INDEPTH WITH TWO RIVALS

CHAPTER 9

I stood frozen in the doorway, my eyes fixed on the scene unfolding before me. Damian's smile, the one I hadn't seen in months, was now directed at Astrid Mars, his childhood sweetheart. She was beaming, her hand resting on her noticeably rounded belly. My mind struggled to process the sight, like my brain was lagging reality. I knew it wasn't right of Damian for me to question his guest, but since she was a female and was in our room, I had to confront her.

“Hey, good day. I'm the Luna of this pack, and who are you, please?” I said.

“Well, if you must know, I'm Damian; I'm girlfriend and the new Luna of this pack, so I think you should be the old one,” she said. Her words were confusing. I didn't believe her until I heard from Damian.

“I think you are drunk right now, and you should leave okay. You are here to see him, or what not the fact that you are the new Luna, okay, just get to leave immediately, okay?” I said. “You are the one who might be drunk if he gets here so he can get to introduce me to the whole family, okay? I know you might be confused right now because you've not seen me for a while, but the fact that I'm with his baby doesn't still change anything, and he would always choose me over you, okay, so you should get off the feeling that you still have him as your husband has got to leave the pack as soon as possible,” she said. She sounded serious and meant every word, but I was still buried in doubts.

“I don't believe even a single word you say to me, okay? You are just a liar, and I don't have any explanations to give you, okay? I would have believed you if Damian said that to me,” I said.

Damian's voice cut through the haze, “Allison, darling, come meet Victoria. She's…well, she's an exceptional person in my life.” The words dripped with insincerity, and I felt a wave of doubts wash over me.“What do you mean by all those praises that you are giving here? What is she here for?” I asked.

“She is here to stay, and she is the new Luna, as she was telling you earlier, but your selfishness wouldn't allow you to believe here,” Damian said.

“I know you can be strict and arrogant at times but you shouldn't be this wayward. This is off limits. We still have a long way to go, and I know that there is something that we both can still share together, please,” I said, pleading. “I know that we still have a long way to go, okay, and that is why I choose to get another woman in my life who would give birth to an heir to the throne, okay. Like I said before, she is here to stay, and you should respect her as well,” Damian said.

The restaurant. He'd taken it back, citing “creative differences” and “trust issues.” I'd thought it was about our marriage, about us. But it was about her, about them. The realization stung, like a slap to the face. “You don't have to do this; we were more than this when we first met. You know all that we still have far more to do than in this mess. We are still young couples, and I know that we would have kids more than you even want. We just have to get a little patience, okay?” I said as my eyes were filled with tears.

“I appreciate what we had in the past but you should still know that I regret ever having that feeling with you because if I knew the outcome of it I wouldn't have even gotten closer to you. I regret having anything to do with you. And you should even know that your stay here at this palace isn't even safe for you. She is the next Luna, and you are nobody, okay?” he said, leaving me broke.

Victoria's eyes met mine, a mixture of pity and triumph swirling in their depths. “Nice to meet you, Allison,” she said, her voice dripping with condescension.I was silent and left the room booked down. I knew that the beginning of the end of us had come near, but he was just hoping that the outcome of us didn't turn out to be a torment for any of us. Not only that, but I was expecting something like this, so I wasn't even too surprised about his actions. I was only surprised that all the rituals I did for it not to happen were all wasted. Likewise, I just hoped for a good life ahead because I knew that the one I'm in right now is already shattered.

I felt like I'd been punched in the gut; my breath knocked out of me. Damian's arm wrapped around Victoria's shoulders, a possessive gesture that made my skin crawl. My days being the Luna of the Shadowfangs pack are over, and now I would have to face what is ahead of me alone. Two years ago I thought that my relationship with Damian was such a good life to me, but now I realize that I was just open to suffering like before, and now with Victoria's presence in the palace, I was just more open to disgrace and embarrassment.

The words “What's next?” echoed in my mind like a mantra, but I knew the answer. My marriage was over. The question was, What came after?