The Substitute Luna Chapter 05

The Substitute Luna Chapter 05

Before the procedure, the sedative left me drifting.

I dreamed I was sixteen, standing outside the gates of the pack’s elite academy. I’d earned my place through my own effort, but so had Taryn and Ronan. We were classmates, not equals.

That’s when the real torment began. Taryn and her friends chewed gum just to stick it in my hair.

They stuffed used pads into my backpack. Tripped me in the hallways. Dumped wash water on me while I was in the stall.

I fought back. The teachers saw, but no one helped.

One day, the pain was so bad I could barely stand. I fumbled for painkillers, but Taryn snatched

them away.

She laughed, made me kneel, made me beg.

“I’ll give them back when I’m satisfied.”

Everyone around us was betting on how long I’d last.

I stood there, staring at the pile of money on the desk, crying.

Then someone leaned against my table, his shadow falling over me.

He picked up the cash and counted it lazily. “Not bad. Good for some drinks.”

Everyone could smell the Alpha on him. No one dared speak.

He raised a finger at Taryn. Still smiling, but there was no warmth in it. “Hand them over.”

“She’s under my protection now. Anyone who touches her answers to me. Got it?”

He was Ronan’s reckless twin brother. Always fighting, always getting punished.

I used to hate him.

But from that day on, I wasn’t alone anymore.

When I woke, Jenna was gripping my hand, her eyes red-rimmed.

“Who were you calling for in your dream?”

I stared at the ceiling.

“Him,” I whispered. “Just a ghost.”

I disappeared for half a month.

Jenna told me later that Ronan tore the pack territory apart looking for me.

That’s why I came back. To deliver the bond dissolution agreement.

He glanced at it once and tossed it aside. His gaze dropped to my waist.

“Before we call this over, shouldn’t we talk about something else?”

I smiled faintly. “There’s nothing else to say.”

His eyes widened. For a breath, he didn’t move.

“You vanished for two weeks just to…’

“Don’t.” I held up a hand, stopping him cold. “You’re not yourself when you’re angry. And you’re nothing like him.”

He shook my hand off, eyes wide. “What do you mean?”

I wiped my hand. “This was always a transaction between us. You needed a pawn to make her jealous. And I needed a name, a place, a shadow to stand beside so no one would see how empty 1 really was.”

“We used each other. We’re even.”

Before I could finish, he cut me off, his eyes burning, his voice cracking at the edges.

“You don’t get to say we’re even.”

“When I gave that ring to Taryn, I felt nothing. I kept trying to want her again, but all I saw was you.”

“The day you disappeared, I woke up in terror. I could feel that our pup had died.”

“I fell in love with you, Vivian. And now you stand here, telling me we’re even? To hell with that.”

He grabbed my face, baring his teeth. “You want to break the bond? I’m telling you, it’s not happening.”

Taryn stepped out from the next room, pale, eyes

Her voice cracked. “Ronan… what are you saying?”

hollow.