The human part of me, frantic and flawed, lunged to pull her out. My hands hooked at the hem of her dress and hauled, the wolf fought alongside my fingers, each muscle screaming.
I blinked, startled, the scent of smoke and wolf-musk sharp in the air. Before I could steady myself, a blur of movement rushed from behind, shoving me to the ground. My knees scraped against the stone floor as the figure swept Ashley into his arms, cradling her as though she were some fragile pup.
The ache in my chest was a wound torn wide open, and it burned even hotter when Alex turned, eyes hard, voice edged with Alpha-command.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Sofia? Ashley came here to greet you, and you struck her without reason?”
His glare cut deeper than claws. There was no warmth left, no bond-thread of affection. He looked at me not as his wife, not even as his Luna, but as a problem.
I pressed my lips tight, the wolf beneath my skin pacing, growling. “She taunted me about my mother, called me useless. Do you expect me to just bow down when you’ve never given me a real explanation? You told me the healers failed her operation, and nothing more. That’s all I ever got. Lies and silence.”
For the briefest moment, I saw something flicker in his eyes, panic, guilt, the scent of fear, but he smothered it quickly. “We’ve been over this. The healers did all they could. Her condition was too critical. Why are you acting as if I’m hiding something from you?”
Because you do!
I wanted to scream, but the wolf inside knew better.
I knew he was hiding something from me. I could feel it in my bones, in the restless way my wolf snarled whenever his words touched my ears. The truth was buried deep, but I wasn’t about to waste my revenge on the wrong night.
His voice lashed again, harsh and cold. “Whatever the past, there is no excuse for harming Ashley. She has shown nothing but kindness. Now, I want you to apologize.”
I hadn’t yet found my words before Ashley leaned into his chest, her eyes glistening with mock sorrow. “It’s alright, Alex. Perhaps she still resents me after Tobias broke his bond with her and chose me as his mate. Maybe I deserved the slap. Don’t make it harder for her. This will be my way of making amends.”
The performance was flawless. They turned their backs on me as if I were the enemy, not the woman Alpha Alex had marked under a full moon.
Halfway down the hall, Ashley whispered, just loud enough for my sharp hearing to catch: “If she despises me so much, perhaps we should stop seeing her. I don’t want to make things difficult for you, my Alpha.”
My fists clenched until my claws pricked my palms. That was it, the last straw. The bond-thread between me and Alpha Alex strained, then snapped like dry twine.
Later, his message came through the pack-link, a thread of false sweetness.
I’m sorry, love. I know it hurt when I asked you to apologize, but Ashley is leading the Thornclaw Alliance, and we can’t risk the pack’s contracts. Once it’s settled, I’ll make it up to you. I promised you a gift, didn’t I? Don’t be upset.
I ignored him. He didn’t love me. I was just a placeholder, a Luna in name, nothing more. Ashley was the one he wanted.
And that’s reason enough for me to pack my bags and leave the pack house, the cold air of the human hotel was biting but welcoming. Solitude was better than drowning in betrayal.
The phone rang. A young pack-runner’s voice quivered on the other end. “Luna, where are you? You had an investor’s council today.”
But that wasn’t what froze me. It was Alpha Alex’s voice in the background, commanding. “Summon the healers. Ashley’s wound must be treated immediately.”
A scratch. That’s all she had, a faint red mark where my palm had met her skin. Yet he would spend the pack’s treasury, call upon rare healers, just for her. I laughed, the sound hollow and wild inside my chest.
When Alpha Alex finally called me, he didn’t realize I had answered at first. His voice rolled over instructions to his Beta.
And I heard everything…
“Revise the contract. I don’t care if the pack bleeds tens of millions. If Ashley wants it, it will be done.”
The Beta protested. “Alpha, this will weaken us against rival packs—”
“Do it.” His word was law. And for Ashley, he would tear down his kingdom.
When he finally spoke to me, his tone softened. “Love? You missed the council. Are you alright?”
“I’m not feeling well.”
“Oh. Then rest. I’ll cancel everything and come home soon.”
But he didn’t come. He never did.
That night, I watched a livestream on the human web. At first, it was meaningless chatter until the camera tilted, and there they were. Alpha Alex. Ashley. He stood beside her like her mate, adjusting fabric on her shoulder, smiling down at her as though she had already carried his mark.
The wolf in me howled, a sound so deep it shook my bones.
This was the time.
I called my lawyer. The divorce papers and the secrets of five years would be delivered to his Beta. Then I called the Shadow Agency. They would help craft the illusion of my death.
Later, through the pack’s bond-thread, chaos rippled. His secretary rushed into his office, voice high, “Alpha, Sofia discovered the truth about her mother’s death five years ago. She’s demanding a divorce.”
From the hidden scrying screen, I saw his face, shock, fear, fury. Then another wolf ran in, pale and trembling. “Alpha! Word has spread through the pack-link that Sofia ended her life. She couldn’t bear what you did to her mother!”
And with that, the lie was born.
The Alpha who betrayed his Luna would now bear the weight of her ghost.
And the wolf inside me smiled.
Tonight I will slip into the moonlit wild and vanish like breath on glass, when I return, Alpha Alex’s pack will learn what it means to bleed for their betrayals...
