Too Late To Want His Moonlight Back

3

Mark's face immediately went pale. "Lena, no. You can't.."

"Oh, I absolutely can." Melena didn't let him finish. For once, she wasn't interested in hearing another excuse. She stood up, grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

Behind her, Mark called her name repeatedly.

Good grief.

The man had spent years hiding a whole girlfriend, but suddenly he couldn't survive thirty seconds without her.

….

Melena woke up feeling like somebody had taken a baseball bat to her head and then came back for a second round.

With a groan, she buried her face in the pillow before dragging her hands over her eyes. Pale morning sunlight slipped through the hotel curtains, making the headache even worse. She sluggishly reached for her tablet beside her.

The past few days had been a complete disaster.

Actually, disaster was putting it nicely.

The breakup had blown up after that night.

Every social media platform looked like it had collectively decided to make her public enemy number one. Headlines were everywhere. Some painted Delilah as the poor, devoted Omega who'd finally found the courage to speak out. Others were busy debating whether Melena was a heartless ice queen or some gold-digging opportunist who'd used Mark to climb the career ladder before tossing him aside.

Apparently she'd manipulated him, exploited his connections, and abandoned him the second she became successful enough not to need him anymore.

The fact that she'd gone to his house for her belongings hadn't helped. Paparazzi photos of her loading a suitcase into a cab were everywhere. The pictures made it look like she'd been caught doing something shady and was sneaking away in shame.

Never mind that she'd simply been collecting her stuff after finding out her boyfriend had knocked up another woman.

Minor detail, apparently.

Melena stared at the screen for a long moment before letting out a laugh. "They’re still going?"

She scrolled through hundreds of comments calling her cruel and selfish.

"Oh, okay." Her grip tightened around the tablet. "So dumping a cheater is now a crime?”

The betrayal itself had hurt enough.

Having thousands of complete strangers rewrite reality and turn her into the villain somehow managed to make it worse.

Unfortunately for them, Melena had never been the type to sit quietly while people walked all over her.

Opening her X account, she typed out a quick post.

*Choosing myself over toxicity. Happiness matters more than staying in the wrong story. Real ones know the truth.*

She hit post.

A tiny bit of satisfaction settled in her chest.

Not much.

But enough to stop her from launching the tablet across the room.

Then she made the mistake of scrolling again.

A trending post caught her eye.

Her name….And Zane Rider's.

Immediately suspicious, she clicked on it.

Sure enough, there he was.

The CEO of Shiver Corp had posted:

*In this life, beware of people who use others to get to the top and then pretend they're innocent.*

Apparently being rich didn't keep people from acting like petty teenagers online.

Melena narrowed her eyes. "Oh, absolutely not."

Before common sense could stop her, she hit reply.

*Mind your own damn business, Rider. Some of us actually have jobs instead of sitting in corner offices stirring up drama.*

The internet practically exploded.

Notifications started flooding in immediately.

Zane replied.

Melena replied back.

He made some snarky comment about entitled Omegas rejecting opportunities and then playing victim.

She pointed out that arrogance wasn't a personality trait.

He called her defensive.

She called him insufferable.

Back and forth.

Like two people with entirely too much free time.

Eventually, Melena looked at the argument, looked at the clock, and wondered why she was wasting perfectly good oxygen arguing with a billionaire whose favorite hobby seemed to be hearing himself talk.

With one decisive tap, she blocked him. "f*****g jerk."

She tossed the tablet onto the bed and leaned back against the headboard.

Unfortunately, the whole internet mess still had Melena's blood boiling. She couldn't stop replaying everything that had happened, and if she stayed in that hotel room another minute, she was going to lose her mind. She needed to get out. Better yet, she needed to shop. Retail therapy had never let her down.

"New clothes are cheaper than therapy," she muttered as she climbed out of bed.

A long, hot shower helped wash away some of the tension clinging to her shoulders, though not nearly enough. By the time she got dressed in a fitted black top that hugged her slim waist and a pair of comfortable jeans, she at least looked like someone who had her life together. Too bad looks could lie. She pulled on a black cap and face mask, then looked herself over in the mirror.

She grabbed her phone, slipped out of the hotel, and casually scanned the street. No reporters. No cameras shoved in her face. No influencers waiting to record another "celebrity meltdown."

She flagged down a cab before her luck could change. The moment she climbed inside and the car pulled away, she tugged her mask down with an exhausted sigh.

"Oh my Goddess... I seriously need to buy a car."

Relying on taxis every time she wanted to leave the hotel was getting old.

Her phone buzzed. Video call.

Hazel Calling...

