Divorce Me, Alpha: The True Luna's Return

The silver tiara felt less like an honor and more like a tourniquet. Rhema stared at her reflection in the gold vanity mirror. Downstairs, the bass from the Summer Solstice Gala pounded through the floorboards. Tonight was supposed to be her crowning. Instead, the heavy oak door clicked open. Korvain walked in. He didn't look at her in the glass. He unbuttoned his velvet cuffs with sharp, aggressive jerks. "Is the ceremony delayed?" Rhema asked. Korvain stopped. His golden eyes met hers in the mirror, lacking warmth. "It’s canceled, Rhema." Rhema froze, her hand hovering over the circlet. "What did you say?" "You heard me." Korvain moved closer, towering over her chair. "The elders reviewed the measures. A pack climbing to elite tier status cannot afford a Luna with a dormant wolf." "My wolf is recovering from the eastern border raid," Rhema snapped, spinning around to face him. "An ambush I held off alone while you were wining and dining the northern council!" "An ambush you failed to prevent," Korvain shot back. "If your spiritual link hadn't rotted, our scouts wouldn't have been blindfolded." "Rotted?" Rhema stood up, slamming both hands down on the vanity. "I spent the last six months subsidizing your bankrupt pack treasury out of my own ancestral vaults! Every financial disaster you walked into, I cleaned up!" "And you were fed and housed in return," Korvain mocked, leaning in close. "You don't have the strength. You don't have the presence. And frankly, you don't have the bloodline." "Is that really what you tell yourself to sleep at night?" A sharp, humorless laugh cut from Rhema's throat. "You didn't care about my bloodline three years ago when you were begging my father for a trade alliance to save your dying territory." "Watch your tone," Korvain growled, a flash of genuine panic in his golden eyes before he locked them down. "Your father's alliance expired the moment his estate went under. You brought nothing into this pack except debt and excuses." "Debt?" Rhema's voice rose. "My accounts kept your enforcers paid when the northern territories cut off your supply routes! If I pull my funding tomorrow, your precious pack will default on its loans by Tuesday!" "Which is why," a smooth voice interrupted from the doorway, "your accounts were frozen by the pack council this morning." Before Rhema could fire back, the door swung wide open. Selene walked in, wrapped in imported midnight silk. Heavy diamond teardrops hung from her lobes; diamonds that had been pulled from the pack's emergency grain reserves just four days ago. "Be gentle with her, Korvain ," Selene cooed, resting a manicured hand over his arm in a sweet manner. "Rhema tried her best. She’s just... incompatible with greatness." Rhema stared at the earrings, then whipped her gaze back to Selene. "Those diamonds belong in the winter treasury, Selene. You're wearing our pack's survival on your ears." Selene blinked, faking a smile. "See? This is why you're being replaced, Rhema. You look at numbers; I look at futures." "You're looking at a stolen seat," Rhema clapped back. "And you think you can just step into my shoes without consequence?" "The pack has already accepted me," Selene countered, lifting her chin higher. "The elders voted unanimously an hour ago. They wanted a Luna who actually inspires strength, not an accountant who hoards ledger books." "Accountant?" Rhema stepped forward, forcing Selene to take a nervous half-step back despite Korvain 's protective bulk. "I kept your family out of debtors' prison two winters ago, Selene! I covered your father's embezzlement scandal so the enforcers wouldn't tear your house down! Is this how you repay the hand that fed you?" Selene's face flushed hot, her nails digging into Korvain 's sleeve. "Lies! You're just bitter because your time is up!" "Are they lies?" Rhema challenged, turning her fierce stare back to Korvain . "Ask him. Ask him if the council knows where the missing municipal funds went. Ask him why the eastern border guards haven't been paid in two months!" "Enough of this interrogation!" Korvain roared, his Alpha aura flaring violently, cracking the glass frame of a nearby portrait. "You think you can stand in my suite and undermine my authority in front of my chosen mate?" "Your chosen mate is a parasite who doesn't even know how to balance a basic trade route!" Rhema shouted back. "You're destroying this pack from the inside out, Korvain , and the moment the grand council audits your books, you're going to burn!" "We are claiming our bond publicly tonight," Korvain said coldly, his voice trembling with rage as he turned his back to her. "Your belongings have already