The Luna You Betrayed Is No Longer Yours

len'

ut without l

er go from the corner of my eye. T

s nothing more than irritation. Pure irrit

tly what it is

om-crouched low in my mind, pacing with an agitation I rarely felt fr

im back. I knew he had not abandoned his ridiculous l

ronged

hallenged my authority

sitting in that

oug

. He never did when he believed I had made a mistake-and

rella and the child were unharmed. Grandmama Maelis lowered herself

d the room and s

gestion. From my gentle-natured mother, it was as close to

two very different things. And before you dismiss that out of hand..." She paused, choosing her words with care.

fortable. That is the problem. Three years of running a household, and

e is nothing more than posturing. She is not going anywhere. What Alph

-Rowena had no better option. Her mother

aid divorce kept surfacing in my mind. S

er distress. "Do not trouble yourself on my account. I can leave. I told

ked a

softening her features. I

ons that would have broken most people. She had made decisions under pressure that had saved lives-includ

with mine. "You are carrying my c

ella had never been one to cry easily-pregnancy had made her more sensi

and a reassu

id, the words coming out with

nderstand. She can

ing and Rowena's suite was

d it only o

pation tangled between us. I had meant it when I promised her mother

Rowena had never

waiting at home. I wanted to end it quickly, to re

because her mother wished it. I could have overlooked all of that. But when I learned she still carried a torch for the man who had reje

urned victorious. Because she still had enough sense

she had nothing. She d

de's voice dripped with mock

not

a mate bond, nothing so clear or definitive, but something I had never found the right words for. It

my hand

owena's voice from

ney. Someone outside the pack.

d nursed for years

d the d

ager, aren't

handmaidens flinched at the weight of it bu

e only sign of weakness was her fingers, white-knuckle

ce. Velvet, her maid, imm

bling but her words bold, "you sh

o enter my wife's chambers in my own pack?" I kept my eyes on

did not scold her maid. She rose

you here, A

er truly wanted me home. And now this talk of divorce-it was nothing but an ex

appeared, and the more I turned it o

eryone out. I wish to s

-waiting-for her permission. Fury coiled in my gut. Three year

spoke. "Grace. Velvet. Le

d them stop just outside the door. A

Kaelen." Rowena moved to the tabl

mily. She saved my life and the lives of my soldiers.

of tea. I braced

cold, thin thing. "D

d. "You.

her head. "She carries your child. Did you

my chest eased. "I am

ling, but her eyes had gone flat. "I expect the same cou

eated the words slowly, as if t

sed my hand around her throat. Not enough

you had nothing. And t

r sides, but her voice came out tight, strained. "What am I supposed to do?

. Just enough to feel her pulse hammer against my p

stumbling back a step with her hand pressed to

raw and shaken. "You want to make me a la

breath, forcing he

iage. By any measure that matters, we are not husband and wif

consum

like a spark ca

wrapped around her waist, pulling her against me. She gasped,

voice low. "Is that what this is rea

across her cheeks, the way her breath had

yes w

ssed