1: IT’S BEEN TWO YEARS.

MALIA’S POV

“You cheated on your mate?”

The question didn’t just land between us. It settled there, heavy and certain.

For the first time since it happened, the reality of what I’d done rang loudly in my head. It should’ve pulled some kind of reaction from me.

But I didn’t flinch.

I didn’t even look up from my coffee.

Instead, I watched the thin swirl of cream dissolve slowly into the dark liquid, pretending it deserved more attention than this conversation.

“That’s a bold accusation,” I said evenly.

Across from me, Verna leaned back in her chair. I didn’t need to look up to know her sharp eyes were fixed on me.

“Is it?” she mused.

I finally lifted my gaze.

As expected, there was no curiosity in her expression. Verna never asked questions unless she already knew the answer.

I should’ve shut this conversation down the second it drifted away from pack business and toward my personal life.

That was my mistake.

I set the spoon down with a soft clink. “I didn’t cheat.”

One brow arched slightly. Unimpressed.

“Then what exactly would you call it?”

This time, I held her stare. “I moved on.”

The lie settled neatly between us. Almost believable.

Verna hummed under her breath, like she was tasting the words instead of hearing them.

“That’s a quick recovery,” she said. “Most people don’t move on from their mates overnight.”

“It’s been two years,” I corrected quietly.

Two years of silence.

Two years of unanswered calls and messages that eventually stopped delivering altogether, like even the system gave up on him before I did.

Two years of chasing shadows from one hunter to another, organizing search parties, hiring private investigators, collecting favors I’d spend years repaying.

And still, nothing.

For an entire year, I had nothing to show for it.

But I didn’t stop.

Not even when the pack started whispering behind my back.

He left.

He found another life.

They could feel his connection to the pack weakening.

“Alphas abandon weak packs all the time,” Marie had told me once. “An alpha without an heir isn’t reliable. And a human luna isn’t enough to keep him.”

I didn’t believe her.

I couldn’t.

Emil made me a promise before he left, and I held onto it like it meant something real.

Turns out, promises don’t mean much when the person making them disappears.

“And you chose now to move on?” Verna asked, judgment threading through her voice.

My throat tightened briefly before I swallowed it down.

“I made a decision.”

“Decisions usually come with reasons.”

I didn’t answer.

Because the reason wasn’t clean enough to explain out loud.

It wasn’t logical.

It was a bar. A dare. A man I should’ve ignored. And one reckless moment where I stopped caring about consequences.

The memory flickered through my mind, but I shoved it down before it could fully surface.

“Does he know?”

My gaze snapped back to hers.

For a second, something tightened painfully in my chest.

Then it disappeared.

I slid the documents across the table. “The next harvest will take longer than expected, but I adjusted the schedule. Deliveries will come in batches.”

Verna glanced at the papers, though I could tell her attention never really left me.

“If there’s anything you’d like changed,” I added, pushing my chair back, “have the alpha contact me.”

I was already standing when her voice stopped me.

“Running away from the conversation again?”

I didn’t turn around.

My phone buzzed against the table.

The moment I saw the caller ID, every muscle in my body locked up.

“Blake,” I answered quickly.

His voice came fast and tight.

“I need you back at the pack house. Now.”

A cold feeling settled in my stomach.

“What happened?”

A brief silence.

Then—

“Alpha Emil is back.”

The world tilted.

For a second, I stopped hearing everything around me. The café. Verna. Even my own breathing.

My grip tightened around the phone.

“Say that again.”

The line crackled.

“Alpha Emil is home.”

The call ended before I could respond.

I stared at the screen, my thoughts crashing into each other.

No.

That didn’t make sense.

The investigators said—

I grabbed my bag and walked out without another word to Verna.