vengeful luna

chapter 2

Delphine pov

My wolf was already so angry, I couldn’t think properly. Jeffrey kept looking between Isabelle and me, his face moving in this weird zigzag motion like he was trying to figure out what had just happened. Like he literally didn’t know he was f*****g my sister.

“How could you, Isabelle?” I said, my voice cracking with pain. The evidence was right there, clear as day. My eyes filled with tears, like I was about to break. “Isabelle, how could you?” I repeated, louder this time, shouting, but she just scratched the back of her neck, hiding her face like she was too ashamed to look at me.

Jeffrey turned to me, his voice pleading, “Del, please, calm down.”

I could barely get the words out. “Jeffrey...” I started, but the rest wouldn’t come. Jeffrey moved closer, his left hand holding his shirt up to cover himself.

“Del, please, I can explain,” he said, stepping closer again.

“Don’t touch me, Jeff!” I snapped, taking a step back. The disgust I felt made me sick to my stomach.

“I never meant for this to happen. It’s not what you think, Del, I swear...”

I cut him off, shouting, “Jeff, does this make any sense to you? Because it’s making no sense to me!” My voice was shaking with rage, with heartbreak.

Isabelle, from behind him, spoke up. “Jeffrey, there’s no need to deny it anymore. She’s caught us. I think we should just—”

“Shut up! Just shut your mouth!” Jeffrey shouted at her, his face red with anger.

I couldn’t stay there anymore. “I can’t be here.” I turned to leave, but Jeffrey stepped in front of me, trying to stop me from going.

“Don’t, Jeffrey. Don’t,” I said, my voice cold and empty. I couldn’t look at him without feeling sick. My mate. My fated mate, my first love, cheating on me with my sister. And to top it off, they did it on my bed.

“You know this isn’t all my fault, right?” Jeffrey’s voice was suddenly defensive. “You never let me get close to you. You wanted to wait until after the mating ceremony and... you know I’m a...” He trailed off.

“So it’s my fault now?” I let out a bitter laugh, the kind that only comes from pure pain. “Our mating ceremony is in a few weeks, Jeff. A few weeks!”

“Del, please...” Jeffrey was begging now, pulling on a pair of black shorts like it made any difference at all.

From behind him, Isabelle spoke again. “Delphine, I know this is bad. It was a mistake. It won’t happen again, we promise. But, Del, you need to understand, it’s not as deep as you think. We’re adults and—”

Before she could finish, I was already in front of her. My hand swung through the air, and the slap I gave her was so hard her head snapped to the side. I didn’t even bother to look at Jeffrey. If I had, he’d have gotten one too.

Isabelle’s face was frozen in shock. One hand on her cheek, the other gripping the blanket around her body. Her eyes wide as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened. But the shock didn’t last.

Her face twisted with anger, and before I knew it, she slapped me back—hard. The slap was so powerful it knocked me off my feet and I fell to the floor. My glasses were shoved against my nose painfully, and I could taste blood in my mouth. “How dare you?” she spat.

She raised her hand to hit me again, but Jeffrey grabbed her arm. “Are you crazy?!” he yelled at her, yanking her away.

I didn’t wait for anything else. I got up, brushed myself off, and left without looking back.

Jeffrey ran outside after me, his voice calling my name, "Delphine, Delphine!" but I didn’t stop. My legs were moving faster than usual, fueled by the anger of my wolf, Ash, who was boiling inside me. How could he? How? she growled, but I had no answer for her.

His voice grew closer behind me, but I refused to turn around. I didn’t want to see him, didn’t want to talk to him. He finally grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop, but I still wouldn’t look at him. I turned my face to the side, avoiding his eyes.

“Del, look at me. Please,” he begged, his voice raw. He grabbed my face, trying to turn it towards him, but I resisted. I didn’t want to see him. I couldn’t. But after a moment, I finally gave in and turned to face him.

The words that left my mouth cut through whatever he was about to say. “I’m cancelling the mating ceremony.”

His eyes widened. “Del, you can’t do that.”

I stared at him, disbelief dripping from my voice. “What do you mean I can’t do that? How could you, Jeffrey? I trusted you.” My voice cracked as tears filled my eyes. “I would never have done this to you. Not in a million years.”

My voice shook, but Jeffrey interrupted with a shout, “Del!” He gripped my hand so tightly it started to hurt. His eyes had changed, his wolf dangerously close to the surface. “Listen to me, please,” he pleaded, his voice frantic.

“Jeffrey, you’re hurting me,” I whispered. His grip loosened, and I pulled my hand away.

I took a deep breath, the tears blurring my vision. “Please, Jeffrey, just reject me.”

“Don’t do this,” he said, his voice breaking. “Do you even know what you’re asking? Please, think about it.”

“There’s nothing to think about, Jeff.” I shook my head, feeling my heart breaking all over again. “Reject me. I can’t love you anymore, not after this. If you truly love me, you’ll do it.”

Tears were streaming down my face, mixing with the snot I wiped from my nose. I was a mess, broken in every possible way. Jeffrey’s face twisted in pain, but finally, he nodded.

“I, Jeffrey Martins of Silvercrest, the second son of the Alpha of Silvercrest Pack, reject you, Delphine James, as my fated mate.”

The moment the words left his lips, the pain hit me like a knife to the chest. It was unbearable, a sharp, deep ache that made my knees buckle. My wolf, Ash, did her best to shield me from the full brunt of it, but even she couldn’t stop all of it. We were both weak, crumbling under the pain of rejection.

As I stood there, struggling to breathe, one thought kept circling in my mind—why didn’t I feel anything when he was cheating on me? Everyone knows when your mate sleeps with someone else, you’re supposed to feel it. The pain. The betrayal. But I didn’t.

Everything was crashing down around me, a heavy weight pressing on my chest. This was a red flag, a warning telling me it was time to leave. To walk away from everything and go to California.