Is This A Joke? My Whole Pack Betrayed Me On The Day I Became Luna Chapter 08

Is This A Joke? My Whole Pack Betrayed Me On The Day I Became Luna Chapter 08

After the plane landed, I didn’t start my new life 

right away. 

The thirteen–hour flight had drained the last of my 

strength. 

I collapsed in the arrival hall. Airport staff took me to the local pack medical center, where I stayed 

for another week. 

My parents weren’t there. Damon wasn’t there. 

But whenever the pain kept me awake, a nurse 

would bring me an extra blanket. 

An older she–wolf in the bed next to mine would 

cut her apple in half and quietly leave the bigger 

piece on my table. 

These small kindnesses from strangers only 

made me think back to the day of the Mate 

Ceremony. 

I’d never really asked for much. 

I just wanted someone to care for me. 

I just wanted someone to notice my pain. 

I just wanted my mate to choose me, just once. 

For seven years, I’d thought those were things I 

had to earn. 

After I was discharged, I rented a small 

apartment. It was nothing like the Pack House. 

No portraits of past Alphas. No family photos. No Vesper’s things scattered around the living room. 

No mate waiting for me to come home. 

For the first few months, I still woke up in the 

middle of the night. 

There was always someone in my dreams, 

laughing, telling me the Mate Ceremony had 

changed locations and I needed to hurry. 

I’d run until I was exhausted, only to wake up and 

realize I no longer needed to chase anything. 

I started seeing a therapist. I kept up with my 

follow–up appointments. 

I even reactivated my PackNet account, which I’d 

abandoned for three years. I’d occasionally post 

photos of morning fog and streetlights on my way 

home from work. 

I didn’t force myself to heal all at once. 

I just took all the time I’d once spent waiting for 

Damon, and slowly gave it back to myself. 

Six months later, the project I’d joined officially launched. 

The company put my name on the homepage. Old colleagues I used to know sent their 

congratulations. 

The client who had demanded a new project lead reached out, hoping to work together again. 

I politely declined. 

Some opportunities could be recovered. 

But some trust, once broken, didn’t need to be 

rebuilt. 

Damon saw me on the company website. 

In the photo, I was wearing a sharply tailored suit, standing at the center of the project launch, smiling–calm and confident. 

It was a smile he hadn’t seen in a long time. 

No hesitation. No checking to see if everyone 

around me was satisfied after I laughed. 

He bought the earliest flight to London. 

When my parents heard, they followed. 

By the time they arrived, I had just walked out of 

the conference center. 

I saw the three of them standing in the rain at 

once. 

Damon had lost a lot of weight. He was still 

holding the mate ring I hadn’t taken with me. 

My mother’s tears fell the moment she saw me. 

She walked toward me quickly, then stopped two 

steps away. 

“Celine.” 

“Mom won’t touch you. Don’t be scared.” 

That one sentence broke her. She couldn’t speak 

anymore. 

My father stood behind her. The once powerful Beta now looked impossibly old. 

“I was the one who pushed you that day.” 

“Every night, I dream about you falling in front of 

1. me. And I never looked back, not once.” 

He raised his hand and slapped himself hard 

across the face. 

“Hit me. Curse me. Do whatever you want.” 

“Just please–call me Dad one more time.” 

I looked at them calmly. 

“Do you remember the Pack Academy entrance 

exam? I almost missed it.” 

“You said Vesper just wanted me to relax.” 

“Do you remember the graduation ceremony? You used Dad’s car accident to trick me into coming 

home. I cried the whole way on the train.” 

“You laughed and said I’d ruined everyone’s mood.” 

“I learned not to cry, not to ask, and not to beg for 

you to believe me.” 

“Now you finally believe me. But I don’t need it 

anymore.” 

My mother shook her head, crying so hard she 

could barely stand. 

“No, Mom loves you.” 

“We were just fooled by Vesper-” 

“She did fool you.” 

I cut her off gently. 

“But you chose her, over and over.” 

My mother’s sobs stopped abruptly. 

The cruelest truth in this world was never that they 

couldn’t tell right from wrong. 

It was that they saw me hurting, and still decided 

Vesper’s laughter mattered more.