Alpha's Discarded Luna (Talia) novel Chapter 83

Chapter 81

Talia’s POV

The words I’ve just spoken hang in the air between us, but my mind is racing backward, piecing together a history I never fully understood until now.

I know about Aires‘ mother… I know what she endured.

The pieces fit together like a puzzle I’ve been gathering for

years without realizing it. Diana Perseus was widow, warrior,

survivor. After her parents died, she took over the pack alone. A woman ruling in a world of wolves who believed only Alphas should lead.

They schemed against her, those old traditionalists. Took bribes from neighboring packs. Chipped away at her

authority until she was nearly stripped of everything she had fought for.

So she did what she had to, and married for alliance.

I remember hearing bits of this story over the years. Diana

married an Alpha from the northern territories, this marriage haye Aires legitimacy and the Westwind pack gor the

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protection it needed.

But the marriage didn’t last. He died in a car accident, and

Diana had to fight his parents for his inheritance, for her daughter’s future.

She lost.

The grandparents disowned Athena because she was a girl,

leaving Diana with nothing but more scars and another child

to raise alone.

And Aires… her only son, her heir, her hope—he grew up

under the weight of all that failure and fighting. As a child, she used to beat him so that he could stop being weak.

Diana herself has said that to me on many occasions,

that I’m making Aeson weak by coddling him. She beat

the softness out of Aires until there was nothing left but

this frozen, untouchable man who doesn’t know how to

love because love was always conditional, always tied to

performance and perfection.

And yet, he grew up, surpassing every expectation.

Within a year of taking over, he’d secured his position as 2/9

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Alpha. Soon after, his name was known everywhere… young, handsome, successful, the bachelor every family wanted for

their daughters. Diana must have been so proud of her son, who had proved she’d done everything right.

She started planning. Picking the perfect wife from the perfect family, but Aires started dating Imema.

Diana was furious when she found out, Athena had told me

once.

Not because she didn’t love Imema; she’d practically raised

the girl after Imema’s parents died. After all, Imema’s

mother, Vittori, was Diana’s best friend. She loved her like a

daughter… but like a daughter, not a daughter–in–law.

Because Imema was just a beta’s child. Not good enough for the Alpha Diana had sacrificed everything to create.

She broke them up, using every means at her disposal.

And Aires… still young, still under her thumb, still carrying all that conditioning–he let her go. He watched the woman he loved be driven away, and he couldn’t do a thing to stop it.

After that, you stayed single. Diana paraded heiress after 3/9

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heiress in front of him, and he ignored them all.

But then, I appeared. He took me home, claiming me as his

fated mate.

I remember Diana’s face when she found out. The contempt,

the disbelief. How could some lowly orphan girl be an Alpha’s

mate? She demanded the bond be broken. I agreed—I wasn’t

going to force myself on anyone, wasn’t going to beg to be

wanted.

But on the day of the ritual, Aires came. He stopped it.

Aires burst in, stopping the ceremony, promising to take

responsibility for me.

The way he fought his mother for months afterward.

Protected me from her schemes, her cruelty, her endless

attempts to drive me away. Gave me a home, a name, a place in his world.

That’s when I fell in love with him.

I thought it meant something. I thought he fought for me because I mattered to him. Because he saw me, wanted me,

chose me.

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But I was just a replacement.

I understand now. I study Aires’s face–the face I once loved, the face that now looks at me with cold impatience–and

everything clicks into place.

He couldn’t protect Imema from his mother, so he protected

1. me. He couldn’t keep her, so he kept me. He couldn’t give her

a future, so he gave me one.

“When you fought for me.” My voice is slow, pieces

connecting as I speak. “When you stood up to your mother, you were making up for your regret.” The words fall like

stones into still water. “For Imema.”

Silence stretches between us, heavy with years of unspoken

truth.

Aires’s jaw tightens. A muscle jumps beneath his skin.

I meet his eyes, letting him see the understanding there.

“I was just a do–over. A chance to rewrite history and prove to yourself that you weren’t powerless after all.”

The silence stretches unbearably. When he finally speaks, his

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voice is rough.

“Whatever happened between Imema and me is in the past. She doesn’t have much time left. Discussing this is pointless.” He pauses, searching for leverage. “Eleanor, don’t you want

Aeson to have a family? A real one?”

He didn’t deny it.

That single omission is louder than any confession.

Five years. Five years of marriage, of devotion, of pouring

myself into a man who never loved me back. On the endless

nights he didn’t come home, on the holidays he spent at her

bedside, on every ordinary day when I was invisible—I clung

to memories of the early days. The way he protected me. The

way he fought his own mother for me. The way he made me

feel, for one brief moment, like I actually mattered.

I told myself those memories meant something. That they proved he cared, underneath all the coldness.

They were just him using me to heal his own wounds.

“Is that why you won’t divorce me?” My voice is quiet, terrible

in its calm. “Because Imema doesn’t have time left? She can’t 6/9

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be Aeson’s mother permanently–can’t be your wife forever. So you keep me around. The backup. The second choice.”

His expression flickers–guilt, maybe. Or just annoyance that

I’ve finally figured it out.

“If she could live forever,” I continue, each word precise and devastating, “you’d have kicked me out years ago, wouldn’t you? Her and Aeson, playing happy family, and I’d be nothing but a memory. A footnote.”

I smile, thin and cold. “I’m just the placeholder, whom you

settled for because the one you wanted was out of reach.”

His patience finally snaps. “Will you stop being so

unreasonable? This is exactly what I’m talking about… you

twist everything into some elaborate conspiracy!”

“Unreasonable?” I laugh, genuine humor coloring the

sound. “I’ve spent five years being reasonable. Five years

swallowing every insult, every betrayal, every night you spent

at her side. I told myself it was for Aeson. For our family.

That if I just endured long enough, sacrificed enough, made myself small enough… eventually you’ll see my sacrifices.”

I shake my head slowly, marveling at my own stupidity. 7/9

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A month ago, I couldn’t sleep. I’d lie awake, tortured by thoughts of him and her.

“When you threw that ridiculous fake wedding to make up for ‘regrets, I gritted my teeth and let it happen. I convinced myself I couldn’t leave you. You gave me a home. You gave Aeson a future. What was a little suffering compared to

that?”

My voice hardens.

“Now I just feel disgust.”

He stares at me, frozen, as if seeing me for the first time.

“Haven’t you all always said I bully Imema? That I’m cruel

to her, that I make her life difficult?” I step closer, letting him

feel the weight of my words. “Here’s the thing, Aires. If you

don’t divorce me–if you keep me trapped in this farce–I’ll give you something real to complain about. I’ll make her life

a living hell. Every single day. And there’s nothing you can do

to stop me.”

His eyes flash with anger. “You wouldn’t dare.”

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