Betrayed luna: daughter stolen by her mate Chapter 01

I lost my daughter, Bella. She was barely a month old.

My mate Dante told me my weak Omega body killed her.

Until I found the messages on Dante’s phone. Messages to her. His first love, Emily.

My daughter wasn’t dead.

Emily couldn’t have pups. So Dante stole my newborn and gave Bella to her.

I screamed at him. I begged. I dropped to my knees and clawed at his pant legs.

He wouldn’t say a word about where Emily had taken her.

Broken by grief and betrayal, I jumped.

Before I hit the ground, I stared at the moon and made a vow.

If I get another chance, I will never let my daughter leave my side.

Then I opened my eyes. And I was back at the beginning.

Dante knelt beside the bed, head bowed. The cradle next to me was already empty.

I stared at that empty cradle for a long, long time.

The tiny white blanket was still wrinkled. It still smelled like Bella. Like milk.

I reached out. My fingers brushed the cold fabric. A shudder ran through me.

Empty.

Empty again.

My Bella was gone again.

“Layla, we’re still young. We’ll have more chances. Your body’s too weak. Even if we brought the pup back, she wouldn’t live long. Next time, once you’re healed, we’ll try again. We’ll have another. He can be the heir to the Silvermoon Pack. What do you think?”

Dante knelt there, eyes full of desperate hope, trying to justify what he’d done.

I used every ounce of strength I had and slapped him across the face.

All the hate from my previous life was behind that hit.

Dante was the sole heir to the Silvermoon Pack. I knew how badly his parents wanted a strong pup to groom as the next leader.

When I gave birth to Bella, the entire Silvermoon Pack had stood outside the delivery room, waiting. The moment they realized the pup was weak, her breathing shallow, they all left. Dante’s parents walked out first.

“Dante. Do you even understand? Bella is my life.”

I grabbed him by the collar and screamed.

“I know. But Emily’s situation—you know how it is. She can never have pups of her own. You saw how much she loves Bella. She’ll take care of her just as well as you would. You can rest easy.”

Rest easy?

You wanted me to be okay with handing my daughter over to a stranger?

I shut my eyes in despair.

Moon Goddess, why did you send me back to this moment? Was my devotion not enough?

Dante had used a low dose of wolfsbane to keep me sedated for three days. I couldn’t get out of bed. I couldn’t shift.

Three days was more than enough for Emily to take Bella somewhere I’d never find her.

My mother died when I was young. My father took a new mate when I was eight. I knew exactly what it felt like to be an outsider. How could I trust anyone else to raise my daughter?

No one could replace me. No one.

But Dante loved Emily. In my previous life, I threatened to kill myself, and he still refused to tell me where she’d gone. What chance did I have this time?

Maybe he sensed how cold I’d become. Dante shadowed my every step, too afraid to leave me alone.

I ignored everything he did. The food he brought. The apologies he repeated like a broken record.

I went to the kitchen to cook. He followed.

“Layla, you’re still recovering. Sit down. I’ll make you something.”

He tried to take the pan from my hands. I pulled away.

“Layla, I know you’re angry. Just let it out. Hit me. Scream at me. Anything. Just don’t shut me out like this.”

I shot him a strange look. In my previous life, I’d smashed everything in the pack house. He called me insane. Now I was calm, and that was a problem too.

“I really am sorry, Layla. I swear I’ll listen to you from now on. Let’s just pretend Bella never happened, okay? Focus on getting better. We’ll try for another pup next year. Mom and Dad will be so happy.”

The pan slipped from my hands and clattered to the floor. Dante jumped.

“Pretend I never had Bella?”

I lifted my shirt. The stretch marks and scars from childbirth covered my stomach.

“Can you erase these marks from my body?”

No. You couldn’t. Not ever.

I walked past him without another word and went back to the bedroom. Half the room was still filled with baby things. The sight hit me like a fist to the chest.

Dante followed, still murmuring apologies, still playing the guilty husband. But he never once mentioned where Bella was.

All the rage and grief I’d been holding in came pouring out.

I rushed at him, grabbed his perfectly pressed shirt, and screamed.

“Dante. I’m asking you one last time. Where is Emily?”