The night Alpha James was supposed to stand beside me before our entire pack, he kissed another woman in her wedding dress.
Chapter 2
The ultrasound showed a tiny flicker of life.
The doctor spoke gently. She explained my options, asked whether I felt pressured, and reminded me that the decision had to be mine.
I cried quietly.
Not because I wanted James back.
I cried because once, long ago, I had imagined our child growing up hearing stories about loyalty and love. I had imagined James becoming the man he promised my dying mother he would be.
But a child could not repair a man’s character.
And I refused to remain chained to cruelty because I was afraid to let go.
When it was over, grief settled into me differently than heartbreak had. It was quieter, deeper, and entirely private. I checked into a small hotel outside Asheville and spent several days recovering.
James never asked where I was.
My father did.
His calls turned ugly once he realized I had not returned to the pack house.
“If you don’t go back and make this right, you are no daughter of mine.”
“I’m never going back to James.”
“Your mother would be ashamed.”
That hurt.
But I had finally learned that pain did not automatically mean someone was right.
“Don’t use Mom to control me.”
I ended the call and blocked him.
Then I blocked Lily.
Before doing that, I saved everything she had sent me.
Photos. Messages. Videos. Boasts about James spending nights at her house. Screenshots of jewelry. Posts where pack members congratulated her on being the “real Luna.”
For years, I had protected James from his own scandals.
Not anymore.
By the time I returned to headquarters, the story had exploded across supernatural media.
ALPHA ABANDONS LUNA AT CEREMONY FOR MISTRESS.
Videos of James carrying Lily out of the ballroom were everywhere. Business partners were questioning contracts. Two neighboring packs had delayed treaty renewals.
James called me furious.
“Fix this.”
I almost smiled.
“Excuse me?”
“You handle public relations. Handle it.”
“These are Alpha responsibilities.”
“You’ve always taken care of this.”
“Yes,” I said. “I did.”
The silence that followed was almost satisfying.
That evening he waited outside headquarters.
Before I could walk past him, he caught my arm.
“What is wrong with you lately?”
I pulled free. “Don’t touch me.”
“Come on, Emmy. We’re going to dinner.”
He opened his car door like the previous week had never happened. On the passenger seat sat a velvet box containing a diamond butterfly brooch with the price tag still attached.
Six figures.
Once, gifts from James had felt like proof that he cared after our fights.
Now I saw them for what they were.
Payment.
“Give it to Lily.”
His jaw tightened. “Why are you still doing this?”
“I told you. I’m leaving.”
“You’re thirty years old, Emily. Stop acting like a teenager.”
I looked at him.
“You abandoned me at our ceremony.”
“She was sick.”
“You kissed her.”
“She was emotional.”
“You’ve been sleeping with her.”
He looked away.
That answer was enough.
I remembered the night I had overheard him talking to friends during a pack gathering.
I don’t love Emily anymore. Her mother died saving me and her father serves my family. Giving her the Luna title is repayment. Lily is who I actually want.
I had stood outside that room while they laughed.
And I had stayed.
That was the part I struggled hardest to forgive—not him.
Myself.
“Sign the separation papers,” I said.
James slammed his fist against the steering wheel.
“So that’s it? Eight years of chasing me and suddenly you’re too good for this family?”
“I wasn’t chasing you. I was trying to save something you had already killed.”
His phone rang.
Lily’s name glowed across the dashboard.
Her terrified voice filled the car.
“Jamie, my power went out. I’m scared. I feel like somebody’s outside.”
I reached for the door.
James stared at me.
“What?”
“Go rescue her.”
“You’re not going to argue?”
“No.”
“You’re not jealous?”
“No.”
He actually looked offended.
In the past, I had cried whenever he ran to Lily. I had begged him to stay, which he later used as proof that I was “controlling.”
Now I stepped onto the curb.
He caught my wrist.
“Emmy, wait. I’ll check on her and come back.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
His eyes searched mine.
“I told you. You’ll always be Luna.”
“And I told you. I don’t want it.”
For the first time, fear flickered across his face.
Not love.
Fear.
He was beginning to understand that the woman he had trained to endure everything had finally learned how to leave.
The next morning, I discovered he had given Lily my office.
She was sitting behind my desk with her feet tucked beneath her, pretending to review council reports she could barely understand.
James had stripped away most of my authority overnight.
He expected me to panic.
Instead, I went to my smaller temporary office and continued working.
Two days later, he cornered me.
“There’s a regional assembly Monday,” he said. “You’re going.”
“Am I?”
“You’ll tell the press Lily was never my mistress. Tell them we were together before you and that you pressured me into mating you after getting pregnant.”
For several seconds, I simply stared at him.
He wanted me to destroy my own reputation to save his.
To save hers.
Something inside me became very still.
“All right.”
James blinked. “What?”
“I’ll speak Monday.”
Relief flooded his face.
“I knew you’d come to your senses.”
“I have.”
He smiled.
That weekend, while James celebrated what he believed was my surrender, I opened my laptop.
I gathered every photograph.
Every message.
Every security recording I had legally archived while serving as Luna.
Then I called Silas Lincoln, a senior investigator with the Appalachian High Council.
He had always treated me professionally during treaty negotiations. He knew how much administrative work I had done for James’s pack.
“Emily,” he said after listening carefully, “are you certain?”
“Yes.”
“What happens Monday cannot be undone.”
“I know.”
“And James?”
I looked at the rain beginning outside my hotel window.
“He’s been counting on me to protect him from consequences.”
I closed the final folder.
“Monday, I stop.”
