MasukFor three grueling years, Luna Serena kept Thornblood Pack on its feet patiently awaiting the return of her mate, Alpha Caden Thornblood, who was fighting valiantly on the front lines, leading his warriors. She knew she was unmarked but believed she was loved. That was until that illusion was shattered upon her mate's arrival with a rogue Lilliana, his fated mate heavy with pup. Cast aside by the very man she had given everything, she she leaves knowing his pack will crumble in her absence and when he comes for her she already stands beside the most powerful man in the continent, the Lycan King.
Lihat lebih banyakSerena's pov
I bathed myself in another cloud of lavender-his favorite scent.
Today my mate, my alpha forever , was coming back home, draped in victory and merits. My wolf swelled with pride
Smoothing over the little wrinkles on the bed, a smile played over my lips.
For 3 years I have held up the fort, managing pack affairs and keeping everything afloat.
"When I come back..." I slowly recalled his promise from 3 years ago, "I will make you mine truly fully mine.." I brushed over the shadow mark on my shoulder.
I told him I was ready for a real one, he refused saying anything could happen in the battlefield and he didn't want me moping forever.
Silly Caden, like I could even dream of loving someone that was not him.
Very few knew about his arrival tonight, that was intentional on my part. I wanted to have him to myself before I would have to share him with the pack, to add to the surprise I even told the warriors to the deceive him that I was unfortunately out of the pack for a territorial meeting with the alpha and Luna of our neighboring Pack then-
The screeches from hinges turning on the door made me jolt up, I zipped through the room with my insane speed that was known through the continent and hid in the wardrobe waiting to surprise him.
I had no idea that he would beat me to it.
The door flew open, first I caught a Caden scent but here's was not the only one in our bedroom chamber, there was a softer feminine one entangled in his.
My heart shot up to my throat, breath seizing for a moment.
Was this some kind of nightmare? And if it wasn't, how was the man I had waited for leading another woman into our bedroom?
Denial kept me planted in place, feeding me excuses that didn't fit as my heart hastened faster.
"Caden I'm scared, are you sure she won't show up?" Her voice, it sounded so dainty and fragile like she was on the verge of snapping.
"Don't worry I've asked the servants and the warriors they all said she was going for a meeting or something she won't be back for another 3 days at least," Caden said in a husky voice, something once reserved for only me.
I cupped my palm over my cheek as tears trickled over them.
This was the man I waited three years for, yearning for the day I would be in his embrace once more. His letters from the war front told me that my feelings were not one-sided, that my absence created a wound that no physical blow could measure up to.
The tears intensified as their lips molded into each other, hands explored and my wolf growled, demanding I tear them apart.
But I remained hidden even as he carried her into the bed we shared, stroking off her auburn hair from her face.
I needed to know just how far he had gone with her.
His lips came to her throat, and her screams shook the walls as he did so his fingers traveled between her legs while my heart split into two
The Caden I knew was not fond of foreplay, it wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say he despised it.
"We're not teenagers anymore, Serena." He would say while messaging his brow like he was explaining his displeasure to me as if I was a petulant child. "Besides..."He would continue not facing me, "Couldn't you be focused on your true responsibilities?" That's not so subtle a reminder that I had failed again and again to produce an heir for Thornblood would clip any complaints I had about our bedroom life.
He said all that yet had another woman squirming under him in OUR bed.
It was already devastating enough but if this was just a one time thing-a mistake yes- maybe I can for-
"I can't believe I'm finally here with you..." Caden said, it was a murmur in her ears but my Luna senses picked it up like he'd said it in mine.
The woman gasped as he tore off her skirt, "Caden, You're in such a rush! Easy...I already let you have me in the car, didn't I?"
My throat closed up
"I've had you almost everyday for the past three years and it's not close to enough," he breathed out. My tears were now blurring my vision.
He was about to dive in for another kiss then she pushed him back, her palm spread, her voice suddenly serious.
"Caden I'm scared, what if your pack doesn't accept me as their Luna?"her voice began to cracked
"You'll be perfect."
I was reaching my limit.
"Please don't flatter me, I know I could never compare to your true Luna and mate..." She started to cry, hiding her face. He pulled her hand away and said; "she's not even a fraction of a problem, just a placeholder that I would have tolerated for the rest of my life. Liana, she doesn't hold a candle to you."
That was where my patience snapped. I stormed out of the closet, both pairs of eyes jerked over to me, made a pretentious attempt to reach for the duvet but it was clear that she was giving me a good show of all the love marks he had left spread over her body.
Caden planted himself between us already protectively propped in case I let out my anger on her which only inflamed me.
