eyes were completely unreadable. 

How had it come to this? 

How had the man who had been my fated mate, chosen by the Goddess, become the source of my torment?

I inhaled deeply, steadying my voice before shattering the quiet. I did not want to give him the impression that I was weak and that he did the right thing by rejecting the omega.

“Did you know who I was? I mean, I was promised to your Alpha?” The words tumbled out faster than I had intended, and my voice betrayed the underlying bitterness.

Asher’s expression remained neutral, but I saw the flicker in his eyes. “No,” he said calmly. “But something tells me you might have an idea.”

I scoffed, unable to believe how he could stand there as if none of this mattered. “Are you really blaming me for sleeping with you? Unbelievable!”

His lips twitched slightly, not enough to be called a smile, but the tension between us thickened. “Your timing was rather…accurate.”

Anger flared in me, searing hot and sharp. How dare he imply I had orchestrated this? That I had known? “Did it ever occur to you that it was our mate bond that brought us there?” My voice cracked, and my frustration was bubbling over. “Of course, it was nice of you to reject me. You didn’t even know me!”

“I didn’t know you,” he agreed casually, his voice soft but unwavering. “And that’s all the more reason I find it convenient now. You are married to my Alpha by oath, and you will serve him.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling the heat in my cheeks intensify. “Serve him? I am his Luna, not his servant.”

A dangerous glint passed through Asher’s eyes, but his tone remained steady, almost condescending. “You are what he makes you to be. I’ll give you some advice: don’t piss off Ethan. People don’t live to tell the tale afterwards.”

I knew the history of Alpha Ethan. Everybody in the world of werewolves knew. 

Alpha Ethan Blackwood was not a man to be trifled with. His name alone was enough to send shivers through the most hardened warriors, his reputation one of brutality and cold, calculated violence. Stories of his ruthlessness spread like wildfire through the packs—how he had once executed an entire rogue faction with his bare hands, his eyes devoid of mercy. Even his own pack tread carefully around him. He was a predator in every sense, and beneath his calm, commanding exterior lay a man as dangerous as the darkest of storms, capable of destroying anyone or anything that threatened him.

The thoughts sent a chill down my spine, but I refused to let the fear show. 

“And what about you?” I shot back, searching his face for some crack in the mask he wore. “What about you, Asher?”

His jaw tightened slightly, a flicker of something—regret, perhaps?—dancing across his features. “What about me?”

I took a step closer, my voice lowering. “Did you ever piss him off? Did you tell him about that…night?” 

For the first time, Asher hesitated, and his gaze briefly flickering to the ground before meeting mine again. “Sage, that’s your name, right?”

I nodded, my throat tightening with the weight of the conversation.

He continued, his voice cold and clipped. “If you want to survive Alpha Ethan Blackwood, you will learn to keep your mouth shut and act like a good wife.”

My heart pounded in my chest, but I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me. Not now. Not after everything. “Well, I fucked you long before I wore his ring on my finger and was bound by the sacred oath. What about yours? You, too, slept with his Luna. So do not warn me, Beta Asher.”

His eyes darkened, the weight of his title seeming to settle heavily between us. “Your title agrees with you,” he said, his voice lowering, a dangerous edge creeping in. “Good to know you have a spine. It’ll be fun for Ethan to break that in case you get ahead of yourself.”

He turned as if the conversation was over, but I wasn’t done. Not yet.

“Why?” I blurted, my voice sharper than I had intended.

Asher stopped but didn’t turn to face me.

“Why, what?” His tone was wary now as if he wasn’t sure where I was going with this.

“Why did you reject me?” My heart clenched as I spoke, but I needed to know. “And no, I’m not begging you to take me back because I don’t want to go back to where I’m unwanted. But I want to know the reason.”

Asher remained silent for a moment, his back still turned. I could see the tension in his shoulders, and the way he clenched his fists at his sides. “Why is it so important?”

“Because it is important to me.” My voice softened, the anger ebbing away, leaving only the raw need for an answer. “The least manly thing you can do is be truthful, and you have nothing to lose.”

He turned slowly, his eyes locking onto mine, and for the first time, I saw something real, something human in his expression. “My heart,” he said quietly. “It belongs to someone else.”

The words hit me like a punch to the gut. Someone else. Of course. There was always someone else, wasn’t there?

“Do you have a mate?” I asked, my voice trembling despite my efforts to keep it steady.

“I do,” he admitted, his voice low and filled with something I couldn’t quite place. “And I don’t. It’s complicated.”

I blinked, confused. “What does that even mean? You either have a mate or you don’t.”

He let out a bitter laugh, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “I don’t know why the Goddess played that cruel joke with me that night, putting you in my path, but I am bound to that person. Duty to that person.”

My chest tightened painfully. Bound to someone else. Always the same story. But why did it have to involve me? 

“Is she here?” I asked softly. “I mean, in this pack?”

I did not know why the knowledge was haunting me. That man did nothing but reject me brutally, and now he wants me to serve his Alpha? The thought alone boiled my blood, but I had let it go. 

Asher’s face hardened again, the vulnerability slipping away as quickly as it had appeared. His tone was stiff, too. “Luna Sage, I’m sure you must be tired,” he said, his voice now formal and detached. “I’ll have a servant bring you fresh towels, linens, and warm food. I hope that will satisfy your night.”

His words fell like acid on my wounds. 

He turned to leave again, and this time, I didn’t stop him. But before he disappeared through the door, he glanced back, and his expression was unreadable.

“And once again, welcome to the Lunar Legion pack.”

I stood there in the quiet after he left and my was mind spinning from the possibilities. My heart ached, not just from his rejection but from the cruel reality of the world I had been thrust into. I was Luna now, bound to a man who didn’t care for me, and with a mate who had slept with me and then rejected me. 

And yet, there was something in Asher’s eyes—a flicker of something deeper. Something unresolved. Something that told me this was far from over.

Going back home was not a choice either. 

Why, Goddess, why? 

I did not want an alpha or to be a luna—all I wanted was a loving mate, someone to call my own. And I was granted with a twisted wish. Every day, I’d have to see Asher right in front of my eyes and recollect the painful moment of his rejection.

On top of that, Alpha Ethan can never find out about us. He might forgive his Beta, but I will definitely incur the wrath of his rage.