Chapter 4: The stranger

Vera

You learn not to confront your cheating husband when you’ve been punished for doing it once.

I had asked him once why he brought different women into our home, why he touched them in front of me like I was fucking invisible.

I didn’t scream or throw a tantrum. I just stood there and asked, “Why are you treating me like garbage?”

He didn’t even answer or yell.

You know what he did next?

He just called the guards.

And the next thing I knew, I was locked away in the dungeon for a full week.

No sunlight. No proper food. My skin reacted badly to whatever was in the air down there, and the scars never left.

Not the ones on my thighs. Not the ones inside my chest. The kind that itches at 3AM when you try to pretend you’re fine.

I still carry them. Not just on my body, but deep inside my heart.

So no, I didn’t say a word this time, I didn’t confront him when he brought Isolde home and spent the whole day fucking her.

I spent that day cleaning their mess, cooking their meals while they laughed upstairs, pretending I didn’t hear them.

I stayed invisible.

I sat in the corner of my basement, hugging my knees like they could keep me from falling apart.

I wasn’t even sure if the wet patch beside me was from the wine I spilled or the tears that just wouldn’t stop falling.

I wasn’t new to pain. I’d seen a lot in this house, locked doors, whispers behind my back, countless heartbreaks, fake smiles at dinner, knives in the form of words.

But tonight broke me, watching Jade planting a soft kiss on Isolde’s neck while I stood there, just as if he wanted me to see it?

That broke something inside me I didn’t even know was still there.

I didn’t cry because I was weak. I cried because I had nowhere left to put the pain.

I strolled to the kitchen finding anything I could munch on around 3AM in the midnight when my aching heart wouldn’t allow me to sleep.

I found a half-full bottle of liquor behind the shelf in the kitchen. Maybe someone forgot it or maybe it was fate. I don’t know.

But I took it and I drank it alone straight from the bottle.

The wine burned going down, but not as bad as the ache in my chest.

The kind that comes from being nothing in a place you used to belong.

I don’t even remember walking down the hall. My feet just moved on their own. I wasn’t planning to go anywhere. I wasn’t even thinking about anything.

I opened the door without knocking.

And there he was.

Not Jade. Not the monster I sleep beside out of duty.

It was him, the stranger who carried me in from the storm yesterday and didn’t say a word about it.

The one who covered me in a blanket and left without taking advantage of me.

I know there are a lot of people in the Pack palace, workers, guards, slaves, cooks but I’ve never crossed paths with this gentleman.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed, shirtless, again. Maybe he was getting ready to sleep. Or maybe he was battling with a sleepless night too, just like me.

His eyes met mine the second the door creaked open.

He looked calm and quiet.

Like peace, if peace had a pulse.

I stood there like a drunk idiot, who didn’t know what she was doing.

“Please,” I whispered, not knowing what I was even asking.

“Don’t ask me anything. I just… I can’t sleep alone tonight.”

“I’m sleeping here with you….please….pleaseee allow me.”

He stood up and watched me carefully like he was trying to figure out if I was real.

“You can’t sleep here, miss.”

“You’re drunk,” he said calmly.

“I know.” I said sluggishly.

“You don’t really want this.” He persuaded me but I was not having it.

“I fucking do!” I screamed even though my voice was rumbling under my throat.

He looked at me for a long moment. Then he took a breath, stepped forward slowly like he didn’t want to scare me and said, “This isn’t the best idea.”

He didn’t say another word. He just stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me.

He didn’t try to fix me. He didn’t try to stop me from crying. He was quiet. Present. And gentle.

And somehow, that was enough.

That was all it took for the tears to come back flooding my face.

I buried my face in his bare chest and cried like a child. His arms stayed around me like he’d been waiting his whole life to hold me in it.

When I stopped shaking, when the sobs turned into hiccups, he walked me over to the bed. I don’t know who leaned in first.

