Rewriting the Bond: An Email to My 18-Year-Old Luna Chapter 01

Rewriting the Bond: An Email to My 18-Year-Old Luna Chapter 01

Year two of the divorce with Alpha Cassian. I was wiped out, left with NOTHING.

I was packing when my daughter pulled an old phone out of one of the boxes.

“Mom, look! This one still turns on.”

I tapped the screen. An email I’d written to myself ten years ago was still sitting in the Drafts folder.

[Hey, twenty-eight-year-old Maeve, how’s life? Did you become Cassian’s Luna? Is your pup adorable?]

[He’s always wanted pups. I bet you two are so happy.]

Tears fell onto the screen before I could stop them. I started typing back, one line at a time.

[I became Cassian’s Luna. We had a daughter.]

[Three years in, I found out he was cheating on me. With your best friend.]

[The severance dragged on for two years. He won. I left with nothing.]

The reply came almost instantly.

[You’re lying! Cassian and Serena would never do that to me. They love me more than anyone.]

I let out a bitter laugh, hands shaking as I typed:

[Love you? Our daughter has congenital heart disease. I begged on my knees for surgery money, and he accused me of extortion!]

[He froze my accounts, took my money to fund Serena’s wedding, and sent invitations.]

[Maeve, wake up. Ten years later, Cassian doesn’t love you. Leave him or stay, it’s your choice.]

[Stay or leave. That’s your choice to make.]

Will she believe me?

…

The message disappeared into nothing.

Minutes passed. Still no reply.

Of course she didn’t believe me. At eighteen, Cassian was her whole world.

I wiped my eyes and went back to packing.

My daughter sat on top of the suitcase, her little voice soft. “Mom, why do we have to move?”

I tried to answer, but nothing came out.

Where would I even start?

That I wasn’t going to be Luna anymore, that I was losing everything?

That her dad was marrying someone else, and we weren’t his family anymore?

She was too young for any of that.

An engine rumbled outside.

The familiar Maybach pulled up to the front gate.

Cassian stepped out with his arm around Serena Frostvale, the two of them laughing about something as they walked inside.

I dragged the suitcase down and ran straight into them in the foyer.

Serena flaunted their freshly signed marriage license right in front of me.

“Leaving so soon, Maeve?”

“You know Cassian. The dissolution came through this morning, and by afternoon he was already dragging me to the registry. Couldn’t even wait one day.”

I didn’t look at her.

I looked past the license, straight at Cassian.

He stepped aside without a word. His face was blank.

Like I was nobody.

My daughter didn’t understand any of it. She reached for Serena with both arms. “Auntie Serena, hug!”

Serena smiled, squeezed my daughter’s cheek, then pulled a check from her bag and pressed it into my hand.

“A little something for the pup. Take it.”

A year ago, I would’ve thrown it back in her face.

But now, I gripped it tight and shoved it into my bag.

Cassian’s lip curled.

“Really, Maeve? You didn’t get a cent in the pack settlement, so now you’re taking charity? Are you that desperate?”

I swallowed what was left of my pride. For Sia Stormfang’s sake, I tried one more time.

“Cassian, Sia’s surgery… can you just…”

“Enough, Maeve!”

His expression went dark. “I’ve been funding your lifestyle for ten years. How much is ever enough for you?”

“Stop using our pup to squeeze money out of me! I’ve seen her chart. She’s fine. Don’t even try it.”

My hand tightened around the suitcase handle.

Nails dug into my palm hard enough to draw blood, and the sting was the only thing keeping me from crying.

I’d told him a dozen times something was wrong with that report.

He never listened.

According to him, the Frostvale Healing Center was the best in Ravencrest. They didn’t make mistakes. He believed Serena over me. Always.

When I brought him a second opinion from Ravencrest University Medical Center, he tore it up right in front of me. Called it a scam.

He’d even hired the best werewolf legal team he could find.

Their only job was to push me out of the Stormfang Pack without a cent.

Sia grabbed my hand. “Mommy, I’m scared.”

I scooped her up with one arm, grabbed the suitcase with the other, and pushed past both of them.

As I passed Serena, a familiar scent hit me.

Fir. Cedar. Cassian.

The custom perfume he’d given me on our anniversary two years ago.

He’d told me it was blended to match his scent, only one bottle in the world, because I was the only one for him.

Months later, Serena started reeking of that exact same fragrance.

Every time I caught that scent on her, another piece of my chest cracked.

I loaded the suitcase into the car.

We were pulling away when the old phone lit up.

[Are you really me at twenty-eight?]

[I asked Cassian about it. He said I’m his destined mate, and he’ll never love anyone else.]

[He said our pup is going to be healthy and beautiful, and he’ll give her everything.]

[Cassian loves me. I believe him.]

Of course she did.

I dug the gold-embossed mating ceremony invitation out of my bag.

Their names on the front, Cassian and Serena, burned right through me.

I took a photo and hit send.

[Ask him for me. If he swore he’d love me forever, why did he throw it all away for someone else?]