Pursuing My Rejected Luna by Cara Anderson novel Chapter 4

Skye

I want to believe Noah. God, I want to believe that some part of Jaxon actually cares. But I’ve spent three years reading meaning into empty gestures, and I can’t do it anymore.

“The elders won’t let him cast you aside,” Noah continues. “You’ve earned their respect. More than that—you’ve earned their loyalty. They won’t support him stripping your title just because his ex-girlfriend came back with a convenient sob story.”

His words spark something in me—a tiny flame of hope that I immediately try to smother. Because hope is what got me into this mess. Hope that Jaxon would see me. Love me. Choose me.

“You really think they’d stand with me?” I ask quietly.

“I know they would.” Noah’s voice is fierce now, protective in a way that reminds me of the boy who used to defend me from pack bullies. “And I’ll stand with you too, Skye. I should have been a better friend these past few years. I let the distance between us grow because it was easier than watching you hurt yourself trying to please someone who couldn’t see what he had.”

The kindness in his words threatens to undo me all over again. “Noah—”

“I mean it. Whatever you need, whatever you decide to do—I’m on your side. Not Jaxon’s. Not the pack’s. Yours.”

Something in my chest cracks open. It’s been so long since someone chose me first. Since someone saw me as more than just the Luna, or Jaxon’s reluctant mate, or Cassandra’s inferior replacement.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

We sit in silence for a while, watching the sun sink lower. Somewhere down there, Jaxon is probably planning his next move. And I’m up here, trying to figure out how to survive what comes next.

“You should come back,” Noah says eventually. “Face this head-on. Show them you’re not running scared.”

He’s right. I know he’s right. The old Skye—the one who accepted everything without question—would already be on her way back, ready to apologize for making a scene.

But that Skye got her heart broken today.

That Skye discovered she’s pregnant with a child her husband might not even want, now that he has a ready-made heir.

That Skye watched her husband hold her sister and realized she’d been living a lie.

“They’ll expect me at dinner,” I say, more to myself than to Noah. “And at the meeting. Jaxon will want me presentable and compliant, ready to stand beside him while he announces his bastard son to the pack.”

“Skye—”

“He thinks I’ll stay.” The realization settles over me like a shroud. “He thinks I’ll be so desperate to keep my title, so afraid of losing my place in the pack, that I’ll accept whatever scraps he offers. A Luna in name only, while he builds a real family with Cassandra.”

“You don’t have to accept anything you don’t want,” Noah says carefully. “You have power here, Skye. More than you realize. The pack loves you. The elders respect you. Even if Jaxon can’t see your worth, everyone else can.”

His words should comfort me. And maybe a week ago, they would have. A week ago, keeping my title and my place in the pack would have been enough.

But that was before I felt the flutter of new life inside me. Before I realized that staying means raising my child in the shadow of Jaxon’s son with Cassandra. Before I understood that I have something worth protecting now—something more important than a title or a bond or a marriage that was broken from the start.

Noah’s watching me, waiting for a response. Waiting for me to agree to go back and fight for what’s mine.

But what if it’s not mine anymore?

What if it never was?

What if the real question isn’t whether Jaxon can take my title away—but whether I even want it in the first place?

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