His Contract Luna Says Goodbye

ELLARIA.I followed him outside without thinking.He was standing on the front porch with his back to me, one hand pressed against his ear, his voice so soft I almost didn't recognize it."Hey, hey. Calm down. Tell me what's wrong."My feet stopped moving. I stood frozen in the doorway, watching him speak to another woman in a voice he had never once used with me.Something twisted in my chest.I thought about the first time I ever saw Katerina Mikaelson.I had been nineteen years old, starving and filthy, wandering through the Eastern Sector with no pack and a wolf that was barely present. I had no one in the world who cared if I lived or died. The border patrol had found me hiding in the woods and dragged me to the palace in chains, convinced I was a rogue.Arren had been standing in the throne room when they brought me and a bunch of others in. And Katerina had been right beside him, looking so beautiful and glowing in a silk dress that probably cost more than I would ever see in

ELLARIA.This couldn't be happening to me.There was an ache building in my chest that grew more and more with every second I watched Arren look at me like that, while Katerina was plastered to his side. My hands curled into fists. I'd given my all to this hospital. I had no wolf and none of the healing abilities the other doctors had. All I had was me, and the skills I'd beaten into myself over the years after I realized the world didn't pity wolfless omegas like me. I found a passion and I lived it.And now he wanted to take it away. Because of her."That's not fair, Arren." I hated how my voice cracked. "You have no right to do this to me. I did nothing to her.""I didn't ask for your explanation." His face hadn’t changed at all. He was hellbent on making an example out of me to for the sake of his mistress. "Do you have something to say to Katerina or not?"I swallowed down the lump in my throat. In what reality was my husband asking me to apologize to his ex for something I d

ARREN.Kade came in and dropped into the chair across from my desk with the energy of a man who'd aged five years in the last two hours."Katerina's taken the boy in," he said. "He's down for the night.""Good."He looked like he had more to say about the evening's events. After something like the display some of my pack members just witnessed outside, most people did. I leaned back, folding my arms across my chest, and let the quiet settle while I turned the whole mess over in my head. Ellaria finding out about Katerina and her son had not been part of the plan.In fairness, most things Ellaria did weren't part of any plan I'd made. She had a talent for that. For showing up exactly where I needed her not to be, with those curious fucking eyes of hers taking in everything.Half a year ago, Katerina had shown up at my door with a four year old boy on her hip and a story I hadn't seen coming. She claimed we had a one-night stand. She'd kept it from me, she said, because the timing w

ELLARIA.Mirela hadn't slept a wink.She was still in yesterday's jacket, standing in the doorway of my clinic room with eyes so red and swollen it looked like she'd been crying in shifts. And she was looking at me the way people look at something they're not ready to let go of."You were on the floor last night," she said."I know." I said, trying not to remember. "You almost lost them, Ellaria.""Mirela.""I’m sorry but someone has to say it."I pulled my coat on and looked at her seriously. "I need you to keep your promise."Her jaw tightened. She had made that promise at two in the morning when I had finally stopped shaking and crying long enough to ask for it. And now in the daylight she was looking for a way to renegotiate. She didnt want me to leave. But I had to. I watched her find it and lose it and find it again, and then she pressed her lips together and nodded once.That was all I needed.But first I had to say goodbye.Going to the medical center was practical, beca

ELLARIA.The man answered before I could open my mouth."Caden Wolfe," he said, addressing Arren directly and without any particular concern about the energy coming off him. "Alpha of the Blackwolf Pack. I came to consult your Luna on improving child survival rates at my nursery. It got late, so I offered her a ride home."Arren looked at him for a long moment. Then he looked at me, and his hand came down around my wrist. He pulled me to him forcefully, and I cried out before I could stop myself. Caden took a step forward, ready to intervene. "I'm asking you," Arren said, and I knew he wasn't talking to Caden anymore.Caden's eyes moved to my wrist, then to my face. "Alpha Pierce." His voice had dropped into something with more weight behind it. "You're a pack leader. Whatever this is, you might want to think about how it looks."That was when Arren's control slipped.It didn't happen loudly. It happened in the quality of the air around him, the way it thickened with something that