Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 5

Arya’s POV

James didn’t come back to the room after the argument.

Not that night.

Not the next.

Not the one after that.

I slept alone for two days, staring at the other side of the bed like it was a wound that refused to close. The bond still existed, tight, alive, but it felt like a rope pulled through my ribs, not comfort. Every time I felt him somewhere in the packhouse, it was distant. Controlled. Like he was keeping space on purpose.

And the pack… the pack started acting strange.

They stopped meeting my eyes.

They went quiet when I entered a corridor.

Whispers cut off mid-sentence, smiles tightened, bows turned stiff and performative. Even the ones who used to laugh with me in the kitchen, who used to bring me reports like I was part of the spine of this place, now they moved around me like I was a problem waiting to explode.

By the third morning, I woke to noise.

Not ordinary noise.

Ceremony noise.

Cheering. Clapping. Voices raised in welcome.

My chest went cold so fast it almost hurt.

I didn’t need to ask what was happening.

I already knew.

I sat up slowly, my hair falling over my shoulders, my body heavy, my mouth dry. The sound outside grew louder, chants, laughter, the kind of excitement that didn’t belong to a pack that had been under threat for weeks.

They were welcoming her.

Leah Rainhorn.

And my people, my people, were clapping like she was salvation.

A knock hit my door.

Once. Twice.

Controlled. Formal.

I stared at it for a beat too long, then forced my legs to move.

When I opened it, Gamma Raymond stood there.

He didn’t smile.

He looked… uncomfortable. Like someone had shoved a blade into his hands and told him to deliver it politely.

“Luna,” he said, then hesitated, as if even the title tasted wrong now.

I said nothing.

His throat bobbed. “Everyone is required to come out.”

My fingers tightened on the edge of the door. “Everyone.”

He nodded once. “To welcome Leah Rainhorn… and Luna Rebecca Rainhorn.”

Luna Rebecca.

My stomach dropped.

Not Lady. Not Guest. Not Marcel’s wife.

Luna.

I felt something in my face go still. “So it’s already decided.”

Raymond’s eyes flickered with discomfort. “Arya, ”

“Don’t.” My voice cut clean. “Don’t say it softly like it changes what you’re here to tell me.”

He took a breath. “The Alpha gave the order.”

Of course he did.

Of course James did.

I stared at Raymond like he was a stranger wearing a familiar face. “He gave the order,” I repeated, slow. “And he didn’t give me an exception.”

Raymond’s shoulders tightened. “He said everyone.”

A laugh tried to rise in my throat and died there. “Everyone. Including the woman he’s replacing.”

Raymond flinched.

From fury trapped behind my ribs with nowhere to go.

I looked past him, toward the sound outside.

They were celebrating her.

They were welcoming the woman who was coming to take my seat, and they were doing it with the kind of joy they should’ve saved for victory after a war.

I swallowed hard.

Raymond watched me like he was waiting for me to explode.

I didn’t.

Because exploding would only give them what they wanted.

Proof.

A reason.

A story they could tell each other when they needed to hate me.

My voice came out flat. “Fine.”

Raymond exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for days. “Thank you.”

I didn’t answer.

I stepped back into the room, grabbed my cloak, and wrapped it around myself with hands that didn’t feel like mine anymore.

When I turned back to the door, Raymond was still there, waiting like an escort to an execution.

I paused at the threshold.

My palm went to my belly without thinking, a protective press, quiet, fierce.

Raymond’s gaze flicked to it, then away, respectful now, as if he finally understood there was more at stake than politics.

I stepped into the corridor.

Not because I wanted to.

Because I had no choice.

And with my hand still on my stomach, I walked out to welcome them.