The Vengeful Warrior Luna's Return novel Chapter 1

Astra’s POV

The air was full of excitement.

Soft laughs, anxious whispers, and distant victory gongs from the packsquare could be heard as court members hurried past me.

Everyone in the Zane pack was elated tonight.

After a full year at the front lines.

A year of bated breaths, wounded warriors, and dreaded news. Alpha Kieran and his warriors were finally victorious.

He was coming home. Tonight.

I drew my shawl tighter over my shoulders, quickening my steps as I hurried to my room. After a full day of preparations and cooking, my body was exhausted.

But I still moved gingerly.

My stomach twisted with anticipation, and I was just about to push open my room door when a noise made me pause.

“Bekki—” I started to call my lady’s maid, but stopped.

Where was everybody?

My chamber‘s hallway was deathly silent. No palace guard in sight.

I heard the sound again, and this time, my wolf jumped as my head snapped to the guest room door.

It was half-open. And a familiar Alpha scent unsettled me.

My heart rate began to pick up as my feet inched closer to the door.

From here, my wolf could pick up the sickening, unmistakable scent of arousal.

Warm skin, sweat, intimacy.

There were two people behind that door. A man and a woman, entangled with the man’s face buried in the woman’s neck.

I recognized the woman.

Isla. The newly appointed female general and Kieran’s second-in-command. She had her head thrown back and her eyes closed in pleasure. The sounds– the moans I had heard- came from her.

I was just about to turn and go back to my room when the man raised his head, and I froze.

Kieran.

For a moment, there was nothing.

No distant chiming of bells or whoops of excited pack members. No lingering smell of the food I had spent all day preparing. Not even the headache that had plagued me for hours.

Just nothing.

It felt like my heart had stopped. Like I was thrown underwater and forced to watch a very bad dream.

The image of my mate back from conquest and entwined with another woman.

My wolf exploded.

All sounds, smells, and feelings rushed back at me, all at once, as my frame shook with fury.

How dare Kieran?

A year ago, he held my hand and made vows before the moon goddess.

We had this pact.

I will love and protect only you. You are my Luna, my mate, my forever.

I did everything Kieran asked for and more. Ruling, caring for his grandmother, and handling both Alpha and Luna duties. In just one year, I strengthened the pack for him.

What did all that get me?

A forced witness to my husband’s betrayal.

My wolf roared, fury blinding me as I kicked the guest chamber door open.

Wood exploded beneath my feet, the crashing mixing with Isla’s screams.

“Astra!” Kieran yelled in shock as they jumped apart.

His armor was discarded on the floor. Her hair, rough and tousled, as she scrambled to cover her breasts.

I didn’t wait to hear anymore. I turned around and marched down to my room, grappling with the force of my anger.

I stared at the man I had married, had trusted, had loved and bitter irony flooded through me.

He didn't know and had never bothered to learn.

Nothing about me had ever resembled a housewife. As the only daughter of the Hale pack’s Alpha, tremendous power ran in my veins.

I came from a line of heroes.

My father and brothers were warriors who gave their lives defending the Sacred Spring. Their bones rested in the Hall of the Fallen, honored by the entire kingdom.

Three years ago, the surviving members of my family were massacred, and everyone I loved was killed.

That and my mother’s dying wish was the only reason I ever married Kieran.

Housewife?

I was trained for battle before I could walk. I killed my first rogue at six years old. I was never the weak, fragile domesticated woman he believed me to be.

“I’m going to war. I need you to manage the pack’s affairs while I’m gone.” Before he left, he gently kissed my cheek and said those words.

So I became the luna he wanted, soft and graceful. Learnt how to cook, to nurture. Learnt how to be a mother to a pack.

Now those same skills I gave up were the reason he scorned me.

“Isla is brave, rushing headfirst into danger.” Kieran continued, his eyes glowing in admiration. “I only feel truly alive when fighting at her side.”

Then his gaze turned to me, and his expression soured. “I don’t expect you to understand. You are an Omega. All you do is manage household affairs, and you contribute nothing to this pack.”

“That’s not true, and you know it.” My shattered heart turned to ice shards as I stared at my husband like he was a complete stranger.

“While you were on the frontlines, it was me that held the pack up. Me, that used my family’s inheritance to even keep the pack alive. “

“That’s—“

I raised my voice,"I stayed up all night caring for your grandmother during her three critical illnesses. Three times, Kieran.

“I’m the reason you could even fight at all without worrying! ”

I breathed in deeply, waiting to see his response but all he did was shrug.

“Don’t exaggerate your role.” Kieran hissed dismissively. “You were simply doing your duty.”