Sera woke on her first morning as Luna to an empty apartment and a note slipped under her door.
*Meeting with the Council all day. Don't wait up. - K*
No "good morning." No acknowledgment that yesterday they'd stood before the entire pack and made vows. Just a terse message informing her she'd be spending her first day as a married woman alone.
She crumpled the note and tried to ignore the hollow ache in her chest. This was the arrangement. She'd known what she was signing up for. Expecting anything different was setting herself up for disappointment.
Still, the silence of the apartment felt oppressive as she dressed in one of the new outfits that had been provided for her. Luna appropriate clothing, Helena had called it. Modest but elegant dresses that screamed status without being ostentatious. Sera felt like she was wearing a costume, playing dress-up in someone else's life.
She ventured out into the pack house around nine, hoping to find Margaret in the kitchens. At least the older woman had always been kind to her. But the moment she stepped into the common areas, she felt it. The shift in atmosphere.
Pack members stopped mid-conversation when they saw her. Some nodded politely, maintaining the facade of respect. Others simply stared, their expressions ranging from confusion to barely concealed contempt. A group of younger she-wolves near the stairs actually giggled when she passed, not even bothering to lower their voices.
"Can you imagine? A wolfless Luna."
"I give it three months before he rejects her."
"I heard it's a contract marriage. She trapped him somehow."
Sera kept walking, her spine straight and her face neutral, even as their words burrowed under her skin like splinters. She'd dealt with mockery for six years. She could handle this.
The kitchens were bustling with breakfast cleanup when she arrived. Margaret looked up from the industrial sink, her weathered face breaking into a surprised smile. "Miss Sera! I mean, Luna. Goodness, that'll take some getting used to."
"Please, just Sera." She moved to help dry dishes, grateful for something normal to do. "How are you, Margaret?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? You're the one who just got married." Margaret studied her face with the keen perception that came from decades of reading people. "Though you don't exactly have the glow of a happy bride, if you don't mind me saying."
Sera's laugh was hollow. "Is it that obvious?"
"Only to someone who's known you since you were small." The older woman's voice softened. "I won't pry, child. But if you ever need to talk..."
"Thank you." Sera blinked against the sudden sting of tears. One kind word and she was ready to fall apart. She really needed to get better control of herself.
The kitchen door swung open and three she-wolves entered, all around Sera's age, all daughters of high-ranking pack members. She recognized them from pack gatherings over the years. VIVIENNE CROSS, the pack doctor's daughter, led the trio with the kind of confidence that came from never having her worth questioned.
"Well, well," Vivienne said, her eyes raking over Sera with undisguised disdain. "The Luna is doing dishes. How... quaint."
"I was just helping Margaret," Sera replied evenly.
"How domestic." Vivienne moved closer, and the other two she-wolves flanked her like backup dancers. "Tell me, Sera. What exactly did you do to trap Alpha Kael into this farce of a marriage? Because we all know there's no way he actually wanted to mate with someone like you."
Margaret made a warning noise. "Miss Vivienne, that's enough. She's Luna now. Show some respect."
"Respect?" Vivienne laughed, sharp and cruel. "For a wolfless nobody who lucked into a title she has no business holding? I don't think so."
Sera felt her face heating, humiliation and anger warring in her chest. She wanted to defend herself, to throw Vivienne's cruelty back in her face. But what could she say? That Kael had been forced into this marriage by his dying father's wish? That she was just as unhappy about the situation as everyone else seemed to be?
"I should go," she said quietly, setting down the dish towel.
"Yes, you should." Vivienne smirked. "Why don't you go back to whatever hole you crawled out of? Oh wait, you can't. You're stuck playing Luna now. How tragic for all of us."
Sera left the kitchen with the sound of their laughter following her down the hallway. Her hands were shaking again. She'd been Luna for less than twenty-four hours and already the pack was making it clear she wasn't welcome in the role.
Over the next week, it only got worse.
Sera tried to fulfill the traditional Luna duties she'd observed other pack Lunas performing over the years. She attended the weekly council meeting, only to find her chair had been removed from the council room. When she asked about it, Beta Garrett had looked at her with barely concealed amusement.
"Luna participation in council meetings is optional," he'd said, his tone making it clear her presence wasn't just optional but unwanted. "Perhaps it would be best if you focused on... other duties."
She'd left, her face burning with shame while the male council members watched her go without a single word of support.
She tried to organize the monthly pack dinner, a tradition where the Luna oversaw a community meal to strengthen pack bonds. But when she approached the kitchen staff about planning, they'd informed her that VIVIENNE had already taken over the arrangements.
"At Alpha Kael's request," the head cook had added, though Sera suspected that was a lie.
She tried to visit new mothers in the pack, another traditional Luna duty meant to welcome new pups and ensure young families had support. But when she'd shown up at SARAH BLAKE's door with a basket of supplies, the young mother had looked at her with such pity and discomfort that Sera had stammered an excuse and left.
Every attempt to fill her role was blocked, redirected, or met with such obvious disdain that Sera began to wonder if she should even try. The message was clear: she might have the title, but no one respected her claim to it.
The worst part was Kael's complete absence through all of it.
