Iris's POV

"Look at yourself Iris. You look pathetic," Kael said, setting his glass down with a heavy thud on the marble counter. "You are acting like the world just ended. Children die all the time and she was weak from the moment she was born and honestly she was just a money pit draining our pack bank account. So stop with the useless tears."

Anya bared her sharp teeth inside my mind. " Do not let this coward speak about our pup like that, Iris." she snarled. ". I want to tear his chest open and feed his heart to the rogues."

I stared at him, my throat feeling like it was burning from the inside out. My jaw trembled and hot tears began to spill down my cheeks, blurring my vision.

"You are absolutely disgusting," I whispered, my voice shaking with raw, agonizing pain. "She was three years old Kael...three years old. She loved you regardless of how cold you were to her and she looked at you like you were her whole world. She carried your blood in her veins."

I slammed my fist onto the living room table, my heart shattering into a million pieces all over again.

"She was gasping for air on that bed, calling out for her daddy, while you were thrusting inside another woman!" I screamed, every word tearing through my chest. "And you stand there and say her death is a good thing? How can one be this evil... how can a father say that about his own flesh and blood?"

Kael did not even flinch, his face did not change at all. There was no regret in his eyes....no pain nor was there any shame. His expression remained completely dead, blank and cold as if I had just complained about the weather.

He crossed his arms over his broad chest and let out a long, bored sigh.

"If you are done ranting, let me go to bed," Kael said, his voice flat. "I had a long day and I do not have the energy to listen to your endless screaming."

Something inside me snapped. Five years of taking his verbal abuse, five years of swallowing my pride, three years of playing the silent, obedient wife for Avery’s sake, all burned away in a single second.

" Strike him," Anya roared inside my mind, pushing all her power right into my arm. "Wipe that arrogant look off his face."

I walked right up to him and before he could react, I swung my hand with every single drop of strength left in my body and slapped him right across the face.

The loud sound echoed off the walls of the empty pack house. Kael’s head turned slightly to the side from the force of the slap.

For a second, the house was completely silent.

Then, Kael turned his head back to look at me. A slow, terrifying smile spread across his lips. But his eyes were dark with pure malice.

Before I could take a single step backward, his large hand shot out like a lightning bolt and wrapped tightly around my throat.

He lifted me straight off my feet, pressing my back hard against the cold wall. My breath was cut off instantly. I grabbed at his wrist, my nails digging into his skin, but his grip was like solid iron. My legs kicked uselessly in the air as my lungs burned for oxygen.

"You really think you are brave now, do you?" Kael sneered, leaning in so close I could smell the sharp scent of alcohol and another woman’s perfume on his breath. "You think because your worthless brat is dead, you suddenly have a backbone?"

He squeezed my throat tighter, watching my eyes widen in sheer terror.

"Look at you," he hissed, his voice full of cruel satisfaction. "You are nothing, Iris. You are an ugly, broken, pathetic excuse for a Luna. You have no beauty left, your body is completely ruined and no real man could ever truly desire you. I only used you to merge with your family's powerful land. You are just a dog I keep in my house to obey orders. Never touch me again or I will break your neck myself."

With a sudden, violent shove, he threw me across the room.

My body flew through the air and crashed hard onto the cold hard floor. I slid across the floor, scraping my knees and elbows. I lay there on my side, clutching my throat, gasping wildly for air as chest-racking coughs shook my whole frame.

Kael stood over me, looking down at my trembling body with pure disgust. He gathered saliva in his mouth and spat directly onto the floor right next to my face.

"Clean up your tears and fix your face," Kael grunted, turning his back on My. "You look repulsive."

I listened to his heavy footsteps march up the grand staircase. A few seconds later, the loud slam of his bedroom door echoed down the hallway.

I lay on the floor for a long time, the coldness pressing against my bruised self. My throat throbbed with pain where his fingers had choked me, but the pain in my heart was a thousand times worse.

"That is it, "I thought to myself, staring blankly at the ceiling. "This is the absolute end of this relationship. I am done."

"Good, "Anya agreed, her tone turning cold and razor sharp. The quiet wolf is dead. Now we become his worst nightmare.

