Alpha Regret After Cheating With the Poor Omega I Sponsored

Chapter 2 The Stolen Crown

The Moonstone Crown held generations of Luna power. In Mia's grip, its glow faded until the stones looked cloudy.

"Calm you?" I asked. "Last time your trauma needed treatment, I spent all my savings on rare herbs. I spent a month channeling energy into you. Did none of that work?"

For a second, Mia's wet expression slipped. She looked past my shoulder toward the empty corridor.

"That was different. This is about my place here. I feel so insecure."

"You should."

Caleb's boots struck the floor before he turned the corner. Mia pulled the crown against her chest and began to tremble. He saw her tears and moved between us.

"What the hell are you doing to her, Elara?"

His Alpha command hit me in the chest. The force behind it came from eight years of my magic, and he spent it shielding her from me.

"She's holding my crown."

"I gave it to her. She needed to feel safe." He drew Mia behind his shoulder. "You should have helped her. You're Head Healer, and you're my mate. Instead, you're interrogating her."

Mia sniffed. Caleb's hand closed over hers.

"You've been unstable for days," he went on. "I won't allow this jealousy in the infirmary."

"What are you saying?"

He lifted his chin. "You're suspended as Head Healer, effective immediately. Mia has a natural gift for compassion. She'll take over until you can control yourself."

Mia couldn't tell a healing herb from a poison root. Caleb had just put every sick and injured pack member in her hands.

The infirmary held eight years of my notes, remedies I'd tested myself, and patients who trusted me with their lives. Caleb disposed of all of it in one sentence because Mia had cried in the hall.

I waited for him to take the order back. He reached for the crown instead and settled it more securely in Mia's hands.

I turned away before either of them could read my face. In the small office off the main hall, the iron key ring still hung from its hook.

I took it down. The keys opened the infirmary, apothecary, and storerooms. For years, I had carried them from dawn until long after dark.

When I returned, Caleb held out his palm. Surprise crossed his face when I dropped the ring into it.

"As you wish, Alpha."

The keys struck one another with a hard clink.

I had expected the loss to hurt. Instead, the empty place at my belt made it easier to breathe.

Caleb put an arm around Mia. "See? That wasn't so difficult."

They walked away together, Mia's head on his shoulder and the crown still pressed to her chest.

My belt felt strange without the weight of the keys. The infirmary belonged to Mia now, along with every mistake waiting inside it.

Caleb never looked back to see whether I followed. I stayed beside the empty hook and listened until their steps disappeared upstairs.