Is This A Joke? My Whole Pack Betrayed Me On The Day I Became Luna Chapter 03
By the time I got back to the Pack House, I had a fever.
It was the first time I’d ever gotten sick after getting caught in the rain. It was thanks to my beloved family and fated mate, who had stabbed me in the heart so deeply that my wolf sank into despair, leaving me defenseless against the virus.
I had no idea how long I’d been lying there when Damon finally rushed in.
His face changed the moment he saw me curled up on the couch.
“Celine?” He touched my forehead and immediately grabbed the thermometer.
102.6 degrees.
“I told you to text me when you got home. Why didn’t you?”
“I dropped off your parents and Vesper, then drove back to the airport to look for you.”
His voice carried barely suppressed anger.
But his hands were gentle.
He got a dry towel and dried my hair.
Then he crouched by the couch and disinfected my blistered heels.
I winced as the alcohol stung the cuts.
Damon stopped immediately.
“Tell me if it hurts.”
“We went too far today.”
“I’ve already contacted the ceremony planner. We’ll set things up again next week.”
“Rest up for the next few days. Leave everything else to me.”
I watched Damon as he applied the medicine.
Suddenly, I remembered another storm. It was during my time at the Pack Academy.
I’d trained intensely for a month for the next day’s competition, and finally collapsed on the training ground that stormy, freezing night.
Damon sensed something was wrong through our mate bond. He was supposed to attend an emergency summit with his father that night, but he rushed to my side instead, took me to the pack hospital, and stayed with me all night.
The next day, Vesper teased him, “She gets a fever from a little rain. Celine isn’t faking it to get your attention, is she?”
Damon’s face turned ice cold.
“She had a fever of 102.6. You think that’s funny?”
“Don’t joke about her health. I won’t tolerate it.”
He tucked the blanket around me and asked softly if I still felt unwell.
Back then, he couldn’t even stand Vesper making a joke at my expense.
Now—he had turned my pain into everyone’s entertainment.
My phone suddenly buzzed.
Vesper had posted a new video.
[She Got Pranked Three Times on Her Mate Ceremony Day—And Fell For Every Single One!]
The video began with me sitting alone in the Pack House, waiting for my escort.
Then came footage of me running into the empty Firefly Forest with my gown, and dashing through the airport with my dress bag.
The final shot was my face, distorted and ugly, when Vesper said she was pregnant with Damon’s pup.
Only then did I realize—they’d started setting up hidden cameras at five in the morning.
My anxiety, fear, and humiliation had all become carefully curated content for Vesper.
Within half an hour, the video had over a hundred thousand likes.
The comments were full of laughter.
[This Luna is so stupid. How does she believe everything?]
[If you can’t take a joke, don’t make fun friends. That face at the end looked like she was dying.]
[The Alpha and Vesper clearly match better. One’s hilarious, the other actually gets her jokes.]
A few minutes later, the company sent me a notification.
Because my name and company had appeared in the video, a major client had requested a change in project lead.
The project I’d spent three years building—was suspended.
I threw my phone at Damon.
“Tell her to delete it!”
Damon’s face darkened as he called Vesper immediately.
Her voice came through the speaker, trembling with tears.
“I didn’t know people would attack Celine.”
“But the video already has sponsors. If I delete it now, I’ll have to pay four hundred thousand dollars in penalties.”
Damon held the phone, silent for a long time.
Finally, he spoke, “Don’t delete it yet. Let me talk to Celine.”
The anger I’d held in all day finally exploded. I couldn’t control my wolf anymore.
“My career is already being affected. What’s there to discuss?”
“I gave up the ceremony, my family, and you. Are you going to give away the only thing I have left—my career—to pave her way too?”
Damon cut me off impatiently.
“You can find another job.”
“You always complain that everyone favors Vesper. Why don’t you ask yourself why everyone likes her and doesn’t want to be around you?”
“Because she’s likeable, and you can never take a joke. You just make a big deal out of every little thing and ruin everyone’s mood.”
Then he replied publicly under the video:
[Celine isn’t upset. We’re all fine. Please don’t blame Vesper.]
One sentence.
With one sentence, he cleared Vesper’s name and dismissed everything she’d done to me.
I slapped his phone out of his hand.
“Get out.”
Damon stared at me in disbelief, his face turning cold.
“Celine, you’re telling me to get out over something this small?”
He grabbed his jacket and stormed toward the door.
But before he left, he set the fever reducer and a glass of warm water in front of me.
“Take your medicine. This will all blow over by tomorrow.”
The door slammed behind him.
He still remembered to take care of my body.
But he didn’t care about the dignity he’d trampled, or how long it would take to piece back together.
He was willing to drive back to the airport in a typhoon to find me.
But he wouldn’t let Vesper delete a viral video built on my pain.
After the bedroom door closed, I pulled my suitcase down from the closet.
I placed my passport and the rescheduled ticket inside.
Damon said tomorrow everything would be over.
I suppose it would be.
He and this seven-year mate bond would both become my past.