Chapter 1Five years of this bullshit. Tonight, I was finally calling it quits.
The door swung open. My kid walked in, hugging something to his chest.
"Mom?" His voice cracked. "Are we really leaving?"
He wrapped his arms around me, pressing his face into my shoulder.
"Grayson gave me his old glove today. He even taught me how to catch." He looked up at me with those big, hopeful eyes. "Maybe he doesn't hate me anymore?"
My heart sank.
Kid had no clue.
Grayson's sudden nice-guy act? That wasn't about Noah. That was because she showed up.
When Noah was three, he ran up to Grayson after training, all excited.
"Daddy! You're so cool! I wanna be strong like you!"
The other guys chuckled.
Grayson's face went cold.
"I'm not your dad. Don't ever call me that."
Noah cried himself to sleep. Grayson didn't give a damn.
When Noah turned four, he bragged to the other kids: "The Alpha's my dad!"
Word got back to Grayson.
He didn't yell. Didn't punish him.
Just stopped talking to Noah. For over a month.
After that, Noah learned to stay quiet. Learned to make himself invisible.
Learned to call his own father by his first name.
Now I pulled him close, trying not to cry.
"Baby... Grayson's waiting for someone. Someone important. We can't stay here."
"But the glove—" Noah clutched it tighter. "Why would he give me this if he doesn't want me?"
How the hell was I supposed to answer that?
That today's kindness had nothing to do with him—it was all about her?
That I was dying? That the healer said I had three days before my wolf gave out completely?
"What if we visit Uncle Marcus?" I smoothed his hair. "You'd love it there."
His lip trembled. "Can we stay three more days? Just three. If nothing changes, we'll go. I just... I need to try. One more time."
Tears blurred my vision.
I nodded.
He didn't know three days was all I had left anyway.
She came back today.
Elena Moreau.
The woman Grayson was supposed to mate five years ago. The one who disappeared right before their ceremony.
When she left, he lost it. Every full moon, he'd shift and howl until dawn.
Then one night, his wolf went feral—
And I, the idiot delivering pack paperwork, knocked on his door at the worst possible time.
That's how I became the secret Luna.
The accidental mate.
The mom of the kid he never wanted.
In three days, none of it will matter anymore.
Chapter 2
That night changed everything.
I became Grayson's ghost Luna. The one everyone knew existed but nobody had seen.
The Shadowcrest Pack whispered about their Alpha's mysterious mate, but they had no clue it was me.
And Noah? He was the secret nobody even knew to look for.
Grayson made damn sure we were never seen together. Not once in five years.
I stared at the papers in my hand, fingers shaking.
Five years of this. Five years of being erased.
Time to end it.
At the Pack Registry, the clerk looked at me with kind eyes.
"Rachel, you know the rules. Once you cut ties, you can't come back for five years. You really doing this?"
I swallowed hard. "Yeah. I'm taking Noah up north. His dad's waiting for us. We've been apart too long."
The clerk nodded. "You've done enough raising that boy alone. You deserve better."
As he stamped the form, I heard whispers from two women behind the counter.
"Wait. She has a mate? So the kid's not..."
The words hit me hard.
I looked down, jaw tight.
For years, they all thought I was just some single mom, knocked up and left behind.
They weren't completely wrong.
I turned to leave and slammed straight into someone.
My papers went flying.
Then I heard it.
That laugh.
Deep. Warm. The kind I hadn't heard in years.
I looked up.
Grayson stood there with Elena Moreau.
Their fingers touched as they walked in together, smiling like they were the only two people alive.
For half a second, his eyes met mine. Cold. Sharp. Empty.
"Grayson..." His name slipped out before I could stop myself.
He froze. His jaw went tight.
Then he looked away.
Of course.
I was the secret. She was the story.
"That's the Alpha's Luna?"
"Damn, she's pretty."
"Still... Elena's a better match."
The voices stabbed into me from all sides.
I bit down hard, tasting blood, forcing the tears back.
I dropped to my knees, picking up the scattered papers.
He could laugh with Elena all he wanted.
Once I was gone, he could finally mark her and give the pack the Luna they deserved.
He didn't ask why I was there.
Didn't even look my way again.
Didn't matter.
In three days, I'd be gone.
Whether he loved me or not wouldn't matter anymore.
Outside, my phone buzzed.
"Mom! I got out early. I'm right by the hall!"
"Okay, baby. Stay there. I'm coming."
I turned the corner.
And stopped.
Noah stood in the courtyard, backpack sliding off one shoulder, staring straight ahead.
