The Bed I Made

Rael’s POV

The scent of blood still clung to me, it had soaked into my skin, into my clothes. I had just killed yet another Alpha, another pack that didn’t tell me where Selene was dead, but it all led to nowhere.

Still no Selene.

The moment I stepped into the Crimson Moon territory, silence greeted me like a ghost. The kind that didn’t make anything better—only worse. I stripped off my shirt, letting it fall to the floor.

A servant moved to pick it up, but I growled low. He flinched, running away. I didn’t want to be disturbed, I didn’t want food. Not to rest either. I wanted her, and my child.

I poured a drink instead. Whiskey, aged and sharp. It burned my throat but did nothing to change the ache spreading across my chest, my wolf pacing restlessly under my skin, whispering her name like a curse into my bones.

Selene.

I should’ve marked her. Should have made her mine like she always wanted, but I didn’t. And now she’s gone. I could still remember her lying in my bed, her soft breaths against my chest. Her scent, her delicate fingers against her belly.

She was carrying my child.

My fucking child.

“Rael.”

I turned slowly to see Liora standing at the end of the door, her hair fell over her shoulder, her lips painted and parted slightly as she looked at me with feigned innocence.

“You’re back early,” she said, walking towards me. She pressed her body against mine before I could open my mouth to say something. Her hands slid up my chest like she had a right to touch me, like she didn’t spend every day since our wedding pretending we were something we weren’t..

“I’ve been waiting for you all night,” she whispered. “You haven’t touched me in weeks, Rael.” 

“Let me give you what she couldn't." She hissed, her lips brushing against my jaw. “An heir.”

“You think that’s all I want?” I asked, my voice low. 

“It’s what you need,” she shot back. “Your council is whispering. They say you need an heir, and I can give you one but only if you make love to me.”

Her fingers trailed lower, she was desperate tonight—hungrier than usual. “I don’t need you to give me an heir,” I said coldly, grabbing her wrist and pushing her away.

“You need something!” she snapped, anger seeping through her mask. “Because you come home every night like the walls are closing in on you! You smell of war, blood, and regret. You don’t even look at me!”

I let out a bitter laughter, humourless and sharp. “Because you’re not her.” Her mouth twisted in anger. “She left you. You realize that, right? She ran. She wanted nothing to do with you. And maybe.”

Maybe someone else found her. Maybe she’s already given your bastard to another Alpha.”My hand flew before I could stop it—trying to stop myself from slamming her head against the wall, but instead to slam the glass in my hand against the wall behind her.

I didn’t even feel the blood dripping from my palm. “You will never speak of her again,” I snarled.

“She’s nothing,” Liora hissed. “A weak, trembling omega who tricked you with her scent and fled when you wouldn’t give her what she wanted.”

“Say her name again,” I warned, stepping toward her, “and I’ll forget you’re the daughter of the Vexley family.” Her eyes flashed..not with fear this time, but something darker.

“Selene,” she spat, stepping closer to me like she didn’t care whether she lived to regret it. “Selene, Selene, Selene. I hope she died out there in the mud like the stray she is. Because that's what she is, Rael—your pathetic little weakness.”

My fists curled at my sides, my nails biting into my palms. “Speak her name one more time,” I growled, nothing funny about the tone of my voice.

“She made you weak. You think I haven’t seen it? The way you wake up panting in the middle of the night like you’re being hunted? 

“The way you keep smelling the damn air like she’s going to suddenly and reunite with you.” Her voice broke before she could finish. “She’s ruined you.”

I took a step forward, standing tall over her, but still she didn’t back down. “I am your wife. I stood beside you in front of the entire pack. I gave up everything—my status, my pride—to be your Luna, and you’ve never touched me like you touched her. You’ve never even looked at me that way.”

“You were nothing but a transaction!” I hissed. “A transaction to secure more power. That was always the deal. Her hands flung across my face in an instant. She slapped me.

It wasn’t hard. It barely even hurts. But it snapped something loose inside me. My wolf surged forward, enraged, and I raised my hand….

Only to stop it mid-air.

Silence fell over us, thick and suffocating. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, lips trembling. My hand hovered between us, inches from her face. For one brutal second, we both saw who I was becoming.

And then I lowered my hand slowly, my jaw tight, voice like ice. “You’ll never speak of her again,” I said. “Because next time, I won’t stop myself.”

Liora didn’t utter another word, she turned her face away, but not before I saw the tears threatening to spoil down her cheeks. Not sadness—but pure humiliation.

“You’ll never stop looking for her,” she whispered, softer now. “Even if it kills you.”

And she was right. I turned without another word, walking out of the room with my wolf snarling just beneath my skin. Because if I stayed any longer… I wasn’t sure who I would become.

I needed to get some air, staring at the clouds like they could hold answers to my questions. My damn wolf wouldn’t let me rest. He growled and paced, restless. Hungry for her.

The bond hadn’t snapped. Not even after years. It pulsed like it was alive—like Selene was somewhere, still glued to me, still carrying a piece of my soul….

A tap on my shoulder quickly cut me off from my thoughts. It was my Beta, Myren. “Speak,” I said, turning to face him.

“We intercepted a report from Eastwind scouts. Selene’s movement was last seen near the Silver Fang’s borders.”

My entire body was still.

It better not be that damn bastard that has her.