Chapter 2

I had barely gotten my former mentor at Northstar Research Center on the phone when the front door opened.

"What was that about quitting?" Rowan stepped into the study, his gaze dropping to the phone in my hand.

Before I could answer, his own screen lit up. Kiara had sent him a photo of herself in his motorcycle jacket, holding a mug of hot chocolate with a crescent moon drawn in foam.

[The barista said I was extra sweet tonight. What do you think, the drink or me?]

Rowan smiled as he typed back. [You. Not even close.]

Only after he hit send did he seem to remember I was standing there. His smile vanished. "It's late. Why are you hiding in the study making calls?"

"That was my old mentor. A research position opened up, so I asked about it."

His attention shifted to the autonomous-navigation papers spread across my desk. He picked up the top report, flipped through two pages, and dropped it again. "You haven't done research in five years. You honestly think they'll roll out the red carpet?"

Once, I would've reminded him that I'd never stopped studying. I would've pointed out that Sentinel's first positioning algorithm and its entire risk platform had come from me.

Now there was no point. "I thought I'd give it a shot."

My indifference made him frown. He stood there as if waiting for me to ask where he'd spent the evening with Kiara. When I didn't, he cleared his throat.

"Actually, there's something I need to tell you. Kiara did good work on the north-line project, so I'm promoting her to Director of Operations."

The proposal supporting that promotion was the one I'd just finished for her.

"All right."

"And a company can't function without consequences. You haven't led an independent project in months, so I'm transferring you to field support. Once your attitude settles down and you learn to work with the team, I'll consider bringing you back."

He dressed it up as management, but his eyes never left my face. He was waiting for resistance.

I gave him none. "Whatever you think is best."

Rowan blinked. "That's it? You have nothing else to say?"

"No."

His shoulders eased, as though my answer proved the month of silence had done exactly what he wanted. "This is good, Elena. You're my mate, and you're supposed to become Luna. Supporting your Alpha's decisions is part of that."

He turned to leave, then stopped in the doorway. "Where's the digital photo frame from the living room? The one that always played pictures of us?"

"The screen died. I packed it away."

There was nothing wrong with the screen. I'd cleared the cloud album and dropped the frame in a donation box.

Rowan's mouth tightened. "Buy another one when you have time. Kiara comes here for meetings sometimes. If she sees the living room empty, she'll assume we're fighting about her again."

He wasn't asking why I'd erased five years of photographs. He was worried Kiara might feel awkward.

"Sure," I said with a small smile.

Months earlier, I'd found a pearl earring beneath the rug in our bedroom. It wasn't mine. When I asked about it, Rowan accused me of treating every woman he knew like a home-wrecker. To prove he had "nothing to hide," he gave Kiara the guest-room code the very next day.

Back then, I thought he was defending her. Now I understood that Kiara was only the weapon. Every time I protested, Rowan learned exactly what else he could take away.

When I finally stopped reacting, he mistook my silence for surrender.

At the all-hands meeting the next morning, he announced Kiara's promotion and reassigned me to the lowest-ranking overnight inspection team. When he finished, he paused, visibly braced for a confrontation.

I simply unpinned my management badge and laid it in front of Kiara. "Congratulations."

The room went so still I could hear someone inhale. Kiara picked up the badge, her smile widening by degrees. Rowan looked almost proud of me.

"You're finally starting to act like a proper future Luna," he said.

While they threw Kiara a promotion party, I completed my online interview with Northstar. While they celebrated at a mountain racetrack, I packed the rest of my belongings into one suitcase. While their friends egged them on at a private club, I confirmed the last step of my Pack transfer.

The night before I left, Maya helped me close out my company paperwork. "Does Alpha Rowan really know you're leaving?"

I looked at the unmistakable electronic signature at the bottom of my resignation.

"He approved it himself."