Chasing His Betrayed Luna

AURELIA

I lay in bed... in agony.

My eyes were swollen and my body burning from the intense and unbearable pain that I had to endure all through the night. It was a new day - the day Larisa would be crowned Luna of the Dark Moon pack.

The day I would be dethroned and publicly insulted. Perhaps I should be out there fighting for my title and my mate but I was still suffering from all she and Alpha Raiden spent the night doing. I felt it all this time.

Maybe it was because Larisa already told me about their steamy moments, I couldn't tell but I felt the effect of every thrust, touch, and kiss that my mate pleased Larisa with over the night.

For some reason, the bond carried Alpha Raiden's betrayal to me.

I lay in bed lifelessly.

"Please take my soul now, Moon Goddess. Let me die now. I can't take this anymore." I thought to myself, hoping that the moon goddess would hear my internal cry as I couldn't part my lips to speak. I just wanted to die.

If I died, everyone would get their happy ending.

Everyone except me, unfortunately.

Slowly, I closed my eyes, praying for my soul to be snatched. There was nothing else for me to live for. For the past three years, I had been living for my betrayal of a mate. I had lived for the same pack that had come to stab me in the back many times even as I served them.

All of a sudden, I heard a knock on the door of the same room I had been locked in for many days. I didn't bother to move an inch because that would not only cause me pain but also lift my hope. Plus, the door could only be opened from outside with a key that I knew Alpha Raiden wouldn't give just anyone.

It was best to keep my eyes closed and wait for the moment I would stop breathing-

"Relia.." The familiar name echoed.

My breath hitched because there was only one person who called me that and hearing that person so close broke my already shattered heart. Not to mention the fact that my head ached as another knock came from the door.

"Relia, are you in there?" Dakota's old shaky voice came again.

I whimpered in response, unable to form a single word. I wanted to tell her to leave because she shouldn't see me like this. She would be devastated if she was to see me in this shape.

Dakota was the only person in this big pack that genuinely cared about me. While others pretended to care, Dakota really loved me. Dakota was the oldest doctor in the pack and she found me when I was a baby, raised me as her own, and has always helped me until she retired some years ago.

"Answer me, stubborn child." Dakota's shaky voice came again.

I knew it was only a matter of time before her old nose perceived my stench, agony, and will to die and that killed me even faster than the pain my mate inflicted on me by sleeping with another woman without breaking off our useless mate bond. Then, I heard clicking sounds that made me know that Dakota was picking the locks of the door like some rebellious teenager. I found my voice and muttered as loud as my weak lungs could allow, "Go away, Dakota."

"I brought you food as no one else seems to care if you live or die." Dakota voiced adamantly. She succeeded in picking the locks to my dismay. Although my back was to the door, I could tell her jaw dropped to the floor when she saw the state I was in. "Dear me! Look at you, Relia..."

"Pl-please. Leave. I don't want you to see me like this, Dakota." I cried my eyes out despite the sharp ring in my head.

Dakota abruptly responded, "I'm not leaving you to die while they all feast out there."

"But I want to die. I don't want food. I don't need you here." I cried louder, holding my aching head with my eyes still closed.

I felt Dakota's presence before me, her warmth embracing my soul even though she made my burning body hotter.

"I want to die, Dakota..." I whispered still in tears.

My eyes fluttered open and they met with Dakota's dark teary eyes.

"How can you say that to me, Relia? Death isn't what your mother wanted for you in her dying moment. She asked me to make sure you lived." Dakota knelt beside the bed, bringing her wet face close to mine.

Dakota was the only person I knew who saw and spoke to my mom before she gave up the ghost. According to Dakota, my mom was fighting to live when they met in the woods but she died a few minutes after birthing and naming me.

"What am I supposed to live for, Dakota?" I whimpered, reminding her that I no longer had a mate and that I would eventually die if Alpha Raiden kept sleeping with Larisa...

Dakota sighed, holding my gaze and my hands. Her eyes scanned my body as she inhaled deeply before announcing, "I think you will be relieved to hear that you have plenty to live for, Aurelia."

I was about to tell Dakota to give up and stop trying to change my mind, but she dropped a bomb that shook the foundation of my life, "You will live for the baby in your womb, Aurelia just like your mother lived on for you to be born into this world."

I blinked rapidly, my heart racing as I inhaled sharply. "B-baby I-in th-the wo-" I stuttered, shocked and trapped in a state of dilemma.

"Yes, Relia. I smelt it on you the minute I stepped into this room. It's a shame that your mate, the father of this child, is too shallow-minded to sense his growing child." Dakota hissed when she spoke of Alpha Raiden. "He might be blinded by rage but that doesn't change the fact that you are pregnant, Aurelia and you will live on for the sake of that child."

"I'm pregnant," I whispered, tasting those words on my tongue. "I'm going to be a mother..."

An unknown feeling began to spread from the death of my shattered heart and for a minute, I forgot that I was supposed to be in pain and miserable.

Dakota confirmed, smiling at me, "Yes, my child. You're going to be a mother."

And I smiled back, happiness blooming in my dark miserable soul.