Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 21

< Luna Forsaken

21 The Seat That Was Mine: I Sat Among Strangers

Arya’s POV

Tradition.

A week ago, I was the one being greeted.

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A week ago, wolves bowed their heads to me and waited for my dismissal before leaving

the head table.

Now the rules had been rewritten around Leah’s smile.

My vision blurred with heat.

I felt Ria surge, anger rolling through her like a tide.

My fists clenched, nails biting into my palms.

Following the rules meant

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To James.

To Leah.

To a woman who had helped destroy me.

A part of me wanted to stand up and walk out.

Let them choke on their tradition.

But I pictured what would follow.

The whispers.

The judgement.

Leah turning it into proof that I didn’t respect the pack.

James using it later as another reason I “made things difficult.”

And then the stress, the adrenaline, pouring into my body, tightening everything, threatening

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< 21 The Seat That Was Mine: I Sat Among Strangers

the baby.

I didn’t have the energy to fight this battle tonight.

Not in front of an audience hungry for my humiliation.

So I nodded once.

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The officer stepped back, satisfied, as if he’d accomplished something noble.

I rose slowly from the stool.

My legs felt heavy, not weak, heavy with restraint.

As I walked toward the head table, the hall seemed to stretch. Every step felt like crossing

a field where arrows were aimed at my back.

rs grew louder.

gh for James to stop the dinner.

Enough for me to hear.

Enough for my skin to prickle.

I caught fragments.

“Look at her…”

“She’s really doing it…”

“She still thinks she’s someone…”

Then a sharper voice, carried with deliberate cruelty:

“That is what you get when you aim higher than your station.”

My throat tightened.

I kept walking.

Another voice, sneering:

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< 21 The Seat That Was Mine: I Sat Among Strangers

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“An ordinary breed with no family background thought she could be Luna of a prestigious

pack.”

My eyes stung.

Tears rose fast, hot and humiliating.

But I didn’t let them fall.

I refused.

Not here.

Not in front of them.

Where were they when I fought?

Where were they when I stood shoulder to shoulder with James in the mud and blood,

when my arms ached from swinging a blade, when my throat burned from shouting

commands over the chaos?

Where were they when we had nothing?

Some of them had been children. Some of them hadn’t even joined yet.

But many of them had been there.

They had eaten the food I rationed.

They had slept behind walls I defended.

They had called me Luna then.

Because it suited them.

Now, under Leah’s shadow, they wanted to pretend I’d never earned it.

Each step tightened something in my chest until breathing felt like swallowing glass.

I kept my chin lifted anyway.

Because that was the only thing left I could control.

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< 21 The Seat That Was Mine: I Sat Among Strangers

As I approached the head table, I felt James’s gaze on me.

Not warm.

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Not protective.

Just… watchful.

Like he was observing a situation he had created but didn’t know how to stop.

Leah turned toward me too.

Her lips curved into a small, triumphant smirk.

Not the smile of a woman pleased to see me alive.

The smile of a woman pleased to see me kneel.

I stopped at the base of the platform.

My hands trembled slightly at my sides.

Not from weakness.

From rage so tightly contained it made my bones ache.

I bowed.

The movement was shallow, controlled.

But it was still a bow.

I hated myself for it.

I looked up and forced the words out.

“Alpha,” I said, voice steady.

Then, because the pack’s eyes were on me like knives, I turned slightly toward Leah.

“Luna,” I added.

The word tasted like poison.

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< 21 The Seat That Was Mine: I Sat Among Strangers

Leah’s smirk deepened.

James’s expression didn’t change.

He nodded once, the smallest acknowledgement.

Like I was a pack member being dismissed with a gesture.

I turned to leave, my heart pounding, my throat tight.

I had done what they demanded.

I could go back to my stool and disappear.

I took one step away,

And a maid’s voice stopped me.

“You haven’t been dismissed yet.”

I froze.

Slowly, I turned my head.

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The maid stood near the platform, eyes wide but determined, as if she’d been instructed to

enforce this.

Tradition.

Rules.

Control.

My jaw clenched.

“What?” I asked quietly.

The maid lifted her chin, emboldened by the crowd. “It is tradition,” she said. “You must

wait for the Alpha and Luna to dismiss you before you leave.”

A ripple went through the hall.

Agreement.

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< 21 The Seat That Was Mine: I Sat Among Strangers

Murmurs.

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A few voices chimed in, louder now, hungry.

“She should know that.”

“She used to occupy that seat.”

“She usually dismissed us before we left.”

“Do the pack rules no longer apply to her?”

The murmurs turned into disapproval, aimed at me.

Like I was the one disrespecting tradition.

Like I was the one who had rewritten the rules.

My hands curled into fists so hard my nails cut into skin.

For a second, the hall disappeared.

For a second, I saw red.

I saw myself shifting, letting Ria rise, letting my wolf’s fury flood the room, sending every whispering mouth snapping shut.

I saw myself climbing the platform and staring Leah down until she flinched.

I saw myself daring James to stop me.

I saw myself choosing dignity, even if it killed me.

Then my stomach tightened.

A subtle cramp, gentle, but enough to pull me back into my body.

Enough to remind me:

The baby.

My life wasn’t mine alone anymore.

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And that knowledge, that limitation, was its own humiliation, because it meant they could

push me further now, knowing I couldn’t unleash the full force of what I was.

I swallowed hard.

The whispers grew louder.

The crowd leaned in, waiting to see what I would do.

Waiting to see me break.

Leah sat on the head table like a queen watching a servant being disciplined.

James remained still, his gaze fixed forward, as if this was none of his doing.

I looked at him for half a heartbeat.

He didn’t move.

Didn’t speak.

Didn’t stop it.

The ache in my chest turned sharper.

Of course.

So I stood there, trapped by tradition and cruelty, and forced myself to breathe.

I could fight.

Or I could survive.

Tonight, survival was the only gift I could still give my child.

Before I could decide how to respond, Leah’s voice cut through the murmur, smooth, sly,

sweet enough to sound merciful.

“There is no need to humiliate the woman,” she said, loud enough for everyone. “You should

let her sit in peace.”

The hall stilled slightly, caught off guard by the sudden “kindness.”

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Leah tilted her head, her tone almost indulgent. “I have no problem with her leaving before

being dismissed.”

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