My Aged Romance

Happy birthday to my beautiful self.

I pray the Moon Goddess lets my name echo in praise through every clan.

dawn spills through my window, pale and blushing. Excitedly, I jump off my bed and tear the shutters open like a girl half my age. I’m thirty-five today—yet my heart races as if I’m fifteen again.

I hurry down the stairs, skirts gathered in my hands, already smiling.

Heart light with anticipation. For seventeen years, my mate has never failed me. Never missed a birthday. Never let the day pass without reminding the world who their Luna is.

“Happy birthday to you, beautiful Luna!”

The words reach me before the hall does.

I slow, schooling my expression into surprise, and step into the open space.

“Happy birthday, my Luna,” they chorus.

They’re all here—maids, guards, elders—but something is wrong. The hall gleams with morning light, too bright, and yet the air feels heavy. Thick. My wolf stirs uneasily beneath my skin, fur bristling, sensing a fracture before my mind can name it.

My smile slowly falters.

Then the sobs begin.

Grandma Agnes stumbles into me, her arms locking around my waist. Her body trembles. A tear drop onto my bare foot, cold as winter water.

“What is it?” I pull back, panic clawing up my spine. “Where is my Alpha?”

“He’s fine,” Thalira says, tears streaking her cheeks. “He just… didn’t come.”

My chest tightens. My wolf whines. Her answer and their expressions confuses me.

“If he’s fine, then why are you crying?” My voice shakes. “Why is my—”

The truth slams into me.

For the first time in seventeen years, I wake to nothing. No gifts. No boxes. No whispered devotion. No hands warm at my back.

“No,” I whisper. “I need to see him. Maybe he’s sick.”

“He’s not in the mansion,” someone murmurs.

My feet stop moving.

“Then where is he?” My pulse roars. “Did he travel? Someone speak!”

Grandma Agnes wipes her face, eyes red. “He never traveled,” she says quietly. “He is at Bugthorpe Castle.”

Bugthorpe Castle! Why there?

That place is reserved for memory and mourning. For his father’s ghost. No one sleeps there.

The reality settles in my mind And suddenly I hate my reflection in Grandma’s eyes.

Grandma Agnes nods once, sharply, as if bracing herself.

I bend and gather my skirt off my legs and break into a run. Cold fear grips my lungs, and suddenly Bugthorpe Castle feels too far to reach. Being fated to an older mate, I always knew death might one day sever us—but not like this. Not this early. Not without warning.

Bugthorpe Castle looms ahead, quiet and peaceful. The closer I get, the harder it is to breathe. I try to call his name, but my voice dissolves in my throat, drowned by rising tears.

I finally step on Bugthorpe castle , grabbing a pillar to steady myself enough to reach the entrance. With weakness in my wrists, I shove the doors open.

Empty. No gathering.

No. No, no, no.

Has he already been taken to the dead’s chamber?

I tear through the rooms downstairs , flinging doors wide. But Nothing. Every footstep echoes back at me—too loud, too sharp—the sound of my own panic chasing me through the halls.

Maybe it’s happening upstairs. I stumble as I hurry up the stairs, my knee crashing into marble, pain lancing through my right thigh.

My king, I scream silently, my wolf howling with me.

At the top, I reach his father’s room and push the door open.

Shock hits me like a physical blow.

Fear evaporates.

My mate is on the bed.

Hip to hip with another woman, about to slide himself into her.

Her legs are locked around his waist, her body molded to his as if she belongs there. As if I do not.

He turns his head and sees me.

“What is this?” I ask. My voice sounds distant. Broken.

“Leave, Lilith,” he says coldly. “Shut the door.”

He proceeds to bury himself into her, and she moans, shutting her eyes.

Something shatters in my chest. My wolf collapses inward, wounded, whimpering.

“King,” I whisper, stepping closer. “I catch you hurting me like this—and this is your reaction?”

“Don’t,” he snaps.

My Alpha, I understand you hold the most dominance. You are not perfect—but get up. Let’s go home. I promise I will forget this day. In fact, it never happened, I murmur.

A few minutes of silence pass. He pulls away from her, moving toward me.

The woman straightens, smug and unashamed.

“No need for you to leave,” I say, pressing my hand to my chest. “I’ve already seen your face.”

But she turns anyway, offering her back to him.

My mate kneels at the edge of the bed behind her.

This—this is when the betrayal fully sinks its claws into me.

He grips himself and thrusts into her.

Agony tears through my body ,fresh . I collapse, my wolf screaming as the bond thrashes—shredding, familiar. So this was it. He has been cheating on me for a while.

“King—why?” I cry. “The bond—please—”

“Stop,” I beg, dragging myself upright. “I’m hurting.”

“Go, Lilith,” he snaps. “Or stay and watch.”

I brace myself against the wall, shaking.

“Tell me what I did wrong,” I whisper. “Is this why you always left me alone at Harrington House? Calling it travel?”

He stills. For one heartbeat, hope flickers.

I reach for him.

He shoves me back.

“my Alpha… you’re still inside me,” the woman gasps. “Continue.”

Rage surges through me. I bolt to my feet and grab her hair, my wolf ready to rip it from her skull.

“I command you as Alpha—stop,” he growls, still buried inside her.

My hand releases instantly. The bond forces obedience.

He resumes without hesitation.

She moans in pleasure.

I moan in agony.

Sounds meant for me fill the room—stolen, twisted, defiled.

When he finally pulls away, spent, the bond loosens enough for me to breathe.

I stagger out, drenched in sweat, lungs burning, running down the stairs back to Harrington House.

Just at the entrance, I see it.

My belongings. Scattered at the door.

“He asked us to pack them out last night,” Thalira whispers, reaching for my hands as she sobs silently.

He treats me like this? No explanation! No crime! No reason!

I try to run back to him for answers, but they kneel around me, begging.

“What law have I broken?” I ask. “Tell me.”

“You’ve broken none,” Grandma Agnes says.

“Then put my things back into the house,” I command, my voice breaking with fury.

“Yes, my Luna.” They obey.

Then I see him.

He walks toward us, guards flanking him.

“What have I done to you, Alpha King?” I ask before he can even reach me.

He ignores and passes me.

“Kindly answer me at least!” I scream after him.

He stops, then turns slowly.

“Lilith,” he calls calmly.

“Yes, Alpha,” I answer with a nod.

“You’re too old for me,” he spits, eyes gleaming with pity.

The world tilts. His words echo uselessly in my ears. What is this wrinkled wolf even saying?

I stare at the guards.

Their faces turn away. Grandma closes in and clamps her hand on my arm, eyes thick with concern.

Am I… old?

He bolts inside, and I follow, my pulse hammering between disbelief and dread. My hands tremble as the door shuts behind me, sealing us in our room that suddenly feels foreign .

“How… how are you sixty‑two and yet… desert me because I’m thirty‑five?” I ask pressing my palm against the lock, voice tight with a mixture of hurt and fury.

“The same way it was possible for you to meet me at forty‑five and single,” he says, not sparing me even the smallest flicker of attention, his hands already rifling through the wardrobe.

“Please… don’t betray me like this,” I whisper, voice cracking. “Five years… five years, and you’ve denied me. Denied us. We haven’t had sex in five years . —”

Naïve me—I told myself age had dulled his desire. That time had softened him.

I thought you were too old for desire. Too old to touch me, too old to want me. But after today… after seeing you with her Hard. Hungry. Alive.… how can you be so cruel?