Luna Graced

LATER THAT NIGHT

Abigail cried out and writhed with pain. Her body was on fire, and the herbs weren’t helping. Nothing was helping.

After the betrayal she’d suffered, nothing ever could.

They were bringing the pack doctor in to give her a sedative. It could help her body, but nothing could help her heart.

As the pack alpha, Edward was more than a father to his son. He had a responsibility to the entire pack, to keep them safe. To keep them in order.

His son’s betrayal of his mate was a heavy shame, but it didn’t stop Edward from doing his duty to the pack.

He’d locked Carson in a holding cell at the other end of the pack lands and ordered the warriors to stand guard.

Carson had been shifting, out of control, over and over, as he fought to get to Abigail. He might not love her, but she was still his mate, and she was in heat.

This was a hard punishment. He’d gone against everyone and hurt his mate in the worst way possible.

Carson’s growing alpha anger was consuming him. He couldn’t stand against the desire to get to his mate, but he wanted to see the woman he loved.

Being denied closeness with his love and their unborn pup was an additional punishment that threatened to tear him apart.

Edward was still trying to decide if he should keep his son restricted from going to Taylor for the duration of the pregnancy. Carson’s indiscretion hadn’t hurt only Abigail, but the entire pack.

Undercurrents of pain filtered through all of them. Shame, confusion, and distrust could scar a pack. If they couldn’t trust their alpha, the pack would fall apart.

Hazel’s wolf was not happy and had snapped at him several times. She wanted to protect her own pup regardless of how old he was, but Edward knew he had to keep the whole pack in mind and not just his mate and pup.

Edward called Michael and Jacob for a private meeting.

A hard knock sounded at the door. “Warrior Michael, you may enter.”

The warrior bowed his head out of respect for the leader, not the man.

“Sit,” Edward grumbled and pulled out a bottle of amber liquor. He filled three glasses.

He scented his beta coming to the door.

“Beta Jacob, you may enter.”

The tense man entered and bowed his head.

“Sit.” The alpha gestured toward the empty chair.

Jacob took the glass that Edward slid across the massive desk toward him. Michael did the same.

“Gentlemen…” Edward sipped the fine liquor and leaned back in his chair. “Fucking pups!”

He slammed his fist down. “I am in an impossible position.”

The men were quiet. They were here as fathers tonight, even if on opposite sides.

“Carson is only getting stronger as his wolf gets antsier. He wants to be with his mate for her heat, he wants to be with his unborn pup, and he yearns for the young lady we had no idea he had feelings for.”

Edward sighed and sipped his drink.

“You know as well as I do that a marked, mated, and now rejected future luna will be shunned. She will be rejected by all packs. Deemed unworthy by her alpha mate, it will taint her.”

Michael’s voice grated with tiredness.

“I am sorry, brother, for the pain of your family.” Jacob reached out, his powerful hand gripping Michael’s forearm, a sign of respect.

“How long has this been going on between Carson and Taylor?” Edward and Hazel had never scented anyone but Abigail on their son.

“Many, many moons. Not living with Abigail afforded him time to shower Taylor’s scent off of him.”

“Why did you not come to me about this?” Edward was angry that his beta would not come to him about something so serious.

Jacob sighed and drained his drink. “He said his intentions were to tell you after he and Taylor consummated. I didn’t want to overstep with a future alpha, but I told him if he didn’t, that I’d force the issue.”

“Which is why he asked that I call us all together this morning.” Edward pinched his eyes shut and sighed.

Michael’s wolf, deep within, raged.

“Abigail is in physical pain! Pain at the hands of your son, a pup I thought of as my own. She is the one suffering. He won’t lose his title.

“He’ll have his pup and a woman who he loves. Abigail will lose everything. Our own pack will shun her by instinct!”

“That’s my fault. I told him not to go near her. I wanted the situation to have some time to calm down. I assume you did not know Taylor was with pup until this morning?” Edward looked at his beta.

“I smelled the change in her scent this morning, and I believe the future alpha did as well.” His chest puffed. His wolf was going to have a grandpup. He’d protect his pregnant daughter.

