Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 6

Arya’s POV

I returned to the pack house, my chest tight and my steps heavy. My heart still pounded, as if it couldn’t catch up with the reality unravelling around me. I couldn’t believe it, couldn’t wrap my mind around what James was doing, what he had already done.

It felt surreal, like I was walking through someone else’s nightmare. But it was mine, and I had to face it.

Inside, the house wasn’t quiet. There was movement, people going back and forth, hushed voices and glances that quickly darted away when I came into view.

Arrangements were being made without me. Without Luna Arya.

I spotted Jane and called her name. She paused, her expression stiff, uneasy.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

She looked like she wanted to vanish, but her loyalty, perhaps guilt, held her in place.

“Alpha James asked us to prepare a room,” she said, eyes lowering.

She didn’t need to say more. I knew exactly who the room was for.

He was serious. He was really doing this.

I gave her a small nod and left her to her task. There was nothing left to say. Her discomfort was proof enough that James had begun issuing orders I wasn’t meant to hear. Judging by the shifting eyes and guarded looks from the staff, everyone already knew. Everyone but me.

I walked through halls I had helped design, past rooms I had breathed life into. Now they felt foreign. Cold. I made my way to our bedroom, the one we once shared as partners, and shut the door behind me.

In the bathroom, I stepped into the shower and let the water pour over me. And that’s when the weight finally broke me.

The water muffled the sound of my sobs, but not the ache in my chest. There’s something about hot water cascading down your skin that makes you feel everything. It strips away the lies you tell yourself just to stay upright.

How did it come to this?

This wasn’t my dream. Starting a pack, building a legacy, that was his. I dropped everything to follow him. I helped him bring it to life. I stood beside him through every hardship, fought beside him when no one else believed we could survive.

And now… I wasn’t useful to his next move.

So he was discarding me.

Just like that.

He might say it was temporary, but what kind of woman would I be to let him return to me after being with her? After pushing me aside to chase power? What kind of Luna watches herself be replaced and waits to be chosen again?

Would I have any dignity left?

How would people look at me, whispers behind doors, pity in their eyes? Worse… how would I look at myself?

The answers gutted me.

And yet, even as every part of me screamed to leave, to run, to reclaim whatever fragments of myself I could, there was another truth I couldn’t ignore.

James knew I had nowhere else to go. Knew the wilderness would break me now. Knew I would be chained here in silence. He counted on it. And I wondered: had he even struggled with the decision? Did he toss and turn, haunted by what it would cost me? Did he think through every possibility, fight for another way?

Or was I just the easier thing to lose?

I stepped out of the bathroom, the weight of my thoughts pressing on my chest like a boulder, and there he was, sitting at the foot of our bed like he belonged there. Like nothing had changed.

“Arya,” he breathed, rising to his feet, eyes wide with that familiar panic.

He rushed toward me, voice thick with desperation. “Please, Arya. I can’t do this without you. Don’t look at me like that.”

He reached for me, but I recoiled, pushing him back with a force I didn’t know I still had.

“Please?” I echoed, my voice cracking as fresh tears streamed down my face. “Please what, James?”

He froze, lips parted but silent.

“What do you want from me?” I asked, stepping toward him now, trembling. “You want me to make this easy? Tell you it’s okay to replace me? That I understand, that we’ll be fine?”

His mouth opened slightly, shame darkening his features, but I didn’t stop.

“I can’t do that, James. I won’t.”

My voice rose, full of the fury and sorrow I’d swallowed for far too long.