جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 10

By the time the second bottle was opened, our former squadmates had found Chloe a seat beside Ronan.“If that letter had gone into the right bag, you two would’ve been together years ago,” a woman named Tessa said. “Honestly, Chloe’s family connections make her exactly the kind of Luna Blackridge needs.”“Blackridge still doesn’t have one,” someone else added. “Maybe Ronan never got over her.”Chloe lowered her gaze. “Stop it. Ronan may already have someone. Maybe he just doesn’t want the pack to know.”The words cut straight through the secret I had kept for five years.That night wasn’t only our training-camp reunion. It was the fifth anniversary of the day Ronan and I had accepted our mate bond.Before we left home, Ronan had come up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.“I’ve made you wait long enough,” he had said, pressing a kiss to my hair. “Tonight, I’ll tell everyone you’re my mate and the only Luna Blackridge will ever have.”I had believed him because I had become

Near the end of dinner, two lodge employees entered carrying a moonstone Luna crown and a ceremonial cup of moonberry wine.Ronan had arranged them for me.Before we left home, he had promised to place the crown on my head in front of the people who had known us before he became Alpha.Instead, Tessa took the crown from one of the employees and carried it to Chloe.“You’ve already lost eight years,” she said. “Call it making up for old times. It isn’t a real ceremony. It’s just the blessing game we used to play at camp.”Chloe shook her head, but she didn’t move away from Ronan.“I can’t. This should be saved for the woman Ronan chooses as his Luna.”“It’s only for a minute,” someone said. “Sera won’t make a scene over a game.”Ronan looked at me.He knew it wasn’t harmless. The game did not have to be official. By morning, everyone in that room would be telling the packs that Ronan Blackwood had crowned Chloe Hart and shared the Luna’s cup with her.I waited for him to refuse.Ronan p

Ronan returned to the Alpha residence shortly after two in the morning.He had called Sera twelve times since she left the reunion. The first call had been declined. The rest went straight to voicemail.By the time he opened the front door, irritation had pushed aside the first edge of unease. He was already planning what he would say. The crown had been a game, nothing more. He had never touched Chloe like a lover, and Sera knew exactly where his heart belonged.The key on the entry table stopped him.It lay beside the photograph they had taken when they first moved into the house. In the picture, Sera was laughing into his shoulder while he held her around the waist.Ronan went upstairs.Half her clothes were gone. The books she had collected over the years had disappeared from his study, and every gift he had bought her remained neatly arranged in the bedroom.She had taken only the things that belonged to her before him.Ronan called again and listened to the automated message.[Th

The Moon Council gave me a protected apartment for the first week.It was small and impersonal, with plain walls and furniture chosen for no one in particular. I slept badly the first two nights, but when I woke, I no longer had to wonder whether Ronan would introduce me as his adviser, his old friend, or nothing at all.I resigned from my position in the Blackridge administration by email. My supervisor accepted it that afternoon and reassigned my remaining work.Blackridge continued without me, exactly as it should. I had left because staying beside Ronan was no longer the life I wanted.On my sixth day away, I submitted an application for a policy position with the Moon Council’s community-relations office. It wasn’t a grand promotion or a reward for rejecting an Alpha. It was simply work that would belong to me, under my own name.Four days later, I returned to the Council building for my final interview. Blackridge was also required to submit my resignation records that morning, s

Chloe closed the door slowly.“I regretted choosing Ethan,” she said. “When I saw you again, I wondered what would have happened if I had made a different choice.”“Did you regret Ethan, or did you regret not recognizing the future Alpha?”Her eyes hardened. “At camp, you had no name, no position, and no future anyone could see. Ethan was already going to be Beta. Choosing him was reasonable.”“It was.” Ronan’s voice stayed cold. “You had every right to choose the safer man. You didn’t have the right to rewrite your choice and let everyone blame Sera.”Chloe gave a short, bitter laugh. “You don’t get to put all of this on me. You were the one who said you wanted me. You put that crown on my head while your mate sat across the room. I lied, but you were happy to believe me.”Ronan went still.“You wanted to hear that I would have chosen you before you became Alpha,” she continued. “For one night, you wanted to feel like the boy you used to be hadn’t been rejected. Sera paid for that fan