My heart slammed against my ribs, each beat as violently as the taxi sped through the winding trail leading back to the place I once called home, the pack house where I had poured every ounce of love, devotion, and loyalty into building a life with my mate, Alpha Aleron Nightbane.
What was once a sanctuary now reeked of betrayal and blood. The sacred stones of the house felt cold underfoot, echoing like tombs. Memories that once sang of passion and unity were now shadows, twisted and venomous.
“Stop it!” I cried out, slamming the heavy oak door behind me. “Please, stop it!”
I clutched my ears, trying to drown out the haunting echoes of her voice, Liezel’s moans still embedded in the walls, in the floorboards, in the very air I breathed. I stumbled into the bathroom, dazed, my vision spinning as my legs gave out beneath me.
Falling to my knees, I retched into the carved stone basin, but nothing came out. My stomach was hollow, aching from both heartbreak and hunger. I hadn’t eaten since yesterday, too frightened to provoke Alpha Aleron’s wrath by being late to his precious party, Liezel’s party. The woman he paraded like a Luna before the entire pack while I stood in the shadows, the invisible wife.
The scent of betrayal burned my nostrils, more acrid than wolfsbane. But then came a flutter. A soft, delicate kick in my womb, one life, then another. The twins. His heirs.
Fury gave way to clarity. I wiped my tears with trembling hands and made my way to the hearth, grabbing anything I could eat just to stay on my feet for them, for my unborn pups who hadn’t yet seen the cruel world of Alphas and hierarchy.
With shaking fingers, I unlocked my phone and dialed the only person I could still trust.
“Draft the divorce papers,” I whispered hoarsely, my voice cracking under the weight of what I’d just done.
There was no hesitation on the other end. “I’ll send them by dawn,” came the steady voice of Alira, pack omega and a formidable she-wolf turned lawyer, my best friend since our childhood days in the Southern Claws. She knew the pain behind my silence better than anyone else.
By the time the sun bathed the pack house in a muted silver light, the divorce papers were delivered, neatly bound and sealed with the crimson wax of the Blood Crescent Court.
It was past noon when the front door creaked open. Alpha Aleron Nightbane entered with a bouquet of white moonlilies in hand, their petals glowing faintly in the light, a peace offering from a mate who thought his crimes could be masked with charm.
I sat alone at the table, calmly eating the stew I had prepared, one of his favorites. Elk meat braised in winter root herbs. He had always demanded meals cooked by my hand, even when my fever burned hotter than a flame. He said my food soothed his wolf. I had endured every ache, every belittlement, just to please him.
He placed the bouquet in front of me, waiting for my reaction. But I simply moved them aside without a word. Silence cracked between us.
“You humiliated me last night, Elara,” he said, his voice sharp, trying to reclaim the dominance of an Alpha. “You ruined the mood, embarrassed me in front of my Beta and council. You owe Liezel and the others an apology—”
I raised my gaze slowly, meeting his stormy eyes with a dead calmness that unnerved him.
“I apologize,” I murmured, my voice laced with ice. “I forgot my place.”
He flinched. Not at the words, but at the void in my voice, the abyss where my love used to be.
I stood, the screech of the chair echoing like a battle cry in the stillness. Limping from an injury he conveniently forgot, I fetched a plate and began laying out the dishes for him. Dishes I’d once made with love, now served like an offering at a funeral.
He hesitated before sitting, shame flickering across his features as he watched me, finally noticing the pain he had caused, the limp, the hollow eyes, the silence that screamed.
“Elara… I was drunk last night,” he tried, his voice softening. “Is your wound healing? You shouldn’t take things so personally. I mean… once you apologize to Liezel, we’ll go back to how things were.”
Back to how things were? Back to being his shadow? His servant? His unloved Luna in title only?
“I know you were raised in the countryside,” he added, condescending as ever. “It’s not your fault you never learned the proper etiquette. I’ve always just wanted what’s best for you.”
I smiled then, but it wasn’t warmth. It was war.
He froze.
“This is all a mistake,” he hissed.
“No, Alpha. The mistake was thinking I was yours to humiliate.”
I longed to cry out, to howl, to scream until the skies split open, but what good would it do in a pack where no one truly listened? Where even my own mate saw me as nothing more than a burden to tame? The lump in my throat was unbearable, a raw ache that clawed at my chest, but I swallowed it down like I always did.
So instead, I smiled.
A hollow, twisted thing stretched across my face, so painfully forced it made my skin itch, like I was wearing someone else’s expression. The mask of a Luna who knew her place. The smile of a mate who pretended not to bleed every time she was pushed aside for another.
Silence was the only armor I had left in this brutal world of wolves and shadows.
My mate coaxed me without an ounce of shame. For years, I endured his biting words, thinking they were just reminders to be better, stronger, more worthy of him as Luna. I believed I had to excel in every way to earn his approval. But now the truth clawed through lies.
Liezel had always held his heart. I was merely a shadow beside her… a placeholder he tolerated but never truly loved.
Then again…
"Say sorry to Liezel, and only then will things go back to how they were."