"Caden!" I had so much to say but it just broke out in intense emotion, he was already down to his boxers yet he told me; "this isn't what it looks like."
My muscles became taunt, "are you sure because it definitely looks like you are taking another woman to town on our bed!"
"Serena, calm yourself, this is not befitting of a Luna!"
"And I suppose dragging a common w**** to our bed is what is benefiting an Alpha?"
His mouth went short then just before he could speak the woman she just called Liana clutched to him and said;"Caden the pup is coming.”
Serena’s POVThe knowledge that a second target sat active inside the palace changed the shape of every corridor.Alaric ordered the quiet watch on Kieran held at its present level so that nothing would signal a change in pressure. At the same time he opened a second, narrower line of inquiry. Full lists of household staff with extended access to the royal wing. Medical personnel who had treated either of us since the ashveil attack. Guards rotated through private door duty. Scribes who handled sealed correspondence. The work had to be done without raising the kind of noise that would tell Kieran we were looking for someone else.Paranoia settled in quietly. I caught myself measuring the pauses in conversations. I noticed which servants lingered near doors and which ones found reasons to pass the study more often than their duties required. Alaric felt the same shift through the bond. He said little about it, but the number of times he checked the locks on our private rooms increased.
Serena’s POVGale was still in the medical wing when we spread the torn ledger page under the full light of the study lamps. The physician had cleaned the cut on his temple and confirmed that the ribs underneath the bruising were cracked but not broken. He had ordered rest. Gale had given the kind of short agreement that meant he would rest only after the page had been fully read.Alaric placed the torn sheet in the center of the desk. I stood on one side. Gale sat on the other with his back straight despite the pain. The columns of dates and notations that had looked incomplete in the cellar lantern light became sharper under the steady lamps.“Begin with the Thornblood entries,” Alaric said.Gale traced the first relevant line with one finger. “Payment authorized for information on restricted herb routes. The amount matches what Belinda described. Date sits seven months ago. The notation after it reads partial success, secondary contact used.”“That matches the clerk with the gambli
Serena’s POVThe palace search began within minutes of the open window being logged.Alaric ordered every corridor in the west wing sealed. Guards moved in paired teams through storerooms, side stairs, service passages, and the lower levels that connected the residential floors to the kitchens and cellars. Lanterns flared in spaces that usually stayed dark after evening. Names were checked against postings. No one left the wing without direct leave from the king.I stayed with the central group as we worked downward. The bond between Alaric and me carried a steady, cold pressure that left no room for panic. Gale had entered the chambers. Gale had not left by the door. The open window gave a possible route to the roof, but the roof led to other windows and other drops, and every one of them was being searched.“Cellars next,” Alaric said when the upper service floors produced nothing. “Then the outer courts if we have to.”The main wine cellar sat two levels below the west wing kitchen
Serena’s POVBy the time Belinda’s formal statement had been recorded and the apothecary inventory completed, the pattern no longer left room for generous interpretation.The inventory confirmed three controlled vials missing from the restricted stores. The key log showed an after hours access under a secondary steward’s mark that the steward himself denied making. The bottle design matched palace stock exactly. Belinda’s gate search records remained clean. Her statement about Kieran’s approach seven months earlier matched the dates on the clerk’s confession from Thornblood territory. The same man who had offered gold for herb routes and sightings of Liliana had later moved ashveil into the king’s goblet and then used palace poison to frame the woman who brought us the proof.Alaric listened to the full summary in the private study after the last of the scribes had been dismissed. Gale stood near the desk with the compiled reports. I remained by the window, watching the late light fad
Caden's POVThe air in the master suite was thick with the scent of lilies, a cloying, suffocating perfume that seemed to cling to the velvet drapes and the expensive new rugs. I stood by the balcony, the night air cool against my skin, watching the moonlight pool on the floorboards where Serena h
Serena’s POVThe midnight deadline pressed against my spine like a blade, but fear had burned away hours ago. All that remained was cold, calculated resolve. I moved through the pack house like a ghost in my own home, heading for the study. I needed the last of my private files before I disappeared
Serena’s POVThe air in the pack house main hall was thick with the scent of lilies and cold judgment. I stood at the center of the room with a very stiff stance, watching the elders of the Thornblood pack shift uncomfortably on their velvet-lined benches. These were the same men and women who ha
Selena's povIn a few minutes I was sent out of the packhouse I occupied and given a small cabin close to the woods. cabin air was stale, smelling of dust and the lingering, suffocating scent of my own misery. I was staring at the wall, tracing the cracks in the wood, when the door groaned open w






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