Chapter 5

Jeff

I told the two guards by the door, in a firm voice, “She isn’t allowed to leave this room. Not a single step. If she attempts to, you prevent her. Tough.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

I pushed the door open.

Blenda stood by the window, one shoulder pressed against the glass.

Her hair was a mess. Her face was too pale.

Those eyes of hers—usually soft and clear—were empty, staring at the floor as if the world had already ended.

I closed the door behind me. The soft click sounded too loud in the silence.

She didn’t look up.

I approached slowly and with intention.

 As I approached, the scent grew stronger—fear, anger, and a sharpness beneath that stirred my wolf slightly.

“Planning to run away with Caleb?” I inquired softly.

She turned her face away from me like I wasn’t even worth looking at.

That small rejection lit something ugly in my chest.

I reached out, caught her chin between two fingers, and forced her head up.

 Her skin was cold. Her pulse jumped under my thumb.

“Blenda.” I made her meet my eyes.

 “You’re my Luna. You go where I tell you to go. You do what I tell you to do. That’s how this works. Do you understand?”

She ripped her face out of my grip so hard I felt the scrape of her skin against my fingers.

 When she looked at me again, there was pure, raw hatred in her eyes.

“You hurt me,” she said, voice shaking with rage.

 “There’s nothing between me and Caleb. You’re the filthy one. I found out about you and Molly today—every disgusting thing. That’s why you’re doing this, isn’t it? You’re punishing me because I finally saw what you really are.”

My hand moved before I could stop it.

The crack of the slap filled the room.

Her head snapped to the side.

A bright red mark bloomed instantly across her cheek.

She lifted a trembling hand to cover it, breathing hard through her teeth.

For half a second, something in me twisted.

Thereafter, she moved. Her chest heaved up and down.

She struck me across the face with a powerful backhand.

 The force of it turned my head.

Sting exploded across my skin. The taste of copper touched my tongue.

I stared at her.

This woman, my obedient Luna, had just hit me.

Something dark and possessive roared up inside my chest.

I grabbed her arm, fingers locking tight around the slender bone, hard enough that I felt her flinch.

I dragged her closer until there was almost no space left between us.

“You listen to me carefully,” I said, voice dropping into something rough and dangerous.

“From this moment on, you don’t leave this room. You don’t see anyone. Not anyone. You are mine, Blenda. And I will remind you of that as many times as it takes.”

Her eyes were still burning. Still defiant.

Blenda

The door slammed so hard the entire room seemed to shake.

I stood there for a second, staring at the closed door, then slowly lifted my hand to my face.

My left cheek was already swelling.

The skin felt tight and hot, and the vision in my left eye had gone a little blurry around the edges.

It still burned like someone had pressed a brand against my skin.

But the pain in my face was nothing compared to the one in my chest.

Jeff’s expression when he hit me kept flashing behind my eyes—cold, furious, like I was something he had every right to break.

Then, Molly’s face appeared, standing in the courtyard earlier, laughing like she’d just won something.

And after that came Caleb, blood running down his face, being dragged away by the guards while he still tried to look back at me.

My mind wouldn’t stay quiet.

 Everything just kept slamming into each other.

I let my back slide down the wall until I was sitting on the floor.

My legs felt useless.

Tears started falling before I even realized I was crying.

 They ran hot over the swollen side of my face and dripped off my jaw onto my clothes.

Something hard pressed against the back of my thigh.

 I reached into my pocket with shaking fingers and pulled out two things: the little hair clip Caleb had given me and the folded pregnancy test I’d put there.

I wiped my face with my hand and unfolded the test.

Moonlight cut across the floor in a pale strip.

 In that thin light, the word “positive” looked sharper than it had any right to be.

A tear landed on the paper and spread; I stared at it until my vision swam again.

“Moon Goddess,” I whispered, “what am I supposed to do?”

My hand drifted down and settled over my lower stomach.

It still felt the same. But everything had already changed.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, making myself as small as possible on the cold floor.

For a long time, I just sat there, breathing in short, uneven pulls.

I couldn’t keep living like this.

I wouldn’t.

The thought came quietly at first, then harder, and clearer.

I was going to leave.

 I was going to divorce Jeff.

 I didn’t know how yet, and I didn’t know what it would cost, but I was done being his Luna, his wife, his vessel.

I lifted my head and looked out the window at the moon hanging low and bright over the trees.

Silas’s voice rose in my memory, low and steady, the way it had sounded the last time he spoke to me:

“No matter when, you can always come to me.”

I wiped the tears from my face.

I wasn’t staying here another night if I could help it.

I was going to find Silas.

And this time, I would let no one stop me.