Chapter 481: Who

Chapter 481: Seraphina

I listen to their conversation from the door.

I hear Kai’s pleading, and decide to walk in.Her eyes widen. She takes a couple of protective steps back, shielding her pup from me. I see the head of dark hair peeking from her arms.

"I will not hurt you," I say.

She looks at me cautiously. Her body is tense. Her arms are wrapped around her son like a shield.

"I will not excuse my actions," I say. "But I swear on my title as the Luna, underneath the goddess’s gaze, I will not bring harm to your pup."

She stares at me.

I do not look away.

"I understand your concerns," I say. "But my mate would like to be a part of his pup’s life. And I am here to support him."

Diana’s eyes narrow.

"Support him?" she repeats, and scoffs.

"With all due respect, Luna, I think that is bullshit."

"I understand your concerns," I say. "But I am serious."

"Kai, a word," she says to my Kai.

I feel a pang of pain inside me at the familiar way she said his name. Kai.

He looks at me. I nod.

I take my leave, heading out of the house to give them privacy.

I stand outside and meet a couple of gazes. Familiar. Too familiar. They pass by me and bow slightly, then go on their merry way.

I look at the new Redmoon. It looks like a human settlement now. The buildings. The roads. The lights. It feels too unfamiliar.

I see some faces I do not recognize either. They do not feel like my wolves, so I am assuming they are the wolves from those European packs.

Standing here is making me self-conscious. It is transporting me back to a time in my life I am not fond of.

When I was in Redmoon.

When I was young. When I was nothing. When I was the orphan girl who had no family, no name, no place.

I remember the way they looked at me. The way they whispered. The way they made me feel like I did not belong.

I remember Eric. The way he rejected me. The way he looked at me like I was beneath him.

I remember Elara. The way she looked at me with pity. The way she always seemed to be better than me without even trying.

I hate this place so much.

I hate that after all these years, after everything I have done, after everything I have become, this place still has the power to make me feel like that orphan girl again.

Someone I cannot not recognize. The she-wolf who took my mate from me. With practically a mini Rylan on her hip.She sees me and pauses for a moment. Then she keeps walking toward me.

Once in front of me:

"Luna," she says in a flat tone. She gives a perfunctory bow.

This close, it hurts how much the pup looks like Rylan. The same brown hair the twins have. The same brown eyes.

It should have been me. I should have had the child.

She notices me looking at him.

"Crazy, right?" she says. "How I gave birth to him, yet he looks nothing like me but like his father instead."

I do not respond.

"He has his father’s eyes," she says. "His father’s hair. His father’s nose." She pauses. "Genuinely, Diana has the same problem. I am telling you, it is really unfair. When we go through the pain of bringing them into the world..."

She tilts her head.

"I am sure you understand, right?"

I stare at her.

Understand?

Understand what?

"I mean, you have a boy," she says. "I see him around. He also looks so much like his father, not you."

I still do not respond.

"Well," she says, "where I am from, it is polite to make conversation."

"Polite," the child says.

"Yes, honey. Polite," she says, and shifts her child.

"Be polite," the boy says.

I look at them. Anger bubbles inside me. How is she shamelessly speaking to me? Flaunting him? When she took my mate?

"Have you no shame?" I say.

It is the first thing I have said to her.

She looks surprised. Then she shrugs.

"I have nothing to be ashamed of," she says.

"Is it also normal to steal people’s mates where you are from?" I ask.

She gives me a small smile.

"I suppose not," she says.

She runs her fingers through her son’s hair, for a few seconds and speaks up.

"Is attempted murder normal here?" she asks with another smile.

"You should have expected a reaction," I say. "No one would be calm meeting their mate’s lover."

"Ex-mate," she corrects.

I flinch.

"Oh dear." She tilts her head. "I thought the Luna was supposed to be all loving. An Omega wolf too. Aren’t you wolves known for your unbound kindness and... fertility?"

The word hits me like a blade.

I feel my claws come out. I fist my hands and feel them digging into my palms.

"Are you sure you’re an Omega wolf?" she asks. "The only characteristic you have would be your ability to embrace multiple mates."

I can tell she is goading me. She wants me to react. I can see interested eyes looking at us.

"Was respect not taught where you are from?" I ask. My voice is tight. "I am the Luna."

"It was," she says. "It is just... you are not my Luna."

"He will never love you the way he loved me," I say. "I will always be his mate."

Her face cracks, seems like that bothered her. Good.

"I am fine with that," she says. "The same way you will never be the mother of his pups."

She flips her hair and gives me a cruel smile.

"Yes. Pups. I am pregnant. Seeing how I am pregnant again, it makes me wonder who the Omega is between us."