Bound To The Alpha She Left

Chapter 6

Elena’s POV.

As we walked down the grand estate’s service corridor toward the transport vehicles, the hushed voices of two housemaids echoed from a nearby cleaning supplies closet. They hadn’t seen me approaching.

“—up all night, I swear!” one maid whispered loudly. “Luna Biana threw a fit after dinner, screaming that the new doctor tried to poison her. Then she faked a fainting spell!”

“I heard her accuse the Doctor of strangling her. Now, which is it? Think Luna Biana is making it up, you know, because of the whole Second Luna situation?” the other asked eagerly. “Did Alpha Raymond stay with Luna Biana?”

“Are you kidding? He spent the whole night locked in his executive office downstairs reviewing pack treaties just to get away from her tantrums. He didn’t even go back to his own bedroom. Poor Alpha Raymond is likely stressed he’d have to deal with her!”

I slowed my pace slightly, the realization settling dreadfully in my chest.

So, I was the reason for their marital strife. Raymond dragging me back here purely for the sake of his ego—or some twisted need for revenge—had brought disorder into his home. I almost scoffed at the poetic justice of it all. He was suffering the consequences of his own selfish choices, stuck dealing with a melodramatic wife while exiled to his office for the night.

I didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy for Biana, nor did I feel sorry for Raymond. They were both exhausting, and frankly, they deserved each other.

Yet, a stubborn, unwanted ache stirred in my chest. Every time Raymond was near me, my pulse betrayed me, pulling at threads of feelings I’d tried for five years to bury. I hated the hold he still had over me. I needed a distraction, something to keep my mind off the unbearable magnetic pull of my ex-mate.

Work was my only salvation.

When I walked through the glass doors of the Moon Pack Central Hospital, there was already tension in the air. Whispers rippled through the lobby as nurses and interns snuck glances at the newly appointed ‘Second Luna.’

I ignored them all and headed straight into the chief conference room for my morning rounds, already knowing my way around.

Raymond had sent over a hospital map, my schedule, and a folder of orientation materials earlier. I’d memorized every detail down to the floor plan, ensuring I wouldn’t have to ask a single soul for help.

At the head of the table in the conference room sat Dr. Vance. He was the former Head Physician, a pompous, middle-aged man known in the media to be one of Biana’s staunch political allies.

“Ah, Dr. Elena,” Vance exclaimed, his tone laced with condescension as I took a seat. “We were just discussing patient management. Given that your degree comes from a… human institution, I’ve assigned you to handle routine intake files today. We wouldn’t want you overwhelmed by complex shifter physiology.”

A few junior doctors smirked into their charts.

I didn’t get angry at the obvious attempt to undermine me. Instead, I pulled the high-ranking elder’s medical file from the center of the table and opened it.

“Elder Thomas,” I read aloud, stepping up to the digital whiteboard displaying the elder’s scans. “Sixty-two years old. Presenting with chronic wolf-form lethargy, joint inflammation, and elevated internal aura spikes. Dr. Vance, you’ve had him on high-dose wolfsbane suppressants for three months, correct?”

Vance puffed out his chest. “Standard protocol for autoimmune aura rejection.”

“It’s a misdiagnosis,” I stated plainly, capping my marker with a sharp click.

Vance’s face turned bright red. “Excuse me?!”

“If you had paid attention to his human bloodwork alongside his shifter bio-metrics,” I carried on, walking up to him and tapping the screen, “you would have realized he isn’t rejecting his wolf. He is suffering from severe silver-line toxicity caused by a degraded joint implant installed ten years ago. Your ‘standard protocol’ of wolfsbane is slowly poisoning his liver.”

The room went dead silent. The junior doctors stared at the screen in shock as the data aligned perfectly with my diagnosis.

Vance opened his mouth to argue, but no sound came out.

“Flush his system, cancel the suppressants, and prep him for surgical removal of the implant this afternoon,” I ordered the head nurse, who immediately scrambled to write down my notes.

I turned back to Vance, giving him a cool, unimpressed look. “Any other routine intake files you need me to correct, Dr. Vance?”

Nobody said a word. In ten minutes, I had stripped the former Head Physician of his arrogance and proven to every staff member in the room that I wasn’t a trophy, a mistress, or a political bargaining chip.

By late afternoon, I was finishing my notes in my new office when someone knocked on the door.

An official pack herald entered, carrying a large, velvet-wrapped garment box. Behind him stood two guards holding a polished wooden casing.

I pushed out of my chair, frowning. “What is this about?”

“Dr. Elena,” the herald greeted with a polite bow. “It is a delivery from Alpha Raymond for tonight’s Welcoming Banquet.”

“What Welcoming Banquet? For what?” I asked. The herald simply shrugged, bowed once again and retreated through the door.

I opened the box. Resting inside was an exquisite, custom-tailored designer gown made of deep royal blue silk, shimmering subtly under the lights.

Pinned to the fabric was a thick ivory card with Raymond’s sharp, commanding handwriting:

Wear the dress. You belong at the head table beside me tonight.

I stared at the dress, my jaw clenching as a hot wave of anger rushed through me.

A Welcoming Banquet. Despite asking, in my gut I already knew what this was about.

He wasn’t just throwing a dinner; he was throwing a public spectacle to showcase me to the entire pack council. Wearing his custom dress and sitting at his right hand was his way of officially branding me as his Second Luna in front of every lord and elder in the territory. He was parading me around like his shiny new trophy, expecting me to play along quietly like a submissive puppet.

Furious and deeply insulted, my hands trembled over the silk.

If Raymond thought he could use public pressure and a designer gown to corner me, he had another thing coming. I wasn’t going to hide, nor was I going to play the role of his dutiful concubine.

I traced the edge of the handwritten note, a slow, cold smile spreading across my lips as a new plan began to take form. I would attend his banquet, but I certainly wouldn’t be playing by his rules.

“Fine, Raymond,” I murmured softly to the empty room, a dangerous spark flashing in my eyes. “You want to send a message to the pack? Very well. I will make sure my message is crystal clear.”