She Rejected the Alpha and Became Her Own Moon Chapter 01
At the bonding ceremony, my sister publicly rejected her fated mate, Ethan Blackwood.
After she ran, I took her place and completed the bond with Alpha Ethan.
Everyone in the Pack sneered at me. As a kid, I wore the clothes my sister didn’t want, and grown up, I’d taken the mate she didn’t want.
I didn’t cry, and I didn’t make a scene. I let it all roll off me.
Then five years later, a car accident left my sister’s wolf dormant, and she could no longer run or dance.
She called in the middle of the night and said she couldn’t go on like this, and she asked whether Ethan still wanted her.
Ethan was quiet for a moment, then answered firmly. “I do.”
In that moment, I knew it was time to give the Luna’s place back to her.
I took the hint and offered to break the bond.
He signed his name, then lifted his head and said to me,
“Don’t blame your sister. Her legs are ruined, and so is her dream.”
“I agreed to bond with her just to give her something to lean on. Once she’s stable again, I’ll bond with you a second time.”
I looked at him quietly and thought how absurd he was.
I had no intention of being his Luna again, and I didn’t even intend to stay in this Pack.
I booked the earliest flight and planned to leave the moment the sun came up.
Early the next morning, I headed out with my documents in hand.
The second I opened the door, I saw my sister Iris come running out of the guest room, limping as she went, her laughter as bright as little bells.
Behind her, Ethan hurried after with a pair of soft slippers, dropped to a knee, and slid them onto her feet, his voice half-amused and half-scolding.
“Why’d you run out here barefoot? It’s getting cold now, and if you catch a chill, I’ll make you pay for it.”
Halfway through, he stopped short and looked up to find me standing in the doorway.
I’d never seen Ethan like this, his whole face soft and open, so tender it could melt, every ounce of his attention fixed on Iris.
We held each other’s gaze for a few seconds before he looked away first, stood, and said, “Heading back to the Pack apartments? It’s not far. I’ll drive you.”
Before I could turn him down, he’d already turned to go get the car.
That left just Iris and me in the living room.
Iris dropped the fragile act, her eyes full of smug triumph.
“Ethan set me up with the head Healer on the West Coast.”
“He says two years of proper treatment and my wolf will come back, and our kind’s healing can put me back on my feet.”
“You don’t know yet, do you? He’s decided to leave the Pack behind and go to the West Coast with me.”
“He’ll stay by my side until I’m completely better. Our flight’s this afternoon.”
“Sweet little sister, after all the twists and turns, Ethan is mine in the end.”
“As for you, Ethan and I didn’t want you to be lonely, so we picked out a suitable match for you. He saw your photo and liked what he saw, so go meet him today.”
I cut her off before she could finish.
“No thanks. Knowing you, Iris, what kind of decent man would you ever set me up with?”
My refusal changed her face in an instant.
Her expression darkened, and she asked in a nasty, needling tone, “You won’t even go meet him? Don’t tell me you’re still hoping to hang on to Ethan.”
I was about to answer when I caught Ethan walking back in out of the corner of my eye.
He’d clearly heard her, and his steps paused at the door, his gaze on me unreadable. Was he afraid I’d cling to him?
If so, he thought far too highly of himself.
Whatever feelings I’d had for him had shattered completely the moment I signed the bond dissolution agreement.
I lifted my eyes to meet his and shook my head, my voice flat and final.
“Of course not. Rest easy, both of you.”
“If I wanted to hold on to Ethan, I never would have brought up breaking the bond in the first place.”
But the cleaner I cut myself loose, the worse Ethan’s face got, and his brows knotted hard.
I couldn’t figure out what he was angry about. Did he still have some leftover feelings for me?
I let it go. There was no point in setting myself up for humiliation.
My sister was his fated mate, and I was only his second mate, the one he’d settled for.
