I Am His Wolfless Luna
Chapter 30
Ethan’s POV
The security monitors cast a bluish glow across my office as 1 reviewed the training facility footage for the third time tonight. Recent rumors about Aria had been gnawing at me, accusations that painted her as an irresponsible mother using her position to seduce high–ranking wolves. My wolf, Felix, growled softly at the mere thought of such slander.
The screen showed Aria arriving each morning before dawn, her son’s small hand tucked securely in hers. She’d kneel to straighten his backpack, whisper what looked like words of encouragement, then watch until he disappeared into the school building. Only then would she head to the training grounds, her shoulders squared with determination.
“Some irresponsible mother, I muttered, pausing the footage. The woman I watched day after day bore no resemblance to the social climber others described. Instead, I saw someone who’d rebuilt her life from nothing, who balanced motherhood with professional duties while navigating a world that seemed determined to reject her.
David’s knock interrupted my brooding. “The background check you requested, Alpha Heir.”
The manila folder landed on my desk with a soft thud. Inside lay six years of Aria’s life, meticulously documented. Professional fighting records, apartment leases, school records for her son each piece telling a story of survival against impossible odds.
“She worked three jobs at first, David reported, his usual stoic expression softening slightly. “Overnight security, morning dojo instruction, underground fights on weekends. All while pregnant.”
My fingers tightened on the papers, crinkling their edges. The thought of Aria – pregnant, alone, and stripped of her wolf powers – fighting in underground rings made Felix pace restlessly beneath my skin.
“The fighting circuit dubbed her The Silent Storm,” David continued. “Undefeated in fifteen matches. She used the prize money for Lucas’s prenatal care.”
The surveillance photos showed a younger Aria, her belly swollen with pregnancy, leaving a late–night dojo. Another showed her at Lucas’s first day of preschool, her smile bright despite the dark circles under her eyes. Each image contradicted the malicious whispers circulating through pack circles.
My fingers unconsciously traced the edge of Aria’s photograph in the file her dark hair pulled back, determination etched in every line of her face. When had she become so important to me? When had I started looking for her every morning, cataloging her small habits, the way she tucked her hair behind her ear when deep in thought?
Felix stirred restlessly beneath my skin as I studied Lucas’s student photo. Those forest–green eyes stared back at me, hauntingly familiar. The shape of his jaw, the set of his shoulders, even that slight tilt of his head when concentrating something about the boy called to my wolf in ways I couldn’t explain.
“Sir?” David’s voice pulled me from my reverie. “What are your orders?”
I realized I’d been absently running my thumb across the image of Aria kneeling before Lucas, straightening his collar with such tender care. The gesture spoke of years of love and sacrifice, hints of a story I was desperate to understand. What had really happened to make her leave her pack? Why did she guard her secrets so fiercely?
“Continue monitoring the situation,” I managed, though my voice sounded strained even to my own ears. “And David? Not a word of this to anyone.”
After he left, I found myself rewinding the security footage again, watching Aria move through her daily routine. My wolf paced restlessly, pushing me to uncover more, to understand the mysteries surrounding this remarkable woman who’d captured my attention so completely.
“What aren’t you telling me, Aria?” I whispered to her image on the screen, my fingers still tracing the curve of her cheek in the photograph. The need to know her story, to understand what had shaped her into the warrior she’d become, burned through me like a fever I couldn’t shake.
Aria’s POV
The morning sun streamed through my apartment windows, casting long shadows across the worn carpet as I helped Lucas pack his school bag. A knock at the door shattered our peaceful morning rhythm. My heart stuttered when I opened it to find Marcus’s Beta, his formal posture and carefully neutral expression masking what looked like genuine sympathy as
he extended a set of ornate keys.
‘From the Alpha,‘ he said formally, his voice carrying the weight of official pack business. A residence in Shadow Fang territory, close to both the training facility and Lucas’s school.”
My fingers trembled as I accepted the keys, their cold metal burning against my palm like frozen tears. Six years of memories crashed over me in waves – the rain–soaked night of my banishment, Marcus’s face twisted with disappointment and rage, the hollow echo of my pleas for understanding bouncing off marble walls. He’d cast me out without hesitation then, believing the worst of his own daughter, not even giving me a chance to explain.
Now he sent gifts for his grandson, attempting to bridge a chasm he’d helped create with material offerings. The irony tasted bitter on my tongue. Part of me wanted to throw the keys back, to reject this gesture of delayed paternal concern. But another part, the part that remembered being daddy’s little girl, that still ached for family and belonging, made my fingers curl around the metal until its edges bit into my skin.
“The Alpha hopes you and the young one will be comfortable there,” the Beta continued. ‘He… he wants you to have a proper home.”
“Thank my father for his kindness, I managed, the words tasting bittersweet on my tongue.
‘Mom!” Lucas burst from his room, green eyes bright with excitement. ‘Are we moving again?”
I knelt before him, my heart clenching at the sight of those forest–green eyes. Eyes that held questions I wasn’t ready to answer. “How would you feel about a house with a real backyard?” I asked instead, smoothing his wild dark hair.
‘Really?‘ His whole face lit up. “Can I plant a garden like the ones in your stories? The ones Grandma Olivia used to tend?”
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Chapter 30
I pulled him close, breathing in his scent of pine needles and sunshine. Of course, baby. Anything you want.”
After the Beta left, I stood by the window, turning the keys over in my hands. The silvery metal caught the morning light, reminding me of another piece of silver the wolf fang pendant I found clutched in my palm that fateful morning at Mountain View Resort. Ethan’s pendant.
Lucas appeared beside me, his small hand slipping into mine. “Mom? Are you sad?”
I looked down at my son and managed a smile. ‘No, baby. Just thinking about changes,‘
His perceptive gare studied my face. “Good changes or bad changes?”
I pulled him close, resting my chin on his head.
“Who knows, I whispered and signed, holding my son a little tighter.
Chapter Comments
Kris Shields
sooooooo she knew? and how did Emma end up with the pendant?
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