The wife he gave away

Untitled EpisodeChapter14

The same trail

Some lies were so carefully maintained that they stopped looking like lies.

They became history.

They became facts people accepted without question.

They became stories repeated so often that nobody thought to challenge them anymore.

Those were the dangerous lies. Not the impulsive ones. Not the desperate ones. The patient ones… the kind that sat quietly for years while everyone built their lives around them.

I stared at the documents spread across my desk and felt an old, familiar unease settling into my chest. The stack wasn't particularly large. In fact, most people would've looked at it and seen nothing unusual. A handful of visitor registrations. Travel approvals. Entry permits. Records of movements in and out of pack territory. Ordinary paperwork. The kind of paperwork people signed every day without thinking about it twice.

I had learned long ago that ordinary paperwork often hid extraordinary secrets.

The fire crackled softly in the corner of the office while evening shadows stretched across the floor. Outside the window, the pack continued its daily routine. Warriors changed shifts. Merchants closed shops. Families returned home for dinner. Life moved forward exactly as it always did.

Meanwhile, my attention remained fixed on one name.

Valeria.

The same name appeared again. And again. And again. Each entry by itself seemed harmless.

Together, they created a pattern.

Patterns interested me, especially when someone had spent years trying to hide them.

I leaned back in my chair and slowly rubbed my jaw while studying the dates for what felt like the hundredth time. The timing bothered me more than anything else. These visits occurred years before she became Luna. Years before she supposedly established meaningful connections within my territory. Years before anyone would've expected her presence to matter.

Yet she kept coming back, over and over.

The persistence felt deliberate. People rarely returned to the same place repeatedly unless they wanted something.

The question was simple.

What?

A knock sounded against the door.

I barely looked up. "Come in."

The door opened immediately.

Rowan stepped inside carrying another folder beneath his arm. His expression remained neutral, but after years of working together, I had learned how to recognize subtle changes in his demeanor. There was something different about him tonight, something cautious.

Interesting.

"More reports?" I asked while closing the file in front of me.

Rowan nodded before crossing the room and placing the folder carefully on my desk. His movements were controlled, but I noticed the slight hesitation before he released the papers.

"Some additional information surfaced," he explained in a measured tone while folding his hands behind his back.

My attention sharpened immediately.

"Useful information?"

He exhaled quietly. "Possibly, Alpha."

That answer alone was enough to hold my interest.

I opened the folder.

Several pages waited inside.

Most of them contained names. Dates. Locations. Routine information.

When I reached the final report, my eyes narrowed. "What is this?"

Rowan shifted his weight slightly before answering. His voice remained calm, but there was a trace of curiosity beneath it, as though even he wasn't sure what to make of the information.

"A statement from a retired border guard."

I looked up. "Retired?"

"Three years now."

I returned my attention to the report. The statement wasn't lengthy, yet, every line pulled me deeper.

The old guard described seeing Valeria during one of her earlier visits to the territory. According to him, she wasn't alone. Dominic had been there too.

That wasn't surprising anymore.nWhat surprised me was everything else. My gaze moved slowly across the page. Once. Then twice. Then a third time.

The words remained exactly the same.

The retired guard remembered them arguing. Not flirting. Not laughing.

Arguing… that was the word.

The distinction mattered very much.

I sat forward in my chair. "When did he give this statement?"

Rowan answered immediately. "This afternoon."

"And he seemed certain?"

Rowan nodded.

"He remembered because the argument was unusual."

My fingers tightened slightly against the edge of the paper.

Unusual.

That wasn't a word experienced guards used casually.

"What exactly did he hear?"

Rowan pointed toward a section of the report.

I read it again. The witness couldn't hear everything… only fragments, raised voices, sharp words, a disagreement…

Then one sentence… one incomplete sentence.

The old guard remembered Valeria shouting something about a child.

I stared at the line.

A child.

Nothing more. No name. No explanation… just a child.

My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin.

The feeling wasn't fear; it was instinct… the same instinct that had protected me countless times before.

Something important was buried here… something dangerous.

I simply couldn't see it yet.

For several long moments, neither Rowan nor I spoke. The silence stretched across the room while my thoughts worked through possibilities. Most of them led nowhere. Children existed everywhere. The statement could mean almost anything.

And yet, it bothered me. A lot.

Eventually I closed the folder. "Continue investigating."

Rowan nodded. "Specifically?"

I considered the question carefully. "Everything. Leave no stone unturned."

A faint smile appeared on Rowan's face. He knew that answer meant I wasn't satisfied. Not even close. Without another word, he gathered the remaining documents and left.

The office felt strangely quiet after his departure. I remained seated for several minutes, thinking, analyzing and connecting pieces.

Unfortunately, the pieces refused to fit.

The frustration followed me long after I left the office.

The next morning, I found myself at Elias' academy AGAIN.

The realization annoyed me. Of course, it was not because I disliked seeing my son. It was the fact that I'd visited twice in one week.

That was unusual even for me. Still, I made no effort to turn around.

The academy grounds buzzed with activity as students moved between classes. Teachers supervised lessons. Young wolves laughed and argued beneath the afternoon sun.

For a moment, I simply watched. Then I spotted Elias.

He sat alone beneath a large tree near the courtyard, reading a book while several other students played nearby. The sight was familiar enough to make something tighten in my chest.

He looked so much like his mother sometimes. More than he realized. More than I could comfortably admit.

When he noticed me approaching, surprise flashed briefly across his face.

"Father?"

The moment I sat beside him, the book immediately disappeared into his bag, as though he had been caught doing something embarrassing.

I almost smiled… almost.

"Am I interrupting?," I asked calmly.

Elias shook his head quickly before answering in a quiet voice. "No. You are my father, and you will always have my attention."

The answer came with the same honesty he always carried.

One of the few traits I never questioned.

For several minutes, we talked about ordinary things. School. Lessons. Friends. Nothing particularly important.

Then, once again, Seraphina entered the conversation… not because I mentioned her, but because Elias did.

The change happened naturally, the way meaningful things often did.

"Miss Seraphina visited again yesterday."

My attention shifted toward him. "Did she?"

Elias nodded while looking toward the training field in the distance.

"One of the younger students got hurt."

I waited.

Elias continued speaking. His voice remained calm, but I noticed something unusual… Warmth.

"Everyone panicked."

He paused briefly.

"She didn't."

The statement lingered between us.

Then he added something else. "She stayed with him until his parents arrived."

A strange image formed in my mind… Seraphina sitting beside an injured child, remaining calm while everyone else lost theirs.

The image felt... accurate, far more accurate than it should have.

Elias looked down at his hands, then spoke again. "She always notices."

I frowned slightly. “Notices what?"

His answer came quietly. "Everything. Every single thing, father."

The words stayed with me long after our conversation ended. That was exactly what worried me.

People who noticed everything eventually discovered things they weren't supposed to discover. And if my instincts were correct, Seraphina was already discovering them.

That evening, I returned to the report. The witness statement. The argument. The mention of a child. I read it again beneath the dim light of my office. And again. And again.

The answer remained just beyond reach, like a shadow disappearing every time I turned toward it.

Then my eyes settled on one line I had nearly ignored before.

A minor detail, almost insignificant.

The retired guard mentioned that after the argument ended, Dominic had looked terrified.

I went completely still… because people didn't look terrified during ordinary arguments. They looked terrified when something valuable was at risk.

As my gaze slowly lowered to the final page, the room suddenly felt colder, much colder.

And for the first time since this investigation began, I wasn't sure if I really wanted answers to all the questions forming in my head…

It's time for a chat with Seraphina.

Surely, she knows too much for a beta.