A smile finally tugged at her lips as she answered. Hazel's face immediately filled the screen, her short brown hair as messy as ever and those warm hazel eyes practically glowing with attitude.

"Mel, are you alright?" Hazel blurted before Melena could even say hello. "I've been reading the comments all morning, and I swear those people are idiots. They can all choke on their own pheromones."

Melena laughed. "There she is."

"What?"

"My aggressively supportive emotional support human."

"Damn right. You're one of the best doctors of our generation. You've spent years researching wolflessness, and suddenly a bunch of keyboard warriors think they know your entire life."

Melena shook her head, still smiling. Somehow Hazel always knew how to pull her out of a bad mood.

"I'll survive," she said. "It's just exhausting. Every time I leave the hotel, there are cameras waiting outside. You'd think I robbed a bank instead of dumping a cheating fiancé."

"And that's exactly why I'm coming."

Melena frowned. "Coming?"

Hazel grinned so hard it immediately made Melena suspicious."Yep."

"You're literally in Levy."

"About that..."

Something behind Hazel caught Melena's eye. Departure boards. Airport staff walking past. Travelers dragging suitcases.

She sat up straighter. "Hold on... is that Hamilton International Airport?"

Hazel burst out laughing. "Surprise!"

Melena stared at the screen in disbelief. "No way."

"Way. I've got a business meeting at Shiver Corp."

"...Excuse me?"

Hazel scratched the back of her neck with the guilty expression that always meant she was about to admit something ridiculous. "Remember that programmer I told you about?"

"The cute Beta you've been stalking on social media?"

"I was researching."

"You liked three years worth of his pictures in one night."

Hazel laughed. "Fine. His name's Nick Johnson, and he works for Zane Rider."

Melena groaned loudly enough for the driver to glance at her through the rearview mirror. "So you applied for a job because of a man."

"Oh, don't judge me!"

Melena rolled her eyes. "You're hopeless."

"I know."Hazel's smile softened. "Oh, and don't worry about finding a place to stay," Hazel added. "I already found us an apartment."

Melena blinked. "You already did?"

"Of course I did."

Warmth spread through her chest. Hazel always thought three steps ahead. "You seriously are the best."

"I know."

"Just don't get your hopes up too much with Nick," Melena teased.

Hazel rolled her eyes, but Melena wasn't entirely joking. Unlike Levy, where no one batted an eye at secondary-gender pairings, Hamilton was far more traditional. Beta-Beta relationships were rare and quietly frowned upon. Most Betas grew up expecting to find an Omega or a Delta instead. Omegas were prized for their fertility and powerful mate bonds, while Deltas had a reputation for being gentle, dependable partners. Two Betas choosing each other was often seen as wasting perfectly compatible matches, an old-fashioned belief Melena had never agreed with. Fertile female Betas were also rare.

Hazel shrugged. "I know. Doesn't mean I can't try.”

"Delusional."

"Whatever."

Hazel glanced at the time and groaned. "Crap, I've gotta go. I'll be at your hotel later, okay?"

"Love you babe."

"Love you too. Be careful."

The call ended, and Melena smiled as she slipped her phone into her purse. Hazel always had a way of showing up when she needed her most. That's why she's her best friend.

As she looked out the window, her smile faded. A black SUV was behind them. It had been following the cab for several intersections. Maybe it was paparazzi, or maybe she was just overthinking after everything that had happened. Either way, she refused to let it ruin her day.

A few minutes later, the cab pulled up outside the mall. Melena paid the driver, grabbed her purse, and stepped into the busy afternoon crowd.

The black SUV rolled to a stop nearby.

Melena frowned and walked toward it. "If you're paparazzi, this is getting pathetic."

The doors opened, and several large men climbed out. The crushing wave of Alpha pheromones hit her instantly, but it wasn't the pheromones that made her freeze. It was their faces.

These weren't reporters.

Her stomach dropped, and she turned to run, but a pair of powerful arms locked around her from behind. Another man grabbed her wrists before she could strike.

A cloth was pressed over her nose.

No...

She held her breath, kicked, scratched, and struggled until the chemical smell seeped into her lungs anyway.

Her vision blurred before darkness swallowed everything.

…

A pounding headache dragged her back to consciousness.

She was sitting on a chair, her wrists and ankles tied to a pillar. Cold concrete surrounded her.

She was in a basement.

Melena forced herself to stay calm as she looked around.

Then she froze.

A woman with long red hair was also tied to a pillar, a few feet away.

Delilah.

Melena stared at her in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me."

Of all the people they could've kidnapped...

Why Delilah?