Erasing the Luna

Genevieve

The keystrokes echoed in the large, quiet space of the Luna’s office. It was a long, highly clinical afternoon for Tessa as she was systematically stripped of everything that had securely belonged to her for the past eight years. She sat at the heavy wooden desk, staring at the glowing computer monitor. Beta Vaughn stood closely by her side, a thick clipboard resting against his hip as he methodically documented the erasure of her digital footprint.

She typed in the final sequence, severing her biometric access to the pack's extensive financial and security systems. She opened the administrative portal for the Luna’s Library—a quiet sanctuary she had actually enjoyed visiting over the years—and wiped her personal login. She keyed in a fresh, generic phrase. NewLuna@1. It was easy to remember. She scribbled the exact password onto a yellow sticky note and slid it across the polished wood toward Vaughn. He took it with a slight nod, making a precise mark on his paperwork.

It didn’t surprise her in the slightest that Maddox had cowardly left her exit processing to his Beta. They never spent any real time together anyway, unless it strictly involved official Luna duties and public appearances. She logically assumed the Alpha was currently upstairs, busy having sex and claiming his new Goddess-Gifted mate. She had specifically told him to go mark and mate the woman. She figured Maddox was likely pinning his new mate to the large mattress right now, his cock driving deep inside her wet cunt as they fucked, preparing to bite down on her neck to finalize the bond. For all Tessa knew, he was already walking her all over the pack, showing off the territory to his true mate. Tessa wasn't keeping track of him. She never had.

She turned her attention to the large printer humming in the corner of the office. She gathered the warm sheets of paper, neatly stacking the massive lists of newborn pups. These were the pups born while Maddox had been away from the territory, attending the mating ball where he met his true mate. She would have compiled this list anyway. She would have waited until tomorrow after he initiated all the new wolves into his pack, strolled into his office, and placed the paperwork directly in his tray for him to review when he was ready. Now, it was just another part of the handover.

Ever the diligent physician, Tessa pulled a bright yellow marker from the desk drawer. She meticulously highlighted the upcoming due dates for pregnant she-wolves. She flipped through the thick medical rosters, her eyes scanning the familiar names. She marked the mothers she suspected were going to have difficult labors. These were women with a tragic history of losing pups prior to her arrival within the Obsidian Moon, women who had continued to experience high-risk pregnancies even under her strict medical care.

She needed to ensure the pack's remaining medics could maintain the near-perfect maternal survival rates she had single-handedly established since she took over the wards. Before Tessa had been brought to this pack, there was a devastating record of one death in every seven or eight deliveries. Whether it was the pup or the mother, lives were constantly lost. She had always thought that was an alarmingly high mortality rate; she had never seen such devastation in her home pack, not even as a first-year medical student. Gamma Miriam had come from another pack that Maddox had violently taken over and absorbed. Miriam had told her that back in her old territory, the maternal death rate had been practically non-existent when she was growing up. But when their Luna vanished, the death rate skyrocketed to one in every ten deliveries, and it never improved.

Though Tessa was certain Miriam already knew the current medical information, she still highlighted the files herself. Maddox needed to be aware of exactly when the Gamma was needed to stay within the pack borders. If the Alpha required his fighters off-territory, Gamma Declan could be left behind to help ease the physical distress of the pregnant she-wolves. Declan, along with Miriam, should be able to do what Tessa did and make sure no lives were lost.

Tessa finished the final file and capped the yellow marker. Vaughn led her out of the office and down to the main security terminal. Tessa placed her hand flat against the glass scanner. With a harsh beep, her handprint was officially revoked from the packhouse lockdown protocols.

They walked outside, heading straight for the hospital. The afternoon air was cool, biting through her thin shirt, but Tessa ignored it. They entered the sterile corridors and walked to the highly restricted medication rooms. The system administrator deleted her fingerprint access from the hospital’s electronic locks. The heavy steel door sealed shut with a solid click, permanently barring her from the life-saving inventory she had managed for nearly a decade.

Vaughn followed her into her private medical office to help her pack up. Tessa pulled out several heavy cardboard boxes and began emptying her shelves. She methodically stacked her advanced medical textbooks, thick study materials, and peer-reviewed journals into the boxes.

Vaughn leaned against the doorframe, looking at the towering pile of heavy books. He smiled kindly at her. "You read a lot. I’ll go and bring the Luna’s car around, put it all in there so we don’t have to lug all those boxes up to the packhouse. You go do a round with your patients. I know you want to. I'll meet you back at the Packhouse for the last few things. Maddox will likely want to do that himself."

