Chapter 2

My stomach sank.

Virella walked past me as though I were nothing more than another piece of furniture in the Alpha Manor.

"To be honest," she said with a careless shrug, "this place was always too large for only one Luna."

I turned to Garrick.

"Tell me she's lying."

He said nothing.

That silence shattered something inside me.

I didn't argue when Garrick announced that Virella would be staying in the manor.

"She's carrying the future heir of the Ironhowl Pack," he said, as though that explained everything. "The pack healers need to monitor her closely. It's safer if she remains here."

Safer.

As if my opinion still mattered.

He claimed she had no family nearby and that the manor offered the best protection for both her and the pup. I simply nodded.

What else could I do?

Tell the entire pack that my mate had manipulated me for years and stolen my chance to become a mother?

No.

I remained silent.

During the following days, I kept my distance. Virella spent most of her time in the sunroom overlooking the training grounds, reading old pup-rearing scrolls and sipping herbal tonics prepared by the healers. Garrick had arranged chambers for her directly across from ours.

Far too close.

At first, I convinced myself I was imagining things. Perhaps grief and anger were clouding my judgment.

But the feeling wouldn't leave.

Virella wasn't here because of the pup.

She was here because of Garrick.

He hovered around her constantly. Every evening, they sat together before the fireplace while I watched from across the room. If she complained of discomfort, he was already at her side. If she mentioned a craving, he ordered the kitchen to prepare it immediately.

And somehow, every task became mine.

"Lyanna, could you bring Virella her evening tonic?"

"Lyanna, the healers recommended a different blend of herbs. See that she gets it."

"Lyanna, Virella needs fresh blankets."

Each request felt less like a favor and more like an order.

I was the Luna of the pack.

Yet somehow I had become a servant in my own home.

The worst part was that Garrick made no effort to hide it.

Then I found the portrait.

I had gone into his study searching for sealing wax when I discovered a small sketch tucked among old documents.

Garrick and Virella.

Younger.

Smiling.

His arm resting comfortably around her shoulders.

I stared at it for a long time.

That evening, I placed the portrait before him.

"How long?" I asked quietly.

Garrick barely looked surprised.

"It was years ago."

"You knew her before me?"

He sighed.

"It was nothing serious."

"I thought she was Roy's friend."

"So she was." He crossed his arms. "You're reading too much into this."

Again.

As though every concern I had was simply another foolish suspicion.

I walked away before I said something I would regret.

That night, sleep refused to come.

Garrick never joined me.

Through the mate bond, I sensed only a faint awareness from him before he shut the connection down entirely.

An important meeting, he had said.

Pack business.

I believed him.

Just as I always had.

Hours passed.

The manor had long since fallen silent when I finally rose from bed and stepped into the corridor.

As I passed Virella's chambers, I noticed light spilling beneath the door.

The door itself was slightly ajar.

I wasn't trying to eavesdrop.

I wasn't searching for proof.

But the moment I glanced inside, my world stopped.

Garrick was there.

Not in a council meeting.

Not handling pack affairs.

He sat beside Virella on her bed, his hand resting on her swollen stomach as they laughed together.

The intimacy between them was unmistakable.

The look in his eyes was one I hadn't seen directed at me in years.

I remained frozen outside the doorway as their voices drifted into the corridor.

Virella smiled and leaned into him.

"When are you finally going to tell her?"

Garrick's expression hardened.

"Soon."

"You've been saying that for years."

Years.

The word struck me harder than any physical blow.

Years.

Not months.

Not a mistake.

Years.

Suddenly everything made sense.

The unexplained absences.

The emergency pack business.

The trips to neighboring territories.

The conversations that ended whenever I entered a room.

The distance growing between us while I desperately tried to save our marriage.

Three years.

For three of the four years we had been mated, Garrick had been building another life.

A life that never included me.

I wasn't his Luna.

I wasn't his future.

I was merely a mask he wore before the pack while his true heart belonged to someone else.