I just know there were hands. Soft ones. Strong ones. On my face, in my hair, trailing down my spine like he was trying to map out my pain with touch.

We didn’t fuck like strangers. We held each other like broken people who knew exactly where it hurt.

There was nothing rushed. Nothing forced.

He kissed me like I was something sacred.

And for once, I didn’t feel like garbage.

I freed myself and for that one night, I wasn’t a prisoner. I wasn’t the slave they made me to be.

I was just Vera.

And someone held me like I deserved peace.

I forgot Jade. I forgot Noah. I forgot Luna Marie. I forgot Anna, my twin. I forgot the basement. I fucking forgot everything.

But nothing lasts forever.

The next morning, I woke up to sunlight streaming in through the thin curtain and a warm blanket draping over my sore body.

My body was sore in the best way possible which is only normal after a long night of intense fuck from a stranger with a 7-inch long dick.

He was still lying beside me, sleeping peacefully as if he hadn’t just shifted my entire womb overnight.

His scent was all over the place and I still don’t understand why I’m feeling it so intensely.

I watched him for a second.

Then it occurred to me that it’s morning and I couldn’t risk being seen slipping out of a stranger’s room.

Quietly, I plopped out of bed, grabbed my clothes, and tiptoed out.

I walked barefoot down the corridor and successfully made it to my basement.

And then I froze.

Someone was already there.

Luna Marie was sitting on my bed, calm like she’d been waiting all night.

“Where are you coming from?” she asked.

“I… I went to get some water.”

She stared at me like she could see straight through my lie.

I could have sworn she already caught me.

But then she just stood up, smoothed her dress, and looked around.

“There’s going to be a summit meeting today,” she said. “A letter came in late last night from the rogue pack. Alpha Jade believes they are planning an attack.”

My chest tightened. If Blackfang sends us a letter then it means war is coming.

“So you know what to do….get the Pack Hall cleaned. You know what to do. Get the others. No room for mistakes.”

And then she walked out like nothing had happened.

I stood there, still silently holding onto the fact that she believed my lie.

Did she know where I’d really been? I couldn’t tell.

But for now, I was safe. Maybe.

Later that morning, the entire Pack buzzed with movement.

I cleaned. Scrubbed. Swept. Gave orders to the others like Luna Marie expected me to.

No one knew that hours ago, I had woken up in the arms of a stranger.

A stranger who felt more familiar than the people I’d served for years.

I didn’t stop moving. I didn’t let myself think.

By midday, Alpha Jade called for an assembly.

We gathered in the Pack Hall standing straight in front of me.

The Pack was quiet and sad.

Jade stood tall, smug as always, while the council watched on from the side.

“You all know Blackfang had challenged us by informing them of their coming, so in preparation against them…”

“We have a guest,” he announced. “Alpha Cassian of the Silverthorn Pack is here.”

Murmurs spread through the crowd. Silverthorn was the most powerful pack in the region.

They didn’t just show up for just anything.

“They’ve agreed to sign a security alliance with us,” Jade continued.

“And in return, they’ve offered their top man to strengthen our security.”

“And he will be our new head of Pack Security, starting today.”

He turned to the side gesturing to someone.

And that’s when I saw him.

A tall man stepped out from behind Alpha Cassian.

And my heart dropped.

It was him.

The man from last night.

The man who held me through the storm.

He was dressed in uniform now, tall, composed and cold-eyed.

His arms folded behind his back like he belonged to the stars.

“This is Kieran,” Jade said. “He’s the new head of Pack Security, effective immediately.”

“If you notice any strange movement, report to him directly.”

I couldn’t breathe.

Kieran didn’t look at me.

Not once.

But I saw the way his fingers curled slightly behind his back. The way his jaw tensed.

He knew I was there.

Because I knew that scent, even if I didn’t get his face. He was that man.

He was mine, even if for just a night.

And now… he was part of the Bluemoon Pack.

And I had no idea what that meant for me.

But I knew one thing…nothing was going to be simple anymore.