Chapter 2

Half an hour later, James pushed through the front door, breathing hard.

He dropped into a crouch beside my feet.

Pain filled his face as he looked up at me.

"I'm sorry, Chloe. I..."

His voice broke.

He lowered his head before speaking again.

"After the accident, I was in too much pain. I couldn't live in this house.Every time I closed my eyes, it felt like you were beside me.That's why I moved out."

He took my hand carefully and pulled me into his arms.

He wanted me to believe he still loved me.

Yet Emma's scent clung to him.

My wolf had not returned, but I could still smell it.

Sex.

Emma's perfume.

James.

On my first night home, he had left me alone.

He claimed he had a meeting, then went to Emma's bed.

I pushed him away.

James paused, his arms falling to his sides.

"Chloe, I'll take you to the Shadow tomorrow,"he said.

"I'll stay with you. We'll find those five lost years together."

The Shadow, our business corporation.

James and I had built it together.

Before I left, I wanted to see it once more.

The next day, James drove me to the company in his new car.

His phone kept ringing as he told me about the pack's growth over the past five years.

He answered calls with quick, calm instructions.

The awkward boy I had known had disappeared.

Now he handled pack business with ease.

Our pack had once been weak.

James and I had shared one goal.

We wanted Shadow Pack to thrive.

We took in kind wolves who had lost their packs.

We built businesses and gave them jobs.

The Shadow had grown from a rundown five-story building into the skyscraper towering before me.

James had done it.

He had made our pack strong.

Still, everything here felt unfamiliar.

I was the one trapped five years ago.

When we stepped into the building, James rubbed my hair.

"I kept an office for you when we moved here. I believed the Moon Goddess would bring you back to me one day. And she did."

His words had barely faded when he looked toward the open office door.

Several people were inside, carrying boxes and files.

James frowned.

"What are you doing?"

Emma stood in the middle of the room with documents in her arms.

Her face went pale.

A girl beside her spoke first.

"You promised this office to Emma last week, Alpha. Did you forget?"

Her name was Rose.

Emma looked at James with wet eyes, her mouth pressed tight.

James turned his face away from her.

"Chloe is back. This office belongs to Chloe."

Emma's hands tightened around the files.

"Why?"Her voice shook,"You promised me..."

"Enough."James' face hardened.

"Chloe is back. That is the reason. You're an Omega, Emma. At the Shadow, you can only do basic work. Leave if you don't like it."

Emma covered her face and ran out.

Rose stared at James.

"Alpha, you can't ignore everything Emma has done for the Shadow just because she's an Omega."

Her eyes shifted to me.

Hatred sat openly on her face.

Then she turned and chased after Emma.

James moved before he seemed to realize it.

One foot stepped toward the door.

He stopped himself.

His right hand closed into a fist.

The employees who remained looked at me from every corner of the office.

Their faces carried open resentment.

Nobody spoke.

Their Alpha still treated me as his Mate.

Their expressions said enough.

For five years, I had given nothing to the pack.

Now I had returned to take what they had built.

I was a broken she-wolf.

My wolf had fallen silent.

I had lost my connection to the pack, to the Moon Goddess, and to James.

They no longer considered us worthy of being the pack's Luna.

My lips parted before I could stop myself.

"Did everyone forget how that fire started?"

James pulled me against his chest at once.

"Shh."His hand pressed against my back.

"While you were unconscious, Emma worked day and night for our pack.Forgive her, Chloe."

Forgive her?

When rogue wolves had beaten Emma, I had saved her.

She had ruined my marking ceremony.

She had slept with my Mate.

Pain twisted through my chest.

My mouth shook as I looked up at James.

"You never punished her. You never wanted to punish her, did you?"

I tried to pull away.

James held me tighter.

His arms locked around me until my breathing slowed.

Only then did he speak.

"I told Sarah and David that you woke up. They're coming back. We'll have dinner together tonight."

He changed the subject.

He refused to answer me.

Sarah and David, our Beta, had been my closest friends in the pack.

"What do you mean Sarah and David are coming back?"

I stared at him.

James' face tightened.

He stayed silent for several seconds.

"Sarah and David had left the pack."

Before I could ask why, his phone rang.

He looked at the screen and stepped away.

"Chloe, rest here for a while.I need to handle something."

Then he walked out.

One minute later, I stood beside the floor-to-ceiling window.

Below, James caught up with Emma as she tried to leave.

Anger filled his face.

So did reluctance.

He pulled her into his arms.

I watched him hold her.

And in that moment, I wanted to know what James' face would look like

after I left him.

I would have my answer soon.