The wife he gave away

Untitled EpisodeChapter12

Pieces that tefused to fit

Sleep refused to come that night.

I had dismissed the guards. Finished the reports waiting on my desk. Signed documents that required my approval. Attended meetings that should have occupied my thoughts.

None of it worked.

My office remained quiet except for the occasional crackle from the fireplace burning near the far wall. Outside, the packhouse had settled into silence. Most people were asleep by now.

I wasn't.

The problem wasn't unusual.

Over the years, sleepless nights had become familiar companions. Leadership carried responsibilities that most people never saw. Every decision affected someone. Every mistake carried consequences. Every threat had to be identified before it became a disaster.

Usually, that was enough to keep me awake.

Tonight, however, my thoughts kept returning somewhere else.

To a woman standing in the woods.

To tears she had tried desperately to hide.

To a betrayal she hadn't seen coming.

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed a hand across my face.

The memory irritated me. Not because I enjoyed thinking about Seraphina. Because I understood exactly what she was going through.

Betrayal had a way of stripping people down to their most vulnerable parts. It forced them to question everything. Their judgment. Their memories. Their instincts. Even their own worth.

I knew that better than most.

The difference was that Seraphina was only beginning that journey. I had been walking it for years.

A knock interrupted my thoughts.

I looked up. "Enter."

The door opened immediately.

One of my trusted warriors stepped inside. Rowan had served beside me for almost a decade. He wasn't the strongest warrior in the pack, nor the fastest, but he possessed something far more valuable.

He noticed things. People underestimated him constantly. That was why I trusted him.

"You sent for me, Alpha?"

I nodded. "Any updates?"

Rowan crossed the room and handed me a small folder. "Nothing significant regarding the border patrols."

I accepted it. "And the internal investigations?"

A brief hesitation appeared on his face.

Interesting.

"What is it?"

"There is one thing."

I immediately set the folder down. "Go on."

Rowan folded his arms. "It may be nothing."

In my experience, people only said that when something was definitely not nothing.

"What is it?"

His gaze remained steady. "Beta Dominic's mate visited the records office today."

My expression didn't change. Inside, however, my attention sharpened immediately.

"Seraphina?"

"Yes."

Interesting, very interesting.

"What was she looking for?"

Rowan shook his head. "The records keeper wouldn't say."

That answer didn't surprise me. Pack records were confidential. They existed for a reason. Still, the information was enough to make me think.

Why would Seraphina suddenly visit the records office?

The timing felt suspicious, especially after what she'd witnessed in the woods.

Perhaps she was already investigating.

The possibility earned my respect.

Most people spent weeks drowning in heartbreak before taking action.

Seraphina apparently preferred answers.

I understood that.

Sometimes answers hurt. But uncertainty always hurts more.

"Anything else?"

Rowan considered the question. Then shook his head. “No, Alpha."

I dismissed him a few minutes later.

The moment the door closed behind him, my attention shifted toward the pile of reports sitting untouched on my desk.

I stared at them, then ignored them.

The records office bothered me… not because Seraphina had gone there… but because of what it suggested.

People didn't visit the records office unless they were looking for something specific. And considering recent events, I doubted her search had anything to do with ordinary paperwork.

My gaze drifted toward the window. The moon hung above the territory, casting silver light across the grounds below.

For several moments, I remained completely still. Thinking. Analyzing. Searching for connections. Valeria. Dominic. The affair. The strange conversations in the woods. The confidence both of them had displayed.

None of it felt random. An affair alone didn't explain everything. There was something else, something beneath the surface.

I simply hadn't identified it yet.

A familiar frustration settled into my chest. I hated incomplete puzzles, especially dangerous ones.

The next morning arrived far too quickly. By noon, I found myself standing outside Elias’ classroom. Children's voices echoed through the building. Teachers moved through hallways carrying stacks of papers. The scent of books and cleaning supplies filled the air.

Normally, I avoided the academy during school hours. Today, circumstances forced me here.

Or at least that was the excuse I gave myself.

The truth was simpler. I wanted to see my son.

As soon as the classroom door opened, several children rushed outside immediately. Elias emerged a few moments later. The second he saw me, surprise flashed across his face.

"Father?"

I almost smiled… almost.

"Disappointed?"

His expression brightened slightly. "No."

The answer came quickly, too quickly. That alone made the trip worthwhile. We walked together through the academy grounds.

For a while, neither of us spoke. The silence wasn't uncomfortable. Elias had never been a particularly talkative child. After losing his mother, he'd become even quieter.

Many people mistook his silence for weakness. But they were wrong. The boy simply preferred listening… a trait he definitely hadn't inherited from me.

"How are your classes?"

The question earned a shrug.

"They're fine," he just said.

A classic Elias response.

I waited.

Eventually, he continued. "History is boring."

"There it is."

A faint smile appeared, very faint, but enough.

We continued walking. Then something unexpected happened.

Elias brought up Seraphina. It wasn't deliberate.. it was simply as part of a story.

"Miss Seraphina came to the academy last week."

My attention shifted toward him. "Did she?"

He nodded.

One shoulder lifted casually. "Someone forgot my lunch."

I frowned. "And?"

"She brought me food."

The answer sounded simple and ordinary, yet something about it held my attention.

"That was kind of her."

Elias looked down at the ground. Then nodded. "Yeah."

The conversation should have ended there. Instead, he continued. "She remembered I don't like tomatoes."

For some reason, that detail struck me. It wasn't important. It was incredibly insignificant, the kind of thing most people forgot.

Apparently Seraphina hadn't.

I found myself thinking about that long after the conversation moved on. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, more examples surfaced… small things… tiny things… the kind of details people rarely noticed.

Elias mentioned that she remembered birthdays. That she learned everyone's names. That she always checked on children who looked lonely.

That she somehow noticed when something was wrong even before they said anything.

The more he spoke, the more I found myself comparing her to someone else.

Not Elowen. Never Elowen. Valeria.

The comparison happened naturally, uninvited.

Valeria always seemed to know exactly how people expected a Luna to behave. She performed the role flawlessly. The smiles. The kindness. The generosity…

Everything appeared perfect. Yet somehow, it always felt rehearsed, calculated and intentional.

Seraphina was different.

There was nothing polished about her kindness. Nothing strategic. Nothing calculated.

She simply did things because they needed to be done.

The realization lingered with me long after I left the academy.

That evening, another report arrived. This one from an investigator I'd assigned months ago.

At first glance, it appeared ordinary. Routine. Administrative.

Then I noticed a date. My eyes narrowed. I read it again. Then again.

The date corresponded to one of Valeria's early visits to our territory… long before our marriage… long before she officially became Luna.

A second date followed. Then a third.

My attention sharpened immediately.

Something wasn't right.

I flipped through the remaining pages. Travel logs. Visitor permissions. Temporary registrations.

Nothing unusual individually.

Together, however, they created a pattern. And patterns mattered very much.

My gaze moved carefully across the documents… examining every detail, every name, every signature, every recorded purpose for every visit.

Then I reached the final page, the page that made my entire body go still. Because beneath Valeria's name, appearing more than once, was another name I recognized immediately.

Dominic.

For several long moments, I simply stared at the report. The silence inside my office suddenly felt enormous. Then I slowly lowered the papers, my jaw tightening.

And for the first time that day, I spoke aloud.

"What are you hiding, Valeria?”