Chapter 3
"I'll take you home first, Lila. We're done here," Kael said, his voice soft.
Lila asked, "What about Elara?"
Kael's tone was casual. "Let her cool off. She'll come around. She always does."
He put an arm around Lila's shoulders and walked past Elara without a single glance.
Elara clutched her stomach. Her heart hurt worse than any physical wound.
In one hour, she'd learned the truth: he didn't love her anymore.
Just then, the head acolyte yelled, "Oh no! Luna Elara, you're bleeding."
He ran after Kael's retreating figure. "Alpha Kael, Elara is bleeding. Hurry back."
Elara glanced down at the blood pooling between her legs. She didn't cry. Instead, a twisted smile crept onto her lips.
She'd been terrified of what to do with the cub once she ended their bond. Now, Kael killed it himself.
'Perfect,' she thought.
*****
Elara stayed in the hospital for three days, and there wasn't a single call or text from Kael.
As she packed her things to leave, she couldn't help but think of him.
Once, even a tiny scratch would've sent Kael into a panic.
The first time she'd tried to make him birthday stew and cut her finger, he'd carried her to the hospital at a run, calling every doctor in the territory, terrified she'd scar.
When her morning sickness had been brutal, he'd canceled every Alpha meeting to hold her through the night.
When she'd worried about stretch marks, he'd rubbed scented oil into her stomach every evening and whispered, "We'll only have one cub. I can't stand to see you hurt."
That love, the kind every wolf envied, was gone.
The ache in her belly tightened into a sharp pang in her chest.
She walked alone to the Thorne estate, found Clara Thorne, Kael's mother, and told her she wished to step down as Luna.
Clara smirked, "Finally came to your senses and ready to leave my son?"
Elara nodded. "Yeah."
"Good. You were never strong enough to be his Luna." Clara's eyes flicked to her flat stomach. "You can leave, but the cub stays with the pack."
"The cub is gone," Elara said flatly. "Kael killed it."
Ignoring Clara's shocked face, she stood to leave. "But the proper procedures have to be followed. Help me turn the rejection papers in to the pack elders.
"I don't need any messy complications before the pack papers are finalized. You possess those rare ancestral herbs, don't you? One that blocks Kael from detecting I've severed our bond entirely."
Clara narrowed her eyes. "I'll have the herbs ready as soon as possible."
As Elara walked out, she heard Clara on the phone. "Line up the Luna candidates I told you about. Set a meeting for Kael.
"Yeah, he's rejecting Elara. She never deserved him anyway. Men get tired of broken mates eventually."
After Elara left the mansion, her phone rang. It was Kael.
"Come to the downtown hotel penthouse. We need to talk," he said.
Elara didn't hesitate. "I'm busy."
"I know you're still upset about the other night," Kael said. "Lila wants to apologize. Give her a chance."
Elara's chest ached. "She wants to apologize, so I have to forgive her? You're still taking her side?"
"Are you ignoring me now? Don't forget who keeps the Voss Pack alive. Disobey me, and I cut their support tonight. Your father's little pack will fall," Kael warned.
Swallowing her pride and pain, Elara went.
She pushed open the penthouse door. It was pitch black. She reached for the light switch.
A hand wrapped around her wrist. A familiar scent closed in around her.
"You came." Kael pulled her to the window table and handed her a glass of water. "Tired? Have some."
Elara took a sip, barely paying attention. "Why did you call me here?"
"You'll see soon enough," Kael replied, his voice turning cold.
Dizziness crashed over Elara. The world spun.
When she woke up, noise blared around her. Her head throbbed, her body weak, heavy, exposed.
"Kael." She forced herself up, only to realize she was naked in bed, and a strange beta male lay next to her, also undressed.
Elara screamed, her whole body trembling in terror.
Just as she tried to jump off the bed, a crowd burst through the door. It was her and Kael's friends.
"It's really Elara. She's cheating on the Alpha."
"Kael treated you so well. How could you do this to him? This is unbelievable!"
"You're pregnant and you're still acting like a rogue? No wonder Kael ended up with Lila. Turns out you were the one who cheated first. Elara, we all misjudged you."
"No, I don't know what happened." Elara shook her head frantically, tears streaming down her face.
She wanted to explain, but with everyone staring and the whole scene so twisted, she couldn't even find the words.
Finally, Kael appeared, his arm wrapped around Lila.
He stood over Elara, staring down with empty, cold eyes.