- Aria

My eyes snapped open to the sound of my twins screaming their tiny lungs out. The nursery camera on my phone was glowing at two in the freaking morning.

Ugh! Not again.

I let out a heavy sigh that felt like it took a piece shit of me with it.

“Luca, they’re crying again,” I called out with annoyance, even though I already knew he wasn’t home.

Messy-haired and crooked-shirted, and my boobs aching like crazy because of breastfeeding, I swung my legs out of the big, empty bed. The sheets were cool on my side, untouched since Luca left the mansion a year ago. He hadn't come back yet. Probably won't be until tomorrow morning at our second anniversary party, just in time for the pack run and to pretend we were a happy family for a few hours.

I padded down the silent hall and dashed into the nursery. If the twins didn't make noise tonight, I felt like I was the only ghost living here.

The twins, Adrian and Aurora, were standing up in their cribs, their teary little faces scrunched and red with misery. Their howls weren't just cries but were full-blown wolf cub whines, a sound that could cut glass and my patience simultaneously.

I rushed to the crib, trying to figure out who was the louder one tonight.

"Shhh, my little monsters," I murmured, scooping up Aurora first. She had that great smell of milk and baby powder, and her tiny body felt fragile against mine. "Mom's got you."

Adrian wailed louder, a clear protest at not being picked up first. Typical boy. Seriously, even as a two-year-old, he's a little alpha in the making, demanding all the attention.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you, Your Highness," I said, lifting him with my other arm.

I was the Luna, but honestly, I felt more like the live-in babysitter, doing everything on my own.

Raising two toddlers at once was not easy, but I was getting good at it. I carried them to the kitchen, even though my back screamed in protest.

In the kitchen, I warmed up some milk while rocking both twins. They quieted down while they drank, their tiny bodies finally relaxing in my arms.

Silver, my wolf, stirred in my mind. Her presence was a constant comfort, even if I couldn't shift yet. She was empathetic, more so than any wolf I had ever heard of, and she could feel the twins' distress as keenly as I could.

"The tension is getting to them," she murmured in my head. "The pack is uneasy. Luca is too. They can feel it."

"And what about me?" I shot back, my mental voice sharper than I intended. "Do I get to be uneasy, Silver? Or am I supposed to just smile and play the perfect little Luna for a husband who never wants me?"

Silver stayed quiet for a second, but I could feel her warm, knowing presence buzzing in the back of my head. "You've always been stronger than you realize, Aria."

"I'm tired of being strong," I whispered to the empty room, the words swallowed by the silence. "I just want to be happy."

But in StormRidge, happiness felt like a currency I didn't have.

I looked out the window at the vast forest surrounding the StormRidge pack lands and wondered where Luca was now. Was he with Ivy? The thought sent a bitter taste in my mouth. Probably laughing with her and touching her. Probably giving her the version of himself I never got. All the things a Luna was supposed to have… but somehow I was the one left alone in this house with babies on my hips and silence in my bed.

I pushed the thought away. It didn't matter anymore.

I'd known what I had to do for months, but tonight, that choice became absolutely set in stone and final. I was done with this loveless, hollow life. Done with playing house for a man who couldn't stand the sight of me.

An unexpected heat that forced us together, leading to a pregnancy that wasn’t supposed to happen, and a Council mandate that didn’t care about feelings—that’s how I ended up married to Luca Stormbourne, Alpha of StormRidge Pack, the man everyone believed was destined for another she-wolf, while I was never meant to be anything more than the mistake that complicated his future.

For two years, I had endured the cold shoulder, the public neglect, the whispers of the pack members who still saw me as the wolf who trapped their Alpha with an accidental pregnancy. But now, I had my children to think about. They deserved to be raised in a place where their mother wasn't a pariah, where they weren't the children of a Luna who was never wanted.

After an hour, the twins finished their milk and started getting sleepy. Adrian buried his face in my neck, and I could feel his warm, milky breath. Aurora was already deep asleep and was a total dead weight in my arms.

As I carried them back to their cribs, my heart just ached with how much I loved and wanted to protect them. I tucked the blankets around them with gentle care as I watched their little chests rise and fall.

Then, I went back to my room and checked my phone. There was an unread message from Ivy Castemont.

"Happy anniversary, Luna. I hope you don’t mind that I’m the one he’s celebrating with."