I followed his eyes.
Grayson and Elena. Laughing. He was feeding her ice cream, his hand close to her mouth.
They looked perfect together.
Like a poster for the kind of life the pack wanted.
Noah's eyes filled with tears.
Then Grayson looked up and saw him.
For one second, Noah's face lit up.
Grayson's face went cold.
He turned away.
Put his arm around Elena and walked off without a word.
Noah's shoulders went stiff. The ball he'd been holding dropped and rolled away.
He just stood there, shaking, tears running down his face.
I ran to him, pulling him into my arms.
"Sweetheart..."
He looked up at me, voice small but steady.
"Mom... tomorrow's my sports day. Can Grayson come?"
My throat went tight.
He smiled a little, like he already knew the answer.
"It's fine, Mom. I was just asking. He's never had time for us anyway."
His words broke me.
I held him closer, pressing my face into his hair.
And I knew.
My son had already stopped hoping his father would love him.
Chapter 3
Noah walked ahead like nothing happened, but his shoulders kept hitching up. Every few steps, he'd swipe at his face real quick.
Five years old. And he already knew what it felt like when your own father turned his back.
I wanted to scream.
Then my phone rang.
Grayson's name flashed on the screen.
I grabbed it so fast I nearly fumbled.
"Tomorrow. I'll be there."
Click.
He was gone before I could even respond.
I stood there like an idiot, heart hammering in my chest.
Then I practically screamed after Noah.
"Baby! Grayson's coming to your competition!"
He whipped around so fast he almost tripped.
"Wait—seriously? He's actually gonna show up?" His face split into the biggest grin I'd seen in weeks. "I told you, Mom! I told you he wouldn't bail this time!"
The whole walk home, he couldn't shut up.
Held my hand the entire way, chattering about relay races and medals and which game he'd win.
"You think if I get first place, he'll finally tell people I'm his kid? Like, for real this time?"
God, it hurt.
I squeezed his hand. "Of course, sweetheart. You're his one and only."
His smile could've powered the whole pack.
And just for a second, I let myself believe it too.
Next morning, Noah was dressed and waiting before I even woke up.
Hair combed. Shoes tied. Sitting by the window like a little sentinel.
Every car that passed, he'd lean forward, breath fogging the glass.
Minutes crawled by.
Then hours.
The event was about to start.
My phone buzzed.
Not Grayson.
Elena's social media.
She'd posted a picture: Grayson sitting beside some kid at a grand piano, guiding tiny hands across the keys. Both of them smiling like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Caption: "Guess what it's like having the Alpha as your dad? ?✨"
My fingers went numb.
I looked up.
Noah was still glued to that window.
When our eyes met, I watched the hope drain right out of his face.
He turned around slow. Too slow.
"He's not coming, is he, Mom?"
His voice was flat. Empty. Way too grown-up for a five-year-old.
I plastered on a smile that felt like it was cracking my face in half.
"Hey. I'm here, aren't I? Let's go kick some butt."
He nodded once. Took my hand.
We walked in silence.
Neither of us said his name again.
Right as we hit the school entrance, Noah stopped dead.
"Dad!"
I looked up.
Grayson. Standing there in his perfect Alpha stance, all confidence and control.
"DAD!" Noah bolted toward him, arms outstretched, face blazing with joy.
Grayson didn't move.
When Noah crashed into him, wrapping his little arms around Grayson's waist, Grayson just... peeled him off.
Like he was removing a sticker.
"What are you doing?"
Noah blinked. Confused. "Dad, you said—"
Grayson's voice dropped to ice. "I'm not your father."
Noah flinched like he'd been slapped.
He stepped back, voice barely a whisper. "Sorry. I thought you were someone else."
I bit down so hard I felt my tooth crack.
Then another kid came barreling over and shoved Noah aside.
"Get lost! That's MY dad!"
Noah stumbled. "No—he's my uncle—"
"Liar!" The kid jabbed a finger at Noah's chest. "He's MY dad! I'm gonna be Alpha after him!"
Grayson moved then. Put his hand on the boy's head. Ruffled his hair.
"Lucas, easy. He's just confused." His voice was warm. Gentle. Patient.
Everything he'd never been with Noah.
I stared at them.
Grayson. And the kid from Elena's post.
Lucas.
And suddenly, everything clicked.
That smile on Grayson's face—the one I'd been chasing for five years—was right there.
Just not for us.
It never had been.
Because Grayson didn't hate me.
He just loved someone else's family so much that ours didn't even register.
