Divorcing My Alpha Husband For His Uncle

Jealousy?

The council chamber was colder than I expected, and I walked in already regretting not grabbing something warmer. I took in the room quickly. There was a long table in the middle, with high-backed chairs, and everyone was already seated, looking very serious. It was very formal in a way that Nolan's court never really bothered with, which was ironic because Nolan's court could have used a lot more structure and a lot less ego.

That was when I saw him—the man from the courtyard. My brows creased the same second his eyes narrowed across the table at me, and for a moment we just stared at each other.

Lovely.

Sera gestured to a seat without looking at me, already moving toward her own beside Alaric, and I pulled the chair out and sat down. The assessment started immediately when my ass touched the chair. But it wasn't too obvious; nobody was rude enough to stare, but I could feel it, that collective sideways thing people do in rooms like this when someone new walks in, and they haven't decided what to make of her yet.

I mustered up the best poker face I could come up with and kept my back straight, pretending to be very interested in the table. Alaric sat at the head, eyes forward, with Alpha energy pouring out of him. He looked different in this kind of setting. Almost scary and regal.

Two of the elders got into it almost immediately over border patrol rotations. One wanted more bodies on the eastern shift, the other thought it was a waste of resources. Constant back and forth, calm and measured, with no raised voices. I stared at them with piqued interest. No one was making it personal, and then just like that, they made a decision and moved on.

I sat there for a second, genuinely processing that. Totally different. Back in Darkmoon, I once spent the better part of an afternoon fighting against two elders who couldn't agree on grain storage.

Grain storage.

And I had to make both of them feel like the compromise was their idea before anyone would budge. But here these men just talked it out and settled it like it was nothing. I chuckled slightly before composing myself. The supply routes came next, resolved just as cleanly, and I was starting to relax into the rhythm of it when someone mentioned Nolan. The mood at the table changed immediately when his name was mentioned, and it felt like all eyes were on me. I sat up straight.

One of the elders started running through what they knew about Nolan's growing alliances, his voice dropping into something more careful. I listened, following along easily, most of it matching what I already knew. And then he said something wrong. Well, not entirely wrong, but wrong enough that it mattered. He was misreading one of Nolan's allied packs, the one with the unpaid debt sitting between them and Darkmoor from three seasons back.

If you didn't know about that debt, you'd assume they'd commit troops the second Nolan called. But I knew about that debt. I had been in the room when it was negotiated. I pressed my lips together, biting my inner cheek to stop any impulsive thoughts. But this is me, and it's obviously not working.

Don't say anything. You've been here five minutes. Half these people looked at you like furniture when you walked in, and…

But you're Luna, and you know something they don't. I argued with myself for approximately four more seconds before I blurted out.

"That pack won't move."

Everyone turned to look at me, and I almost shrank in my seat, but I kept going before I could lose my nerve. "Not quickly anyway. They've got an outstanding debt with Darkmoor from the border agreement three seasons ago, unpaid and unresolved. Committing troops against this pack while that's sitting open would cost them more than whatever Nolan's promising. They'll stall."

Silence. The type where you don't know where you stand yet, and you're anxiously waiting for someone to say something. Then one elder nodded, and another one picked up his pen, jotting down something. The council member from the courtyard was looking at me really differently from how he'd been looking at me twenty minutes ago in this same room.

And no, it wasn't warm, but different. I looked back at the table and smiled awkwardly to myself. This isn't too bad after all. Just like old times. I spoke twice more before the meeting wrapped up, both times keeping it short and sticking to what I actually knew.

By the end of it, I was so aware of people's eyes on me, and it was making me feel uncomfortable. I shifted on my seat, watching as every once in a while Alaric would look sideways at me. He hadn't said anything since the meeting started.

But if you would count the half smile whenever I spoke as something, then…

Just as I eased into my seat with relief since we were about to end this meeting, an elder piped up from the far end, "Alpha, I hope our Luna is as sharp as she speaks?" I stiffened. His tone had a ring to it, and I could hear a low snicker coming from the other end.

Alaric sat up straight slowly, posture straight as he stared intensely at the elder, who started shifting in his seat.

"I'm aware you all know that she ran Darkmoon's internal affairs for five years," he responded to the man's obvious jab, straightforward and unhesitating. "While Nolan took the credit for all of it. She's the reason that pack didn't collapse under him."

Then he turned to me, a look crossing his eyes. “And she's the best there is.” My heart did a weird jump. I don't know what to do with the way he looked at me, but I held his gaze, a part of me not wanting to look away, and his words were still stuck in a loop in my head. For some reason, my heart started racing, and it felt like it was only the two of us in the room, with the rest of everyone existing somewhere far away.

I was about to say something, anything, then Sera leaned into him, and it died there in my throat. She tapped his arm once, and he shook his head, like snapping out of something, then turned to her, away from me. I arched a brow at them. A low, weird feeling coiled down in my belly as I watched her slide a small folded note across to him with ease.

Have they always been this close?

Alaric looked down at it, his face not giving anything away as he read whatever was in that piece of paper. Which somehow made it worse because my curiosity was eating at me. I looked away, something tight and restless sitting in my chest now that hadn't been there a minute ago. It felt uncomfortable in a way I didn't fully have words for, and pulling at something I wasn't ready to poke at.

I bit my lower lip. What was in that note?