Pursuing My Rejected Luna by Cara Anderson novel Chapter 85

Chapter 85

Skye

“You knew,” I murmur to Diana. “You knew what it was like to love someone you couldn’t have while

trapped with someone who didn’t truly love you back.”

Diana nods, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

“I knew. I lived it for years. Thomas was never cold the way Jaxon was to you but a part of him always resented me for not being his fated mate. And I couldn’t bear watching you do the same when you didn’t have to. You’re young, Skye. You have time to find real love. Don’t waste it on someone who doesn’t see your worth, fated mate or not.”

She reaches across the table, takes my hand.

“I wanted you to be sure this is what you wanted. But when you assured me it was, I supported your divorce because I knew what you were going through. The loneliness. The constant trying and failing. The slow death of hope.” Her voice breaks slightly. “And I knew that unlike me, you didn’t have to wait. You could choose freedom now. Choose yourself. Choose the possibility of real love with someone who

deserves you.”

Tears stream down my face. All this time, I thought Diana was cold. Calculating. That she was an opportunist who took advantage of my grieving father to advance her position in life, to become a Luna. How could she possibly understand that staying with Jaxon just to keep my Luna status would never be enough for me?

But she understood better than anyone.

For the first time since childhood, I stand and embrace Diana without reservation. Really embrace her. No walls. No resentment. No anger. Just… forgiveness.

“I forgive you,” I whisper. “For everything. For my mother, for taking her place, for all of it. I would never have escaped Jaxon without your support and you gave it despite the way I treated you. You saved me from your fate.”

Diana holds me tight, and I feel her tears against my shoulder.

“You saved yourself, sweetheart,” she says. “I just gave you permission to try.”

That night, I lay in bed feeling lighter. One more piece of my broken heart is finally healing, a piece I thought I’d never get back when my mother died.

Diana and my father found their way to each other after years of waiting. After honoring their commitments and choosing duty over desire. They proved that real love exists.

I just never had it with Jaxon. And that’s okay. Because somewhere out there, maybe there’s someone for me too. Someone who will see me. Choose me. Love me the way Diana and my father love each

other. Maybe someone already does.

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I press my hand to my belly, feeling the baby move. “Your grandparents are proof that good things come to those who wait,” I whisper. “Maybe that’ll be true for us too.”

The next morning, I’m enjoying some time in the garden reading when an eerie feeling comes over me. That prickling awareness of being watched.

I look up, scanning the area. Pack members are going about their business. Children playing in the distance. Everything seems normal. But the feeling persists.

I turn toward the tree line at the edge of pack property. Dense forest stretches beyond the cleared grounds. Perfect cover for someone who didn’t want to be seen.

But nothing moves. There’s no unfamiliar scents on the wind. Just trees and shadows and my overactive imagination.

“Pregnancy hormones,” I mutter to myself. “You’re being paranoid.” But I gather my book and head inside anyway, unable to shake the unease.

Diana is in the kitChernov when I enter. “You’re back early,” she observes. “Everything okay?”

“Fine. Just…” I hesitate. “This is going to sound crazy, but I felt like someone was watching me. Out in

the garden.”

Diana’s expression shifts immediately. Goes serious in a way that makes my stomach drop.

“You felt watched?”

“Is there something you’re not telling me,” I ask, not quite a demand but close.

“It probably is truly nothing to be worried about. But there have been… reports. Unfamiliar wolves near our borders. Could be rogues passing through. Could be nothing.”

“But you don’t think it’s nothing.” A statement, not a question.

“I think we need to be careful, that’s all.” She doesn’t elaborate.

The guards return twenty minutes later. My father shakes his head, “We didn’t find anything concerning but I’m doubling the patrols anyway.”

That makes me feel a little better. But that night, I still lie awake listening to guards walk past my window every fifteen minutes. Wondering who’s watching.

And why?

Cara Anderson Author

Thank you for reading!

P

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