Chapter 6

Elena.

“All rise.”

I stood beside Priya at the petitioner’s table, my hands folded tight enough to keep them from shaking in front of a room full of strangers deciding the rest of my life.

Ronan sat across the aisle in a suit I’d picked out for him two anniversaries ago, his shoulders curved forward, his eyes lowered like a man carrying grief instead of guilt.

“Mr. Ashford.” The judge peered over her glasses. “Do you consent to this divorce petition?”

“No, Your Honor.” Ronan’s voice cracked, right on cue, and I nearly laughed out loud at how well he still knew how to perform for a room. “I love my mate. I don’t understand what I did to deserve this.”

“That’s a lie,” I whispered to Priya, who pressed a hand briefly against my arm, a silent warning to stay composed.

“Ms. Hart alleges infidelity as grounds,” the judge said, glancing down at the file. “Miss Cole, you were present at the event in question. Can you speak to what happened at the Alpha’s Ball?”

Vivian rose from the gallery, poised in a way that made my skin crawl, her voice smooth and rehearsed. “Alpha Ashford and I were discussing alliance logistics that evening, Your Honor. The photograph was taken out of context. I coordinate several of the pack’s diplomatic events. There was nothing improper about our proximity.”

“She’s lying,” I whispered again, louder this time.

“Ms. Hart, please,” the judge said without looking up.

Priya stood. “Your Honor, the photo alone doesn’t capture months of documented emotional neglect that my client has experienced.”

“Objection, Your Honor, speculation.” Ronan’s attorney, a sharp-suited man I’d never bothered learning the name of, was already on his feet. “There’s no documentation of neglect in this filing, only Ms. Hart’s personal account.”

“Sustained.” The judge folded her hands. “Ms. Hart, without corroborating evidence beyond a single photograph and your own testimony, I don’t see sufficient grounds to grant this petition today.”

My stomach dropped straight through the floor.

“Your Honor, if I could just—”

“The petition is denied,” the judge said, already reaching for the next file on her desk. “You may refile in six months, provided you bring stronger documentation. Court is adjourned.”

I sat frozen in my chair as the room emptied around me, Priya’s hand steady on my shoulder, Nora already halfway out of her seat behind me with fury written across her whole face.

“We’ll appeal,” Priya said quietly. “This isn’t over, Elena.”

“I know.” My voice came out flat, controlled, nothing like the storm building underneath it. “I need air.”

Outside the courthouse, the afternoon sun felt too bright for how the last hour had gone, and I hadn’t even made it down the front steps before Margot appeared at my side like she’d been waiting there the whole time.

“Well.” She tilted her head, satisfaction dripping from every word. “That went about as well as I expected.”

“Get away from me, Margot.”

“You really thought a human judge would side with you over an Alpha? Over a man who stood up there and told the truth about how much he loves you?” She laughed, sharp and cold. “You’ve embarrassed yourself, and worse, you’ve embarrassed him.”

“He embarrassed himself the night he posted that photo.”

Ronan stepped out of the courthouse behind her, straightening his jacket, his eyes finding mine across the steps in a way that used to mean something and now meant nothing at all.

“Elena.” He came closer, lowering his voice like the two of us were still capable of a private conversation. “This didn’t have to happen this way. We could have settled this quietly, at home, like a real mated pair.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” I met his eyes and held them, refusing to let my voice waver even once. “I’ll see you in court in six months. And after that, I’ll see you in front of the Beta council.”

Something flickered across his face, gone before I could name it.

“You don’t understand what you’re threatening to unravel,” he said quietly, closer now than I wanted him.

“I understand exactly what I’m unraveling.” I stepped back, putting distance between us on the courthouse steps. “That’s the whole point.”

Margot’s smile faltered for the first time all afternoon.

Nora appeared at my elbow before either of them could say another word, steering me firmly toward the parking lot, and I let myself be steered, my legs finally shaking now that no one important could see it happen.

“You did great in there,” Nora said once we were out of earshot. “You didn’t back down once.”

“It didn’t matter. We still lost.”

“You lost the first round. That’s not the same as losing the fight.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket, an unfamiliar notification from the pack network rather than a text, the kind of alert I hadn’t seen since I stopped checking it out of habit weeks ago.

I opened it despite myself, some old instinct warning me before I’d even read a single word.

A single post, already spreading fast, tagged with my name and Ronan’s both, the caption asking a question I never expected anyone in Hollowmere to ask about me in public.

I stopped walking in the middle of the parking lot, Nora’s hand tightening around my arm as she leaned in to read it over my shoulder.

“Elena,” she said slowly. “Who would post something like this?”

I didn’t answer her. I was already scrolling through the comments, watching my own name get torn apart by strangers who had never once met me, and somewhere underneath the shock, a colder thought was already forming.

Whoever wrote this knew things about me that only someone close to the pack could possibly know.