Pursuing My Rejected Luna by Cara Anderson novel Chapter 21

Chapter 21

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Chapter 21

Skye

Then he follows Cassandra, leaving us standing in the wreckage of the dinner.

Diana stares after him, her fury morphing into something that looks almost like heartbreak.

“Skye,” she says quietly. “Tell me that’s not what it looks like.”

But I can’t. Because it’s exactly what it looks like.

The silence Jaxon leaves behind is crushing.

Diana stares after him, her mouth slightly open. I can see her processing what just happened-how thoroughly she’s been dismissed, how little regard Jaxon showed for her presence or her dignity. The humiliation is written across her face, mixing with the anger until I can’t tell which emotion is winning.

She’s a Luna. She understands pack hierarchy and social protocols better than most. And what just happened was a calculated insult. Jaxon didn’t just ignore her concerns-he dismissed her entire existence as irrelevant to whatever is happening between him and Cassandra.

And he didn’t even try to show me respect in front of her. Didn’t offer any pretense of unity or partnership, any courtesy that might have softened the blow. Just gave me an order like I was a subordinate and left to comfort my sister.

I’m utterly humiliated and it only steels my resolve. I need that divorce, sooner rather than later. But right now, I need to diffuse the powder keg about to explode in the room.

“I-” Diana’s voice shakes with fury and humiliation. “I can’t believe—”

“Diana,” Grandma Rose says gently, but there’s steel underneath the kindness.

Diana shakes her head violently. “No. There’s no excuse for their behavior, for the disrespect they’re both showing Skye. How can her own sister take advantage of her kindness this way? And your grandson runs after her like she’s the one who matters. I’m so sorry this is happening to you-” She gestures helplessly at me. “This is outrageous. Absolutely outrageous. You should be furious. You should be-”

She’s working herself up now, her voice getting louder, her movement’s becoming more agitated. This is the Diana I remember from childhood-quick to anger, quicker to speak her mind, utterly incapable of diplomatic restraint when she feels wronged.

“Aunt Diana-” I start in a placating tone.

“I need to go lie down,” she announces. She storms out before I can respond, her footsteps echoing down the hall. I hear the sharp sound of a door slamming somewhere in the guest wing.

The dining room feels cavernous in her absence. Just me and Grandma Rose and a table full of cooling food that no one’s going to eat. The candles are still burning, their flames steady and indifferent to the chaos around them.

Grandma Rose lets out a long breath. “Well. That was unfortunate.”

The understatement almost makes me laugh. Almost.

“I’m sorry, Granny,” I say quietly. “You shouldn’t have had to witness that.”

“I’ve witnessed worse.” She picks up her wine glass, takes a deliberate sip. “Though I’ll admit, I’m confused about what exactly I did witness. Jaxon said to tell me the truth. So tell me, dear. What’s going on?”

1/2

Chapter 21

What’s there to say?

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I look down at my hands, folded in my lap. The wedding ring Jaxon gave me catches the candlelight—simple, elegant, expensive. A symbol of a bond I thought would mean something. My fingers have gotten slightly thinner over the past few weeks. The ring shifts when I move my hand now, loose enough that I have to be careful not to

lose it.

What had I been thinking?

I knew Cassandra was always his priority. I knew it when he accused me of trapping him. I knew it when he married me out of obligation rather than choice, when he stood before the pack elders with resentment written in every line of his body. I knew it every single day of these three years when he looked at me like I was a burden he couldn’t quite shake, a mistake he couldn’t quite fix.

Yet I took the chance when the mate bond offered it. I thought fate was powerful enough to grant me my deepest longing. That being chosen by the universe would be enough to make him choose me too. That love could grow from duty, that sharing a home could build intimacy, that patience could win a heart that never wanted to be won

But in the end, fate just granted me an illusion. A pretty lie wrapped in a mate bond that pulls us together physically while leaving an ocean of distance between us emotionally.

The harsh truth of the matter is, it’s time for me to go.

I move from my chair to sit beside Grandma Rose, taking her weathered hand in mine. Her skin is soft and warm, her fingers curling around mine with the gentle strength I’ve always associated with her.

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