Nobody's favourite

CHAPTER THREE

ZARA

I stopped myself before the word mistress left my mouth.

But he heard it anyway.

His expression hardened.

“If you have something to say, say it properly.”

I stood from the bed too quickly, anger rushing through me so fast it almost made me dizzy.

“Fine,” I snapped. “You want honesty? Then tell me what exactly you expect from me, Alex. Because I am trying very hard to understand how humiliating me has somehow become part of my duties as Luna.”

“That is not what this is.”

He stared at me for a long moment before speaking.

“You are overreacting.”

Something inside me cracked quietly at how easily he said it.

“She has a gift,” he continued, voice colder now. “She was gentle with that child yesterday. Her instincts are natural. Unlike yours, her abilities are not something meant to be commercialized. They should be nurtured.”

The words landed harder than shouting would have.

Commercialized.

I almost could not breathe for a second.

I spent every day healing injured wolves until my hands cramped. I treated pregnant women through sleepless nights, rebuilt the infirmary after the fire, taught herbal medicine to half the younger generation of this Pack, and somehow, in his eyes, that had become something lesser.

Useful.

Functional.

Not soft enough to deserve admiration.

“Do you understand me?” he asked sharply.

I almost said no.

Almost told him exactly where he could take his orders and his precious Selene.

But if I exploded now, it would become another story about the cruel Luna and the gentle woman she envied.

Selene would cry.

Alex would defend her.

The Pack would whisper.

And I was suddenly too exhausted to survive another humiliation tonight.

So I swallowed every sharp thing clawing up my throat.

“Selene is welcome to join my evening classes,” I said quietly. “I already teach the younger wolves in the woods.”

His brows furrowed slightly, like he genuinely had not known that.

Of course he hadn’t.

He had never once asked how I spent my evenings.

“That will not work,” he replied. “This needs to be private. Clear your schedule two hours before class. Nonnegotiable.”

There it was again.

Not a request.

A command.

The door shut behind him, and the silence afterward felt unbearable.

For a few seconds, I remained completely still.

Then my knees gave out.

I caught myself against the wall before I could hit the floor, my entire body shaking with the force of everything I had refused to say. Rage burned beneath my skin so violently it almost hurt more than the heartbreak.

I pressed my hand against my mouth and forced myself not to cry.

I did not realize anyone else was nearby until voices drifted through the corridor.

“Did you see the way the Alpha looked at Selene last night?”

I froze.

“I feel terrible for Luna Zara,” another woman whispered, and I recognized Beta Monique immediately.

“The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes,” someone murmured. “But sometimes I wonder if fate can still ruin a person’s life.”

A bitter laugh followed.

“Everyone knows the Alpha loved Selene first. After the mating ceremony, when Zara was chosen instead, Selene left because she could not bear it. The whole Pack heard her crying that night.”

“And the Alpha nearly went after her,” another voice added quickly. “My brother said he punched straight through the wall in the council wing. His parents had to stop him.”

“Maybe true love always wins eventually.”

The words sliced deeper than they should have.

Because suddenly I understood something horrifying.

Selene was the tragic love.

Alex was the man forced to suffer.

And I was merely the woman standing in the way.

The clinic became my refuge for the rest of the day.

Patients. Herbs. Measurements. Burn ointments. Inventory reports.

Pain was easier to survive when divided into tasks.

By evening, exhaustion sat so heavily in my bones that even breathing felt like work.

That was when Zaphir appeared. One of my few friends.

“The Alpha wants you,” he said flatly, already sounding irritated on my behalf.

I tied my hair into a loose knot and forced a smile. “Of course he does.”

The forest air was damp by the time we arrived.

And there he was.

Alex stood near the lake, dark sleeves rolled to his forearms, looking unfairly beautiful in the fading light.

For one stupid heartbeat, my chest reacted anyway.

Then I saw Selene beside him.

Laughing softly at something he had said.

And the feeling died instantly.

“You’re late,” Alex said when he noticed me. “Let’s get this over with.”

