Alpha's Discarded Luna (Talia) novel Chapter 12

Alpha’s Discarded Luna

Chapter 11-2

Talia’s POV

Inside the private room she has booked for us, Electra is busy sulking because I vetoed her plan to summon a parade of male models to our private room.

I’m sinking into the velvet couch while she flips through the

menu.

“Come on, at least look! Maybe one will catch your eye? Perfect bodies, sculpted by the gods themselves! And those abs…! Damn, those abs should be illegal.”

I snort, “Absolutely not.”

“You’re seriously telling me no?”

r

She says, drumming her fingers on the table. “You need to live, Talia! Touch some abs and reclaim your inner goddess!”

“My inner goddess is currently divorcing an Alpha whose favourite job is to make my life hell, just to appease his family. The last thing I need is ‘Luna Caught Groping Stranger‘ as tomorrow’s pack gossip- or God forbid! A tabloid headline. I can’t afford any complications. The Perseus lawyers would love nothing more than a scandal.”

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She looks at me, then sighs. “Fine. You’re right. Annoying, but right.”

Electra presses a button on the karaoke machine, queuing up songs. While she’s arguing with the system, my phone vibrates.

“I’ll be right back…”

Rafael’s name glows on the screen and I slip into the hallway, where the bass is muffled to a dull thud.

His voice is all business, as he briefs me on the plans to launch his own studio since his contract with his agency is nearly up.

“With your comeback, the timing will be perfect.”

He says, letting the unspoken clause dangle: if I’m really coming back.

“Do it. I’m in.”

When I hang up, my chest feels lighter.

I head to the restroom, and I’m washing the lingering feel of the bar soap from my hands when the door swings open.

My eyes meet Imema’s in the vast mirror. She gives a small smile that doesn’t reach her eyes, and I look away, reaching for a towel.

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I won’t play this game here.

“Luna Talia…?”

I turn with a blank wall of expression. “Yes?”

“I have to show you something…”

With a slow movement, she reaches into her purse and pulls something that dangles from her fingers, catching the light.

An antique silver cross hangs from a delicate chain.

My breath hitches, and a jolt shakes me deep in my chest.

I keep my face still, and she tilts her head and smiles. “Aeson told me the most touching story about how you knelt in the ancestor’s stone chapel for a day and a night, praying for his life. I heard the High Priest gave you this afterward.”

She swings it gently. “He said after you brought this home, his fever broke. So, he gave it to me with the hopes that I’ll heal quickly…”

She chirps sweetly, and the words bring the old memories in front of my eyes.

Aeson was so small, burning up with fever. I had been seeing the

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healers‘ grim faces for a week, with no hopes of him living till his third birthday,

Aires summoned the doctors from the best hospitals in the human society, but after three days of treatment, they could only advise us to prepare ourselves for the worst.

Some even suggested having mercy on the small child and ending his suffering with injections.

The cold chapel stones bit into my knees till the point of bruising, my voice was raw with pleas to any deity who would listen.

On seeing the cross, I remember the sense of hope that broke through the depressing silence when the priest pressed the cross into my palm. And the dizzying relief followed when, against all odds, his temperature began to drop.

C

Aeson had promised me to wear it always, because it would keep him safe.

And now it swings from her fingers like a trophy she’s far too happy to flaunt.

“What is your point, Imema?”

My voice is calm.

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Instead of answering directly, she sweeps a strand of hair behind her ear, exposing her wrist.

A diamond bandeau bracelet shines in her wrist, with an emerald studded in the centre.

I recognize it without a second’s delay, it’s the Perseus family heirloom.

My composure cracks, and I feel the blood drain from my face.

Diana Perseus, Aires’s mother, has always openly despised me.

An Omega with no wolf was an embarrassment.

She withheld this bracelet, the symbol of the Alpha’s chosen mate, for years. She only relented for Aeson’s sake, giving it to him for his future wife.

When I once asked to see it, he clutched the box to his chest. He parroted her words: “Grandmother says I must keep it for my mate, or I’ll never find one.”

The irony twists like a knife to my gut.

Imema sees my reaction. A glint of pure, unchallenged pride flashes in her eyes before being veiled by false sympathy.

What are you looking at? Oh, this! Aeson gave me thi, too. bleg

< Chapter 11-2

said it’s for his future wife, and didn’t even let his own mother hold it. What am I saying, of course you know…”

She lets the words sink in, like poison slowly spreading through my veins. “By giving me these, he’s telling me who he really wants as the lady of his house. Look, even a child can see who is really suitable for being a part of his family and who isn’t.”

She dismisses my presence with a shake of her head, then turns to me like he just remembered something.

“By the way, did you know about the parent–child equinox festival this weekend? It’s compulsory for both parents to attend.”

I want to say no, but I suddenly remember Aires and Aeson whispering something about the equinox festival when I was bringing soup from the kitchen.

“…Ms. Volkov said she could come… for the evening…‘

They had fallen silent when I entered, and I was so sick of hearing her name that I didn’t even ask.

Imema smiles like a razor cut.

“Aeson told me that in his class, all the other mothers are socialites and heiresses. The least among them is a famous ballet artist. But, poor thing! He’s so embarrassed to say tha his 13:28

Chapter 11-2

mother is just an illiterate housewife. Do you know what he tells his little friends instead?”

She pauses, ensuring she has my full attention.

“He tells them you’re the family’s nanny, that’s why you pack his lunch and carry his books. But of course, what can the poor child say in your defense when you, yourself haven’t done anything worth mentioning in your life?”

The carefully reconstructed walls around my heart shatter into tiny little shards, stabbing at my heart.

When I look at her, I don’t see a rival… rather, a thief who has stolen the foundation of my world using my own child’s hands.

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