The Alpha's fury

Julie's POV 

My words hung in the air like a live grenade.

He just kept looking at me like I'd spoken a strange language.

I repeated myself again just to make sure he heard me. I just hoped my heavy breathing wouldn't give me out.

“Raynard… I’m dying. And the only way I can survive the next two months is if you…..”

“Yeah…yeah…I'm not deaf, I heard you the first time?” His voice cracked like thunder as he cut me short while coming closer to me. He snatched the forged medical reports from my trembling hands, scanning them with furious speed. “You’re what? Lunar Atrophy? What the fuck is that? Two Months? This is bullshit.”

He slammed the papers down on the small table, the sound echoing off the walls. “Your father did this. That scheming bastard sold you to me for a council seat and now he’s found another way to twist the knife. An arranged marriage wasn’t enough, he has to curse my bloodline again!”

I flinched, but he wasn’t finished. He paced the small room like a caged wolf, his broad shoulders rigid with rage. “I told you the day we signed those papers. I made it crystal clear: I would never risk another pregnancy. Never put another woman through what Elena went through. You agreed! You fucking stood there in front of the council and nodded like the obedient little Luna you were supposed to be. And now, suddenly, your wolf is ‘dying’ unless I fuck you? Convenient timing, Julie. It's…it's really convenient.”

His words sliced deeply and shame burned hot across my face. Dr. Mara Voss had slipped back into the room quietly, standing near the door with her arms crossed, but Raynard barely noticed her. 

He kept talking, his voice rising, each sentence was like a fresh wound.

“This is another curse on my bloodline. First Elena dies giving me a son who didn't even stay, and now you…my political trophy…pull this? I won’t do it. I fucking can’t. Find another way. Drugs, spells, whatever the hell Mara thinks will work. But I will not touch you like that. Not when it could end the same way.”

He spun toward me, his chest heaving. “Or is this all a lie? Some desperate play because you’re tired of sleeping alone? Tell me the truth, Julie. Right now.”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. The lie sat heavy on my tongue, tangled with the very real fear clawing at my insides. My wolf whimpered weakly, echoing the humiliation flooding through me.

Before I could find words, Dr. Voss stepped forward, her voice calm but edged with steel. “Alpha Lightsky, with all due respect, this is not manipulation. I ran the tests myself. Lunar Atrophy is rare, but documented. The only effective treatment is repeated, unprotected mating with her bonded alpha. The chemical markers in your seed and the knotting process are what stabilize the wolf’s connection. Without it, she will slip into dormancy within weeks. I’ve prepared full documentation, studies, bloodwork, everything. This is a medical fact, not a game.”

Raynard whirled on her. “Medical fact? Then why the hell didn’t you catch it earlier? Why now, on her birthday and in front of the entire bloody pack?”

Mara held her ground. “The decline accelerated last night. I'm pretty sure stress from the event likely triggered it. Alpha, I’m begging you….this is the only way. If you refuse then you’ll be burying another mate.”

The word “mate” seemed to hit him like a physical blow. He dragged a hand through his golden hair, his jaw clenched so tight I thought it might crack. “I can’t….damn… I won’t. I made my position clear from day one of this farce of a marriage. You agreed to the terms, Julie. Don’t you dare try to manipulate your wolf…or me into something else now.”

That was the breaking point.

Shame and anger surged through me in equal measure, hot and blinding. I pushed to my feet, my legs still shaky from the night before, but my voice came out steady and sharp, laced with three years of swallowed pain.

“I gave you my life, Raynard. My respect and my future. I stood by your side in every public appearance, played the perfect Luna while you paraded me like a trophy. And what did you do? When you’re horny, you disappear into the east wing with your whores and concubines. You bring them into your alpha quarters…a place that I, your wife, have never even been allowed to enter. You fuck them openly while I sleep alone every night, starving for a single touch from my own mate. And now that I’m dying, you’re still not interested?”

My chest heaved, tears burning at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not here. Not in front of the doctor. “If that’s how little my life means to you, then fine. I want a divorce.”

The word dropped like a stone into still water and the room suddenly became quiet.

Raynard stared at me, stunned, his fury momentarily frozen. Dr. Voss’s eyes widened slightly, but she said nothing.

I stood there, breathing hard, the weight of my own words settling over me. Divorce. 

The ultimate failure for a Luna. My father would be furious. The pack would whisper. But in that moment, the humiliation of begging for scraps of his attention felt worse than any political fallout.

Raynard’s jaw worked silently. For several long seconds, he said nothing, the storm in his eyes raging between rage, guilt, and something darker I couldn’t name. Then… then threw his head back and laughed.

He laughed so hard his shoulders shook, the sound was harsh and mocking, echoing off the walls of the consultation room. I stood frozen, feeling smaller and stupider with every second that passed. Heat crawled up my neck as Dr. Voss shifted uncomfortably beside me.

“Divorce?” he repeated, still chuckling as if I’d told the funniest joke he’d heard in years. “Did you say divorce, my dear? Ahhhh, you joke.”

He wiped at the corner of his eye, the amusement draining from his face but the cruel edge remaining. “Have you forgotten why your father married you to me in the first place? He needed my support for the Continental Shifter Council election. The vote is just around the corner. In your little mind, you actually think your father will allow you to get a divorce right now? When his precious political appointment hangs in the balance?”

I lifted my chin, anger overriding the shame. “You can’t threaten me, Raynard.”

“Threaten?” He stepped closer, towering over me, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. “Why the fuck would I threaten you? If you know what’s good for you, you’d better get your act straight and be the good girl your father promised me you were.”

His eyes raked over me slowly from the top of my disheveled hair down to my bare feet, like I was livestock at the market. “I don’t believe this farce for a second. You can do better than that.”

With that, he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving me standing alone in the suddenly too-quiet hallway outside the consultation room. The door to the main corridor clicked shut behind him with finality. 

I stood there, trembling, the echo of his laughter still ringing in my ears. My wolf curled in on herself, weak and humiliated. Tears finally slipped free, hot against my cheeks.

Dr. Voss appeared at my side, placing a gentle hand on my arm. “Julie… breathe. He’s angry and cornered. That reaction proves the lie hit a nerve. He’ll come around ... .for the politics if nothing else.”

I wiped my face roughly, shame and fury still churning in my gut. “He laughed at me. Like the idea of me wanting out was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.”

“He did,” Mara agreed softly. “But he didn’t say no to moving in. Watch. He’ll be in your quarters by tonight. Use it, Julie. Turn his pride and his guilt into something you can work with.”

I nodded, but inside, the spark of hope felt fragile. Raynard had walked away, but the real battle had only just begun.

And I had sixty days to make the man who had just mocked my pain finally see me as more than a political pawn… before my wolf slipped away forever.

I wonder if I was up to the task.