LF I Was Not His Luna, But the Healer He Lost
Chapter 1
On the day my mate, Damian, let another woman give birth to his heir, his parents posted ten pack guards outside the treatment center to stop me—the future Luna—from storming the place and causing a scene.
But I never showed.
His mother held Lydia’s hand and promised her, “With us here, no one will lay a finger on you or the pup.”
Damian stayed by her bedside, wiping the sweat from her forehead himself.
“Don’t worry. If she dares show her face, I’ll have the guards throw her from our territory.”
Only when my scent never materialized did he finally relax.
He believed Lydia had taken a silver blade for him during a rogue attack, and that she was now dying because of it. He was just helping his savior fulfill her dying wish to become a mother, while conveniently securing an heir for the pack.
He had even decided that if I apologized to Lydia at the pup’s naming ceremony, he would *allow* me to remain the future Luna and raise the child as my own.
What he didn’t know was that long before the ceremony, I had already annulled our mating bond and severed all ties with the pack, with the council of elders as my witness.
A month later, I would be leaving for the border with a neutral medical team.
From that moment on, he, his pup, and his future as Alpha were no longer my problem.
...
The day Lydia returned to the Pack House from her postpartum stay, I was finishing my handover at the Ironwood Treatment Center.
The center was built on Ironwood territory, its security and access controlled by the current Alpha. When Victor sealed off the delivery room under the pretext of protecting an unborn heir, the healers had no authority to let me past the guards, even knowing I was Damian’s registered mate.
But I never tried to force my way in.
What I had spent the last year studying in the northern territories was silver wounds, lupine deterioration, and battlefield medicine. That was exactly the experience the neutral medical team was looking for. Instead of staying in a pack that no longer valued me, I would rather use my skills where they were actually needed.
As I approached the second-floor sitting room, I heard laughter from within.
“The pup has Damian’s eyes.”
Margaret cradled the swaddled infant, her voice brimming with pride.
“When Damian takes over as Alpha, he’ll be Ironwood’s next heir. Lydia, you’ve secured the pack’s bloodline.”
Damian came out of the kitchen with a bowl of soup and sat beside Lydia, feeding her spoonful by spoonful.
“The silver in your system is still unstable. The senior healer said giving birth would weaken your wolf even more. You need to eat.”
The current Alpha, Victor, stood nearby, shaking a wooden rattle at the baby, a grin stretching from ear to ear.
“Thank goodness the pup didn’t take after Amelia. She spends all her time at the treatment center. When would she ever have time for the duties of a Luna, let alone a mother?”
My hand froze on the doorknob.
The first time I met Victor, he had praised my gift for healing in front of the entire pack, declaring that having a skilled Healer as the future Luna was an honor for the Whitmore family.
Now, that very same skill was being used as proof I was unfit for a family.
Damian and I had lived together for three years.
We weren’t fated mates, chosen by the Moon Goddess, and we had never completed a mating mark. Three years ago, following an agreement between our families, we were officially mated through the pack registry, with the plan to hold our Luna Ceremony once he inherited the Alpha title.
Back then, we had looked forward to having a pup of our own.
But a healing accident took our pup’s life before it had a chance to form, leaving me with damage that would never fully heal. The chief healer told me my body would struggle to carry a werewolf pup to term.
I’d cried until I couldn’t breathe.
Damian had held me and sworn he would never betray me for the sake of an heir.
To prove it, he even had his parents put all succession plans on hold.
But now, he’d shattered that promise with his own two hands.
A year ago, I earned a place to study at a neutral healing academy in the northern territories. The day I left, Damian clung to me at the airport, his cedar scent thick with reluctance.
We were in touch every day for that entire year. I never doubted him.
Until a month ago, when I cut my studies short and came home to Greyhaven early.
The moment I stepped outside the Pack House, I smelled it: an unfamiliar pregnancy, and Lydia’s scent clinging to Damian’s collar.
They came walking up the pine path hand in hand, the swell of her belly unmistakable.
A voice from inside the sitting room shattered the memory.
“Amelia? When did you get back?”
When Lydia saw me in the doorway, a flicker of panic crossed her face, but her expression quickly softened into one of frail weakness.
The others turned toward me in unison.
Margaret’s eyes landed on the resignation papers in my hand, and her face instantly darkened.
“You resigned from the Ironwood Treatment Center?”
“You already can’t give Damian an heir, and now you’re abandoning your duties as a Healer? Do you expect the Whitmore family to support you forever?”
Victor’s voice was just as cold.
“Lydia and the pup need the best care available. Not only are you unwilling to help, you pick this moment to resign. Is that how a future Luna behaves?”
I looked at Damian.
“And him?”
“While I was away studying, he got another woman pregnant with his pup. Is that how a future Alpha is supposed to behave?”
Damian’s jaw tightened, and the oppressive weight of an Alpha’s power filled the room.
“I did this for you, too.”
“You can’t have pups. Lydia gave us an heir. Once she’s gone, you’ll raise the pup, and you’ll still be Ironwood’s Luna.”
“This is the best solution for everyone. Lydia gets to fulfill her wish to be a mother, and you get to have a pup. I don’t understand why you’re twisting my kindness into a betrayal.”
He pointed at Lydia’s pale face.
“During the rogue attack two years ago, she took a silver blade for me. The silver toxin lodged near her heart has been slowly killing her wolf. The senior healer says she might only have six months left.”
“Her parents are dead, and she saved my life. All she wants is to leave a child behind before she dies.”
“You’re a woman. How can you not have any compassion?”
Lydia gently took Damian’s hand.
“Amelia, this is all my fault. Once the pup doesn’t need me anymore, I’ll leave Greyhaven. I won’t come between you two.”
Looking at the four of them, a united front, it finally hit me.
I was the outsider here.
When I said nothing, Damian’s tone grew sharper.
“My patience is wearing thin, Amelia. Stop going after Lydia.”
“At the pup’s naming ceremony a month from now, as long as you publicly acknowledge her sacrifice, I’ll have the elders recognize you as the pup’s mother.”
A month from now?
I glanced at the sleeping infant.
By then, I’d be long gone from Ironwood.
Still, before I left, I owed them a parting gift. One they’d never forget.