CHAPTER THREE

SALOME

Alpha Williams didn't care that I was resisting. He kept his grip firm around my wrist, pulling me up the grand staircase while my worn-out suitcase clattered against the wooden steps behind us.

Luna Mariam was already standing at the top of the stairs, her arms crossed, her eyes bursting with pure hatred when she saw us.

"What is the meaning of this, Williams?" she shrieked, her voice echoing through the high ceilings. "I told that bitch to leave! She leaves this house right now, or I leave!"

Alpha Williams totally ignored her. He didn't even look her way. He just kept walking, pulling me past her down the hallway. He stopped in front of a heavy oak door—a beautiful guest room just two doors down from his own private bedroom. He opened it, nudged me inside along with my suitcase, and looked down at me.

"Stay here, Salome. You're not going anywhere," he said softly, his voice full of an exhausting weight. Then, he closed the door, leaving me alone in the dim room.

It was already late. The moon was high outside the window, casting long, dark shadows across the large bed. I sat on the edge of the mattress, my hands shaking so badly I had to sit on them to make them stop. My cheekbone was throbbing with a dull, constant ache, but the pain in my head was nothing compared to the chaos happening right outside my door.

The walls were thick, but Luna Mariam was screaming so loud I could hear every single word. She was in their bedroom, slamming closet doors, packing her stuffs, and raining bitter insults on the Alpha and myself.

"I am going to divorce your ass today!" she screamed, the sound of hangers clattering against the floorboards piercing the night. "Since you want to stoop so low to get a dirty maid on our bed! You have no shame, Williams! No shame at all!"

I winced, pulling my knees up to my chest. Every word felt like a physical blow.

"I even married you because you loved me deeply and threatened to kill yourself!" her voice boomed, filled with sheer mockery. "It was only out of pity I married you! You were nothing but a desperate dog begging for my love, and look at you now!"

She said a lot of hurtful things to our Alpha. Cruel, terrible things that no wife should ever say to her husband, let alone to the leader of the entire Northern Pack. I curled myself into a tight ball on the bed, covering my ears, but her voice still cut through.

I heard it all, and I felt so guilty. Tears of frustration and shame blurred my vision as I began blaming myself for being the reason she was leaving. If I hadn't been there, if I had just been faster, if I hadn't let that bottle hit me... None of this would be happening.

"Gosh, I shouldn't have been in that lounge that day," I murmured to myself, pressing my forehead against my knees. "I should have just stayed in the kitchen. This is all my fault."

Then, Mariam’s voice grew closer, moving out into the hallway.

"You got a divorce paper ready few months ago but the elders interfered," she shouted, her heels clicking sharply on the floorboards. "I want to sign them now! By morning, we announce to the people that you choose a cheap maid over me! Let's see how your precious pack respects a leader who fcks the help!"

Upon hearing this, panic seized my chest. A divorce? Because of me? The pack would fall into utter chaos. The elders would be furious, the pack wolves would lose faith in their leader, and the Alpha’s reputation would be completely ruined. I couldn't just sit here and let her destroy his life over a misunderstanding.

I rose from the bed, my heart hammering against my ribs. I had to help stop her from making this huge mistake. I had to go out there, beg her again, clarify that nothing happened, and convince her to stay.

I rushed to the door and pulled it open, stepping out into the hallway.

But the moment I came out, the raw sight of her got me scared. Mariam looked like a demon possessed. Her hair was wild, her eyes were bloodshot with rage, and she was holding a thick stack of legal papers in her hand, trembling with pure malice. Alpha Williams was standing a few feet away from her, his face completely expressionless, like a man who had already checked out of a war long ago.

Mariam caught sight of me standing by the doorway. A wicked, twisted smile spread across her face.

"Watch me, watch how I strip you of your little fantasy," she spat at me.

In two seconds, she slammed the papers down onto a small decorative console table in the hallway, grabbed a pen from her purse, and signed the divorce papers with a violent scribble. The scratching sound of the pen felt incredibly loud in the tense silence.

She lifted the papers, her chest heaving, and shoved them brutally against Williams’s broad chest. "Sign it. Do it, you coward."

My breath hitched. No, please, Alpha, don't do it, I screamed silently in my head. I wanted to move forward, to grab the pen, to do something, anything, to stop it.

But Alpha Williams didn't hesitate. He didn't argue. He didn't even blink. He took the pen from her hand, laid the papers flat on the table, and calmly signed his name at the bottom of the page.

Scratch. Scratch.

It was over. Just like that.

I froze, standing by the door, my hand still gripping the wooden frame for support. The silence that followed was suffocating. The air in the hallway turned ice-cold.

Mariam snatched the signed papers back, a triumphant but bitter laugh leaving her throat. "Enjoy your broken home, Williams. And enjoy your little maid."

She grabbed her heavy designer suitcases, turned on her heels, and marched down the stairs without looking back. A few moments later, the heavy front doors of the palace slammed shut, a sound that reverberated through the entire house like a thunderclap.

The hallway fell into a dead, eerie quiet.

Alpha Williams remained standing by the table, his back turned to me. His shoulders were tense, his head slightly bowed.

I couldn't move. My feet felt like they were glued to the floor, and my mind was spinning out of control. The guilt washed over me in a massive, crushing wave, choking the air right out of my lungs.

It was like I was the reason. I was the maid who came between the Alpha and the Luna. I was the one who brought the ultimate disaster to the pack house. Even though she had treated him badly for years, I was the final match that set their entire marriage on fire.