Chapter 2

When I had confronted Eric about it, he had said, "Irina isn't familiar with our territory, so what's wrong with me sending her back to her house?"

He had spoken in such a justified tone, as though a mated Alpha frequently sending his female subordinate back to her place late at night and staying around an hour or two each time was something utterly normal.

When I asked him why he had never told me about it before, his expression had instantly turned cold. "Are you interrogating your Alpha right now, Freya?"

He then began accusing me of always being so paranoid and suspicious. According to him, Irina was a hardworking subordinate who didn't deserve to be shamed by a Luna who was feeling insecure.

The next morning, he took things one step further and even promoted Irina to the position of his personal secretary.

"Since you seem to distrust me so much, I'll prove to you that there's nothing shameful going on between me and Irina!"

Although I protested this decision, he refused to back down. On the contrary, it seemed that the angrier I became, the bolder he grew.

When there was a negotiation regarding pack borders, he brought only Irina along. At the interpack banquet, he had Irina sitting beside him while I was arranged to sit at another table.

Finally, one night, an elder reminded him, "Eric, your Luna is still over there."

Eric looked over at me, a hint of panic flashing in his eyes.

However, in the next second, Irina tugged on his sleeve. Immediately, his casual and unbothered demeanor was back. "Freya isn't that petty."

From that, I realized that he was well aware of what he was doing.

Not wanting to endure it any longer, I got into a huge row with him after returning home that night.

Eric berated me for humiliating him, causing others to mock him for taking an easily jealous, unworthy Luna as a mate.

Yet, all those years ago, he had been the one to ignore everyone's protests to take me as his mate. At the time, he had even gently promised me, "Freya Brandt, you are my one and only choice for the rest of my life. There is no second choice."

After our fight, he disappeared for four days to punish me. He completely cut off all contact with me and even refused to show up in front of me.

It wasn't until I backed down first that he finally came back home.

He had brought several of his best friends back with him, and they settled down in the living room, taking turns "analyzing" just how the problem lay with me.

"Freya, who doesn't know how Eric even went up against the Council of Elders and ignored their objections for you back then? There's no way he would get involved with anyone else. He and Irina are just old friends!"

"As the Alpha of the pack, Eric is already stressed enough. If you can’t share his burden, can’t you at least stop adding to it?"

"A true Luna knows how to trust her Alpha. There's no Alpha in this world who could possibly endure being doubted every single day."

Eric sat in the middle of the group, not defending me even once as he allowed them to hurt me with their words.

At last, once everyone had said their piece, he spoke up.

"Do you understand now, Freya?"

At the time, I genuinely thought that maybe I really was at fault for being too sensitive. After all, as a human, I had no idea what the social boundaries were in werewolf society.

I thought that maybe Eric really was doing all this because of his past friendship with Irina, and that if I were just a little more open-minded and easy-going, maybe we could return to how we used to be.

Then came our most recent fight, where we ended up giving each other the silent treatment for days.

On the third day, my gastritis flared up again, the pain so severe that I couldn't even stand straight. This was the consequence of what I did three years ago to develop the pack, when I spent countless nights working away and developed irregular eating habits.

When Eric spotted me curled up on the couch, a hand pressed over my stomach, his brow furrowed slightly in a frown. A trace of worry flickered in his eyes. "Freya, you…"

Right as he moved to take a step toward me, his phone rang with a call from Irina.

After several seconds of hesitation, he ultimately answered his phone. Then, as though he had completely forgotten about my existence, he grabbed his suitcase and headed for the front door.

The instant the door clicked shut, something in my heart seemed to fall silent.

From then on, I neither contacted him nor asked him about his whereabouts.

For the first time since this all started, I didn't want his explanation anymore. I finally understood that the problem had never been about whether I was patient or magnanimous enough.

It was that Eric needed me to feel "jealous", as that would give him the perfect excuse to punish me and choose Irina again.

Even if I had never discovered those GPS records, he would've found other reasons to be around her, take her home, or even go out on a trip with just the two of them. Every time I objected, that would simply give him the chance to call me petty or easily jealous.

That afternoon, Eric sent me Irina's mine acquisition proposal to review.

That ore vein had long since been depleted due to overmining two years ago. If Eric went ahead and acquired the mine, that would definitely cause the pack to suffer massive losses.

My recommendation in my report was clear—reject it.

However, Eric deleted my suggestion and approved the proposal. He assumed that once I discovered what he had done, I would charge into his office and confront him about it.

Yet, I did absolutely nothing.

One week later, he and Irina returned from their "work trip".

They had used only the first two days to check out the mine, then spent the remaining five days on a private hunting trip, having fun.

Upon their return, they slid back into their old routine. On the surface, everything looked normal as they dined together or handled pack matters, just like they had before.

However, I could sense that they had grown much more intimate with each other.

Nonetheless, I didn't care anymore. After three years of being mates with Eric, it was about time for this farce to end.

That night, I had only just finished the risk assessment for bankruptcy when my phone lit up with a notification.

Irina had uploaded a new photo to her social media.

In it, she was standing by an outdoor dining table, bathed in moonlight. Two flutes of champagne adorned the table behind her, while she had Eric's black trench coat draped over her shoulders.

Eric was right in front of her, standing inappropriately close as he helped pull the collar of his coat tighter around her.

The caption read, "Even after so many years of not seeing each other, you still remember that I get cold easily."

The comments section was flooded with similar comments, all along the vein of, "You two look like the perfect match for each other."

Eric commented with a question mark, only for Irina to respond with a mischievous emoji.

In the past, I would've immediately called Eric to demand answers, at which point he would accuse me of always checking Irina's posts, making a huge fuss out of nothing, and starting arguments.

This time, though, I simply exited the app and sent my completed report to Eric's email. Then, I turned off my computer and returned home alone.

I had barely set foot into the living room when Eric called me.

However, when I accepted the call, it was Irina's voice that came over the line.

"Freya, thanks for helping me finish the risk assessment report. Eric says that it's very well-written. I'll treat you to a meal another day."

Before I could say anything, Eric's voice drifted through the speakers as he said to Irina, "Don't thank her. She's only doing her job as the Luna."

Irina giggled. "You sure are strict with your Luna."

They seemed to have forgotten that I was still on the phone as they exchanged a few more words with each other.

After several seconds, Eric finally remembered that the call was still ongoing.

Perhaps due to his good mood, his voice was noticeably much gentler than earlier when he told me, "I'll be back really late tonight, so you can go ahead and sleep first. No need to wait for me."

In the past, every time Eric said he would be coming home late, I would stay up and wait for him in the living room.

Tonight, I wouldn't be doing that.

Instead, I headed upstairs to pack my luggage. After all, there were only three days left before the termination of our mate bond officially came into effect.