Tessa stopped what she was doing. She dropped a heavy anatomy textbook into the cardboard box and frowned right at him, completely confused. "Vaughn, I don’t have a car."

Vaughn chuckled, shaking his head. "You do actually, you’ve always had one. You just never used it."

Her frown deepened, her brow pulling together. "I never knew that."

"It was also upgraded and replaced when we all got new cars two years ago," Vaughn casually explained, crossing his arms. "Maddox was waiting for you to ask him about getting you one, so he could give it to you himself. I don’t believe you ever did ask. So, it sits there unused but maintained."

The startling revelation echoed loudly in her mind as Vaughn left the office to fetch the vehicle. She stared at the empty doorway. She owned a car. She had owned an upgraded car for years. The sheer absurdity of it perfectly highlighted her deep-seated isolation and the bizarre communication breakdown within the pack.

She had never asked Maddox for absolutely anything. When she first arrived, he had handed her the official pack credit card. She strictly used it to purchase necessary medical equipment for the hospital. She bought study aids, new scrubs for the staff, and top-of-the-line surgical tools whenever the ward needed updating. She meticulously forwarded every single invoice directly to Maddox so he could see she wasn't spending pack money on things for herself. She never spent a single dime on her own comfort. She had advised him only once that the other hospitals in his conglomerate probably needed the same medical upgrades. He had looked at her, nodded, and told her he would see to it. Soon after, she received emails of thanks for the equipment; Maddox had bought them and sent them care of the Luna.

Although she liked working in this pack, she knew she didn't actually belong here. The money was not hers to be used on herself.

Her mind flashed back to her early days in the pack. She had approached Gamma Declan in the hallway, asking if she could use the funds to buy basic jeans and a new pair of shoes. Declan had just stared at her in bewildered, shocked silence. He shook his head and walked off without a word. Misinterpreting his disbelief as a strict denial of funds, Tessa quietly took matters into her own hands.

She sneaked down to the packhouse laundry room and scavenged through the donation bins, hunting for clothes the other members didn’t want anymore. It was no different from what she and her grandmother used to do back in the old pack. She found faded, ill-fitting jeans and shirts that weren't as tattered as the ones she had arrived in.

She was carrying her scavenged pile of clothes when Vaughn caught her. He frowned deeply, staring at the second-hand fabric in her arms, and asked what she was doing. When she told him, Vaughn huffed at her angrily.

"Tessa, you are the Luna, buy what you need!" Vaughn had scolded her, his voice sharp. "That is what the pack card is for, it has unlimited funds on it. Don’t wear second-hand clothing. Maddox will not like it. Fill your wardrobe with new clothes."

She hadn't gone on a shopping spree after that. But shortly after that humiliating incident, a high-end personal shopper arrived directly at her private suite. The woman aggressively measured her and outfitted her at the Alpha's direct command. Tessa was told the Alpha preferred her to wear those specific garments, so she wore what he had sent.

Tessa shook the memory away and walked out of her office to do her final, emotional rounds. She checked in on all the pups and the she-wolves that were still recovering in the hospital beds. She checked their vitals and said quiet goodbyes to the women she had treated for years. She detached herself from the melancholic pain, locking her emotions away behind her clinical professionalism.

After discharging the last patient, Tessa stepped outside the hospital into the cool air. Parked directly outside the front doors was a pristine, gleaming white Mercedes-Benz SUV.

Tessa walked slowly along the side of the luxury vehicle out of sheer curiosity. It was beautiful. It had dark tinted windows and a little silver plaque that read Edition 1 just behind the front wheel. It looked brand new. Peering through the front window, she saw a flawless luxury leather interior, fully kitted out with the best dashboard technology available.

She returned to her empty medical office to find a heavy set of keys waiting on her desk. The silver logo was Mercedes-Benz. She picked them up, the jagged metal biting into her palm. She supposed the luxury vehicle was indeed her promised Luna’s car.

Yet, staring down at the keys, she had absolutely no idea why she ever needed one. A heavy, melancholic detachment washed over her, mixing with the jarring realization of her own captivity.

In the entire eight years she had lived at the Obsidian Moon pack, she had never once stepped a single foot past its geographical borders. Not once. She walked everywhere within the territory, or ran at full wolf speed if there was an emergency. She had never asked for a car.

Having been essentially sold to Maddox like property, she was trapped. Maddox had never once taken her outside of the territory on his trips. Because of that, she had simply presumed she wasn't legally allowed to leave the cage. She stared at the keys, the weight of her own psychological imprisonment crushing her lungs.