When My Mate Offered Me to the Rogue King

Seven years. Two thousand, five hundred and fifty-five days since the Moon Goddess tied my soul to his. In any other pack, the seventh anniversary of an Alpha and Luna’s mating ceremony would be a day of feasting, a celebration of the sacred bond that strengthens the entire pack. In the Obsidian Crest Pack, it was just another Tuesday, and I was on my knees, scrubbing dust from the floorboards of a room I wasn’t technically allowed to enter.

Alpha Theodore Hamilton didn’t allow maids in his private study. He claimed he didn’t trust their scents mingling with pack business. So, I did it. I, Aria Lawrence, the Luna of this formidable territory, took on the work of a servant just to be close to him. It was pathetic, I knew, but the mate bond was a cruel, demanding thing. It starved for his presence, even if all I ever received was the back of his head or the slam of a door.

Thunder rumbled outside, shaking the heavy mahogany desk. As I reached to polish the brass handle of his bottom drawer, the lock clicked. It was broken, left slightly ajar. I shouldn't have looked. I knew better. But a scent drifted out—faint, stale, yet preserved with meticulous care. Vanilla and rain. It wasn't my scent. It was *hers*.

My trembling fingers pulled the drawer open. Inside, resting on a velvet cushion like a holy relic, was a delicate silk handkerchief. It was old, the edges fraying, but it was saturated with scent-marking herbs to keep the smell of its owner alive. Frances Nelson. The woman who had died seven years ago. The woman he had chosen. The woman he believed had saved his life.

"What do you think you are doing?"

The voice was a low growl that vibrated through my chest, triggering a submissive whine I bit my lip to suppress. I spun around. Theodore stood in the doorway, his massive frame blocking the light, rain dripping from his dark hair. His eyes, usually a cold, distant brown, were blazing with amber fury.

"I... I was cleaning," I stammered, standing up and dusting off my apron. "The drawer was open. Theo, it’s our anniversary today. I thought—"

He crossed the room in two strides, not to embrace me, but to slam the drawer shut with a violence that made the wood crack. He didn't even look at me; his eyes were fixed on the drawer, as if checking for damage to the ghost inside.

"Do not touch her things," he hissed, his voice dripping with venom. "You taint them, Aria. You are not worthy to breathe the same air as her memory. She was a warrior. She saved me when I was broken. You? You are just... here."

The words were invisible claws, tearing at the bond in my chest. "I am your mate, Theodore," I whispered, my voice breaking.

"Get out," he commanded, turning his back on me. "And do not enter this room again."

I fled, the tears hot on my cheeks, just as the storm outside broke in earnest. But there was no time to mourn the death of my hope. The pack mind-link flared to life—an emergency meeting. A stranger had been found at the border.

The Great Hall was buzzing with tension when I arrived. I dried my eyes and straightened my spine, trying to look like the Luna I was supposed to be. Theodore was already on the dais, his face a mask of stone. The heavy oak doors creaked open, and two warriors escorted a shivering figure inside.

She was small, soaked to the bone, her clothes tattered. But when she lifted her head, the air left the room.

A collective gasp rippled through the gathered wolves. I felt my blood turn to ice. Platinum blonde hair, wet and plastered to her skull. Wide, innocent blue eyes. A fragile, heart-shaped face.

It was Frances. Or it was a ghost.

I looked at Theodore. The stone mask shattered. For the first time in seven years, I saw emotion on my mate’s face. It wasn't love for me. It was a raw, starving hunger for her. He took a step forward, his hand reaching out unconsciously. "Frances?"

"My name is Macie," the girl whispered, her voice trembling perfectly. "Macie Bell. Please, Alpha... I have nowhere else to go."

She offered a smile—a practiced, shy, vulnerable curve of her lips that I had seen in old videos Theodore watched late at night. It was the smile that had haunted our marriage before it even began.

"You are safe here," Theodore vowed, his voice thick with an emotion I had never heard directed at me. "You are home."

The displacement began immediately. That evening, at the welcome feast, the storm raged outside, but the real destruction was happening at the head table. I walked to the chair to the right of the Alpha—the Luna’s chair. My chair.

Theodore’s hand shot out, blocking my path.

The chatter in the hall died instantly. Every eye was on us. My heart hammered against my ribs. "Theo?"

"Sit at the lower table," he said, loud enough for the Beta and Gamma to hear. He didn't even look at me. His gaze was fixed on Macie, who stood uncertainly nearby, wrapped in a blanket.

"That is my seat," I said quietly, a spark of dignity flaring in the darkness of my humiliation.

"Macie is a guest," Theodore stated, his tone brooking no argument. "She has been through a trauma. She needs to feel the protection of the Alpha. She sits by me."

"But I am your Luna," I pleaded, my voice barely a whisper.

"You are safe, Aria. She is not. Move."

Macie looked at me, her blue eyes wide. "Oh, I couldn't possibly..." she began, her voice breathy.

"I insist," Theodore said, softer now, guiding her into my seat with a gentleness that shattered my heart into a thousand jagged pieces.

I walked away. I walked past the Beta, past the Gamma, past the warriors, all the way down to the table where the Deltas and Omegas ate. I sat in the shadows, invisible.

From the darkness, I watched them. I saw Macie lean in close to him. I saw her hand come up to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind her ear—a gesture so specific, so calculated, it made bile rise in my throat. And then, I saw it.

Theodore smiled. A genuine, warm, captivated smile.

On our seventh anniversary, my mate didn't just forget me. He replaced me with a ghost, and I realized with terrifying clarity that I was no longer the Luna of Obsidian Crest. I was just the obstacle sitting in her chair.