Samantha’s POV
I’d been waiting for this day my whole life—the day I would finally become Luna of Blackraven Pack, wife to Alpha Gabriel Timothy, the man I thought was my forever.
The ceremony hall gleamed with silver ribbons and obsidian roses, the scent of lavender smoke curling toward the vaulted ceiling as our pack chanted blessings to the Moon Goddess. My heart thumped with joy, nerves, and disbelief. I’d rehearsed this day in my mind so many times.
But he didn’t come.
Minutes stretched into hours. The murmurs grew louder, and the priestess at the altar tried to keep her composure as whispers spread among the pack members seated before me. I stood there, in my white silk gown, fingers trembling around the bouquet of moon lilies I’d picked myself.
“Maybe he’s delayed by something urgent,” Beta Ashton whispered beside me. He looked uneasy, his eyes darting toward the grand wooden doors. “He left the packhouse early this morning. I thought he was heading here.”
My throat felt dry. “You’re his Beta, Ashton. You don’t know where he is?”
He shook his head, jaw tight. “No, Luna— I mean, Samantha. He didn’t tell me.”
The priestess cleared her throat gently, her tone hesitant. “Perhaps we should wait a little longer—”
“No,” I said softly. My voice cracked. “No, it’s fine.”
I lowered the bouquet slowly, the petals brushing against my trembling hands. I could feel every pair of eyes on me—the pity, the confusion, the hushed shock. The sacred hall felt too large, too cold. I turned and walked down the aisle alone, the sound of my heels echoing like a cruel song.
When I stepped outside, the cold wind hit me, chilling my bare shoulders. My wolf whimpered inside me, restless and hurt. He wouldn’t do this to us, I tried to tell myself. There must be a reason.
But the universe seemed determined to break me that day.
Across the street, a crowd had gathered around a massive outdoor screen displaying the pack’s local news channel. Curious murmurs filled the air, and someone gasped, pointing at the image flashing across the screen. I looked up, and my heart stopped.
There he was.
Alpha Gabriel, my supposed groom, still in his everyday uniform, black shirt, dark jeans, and not a trace of his wedding suit, cradling a small boy in his arms. The headline blazed across the bottom of the screen:
“Alpha Gabriel Timothy Saves Child from Rogue Attack Near Kindergarten.”
Reporters surrounded him, asking questions, but all I could see was the tender way he held that child, the relief, the affection in his eyes. His aura, so protective, so gentle, that I almost mistook it for fatherly love.
And then it hit me like lightning.
Why wasn’t he wearing his wedding suit? Where was the urgency, the apology, the thought that he was supposed to stand beside me before the Moon Goddess at this very hour?
By the time I reached the hospital reported on the news, I had already stripped off the gown, leaving it folded neatly in the backseat of the car. I couldn’t bear the thought of walking into that place dressed as a bride whose groom never came.
The corridors smelled faintly of antiseptic and steel. My heels clicked quietly against the floor as I searched for him, ignoring the curious stares from pack nurses. They must have recognized me, the Luna who had been left alone at her own wedding.
“Alpha Gabriel?” I asked the nurse at the desk.
She hesitated, looking uncertain. “He’s in Room 207, Miss Collins.”
“Thank you.”
My heart pounded harder with every step. I didn’t know what I was expecting to find, perhaps an injured man, perhaps a good explanation that would make the ache in my chest go away.
But when I reached the door and looked through the small glass window, the world seemed to tilt beneath my feet.
He was there. Standing by the hospital bed, holding a woman in his arms.
Not just any woman.
I knew that face. I had seen her in old photographs tucked away in his drawer, in the stories he told with a bittersweet smile, the childhood sweetheart who had vanished years ago, leaving a wound he said no one could ever fill.
Adrianna.
My breath caught, and I pressed my hand against the cold glass. My wolf whimpered low in my chest, her sadness wrapping around me like a shadow.
Gabriel’s hand moved gently through Adrianna’s hair, his voice low and warm. “I can't believe we have a pup together,” he said. “I’m glad you’re back in our lives. I will give you everything.”
The words struck me like claws through my heart.
I stumbled back, the hallway spinning. The boy from the news, he wasn’t just some child he rescued. He was their son.
My knees weakened, and I gripped the wall to steady myself, biting my lip until I tasted blood. Every promise he’d made, every vow he’d whispered under the moonlight, shattered in an instant.
He told me he had no mate. That Adrianna was gone forever. That fate had chosen me to be his Luna.
And yet there he was, holding her like she was the only thing that had ever mattered.
