*Valeria*I stared at Caleb, trying to process the words that he had just said, but my entire body seemed to go numb."Samantha is here?" Dominic demanded, recovering much faster than me."Yes," Caleb said, obviously uncomfortable. "She showed up at the gate and demanded an audience with her mate the King."How dare she!My shock turned into anger at Caleb's words. What right did this girl have to come back here after all she did to Dominic and still declare him her mate? She had to be joking.I turned my attention to Dominic, nervous about his reaction. None of us could have expected this, expected for her to come back. And with our relationship still so new, I wasn't sure how he would react. I thought I knew him well, but I didn't want to be wrong.His mask was firmly in place though."Put her in jail immediately," Ian stated, looking pissed himself. "Refuse to see her. She doesn't deserve any kindness from us.""I would have to agree," his beta said with a grim nod. "She do
*Valeria*Pregnant.Pregnant.Pregnant.There was no way, I had to have misheard her words. I glanced around at the rest of our group, unsure if I should feel glad that everyone else looked shocked, or upset because they had obviously heard the same.The panic started to set in, and I squeezed Dominic's arm tighter.Even if she was pregnant, there was no way that it was Dominic's baby…right? If it was she would have to be showing more…right?My eyes drifted down to her belly as I did the math, feeling more and more nauseous the longer I went. Her belly wasn't sticking out. That was a good sign…right?Dominic seemed to conclude the same thing as me."You being pregnant has nothing to do with me," Dominic said, his voice showing his clear indifference.He was obviously holding it together much better than me. Though his words did help soothe me. Samantha did not look relieved though."What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, still playing the sad damsel role."It's none of m
*Dominic*My foot was tapping nonstop under the desk and my skin felt like little ants were crawling around underneath it, putting my whole body on edge.I knew it was too good to be true.Everything with Valeria had been amazing lately, and I had felt the happiest that I had in my entire life. Even thinking about her now brought a smile to my face.But then my smile fell as I remembered the reason for my restlessness.Fucking Samantha.My wolf let a growl out in my mind, but I shoved him back. I was just irritated enough that I didn't want to lose control of him for even a moment because if I did I wasn't sure what he would do.Yet I couldn't just sit at my office desk anymore, hoping for answers to come to me. I needed to do something, anything.I asked Val to give me time to figure things out and that's exactly what I would do.I was up and moving before I realized that I had actually formed a plan. My brain was still spinning, but my body knew what we should do and where w
*Valeria*I couldn’t sleep a wink after knowing that Samantha, Dominic’s previous Luna, who is the very root of his problem as to why he didn’t want to accept me before as his mate, is now pregnant with his child. I felt sick after I heard about it. I wanted to throw up. I was angry, sad, and confused. I didn’t know what to do.My heart felt like it had ripped out of my chest after I heard the news. Just when things had been going right for Dominic and me, why does this have to happen now? I felt my blood boil, and my chest threatening like it was about to explode. I paced back and forth, trying to calm myself down.Suddenly, the door to my bedroom opened, and Dominic striding inside with a solemn face. “Val,” he called out, and I didn’t answer.I didn’t even want to look at him.“Val,” he repeated, and grabbed me by the arm, forcing me to stop pacing. “Look at me, my doll.”“I can’t believe this,” I told him. ”Why is this happening to us? Just why?” “Val, please. Calm do
*Valeria* I kept my mouth shut into a thin line, my eyes boring a hole in Samantha’s forehead. I wanted to wipe that dirty smirk off of her face and have her dragged out of the room as she screamed for mercy. I inhaled as much air as I could. Oh, the goddess! I wouldn’t even be aware of myself being capable of such things if Samantha hadn’t entered the damn room. The Elders exchanged glances, many of them nodding in agreement. “Let us remind the former Luna of this pack that she committed serious crimes against His Majesty during her time as Luna,” one of them stated. “Such actions cannot be overlooked, and it’s not easy to restore our trust in her.”I could feel my nails digging into my pants as I tried to stop myself from butting in their conversation. Sane enough, Dominic listened intently next to me, focusing his mind on the conversation at hand. Moving my gaze back to Samantha, I watched her shift her emotions from triumph to sadness in one go. “Regret is one of the emo
*Valeria*“Today is the day!” Gia exclaimed as she made sure my gown was in place. “I mean, look at you. You almost look like you’re a bride!”Rosie laughed at Gia’s antics. “Careful, Gia! Don’t want the King to hear you. He might want to postpone the ceremony and marry her instead.”“Isn’t it the same? Proclaiming someone as the Alpha’s Luna meant they’re also marrying them?” I thought about it for a while. “In the human world, it’s probably the same. Bound forever. Luna and Alpha. Husband and wife. I really see no difference.” Gia nodded slowly before turning around toward Rosie who had just smoothed out my gown. I couldn’t help but laugh along with them. Today was the day I was finally going to become Dominic’s Luna. I was so happy I could barely contain it.“Okay, let’s get this show on the road,” Gia said, motioning for Rosie to fix the train of my gown.My friends walked me to the ceremony area where Dominic was already apparently waiting. As we turned to a corner, I f
*Valeria*"What did you say?" Dominic asked Liam, stepping closer."That girl is lying," he repeated with a frown. "That's not what happened. Lady Val is innocent."Warmth spread through me at his words. Out of everyone, these kids had my back.Samantha tried to step around the accusatory finger that was pointed in her direction."Well, of course, the kids are lying," Samantha said with a nervous smile. "Everyone here knows how much those kids love her, so of course they would try and take her side and defend her. Right?"There were some grumbled agreements from the people around us, making my heart break and my anger flicker. How could this be happening again? How could people that I had known and trusted be turning against me because of some other woman?Granted, her story was convincing, and I still didn't understand…but you would think that there would have been more support for me than this…"Hey, they are children," I said, looking at the embarrassment on their faces. "Pl
*Valeria*"Hi, Luna Valeria!"I pasted a smile on my face and waved at the group of wolves I was passing in the yard. Despite my ruined Luna Ceremony most of the pack members insisted on calling me Luna Valeria. And usually, that would make me super happy, but I was anything but.Because every time they called me Luna, I was reminded of my ruined ceremony, and exactly who it was that ruined it.Samantha was still in the pack house, regardless of my protests and feelings on the matter. Dominic had not been able to send her away, especially with her never-ending crying over her lost child.In fact, Samantha was constantly asking Dominic to comfort her over any other person. At first, he had been against it, knowing how she had lied to try and put the blame on me. But after a few tears, Dominic had caved and gone to her whenever she asked.It was my child too, he had said sadly, making it hard to argue against him.Didn't make it hurt any less though.I jumped as a hand slid into