Chapter 5

Damon POV

Celeste’s basket of food sat on my desk after she’d come and gone, still untouched. I stared at it for a long time, my appetite dulled by the cloying smell of honey bread wafting from beneath the cloth.

“Sorry for the intrusion, Alpha,” Caleb said, entering quietly, “Celeste wanted to make sure you received her gift. She seemed… quite eager to deliver it herself.”

I grunted, uninterested.

I’d grown used to a certain rhythm these past few months. One I didn’t want to admit aloud to anyone, let alone myself.

Specifically Lena’s cooking. Her meals were simple, never flamboyant, but each one carried a care that no one else’s could seem to replicate. Even when I told myself it didn’t matter, when I reminded myself she was just an Omega in the Pack house, my body noticed when it wasn’t her food I was being given.

The basket in front of me was too sweet, too showy and it definitely wasn’t what I craved.

I leaned back in my chair, narrowing my eyes on the basket before looking to Caleb, who stood at attention near the desk. “Caleb, did Lena send anything today?”

For the briefest heartbeat, something flickered across his face. A hesitation. His posture remained straight, but I caught the faint tightening of his jaw, the way his throat bobbed.

When he composed himself, his tone was flat. “No, Alpha. Nothing from her today.”

My frown deepened.

That didn’t sound right. Lena had never once failed to send something. Not once, even when she was exhausted, even when Noah was ill, even when I’d spoken to her more harshly than I intended to that day, she still carried out her duties.

Why would today be different?

“Are you sure?” I pressed.

“Yes, Alpha.”

Dissatisfaction prickled beneath my skin.

If she hadn’t sent food, it wasn’t negligence or forgetfulness, it was her sulking with that silent defiance she thought I wouldn’t notice.

All because I had told her to back off. Because I had reminded her of her place. She’d been restless ever since Celeste returned, pushing against the boundaries I’d set for her, whispering about telling Noah the truth that was never meant to be spoken out loud let alone to him.

And now she was letting her emotions bleed into her duties.

Pathetic.

I turned away from the basket, unable to force myself to eat.

“Fine,” I muttered. “Leave it. You’re dismissed.”

I expected Caleb to bow and retreat as he always did. He knew when to fade into the background, when to keep silent. But for some reason, he stayed rooted where he was. The air shifted, his weight shifting minutely from one foot to the other.

Then he cleared his throat.

I looked up sharply, irritation already curling hot in my chest. Caleb was not a man to linger without reason.

“There’s something else, Alpha. Rumors are starting to spread.”

My eyes narrowed. “What kind of rumors?”

“They concern the boy.” Caleb chose his words with care, but his eyes didn’t quite meet mine.

Every hair on the back of my neck bristled. “Speak plainly.”

He exhaled slowly, as though dragging the words out of himself. “Some have begun to whisper that Lena may be his true mother.”

The world seemed to tilt. For the briefest second, I didn’t move. Then the blow landed.

My hand tightened against the carved armrest of my chair, the wood creaking under the force. “What?”

Caleb lowered his head, his voice measured, but I caught the tension threaded through it. “I’ve heard it from three different wolves today. The whispers are circulating faster than I can contain.”

Rage flared, hot and immediate. Not at the gossip itself but at the thought of its source: Lena.

Of course.

Who else would dare plant such poison within the Pack?

She was emotional, unstable, reckless. I’d warned her countless times to mind her place, to understand what was at stake if she were to speak about matters that were supposed to be out of her hands. And yet, this was exactly what I’d feared—her desperation bleeding into the Pack’s ear and causing chaos.

She never learned.

“Lena,” I muttered. “She’s responsible.”

Caleb shifted, his brows drawing together. “Alpha, we don’t have proof that—”

“Enough,” I snapped, cutting him off before he could finish. “You will squash it before it breeds chaos. If anyone dares to speak of it again, you silence them. I don’t care how.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

I pressed a hand to my temple, irritation pounding against my skull like a war drum. The very idea of it, the whispers, the speculation, was unacceptable.

Dangerous.

“The alliance with the Royalcrest Pack depends on appearances,” I said, forcing my tone into an iron calm, more for myself than for him. “My son’s future depends on it. I will not have the boy’s legacy tainted by whispers of an Omega mother.”

The words echoed in the chamber. Harsh. Final.

But even as I said them, something tightened in my chest.

“Is that understood?”

“Yes, Alpha. Understood.”

Lena’s POV

I stumbled away from the wastebasket, my legs unsteady, as though my body had suddenly forgotten how to hold me upright. The hallway tilted and warped around me, the edges of the world blurring until I slammed into the opposite wall with a thud that rattled through my bones.

He was such an asshole.

No, more than that. Damon was the single most vile, calculating, heartless person I had ever had the displeasure of meeting. And he was my mate.

That thought alone made me more angry than anything. Because no matter what I did, I could never truly get rid of him.

I pressed a trembling hand to the wall, trying to steady myself, when voices carried through the door in front of me. The murmur of Caleb’s tone, the familiar rasp of Damon’s.

My stomach clenched.

“Alpha…” Caleb said carefully, his steps creaking against the floorboards as he moved closer to the door. “I don’t mean to question you, but why not simply reject her? That Omega can’t be that valuable to keep around. Even as a nanny.”

My body froze.

For a heartbeat, there was only silence. Then a scoff escaped from Damon, dripping with disdain. “Because she’s an Omega. Rejection might kill her. And as pitiful as she is, I don’t want her death on my hands.”

I clutched at my chest, as if by pressing hard enough I could keep the pieces of myself from falling apart.

Kill me… rejection might kill me. The only reason he hadn’t done it yet was because he didn’t want my blood on his conscience. Not because I mattered, or because he cared. It was nly pity that kept me alive.

Damon’s voice rolled on, colder, heavier. “Besides, the Pack already sees her as nothing more than my son’s nanny. There’s no reason to rock the boat more than what’s already happened.”

A nanny.

The word echoed like a curse in my ears.

That was all I was to him. Not a mate. Not even the mother of his heir. Just a body who had once been useful, who had birthed a child, and now served quietly in the shadows until I wore myself down to nothing.

Disposable.

Replaceable.

My chest heaved, my ribs straining as though they might crack beneath the force of it. I pressed a hand to my mouth, desperate to muffle the sob clawing its way up, but it tore free anyway, raw and broken, echoing in the hall.

I couldn’t hold myself back any longer.

The door burst open under my hand, slamming against the wall with a crack that startled both Damon and Caleb inside. They both turned sharply, their expressions flashing surprise before Damon’s face shuttered back into steel.

I stood in the doorway, my tears streaking hot down my cheeks. Despite that, my voice rose, sharp and harsh as I spoke the words I should’ve a long, long time ago.

“I quit.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

Damon’s jaw tightened, his eyes narrowing. “What did you say?”

“You heard me.” My words came out hoarse, torn from a throat too raw with pain, but I forced them out louder, stronger. “I quit. I won’t be Noah’s nanny anymore. I refused to be your secret any longer. I’m rejecting you.”