Chapter 5

Selina's POV

Luka's eyes widened in genuine surprise, but he quickly reined in his features, smoothing the shock into a mask of mild confusion. A faint, dismissive smile tugged at his lips.

"Really? Where exactly?" he asked, his voice steady. "It's a shame she didn't come over and say hello. To be honest, I did meet a few female wolves while I was up at the Iron Claw Pack. They showed me around the local district to kill some time between meetings. Why? Surely you don't think there's anything wrong with that, babe?"

I felt a jolt of cold realization. His reaction was too quick, too polished. He hadn't even hesitated before weaving those other women into a perfectly plausible professional excuse. It was clear he was prepared for this kind of scrutiny.

The desperate urge to scream, to shove the video in his face and demand to know who the woman in red was, burned in my throat.

But I forced myself to go still.

Pushing him now was pointless; without undeniable evidence, he would simply claim the video was a setup by a rival pack to destabilize our bond.

I needed to be smarter.

If I wanted the truth, I had to stop acting like a suspicious wife and start acting like the Alpha's daughter I was born to be. I needed to watch him from the shadows, where he wouldn't see me coming.

"You're right," I said, forcing a small, tired smile as I looked down. "I'm probably just being paranoid because of the stress lately. Forget I said anything."

Luka let out a breath, looking relieved as he stepped closer to tuck a stray hair behind my ear. But as he pulled me into his arms, the scent of cedar and pine felt like a suffocating shroud rather than a comfort.

The game had officially changed.

As Luka pulled me to the dining room, Abby was already at the table.

She arched her brow and looked away as she saw us.

After dinner, Abby pushed back her chair, her eyes darting toward the window as she announced it was time to leave.

For a fleeting second, I actually thought she might act like an adult and call her own ride, but the illusion shattered the moment she grabbed Luka's arm.

"Luka, you have to drive me home," she pleaded, her voice rising in that grating, performative whine.

Luka looked torn, his gaze shifting between us as he rolled up his sleeves to help with the dishes. "I'll call you a car, okay? Let me just help Selina finish up here".

But she wouldn't stop. She ignored my presence entirely.

A hot, prickly heat climbed up my neck.

Today was supposed to be Luka's way of making up for the anniversary he skipped—the night I spent crying on the kitchen floor.

I didn't care about the celebration anymore, but I cared about my dignity.

I had tolerated her tantrums for years for the sake of Luka's feelings.

Now, I didn't need to do that anymore.

I dropped the plate I was holding into the sink with a sharp clack.

"Enough," I snapped.

I didn't just speak; I released my Luna aura.

The air in the dining room plummeted, turning bone-chillingly cold in an instant.

Abby froze, her mouth hanging open as the sheer weight of my authority slammed into her.

"You are a grown woman, Abby. Act like one," I said, my voice vibrating with a lethal, low frequency. "Stop tailing Luka like a shadow in my own home. If you don't want the car he's calling, then walk. No one here is going to stop you, and no one is going to care!"

Abby's face contorted with rage, her lips trembling as she tried to find the strength to talk back.

But under the crushing pressure of my aura, she couldn't even draw enough breath to scream. She stood there, trembling, forced to bow her head in submission to the Alpha blood in my veins.

The silence was absolute until a small, broken sob broke the tension.

I looked down and saw Nora cowering by her chair, her eyes wide and brimming with terrified tears.

The realization hit me like cold water. I instantly pulled back the pressure, the room warming as the oppressive weight lifted.

Abby didn't wait. With a choked-back cry, she turned and bolted out the front door.

Luka didn't say a word to me. He grabbed Abby's coat from the rack, gave me one long, unreadable look, and rushed out into the night after her.

…

Later in the night, I heard the door open and close.

I knew Luka was back.

I didn't bother to start a conversation with him and went back to sleep.

The next day, Luka got up early.

As he sat up in bed, I could feel the pulling of the blanket.

"What's the time?"

"Still early. Just sleep some more. I've got a meeting in the morning."

After he left the house, I sat up in bed.

Darting my eyes towards the laundry basket outside our bathroom, I got up from bed.

I carried the basket downstairs to the washing machine, feeding it one by one.

As I picked up the clothes and emptied the pockets.

Suddenly, my fingers reached something hard and cold.

What was it?

It took me a few seconds to pull it out, as it had been carefully kept in the inside pocket of the coat. It was the coat Luka wore when traveling to the north.

I took a closer look at the brown glass bottle. There was still a tiny bit of silver liquid left at the bottom of it.

Unscrewing it, a strange smell came to my nose. It was hard to tell what it was like, but it made me lightheaded.

But the next second, Violet was getting unsettled. She snarled and jumped to the front of my mind, her claws reaching out.

Yes, I remember it now. How could I not?

It was the scent that mingled with his, faint but tricky, as if trying to cover something.

I had heard about such a potion created by the black witches in the deep woods.

Suddenly, I realized something.

No wonder I felt nothing from our mate bond. No wonder I felt nothing when he was kissing another woman so desperately in that wood.

The connection was not as strong as the one between true mates, but still, the betrayal of it would tear my heart into pieces!

Then, who knew what else he had done with that woman? How long had he been cheating on me? Did he mark her already?

I collapsed to the ground, my hands shaking, tears gushing out of my eyes.

So it was true.

The video was real.

I wanted to scream, but I couldn't make a sound.

Violet howled at the top of her voice, taking control of me.

I could feel my spine contorted with a series of pops and cracks, arching upward as if to tear it from my flesh. As my senses sharpened, my claws extended, my fangs pushed through, my humanity drowned out. The world came into hyper-focus.

Before I could think more, I saw the snow-white wolf that I was standing in front of the mirror, and a deep growl vibrated in my throat as I stood there on my claws.

She looked so powerful and proud.

A rare white-furred wolf, with Alpha blood. No one was supposed to mess with a beast like that!

I had given everything I had to my mate. But he trampled on it. I would find out who that woman in red was, and he would regret what he did to me!