I stared at Alpha Kale with hollow, broken eyes, the ache of betrayal clawing at my soul more viciously than any physical wound. For a brief moment, something flickered in his gaze, remorse, perhaps, as he released his grip on me with a sharp breath.
“I’m sorry, Alina, it’s just-” his words, meant to be a balm, were swiftly interrupted by Talia’s faint whimper.
“Daddy… Mommy is sick,” came Marcus, Talia’s son’s small voice, piercing the tension like a fang to the throat.
In the blink of an eye, Kale turned his back on me and rushed to her side, scooping Talia into his arms as though I were nothing more than dust in the air. He pressed his hand to her forehead, whispering low and tender words meant only for her ears.
“I think it’s the stench of vomit, Kale,” Talia moaned weakly, her voice laced with artificial fragility. “I feel so lightheaded… I can’t even eat.”
“Clean that up,” Alpha Kale snarled over his shoulder, his Alpha command laced with dominance as he walked away, the boy toddling after them like a pup following his sire.
My mother-in-law stared at me with disdain, let out a loud hiss, and turned on her heel, the click of her heels echoing like venomous punctuation.
Suppressing the urge to shift from rage, I crouched down and began to clean the mess, my vomit, the broken bowl, the spilled seafood, all evidence of my humiliation. The weight of being Luna meant nothing here. Not when the Alpha had chosen another she-wolf to protect.
When I finished, I ascended the stone staircase to the room that had once been our sanctuary, the same one I had shared with Kale for two years, never knowing I had mated with a monster wearing a man’s face.
Kale, Alpha of the Hallowfang Pack. He had come into my life on a night filled with storm and sorrow, the same night Talia abandoned him at the altar. I’d found him at the bridge, ready to leap, his wolf barely restrained beneath his trembling skin. I had saved him. I had offered him warmth and body and heart, believing I was his salvation.
He was my boss then. For two years, I worked by his side, mistaking his kindness for something more. When I felt like I had no one, Kale was there; he paid for everything, held me as I wept, promising I’d never be alone.
Then came the storm. The night we gave in. What I once thought was fate. We made love, and by morning, he wept, calling it a mistake, blaming himself for my grief. He begged to fix it. So we married in secret, bound by wolf law, hidden from the world.
His pack never approved. His mother had loathed me from the beginning, spitting curses about my orphaned lineage and lack of title. She called me a breeder, nothing more. And now, even that purpose has been taken from me.
I didn’t know when Talia returned or when Kale’s heart began to drift, but I knew without doubt that she was back, and I was already forgotten.
He had become her creature. Her puppet. And I? I was this pack's Luna stripped of her moon.
I retrieved the resignation letter I had written weeks before my due date, a quiet dream of leaving the corporate world behind to raise my pup in peace. That dream had died with my child. Now all I needed was Kale’s signature on that letter and the divorce papers, which were soon to arrive.
I packed the documents with steady hands and moved to strip the walls of every framed photograph, every smile that now rang false. One by one, I tossed them into a box, along with all the lavish gifts he had given over the years, jewels, furs, enchanted trinkets, hollow tokens of a love that had never been real.
A knock came at the door.
Kale entered, his eyes sweeping over the near-empty room, then resting on the box at my feet.
“Why is the room bare? And why are you packing the gifts I gave you?” he asked, frowning.
“I don’t like them anymore,” I replied coolly. “I’m giving them away.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Is this because I raised my voice earlier? I apologized. I’ll buy you more. But you need to try to get along with Talia, she’s my brother’s widow.”
I gave a dry laugh, no longer surprised by the depths of his deceit. “You never told me you had a brother.”
Kale hesitated, then let out a fake chuckle. “He was the black sheep of the family. Now that he’s gone, I’m responsible for them. But Talia… she means nothing to me now. I have you.”
I stared at him long and hard. I wanted to believe those words, needed them to be true, but I knew the scent of a lie when it brushed against my wolf senses.
“Fine,” I said at last. “But I don’t want her living here.”
“She is going to live here,” Kale said sharply. “She has nowhere else to go. I’ll send her up so you two can talk.”
He leaned in to kiss me, but I turned my face, letting his lips land on my cheek. He didn’t notice, or didn’t care, and left without another word.
Moments later, the door opened again. Talia entered, looking around with open smugness.
“Perfect. Clear the space. I’ll be moving in soon,” she announced with a smirk.
I nodded. “You can have the whole house. I won’t be here much longer.”
Talia’s grin widened. “Oh, darling, so you do know. Kale told me something earlier. He said your pup died for a good cause. That Marcus is doing better now. You should be proud, your child gave mine a future.”
The words sliced through my chest like silver. I sank onto the bed, staring at her without blinking. “If my pain gives you joy, then take it. Feast on it.”
Talia’s amusement faltered. She scowled. “You’re not angry? What’s wrong with you? Your mate betrayed you, killed your child, left you barren, because I asked him to!”
I looked at her coldly. “Congratulations. He’s yours. Enjoy the leash you’ve got around his neck.”
Talia began pacing the room in frustration, her composure slipping. Then, in a flash, she grabbed my arm, her claws digging in slightly.
“You ungrateful bitch. I’ll show you what happens when you spoil my fun.”
“Let me go,” I growled, trying to yank free.
She refused to release me and instead dragged me toward the top of the staircase. Just as I twisted my wrist loose, she screamed, loud and theatrical.
“Luna Alina, no! Please!”
And then she tumbled down the stairs.
The thudding of her body echoed through the manor, followed by a chorus of hurried footsteps. Kale and his mother appeared at the bottom, finding Talia crumpled and bleeding.
Kale’s eyes burned with fury, glowing red beneath the surface.
“What the fuck have you done?” He demanded. His voice was trembling with rage as he stared up at me, no longer as a husband, but as an Alpha ready to unleash hell.