I moved ahead of them and began pointing out herbs growing near the waterline, explaining their properties and extraction methods with mechanical precision while Selene nodded dramatically beside me like an attentive student.

But she barely listened.

Most of the time, she was looking at Alex.

And most of the time—

he was already looking back.

Their laughter drifted behind me like a private language I had not been invited to understand.

I kept talking anyway.

Because dignity was the only thing I still had left.

“The ground is slippery here,” I warned eventually. “Water from the lake seeps into the soil.”

Neither of them responded.

Selene moved closer instead, placing her hand lightly on my shoulder.

“Is there really a herb used for love potions?” she asked sweetly.

I stepped back instinctively.

“I am not sure there is any herb powerful enough to force real love—”

“Ah!”

Her scream cut through the forest.

One second she was upright.

The next, she lurched sideways, grabbing me hard enough to drag me down with her.

Pain exploded through my ankle as I slammed against the rocks near the bank. Mud splattered across my dress and up my arms.

For half a second, I could not breathe.

Then Selene started crying.

“Alex!”

He reached her instantly.

“What the hell happened?” he demanded, dropping beside her.

“I slipped,” Selene whimpered. “Luna Zara tried to help me, but—”

His eyes snapped toward me anyway.

Cold.

“What have you done, Zara?”

The question hit harder than the fall.

Because he had not even asked if I was hurt.

Had not even looked.

I stared at him from the mud, stunned by how easily he believed the worst of me.

“I didn’t...”

But Alex wasn’t listening.

Zaphir helped me back to the Pack house.

My ankle throbbed. Mud caked my dress.

A knock. Sharp. Insistent.

“Luna?” A guard’s voice. “Alpha requests your presence. Immediately.”

Immediately. Of course. Because Selene’s imaginary suffering couldn’t wait.

“I’ll be there,” I said flatly.

I rinsed the mud off as best I could. Pulled on a clean dress. Left my hair loose because I no longer had the energy to pin it.

The compound was crowded. Healers. Guards. Curious Pack members who had heard about the “accident.”

Selene lay on a cot, Alex beside her, his fingers threaded through her hair.

When I entered, his head snapped up. His eyes were cold.

“Took you long enough.”

“I was cleaning up. From the fall she caused.”

His gaze hardened. “Fix her knee.”

I looked at Selene. At the tiny scrape—barely a scratch—that she was treating like a mortal wound.

This is absurd.

But I knelt. I took the bowl of medicine from the junior healer. I bent over Selene’s leg.

My back screamed. I ignored it.

She watched me. That smile—soft and venomous—curved her lips.

“Luna,” she said, loud enough for the room to hear, “do you not like me?”

I paused. Her eyes glittered.

“I know it’s not your fault I fell,” she continued. “You wouldn’t have done that. You’re not cruel. I’m sorry for always getting between you and Alex.”

Crocodile tears. Perfectly timed.

The room held its breath.

I finished cleaning her knee. Dried it. Applied a bandage. Then I stood.

“You asked if I like you.” My voice carried. “I don’t know you well enough to like or dislike you. But I know a performance when I see one.”

Her smile faltered.

“That’s enough, Zara,” Alex snapped.

The room went silent.

Alex’s face was stone. “A word. In private.”

He led me into a side room. Closed the door.

“You humiliated her.”

“I treated her. That’s what you asked for.”

“You know what I mean.” He stepped closer.

“No. Enlighten me.” My voice rose.

His jaw tightened. “I have allowed you to share my bed. My home. My name. All I ask is that you treat Selene with kindness. But you can’t even do that, can you? Because you’re jealous.”

He stared at me.

“Also, why have you been hanging out with him so much lately?” He cast a glance at Zaphir.

“Nonsense!”

“Do what you’re supposed to do,” he said finally. “This bullshit ends now. Understood?”

For the very first time, a thought surfaced quietly in the middle of all that exhaustion.

Maybe I do not have to stay here forever.