CHAPTER TWO

By the time I looked up, Damian was already gone and I immediately went after him. I found him sprawled on the bed, sleeping. I didn’t have the heart to wake him, but this was a conversation we needed to have. I had to address his statement and also tell him about our baby. I couldn’t wait to take Kourtney’s name out of his mouth and replace it with mine again. I was his wife—he should only be calling my name.

As I stood there, watching him sleep, memories tugged at me. I had first seen him like this—vulnerable, broken—years ago, when he had been searching for Kourtney after her sudden disappearance, and during his frantic quest through the forest, he’d been attacked—his leg badly injured, leaving him weak and vulnerable. I hadn’t hesitated to use the healing magic I had learned as a child to save him, pouring every ounce of it into mending his wounds. Everyone thought he wouldn’t survive. It was me who stayed by his side for nights, pouring every ounce of healing into him until his fever finally broke. I never told him, but from that moment, I belonged to him.

When he opened his eyes back then, the gratitude in his gaze had seared me to my very soul. His parents arranged our marriage soon after, and though it was sudden, I had accepted it as fate. I thought the bond I had silently carried for years—my hidden crush, my unspoken devotion—was finally recognized. But three years of marriage had proven otherwise.

I shook myself from the memory and decided to take off my clothes and have a cold shower. After that, I got dressed in pajamas before climbing onto the bed beside him. Still, I couldn’t shake the thought of Kourtney and him together…

Why was she back? Did she come to take him away from me? I had questions but no one to ask. I just lay there, restless, until I finally drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, I woke with a start. The space beside me was empty and cold. Was he in the bathroom? No—the shower was silent, the room untouched.

“Damian?” I called, but no response. “Babe?”

Just then, my mobile rang. Mum’s number flashed on the screen and my heart skipped a beat. Was she calling with news I didn’t want to hear? I swallowed hard and picked up.

“Mum.”

“Foolish girl.” Madam Rose’s angry voice hit me like a slap. She was becoming more hostile with each passing second, and it broke my heart. We used to be a happy family—until Kourtney showed up and somehow I became the villain.

“Your sister is back from London. You should come home and welcome her.”

A frown crept across my face, “Mum… why was she in London all this time? Did something happen?”

My mum's sigh was sharp, almost dismissive. “She needed distance, that’s all. She… she had her own life to figure out. You don’t need to question it.”

I frowned further, frustration knotting in my chest. How was I supposed to understand her choices when no one ever told me anything? Memories rose like smoke—how she refused to share her parents with me, how she had them wrapped around her fingers. I became her servant, her sport. She’d beat me up at will, and I often slept in the basement for her amusement. Still, I never raised a hand against her. I told myself I should be grateful just to be adopted. To outsiders, I looked privileged—my stepfather was the beta, my stepmother wealthy. They saw Kourtney as a princess, never knowing the truth.

Even after she left, their love never returned to me. Luckily, Damian’s parents pulled me out of that cruel life. But now—three years later—Kourtney was back, and Damian was already drunk on her name.

I didn’t go to the house right away. I searched for Damian but he was nowhere. Assuming he’d gone to work, I decided to wait until evening to speak with him.

Helplessly, I could only head to my parents’ house alone. I chose jeans and a crisp white shirt, tied my hair in a high ponytail, left my face bare, and headed to the house.

The moment I walked in, Madam Rose’s expression darkened.

“You’re only just getting here? The food is nowhere near ready. Did you think you came here as a guest?”

I drew in a breath and forced calm. “I’m sorry I’m late.”

Damian’s brothers and three of his old friends lounged in the living room. The moment their eyes landed on me, I caught the glint of mockery.

“Well, well, if it isn’t our Luna,” Jackson drawled. “Guess being the Alpha’s wife means you don’t lift a finger in the kitchen.”

My brows pinched, but before I could answer, Antonio leaned forward with a chuckle.

“Honestly, I never understood why Damian married her in the first place.”

Their laughter rippled, sharp as knives.

“Have some respect,” a deep voice rang out. Marcus Hale—Damian’s beta. “She is the Luna. Have some respect.”

I looked up and gave him a grateful nod. At least someone was sensible.

Madam Rose folded her arms, raising her chin. “Since you’re here, Selena, why don’t you make your sister’s favorite risotto? Surely you’re not here to play Luna, are you?”

My fists curled. The sting in her words was nothing new. But then heels clicked on the stairs, and Kourtney appeared. She looked different from the eighteen-year-old I last saw—short blonde hair now, and holding the hand of a little boy.

A child? My eyes widened. She had a child? Since when? Why had no one told me? Was she married? I saw no ring.

“Hey, Kourtney—”

But she swept past me like I didn’t exist, straight into the arms of the others.

“You’re finally back, Kourt,” Jackson beamed. “Looks like you’re here to take what’s rightfully yours.”

“Don’t say that,” she whispered with a hint of sarcasm. “Don’t make it look like I came back to cause trouble.”

“We all know you and Damian were in a relationship,” Antonio added. “Anyone who thinks otherwise is the problem here.”

My jaw tightened. Damian and I had been married three years. He wouldn’t choose her over me. He couldn’t. Still, dread coiled in my chest.

“I’m only here because Arturo left me and our son,” Kourtney said tearfully. “I didn’t know where else to go. Believe me, I’m not here to cause trouble for you, Selena.”

I saw straight through her facade. She was playing the good one, making me look cruel.

“You don’t need to beg her, Kourtney,” Sebastian spoke. One of Damian’s friends, a man I distrusted the most. “She should be the one apologizing to you.”

The words stuck in my throat—because at that moment, the doors opened and Damian walked in. My face lit up. At last, he would clear this misunderstanding.

But what he did next broke me. He went straight into Kourtney’s arms. She buried her face in his neck, and he wrapped her close. My heart shattered.

“It’s okay,” he soothed her. “From today, you and your child are welcome to stay with us in the pack house.”

I froze. “What do you mean?”

"It’s always just been the two of us living in the pack house… Are you sure-?"

“Yes,” he said sternly. “She will.”

“But—”

“Enough, Selena!” His anger cut me off. “You’ve always been understanding—why are you being so unreasonable today?” His anger cut me off.

In three years of marriage, he had never spoken to me like that, “I want her to come work as the new pack secretary, that would help ease her mind and keep her in the present. I don’t want her thinking much about anything so you better get used to it, Luna” he sounded so sarcastic, very unlike the Damian that I knew, “are we clear?”

I placed a trembling hand on my stomach. Reality crashed down.

My gaze fell on the little boy, and for a fleeting moment, I thought I saw Damian’s features reflected in his face. The realization made my chest tighten.