I slowly pushed myself up from the floor. Every bone in my body ached, but I forced my legs to move. I did not go to our master bedroom. Instead, I dragged my feet down the hallway and opened the small white door at the end of the hall.

Avery’s bedroom.

The room smelled like soft baby powder and sweet strawberries. Her little pink bed was neatly made and her favorite stuffed teddy bear was sitting on the pillow, waiting for a little girl who was never coming home.

I closed the door behind me and sank down onto the floor beside her bed. I pulled her tiny pink blanket into my lap, pressing it hard against my face and broke down crying all over again.

" Our sweet pup, "Anya whimpered softly." Our precious baby girl... she deserved a real father, not a demon."

"I am so sorry, Avery," I sobbed into the blanket, my voice muffled by the fabric. "Mommy is so, so sorry. I could not keep you safe. I should have left this place years ago. I should have taken you and run away far from here, but I was so afraid. I thought staying meant keeping you alive... but I failed you. I failed to protect you, my sweet baby girl."

I rocked back and forth on the floor, drowning in my own guilt and grief. The self-blame ate away at my stomach like acid. I had allowed myself to be abused and degraded, all for a marriage that ultimately cost me my child's life.

" Save your tears for his downfall Iris,"Anya said softly. " He killed her and we will make him pay with interest."

After hours of crying, my tears finally ran dry. I wiped my face with the edge of the blanket and pulled my phone out of my sweater pocket. My hands were steady now. The weakness in my heart was gone, replaced by a cold, sharp stone.

I dialed a direct number and held the phone to my ear.

"Hello, Luna Iris," a professional male voice answered on the third ring.

"Deliver the papers tomorrow morning," I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion. "Nine o'clock sharp at the pack house."

"Understood, Luna. Everything is prepared."

I hung up the phone.

I spent the entire night sitting on the floor of Avery’s bedroom, staring at her little toys in the dim light. I did not sleep for a single minute. I just sat there, waiting for the sun to rise, feeling the last pieces of my old self die away in the dark.

"We will drag his name through the dirt , strip him of his crown, his land and his pride until he has nothing left to bleed." Anya promised

When the morning light finally peeked through the pink curtains, the door softly creaked open.

"Luna?" Chloe whispered gently, stepping into the room. Her eyes were red from crying all night too. "Luna, it is morning."

I looked up at her, feeling entirely numb. I could barely feel my arms or legs.

"Come Luna," Chloe said, walking over and gently helping me stand up. "Let me help you get dressed. You need to get out of these clothes."

Chloe guided me to the guest bathroom. She ran warm water, washed my face and brushed out my tangled hair. She helped me slip into a simple, elegant black dress that fitted loosely around my frame. I could not even look at myself in the mirror. I did not feel like a person anymore, I felt like a walking corpse waiting to finish my final duty.

By eight thirty, Chloe finished helping me down the stairs.

As I reached the bottom step, I heard loud laughter coming from the living room. Kael was sitting on the leather sofa, sipping coffee and talking casually with his Beta and pack elders about pack finances and upcoming territory expansion. He was dressed in a crisp suit, looking sharp and rested, talking as if nothing had happened at all.

I stood by the edge of the living room, staring at him in utter disbelief at his coldness.

At nine o'clock on the dot, the loud chime of the front doorbell rang through the house.

One of the house servants opened the door. A man in a sharp black suit stepped inside, holding a thick brown envelope in his hands. He looked around the living room, spotted me and walked directly over to hand me the package.

"Here are the requested documents Lady Iris," the man said politely, bowing his head.

"Thank you," I murmured.

I took the envelope, tore open the seal and pulled out the thick stack of legal paper. I walked slowly into the center of the living room, stopping right in front of the coffee table.

The pack elders stopped talking. Kael frowned, looking up from his coffee cup with an irritated expression.

"What is this nonsense now, Iris?" Kael barked, dropping his cup onto the tray. "Can you not see I am having an important meeting with the pack leadership?"

I did not say a word. I simply stepped forward and slammed the thick stack of papers right onto the table in front of him.

The title printed at the top of the front page in bold black ink was impossible to miss: DIVORCE PAPERS.

Kael stared at the title. His eyes narrowed, and his jaw tightened.

"These are divorce papers," I said, my voice ringing loudly through the entire room for everyone to hear. "I want a divorce Kael."