He spent his days immersed in Alpha duties, often gone from dawn until long after dark. When they did cross paths in their shared apartment, he was cordial but distant, treating her like a roommate he was vaguely aware of but had no interest in knowing. They'd been married for two weeks and had probably exchanged fewer than a hundred words total.
The only time he seemed to remember she existed was when pack appearances demanded it. Then he would appear at her side, his hand resting possessively on her lower back, playing the attentive mate for whatever audience needed convincing. But the moment they were alone, he dropped the act completely.
Sera had never felt more invisible while simultaneously being constantly watched.
Three weeks into their marriage, everything came to a head at the monthly Alpha's dinner. It was a formal affair where Kael hosted neighboring pack leaders and high-ranking members. As Luna, Sera was expected to attend and help entertain guests.
She'd spent hours getting ready, desperate to look the part even if she didn't feel it. When she'd emerged from her room, Kael had given her a single once-over and nodded. "You look acceptable. Try not to embarrass me."
The dinner itself was held in the formal dining room, a massive space with a table that could seat thirty. Sera found herself placed beside Kael at the head, with Beta Garrett and his mate on the opposite side. Other pack leaders and their mates filled the remaining seats, all power and poise and perfectly belonging in a way Sera never would.
At first, things went smoothly. Sera kept quiet, smiled when appropriate, and tried to fade into the background. But about halfway through the meal, ALPHA RICHMOND from the neighboring Moonstone Pack addressed her directly.
"So, Luna Sera," he said, his tone friendly but curious. "I understand you grew up in Silvercrest. What was your role before becoming Luna?"
The table went quiet. Every eye turned to her. Sera's throat tightened as she tried to figure out how to answer. The truth was humiliating. A lie would be discovered immediately.
"I worked in domestic service," she finally said, keeping her voice steady.
Richmond's eyebrows rose. "Really? That's quite a change. And your wolf? What's your ranking?"
The question everyone had been too polite to ask directly. Sera felt Kael tense beside her, but he said nothing. Didn't jump in to change the subject or deflect. He just sat there, silent, letting her drown.
"I'm wolfless," she said quietly.
The reaction was immediate. Shocked gasps. Uncomfortable shifting. Richmond actually choked on his wine. His mate, a beautiful blonde she-wolf, looked at Sera with something between pity and horror.
"Wolfless?" Richmond repeated, as if he must have misheard. "But you're the Luna of Silvercrest. How is that possible?"
"The mate bond doesn't discriminate," Kael said finally, his voice flat. "The Moon Goddess chose her. Who am I to question that?"
The words should have been supportive. Instead, they sounded like a man resigning himself to an unfortunate fate. Several guests exchanged meaningful glances, reading between the lines as clearly as Sera did.
Beta Garrett, who had been drinking steadily throughout the meal, let out a sharp laugh. "A wolfless Luna. Can you imagine? It's like appointing a fish to teach swimming. What a joke."
The table fell completely silent. Several guests looked scandalized by Garrett's blatant disrespect, but others were clearly biting back agreement. Sera felt like she'd been slapped, the public humiliation making her skin crawl.
She waited for Kael to say something. To defend her. To remind his Beta that insulting the Luna was insulting the Alpha himself. He was right there, inches away. All he had to do was speak.
But he didn't.
Kael simply took another sip of his wine, his expression neutral, as if his Beta hadn't just called his wife a joke at a formal dinner in front of visiting dignitaries. The silence stretched, growing more uncomfortable by the second, and Sera realized with crushing clarity that it was intentional.
His silence was permission.
By saying nothing, Kael was telling the entire table that Garrett's disrespect was acceptable. That Sera wasn't worth defending. That he agreed with the assessment even if he wouldn't say it himself.
"Excuse me," Sera managed, her voice barely above a whisper. She stood on shaking legs. "I'm not feeling well."
She fled the dining room before anyone could respond, her vision blurring with tears she refused to let fall until she was safely behind her bedroom door. Once there, she collapsed onto the bed and let herself break down properly for the first time since the wedding.
This was her life. Being mocked, dismissed, and disrespected while her own mate sat silent and let it happen. She was Luna in the title only. The pack had already decided she was unworthy of the role, and Kael's refusal to support her was the final nail in that coffin.
She'd tried. For three weeks, she'd tried to be what they needed. Tried to fulfill duties, tried to earn respect, tried to be worth the title she'd been given. And it wasn't enough. It would never be enough.
Because the problem wasn't her effort or her intentions. The problem was what she fundamentally was. Wolfless. Broken. Wrong.
Hours later, long after the dinner had ended and the guests had left, Kael entered the apartment. Sera heard him moving around the living area, and heard him pause outside her door. She held her breath, wondering if he would knock. If he would check on her after she'd fled the dinner. If he would say anything at all about what had happened.
The footsteps moved away. His door closed.
Sera rolled onto her side, staring at the wall that separated them. Technically married. Technically mated. But more alone than she'd ever been in her life.
At least when she'd been a servant, she'd known her place. Now she was trapped in this strange limbo. Too elevated to return to her old life, but too inadequate to belong in her new one. A Luna who wasn't really a Luna. A mate who wasn't really wanted.
A ghost haunting her own existence.