been cleared out of the suite. Consider your exile effective immediately." "Exile?" Rhema stared at him, shocked. "You're tossing me into the dead-zone borderlands without a vehicle or provisions? That's a death sentence, Korvain !" "You chose to fail the pack," Korvain dismissed, walking toward the door. "Guards will escort you out the moment the announcement concludes. Don't make a scene." "You coward," Rhema hissed, taking a step toward him. "You think Selene can save you when the elite council finds out you gutted the treasury?" Korvain stopped, his hand tightening on the knob so hard his knuckles turned white. He didn't turn around. "If you try to fight the decree, I’ll have the enforcers break your wolf's spirit permanently. Pack your things." "Break my spirit?" Rhema laughed, a harsh sound that made Korvain flinch. "You think my spirit belongs to this pack, Korvain ? You think a paper-pushing Alpha and a stolen crown define my worth? You are casting out the only person holding your collapsing territory together!" "Silence!" Korvain bellowed, slamming his fist against the doorframe, splintering the wood. "Your arrogance is why your wolf is dying, Rhema! You were never fit to sit beside me!" "No," Rhema whispered, stepping closer to his back. "You were never fit to lead me." The heavy door slammed shut. Rhema didn't cry. Tears were for people who still had something to lose. She walked to the vanity, picked up the silver tiara, and dropped it straight into the wastebasket. Reaching beneath her formal gown, she unbuckled her grandfather's heavy iron hunting dagger and strapped it tightly against her thigh. If they wanted her dead in the snow, she was going to make them hunt for every single drop of blood. She slipped through the private service corridor into the freezing timberline just as the massive loudspeakers out front crackled to life. Korvain ’s amplified voice boomed across the courtyard, echoing mercilessly through the dark trees: "My loyal pack members... I officially reject my former mate, Rhema, for her weakness. And I proudly take Selene as my true Luna—" Rhema didn't look back. She ran. She ran until her lungs burned, her boots tearing through the thickening frost of the dead zone. But the pack’s security detail was ruthless. Within an hour, heavy paw prints tracked her through the snow. Snarls echoed from the ridge above. "There she is!" a voice barked from the darkness. "The Alpha ordered her head if she resists!" "Surrender the pack keys, Rhema!" another voice jeered from the shadows of the pines. "You have nowhere left to run!" "I'd rather freeze to death than give Korvain another second of my life!" Rhema shouted back, her voice echoing off the frozen canyon walls. "Then your wish is granted!" Rhema scrambled down a steep ravine, her dress tearing on frozen briars. She slipped, tumbling hard onto the rocky ravine floor with a sickening pop from her ankle. Gasping, she dragged herself behind a cluster of pine trees, her fingers curling around the hilt of her grandfather's dagger. Two elite guard wolves from Korvain 's inner circle dropped over the ledge, their yellow eyes glowing hungrily in the dark. "End of the line, Rhema," the first guard mocked, shifting halfway, his claws extending. "Don't make this messy." "Try it," Rhema whispered, her eyes locked on his throat. "Come closer and see what happens to the dogs who clean Korvain 's dirty work." "You think a broken ankle and a blunt knife save you?" the second guard snarled, taking a heavy step forward. "The Alpha wants you erased!" "Then tell him he'll have to come collect me himself!" Rhema yelled. "He couldn't look me in the eye upstairs, and he sure as hell won't have the stomach to finish me out here!" "Shut your trap, b***h!" the guard roared, lunging forward with bared fangs. She raised the blade, ready to launch herself at the first beast— Roar. The freezing night air split open. A low, mechanical growl, so heavy it vibrated the frozen earth beneath her broken ankle, tore through the valley. Massive, blinding wall-of-light LED headlights cut violently through the pine trees, painting the snow in stark white. A sleek, black-armored luxury SUV drifted hard around the treacherous mountain pass, sliding to a dead stop precisely two inches from the ravine wall, trapping the guard wolves in the glare. The passenger-side window rolled down with a slow hiss. A man leaned his arm casually against the frame, his shadow swallowing the light. He looked down at Rhema bleeding in the snow, a slow, dangerous smirk playing on his lips. "Lost, little wolf?" a deep, effortless voice murmured into the freezing wind. "Or did you finally realize your husband is an i***t?"