All Chapters of ALPHA'S REGRET: THE LUNA HE UNDERESTIMATED IS A QUEEN: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

The numbers were not adding up.I stared at the open ledger on my desk, tapping the end of my pen against the worn paper. Grimclaw’s winter harvest was going to be short by at least twenty percent. We needed more grain to survive the frost, but the pack treasury was basically empty.I let out a slow breath and leaned back in my wooden chair. I flipped to the previous page, my eyes scanning the long columns of expenses. If I shifted the budget from the border patrols and delayed the repairs on the western cabins, we could afford to buy surplus from the Riverbend pack.It was not a perfect solution. But it would keep our people fed.I wrote the adjusted numbers in the margins. Three years ago, I didn't know the first thing about agricultural yields or trade deficits. I grew up in a palace with servants and endless resources. I was raised to be a political asset, not an accountant. Now, I spent most of my afternoons buried in these books, pinching pennies to keep my husband's pack afloat

The air in the room was suffocating. I stood perfectly still, waiting for Tobias to correct the elder. I waited for him to demand respect for his Luna, or at least ask Eloise to step outside while the healers worked.Tobias swallowed hard. He looked away from me."Eloise, stay with her for a minute," Tobias said quietly.He stood up from the bed. Lily whined and tried to grab his hand again, but he gently pulled away. He walked toward me, his shoulders slumped."Zinnia," he muttered. "Come with me for a second."He didn't wait for my answer. He walked out of the clinic.I followed him into the dim, quiet hallway. The moment the door clicked shut behind us, the silence felt heavy. Tobias leaned his back against the stone wall. He scrubbed his hands over his face, leaving streaks of Lily’s blood on his own skin.I crossed my arms over my chest to stop my hands from shaking."Are you going to tell me what she meant?" I asked. My voice was low. "About the baby, Tobias."He squeezed his ey

She looked past him and saw me standing there with the papers in my hand.Lily let out a sharp, ragged gasp. She stumbled backward, hitting the doorframe. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and slid down the wood until she hit the floor."Please," she cried, squeezing her eyes shut. She put her hands over her ears and started shaking violently. "Don't yell. Please don't be angry with me. I didn't mean to cause trouble."I hadn't raised my voice once.The two guards stationed down the hall shifted on their feet. They looked at Lily trembling on the floor, and then they looked at me. Their expressions shifted from neutral to disgust. I could see it in their eyes—they thought I was standing here screaming at a traumatized, grieving mother."Lily, hey, look at me," Tobias said.He dropped to his knees beside her and scooped her up into his arms. She buried her face in his chest, sobbing quietly."I'm sorry," she whimpered into his shirt. "Make her stop.""I've got you," he murmured.

I turned away from the locked door and walked down the hall. The guest room was freezing when I stepped inside. I didn't bother turning on the lights.I sat on the edge of the mattress and listened to the muffled voices echoing from Tobias's study down the corridor. I knew what they were discussing. I knew Elder Eloise was wearing him down, using the pack's empty treasury as a weapon to force his hand.I reached into the small drawer of the bedside table. Earlier today, when I brought my few belongings into this room, I placed a folded piece of paper inside. It was a formal severance document. I drafted it a year ago after a particularly brutal argument with the elders, though I never actually thought I would use it.I grabbed a pen and signed my name at the bottom.I laid the paper flat on the nightstand and waited in the dark.Hours passed. The voices down the hall eventually stopped. Footsteps approached my room, pausing just outside.The door opened slowly. Tobias stood in the doo