“I expect her to be marked and officially mated. She will not carry the shame,” Jacob declared.

“But mine shall? Mine shall carry the shame of your daughter for her? She’s innocent in this, and she will carry this for life! She did nothing wrong!” Michael was livid.

Howls raised over the pack land. Carson was out of control and breaking through his restraints. All of them could feel the urgency of his need to escape.

“Fuck!” Edward’s eyes flashed. “I need to deal with Carson. I will do what I can to help Abby. Go protect her. If he gets loose, he’s coming for her.”

They all knew what would happen if Carson was able to reach his mate. There’d been enough destruction from the hands of his son already. Edward could not allow there to be more.

“I will not stand down if he comes for her.” Michael’s eyes glowed, and a growl of his own power reverberated in the room.

“I’ll keep him away. I must go. Jacob, I’ve lost trust in you as my beta. We’ll discuss this later.”

Edward shifted quickly and raced to the cell where Carson was being held.

The howls from inside had changed into desperate, wailing shrieks. The warriors Edward had commanded to guard the cell had all shifted, pacing, their hackles rising.

Their loyalty to their alpha would normally extend to this son, their future alpha. Asking them to attack Carson’s wolf was hard for them to bear, but they’d do it if it came down to it.

Michael and a warrior group guarded Abigail’s cell. Fiona and a group of female warriors tended to her daughter. The pack doctor had come and given Abigail a sedative.

She had been screaming about needing Carson, clawing at the walls to get out. Even the warriors could smell the alpha on the wind, and no doubt as his mate, she could too.

Carson had been restrained with chains and cuffs, but those weren’t going to hold him much longer. Hazel had shifted into her magnificent wolf form. She growled and paced, swiping at the pack warriors restraining her pup.

Even as Edward was filled with pride at his amazing, fierce mate, he couldn’t have her interfering with her son’s captivity.

“I command you to go home, Luna! Now!” Edward watched as his mate ran off. He turned back to the open cell door and watched his son fight against the bonds keeping him inside.

“This is your punishment, Carson! You’ve made grave mistakes that you will atone for by the hand of the Moon Goddess. My focus is on the mate you will be rejecting, to help her the best I can.

“You’ve ruined her life, you selfish little shit. You are not fit to be alpha, and there will be no ceremony!”

Carson shifted into his full wolf form and let out a whole other level of alpha power Edward had never seen from him before. Pride and shame warred within Edward.

His son had behaved so disgracefully he had to deny him alpha status, but it was clear Carson was meant for the role. Edward had to make the best choice for the pack, no matter how much it wounded him personally.

“I will keep you away from your pup until it’s born if you don’t control yourself. You’ve been selfish! You have not taken into consideration what a mated, marked, and rejected future luna will carry for the rest of her ~life~.

“Her entire life, Carson. She will be shunned by every pack and seen as worthless. Her own mate, an alpha, didn’t want her after marking her. You have put her in a mateless hell, a nomad with no pack. She will die because of you!”

Carson’s wolf fought to stay in control, but at his father’s words, he shifted back to his human form. His eyes went wide.

“What?” His voice was hoarse, and he let out a cry of pain. “What do you mean, a nomad?”

“She was trained to be a luna, mated to an alpha! She is marked, mated…the only thing missing are the ceremonies and consummation. She was essentially rejected at the altar,” Edward shouted.

The final ceremony was necessary to complete the bond. Carson had purposely pushed off the ceremony until the last possible minute. Everyone had been asking why he and Abby weren’t living together.

“They all will deem her unworthy, just like you have. You shunned one of your own pack members before you even had the title. What kind of leader do you think that shows me and this pack that you are?”

Carson slumped in his restraints, his chest heaving. He shook his head and let out a low moan. His father’s lip curled.

“Why are you shocked? This has been in the books you’ve been reading. What happens when a mate is rejected, from an alpha down to an omega. Haven’t you been studying?”

Edward waited for the answer he already knew. “How long have you been bedding beta Jacob’s daughter?”

“Over a year.”

“I’m going to teach you a lesson, Carson, and it’s going to be a painful one.”