Chapter 9
“Shut up! She’s just a worthless woman!”
Then why are you panicking?
The pain intensified until I could barely stand. I’d never felt anything like it–as if someone were ripping out my insides with barbed hooks.
In a burst of rage, I hurled the laptop against the wall. It shattered, pieces scattering across the floor like my thoughts.
***
Days passed without a sign of Lysandra. I questioned her adoptive parents, who made it painfully clear that they had no contact with her anymore. Pack scouts searched the surrounding territories, but found nothing.
Headaches plagued me constantly. I began taking medication just to function, to quiet the relentless voice of my wolf that wouldn’t stop calling her name.
One night, I stood before the bathroom mirror, staring at my reflection. Dark shadows circled my eyes, which now held an unnatural reddish tinge.
I doubled my medication dosage. The pain dulled, but didn’t disappear. My wolf whimpered continuously.
Lysandra…
“She’s gone! That’s what we wanted!” I shouted at the empty room.
You lie.
***
“This food is inedible,” I pushed the plate away, appetite lost after a single bite. “Has the chef changed?”
The head butler shifted uncomfortably. “No, sir. The kitchen staff remains the same.”
“Then why does everything taste like garbage now?”
He hesitated, clearing his throat. “Because… all the meals were previously prepared by your wife, Luna Lysandra.”
I stared at him, certain I’d misheard. “What?”
“Luna insisted on cooking for you personally. She said she enjoyed doing things for you.” He paused, then added quietly, “Even knowing you might not come home, she would wait up late, just in case.”
My fork clattered to the plate. “She cooked for me? I thought it was the chef who prepared such delicious meals. I even paid him double.”
1/3
Chapter 9
The revelation stunned me into silence. Why would she put such effort into meals I rarely acknowledged, into
waiting for a husband who barely looked at her?
“Where is my blue silk tie?” I ransacked the closet, running late for an important pack meeting. “I need it now!”
The butler hovered in the doorway. “Only Luna knew where all your things were kept, sir.”
Without thinking, I grabbed my phone and dialed her number. It rang until voicemail picked up. I tried again with
the same result.
A strange feeling washed over me. In two years of marriage, I’d never called her number. And now that I needed to, she wasn’t answering.
I need you to find information about her friends or her real parents,” I told Varian, my Beta. “She must be staying
with someone.
He’d spent days searching, pulling every string we had, but returned empty–handed. “No one knows of any friends or her birth parents. It’s like she existed in isolation except for her role as your Luna.”
My wolf growled accusingly. You isolated her. You made sure she had nowhere to go.
The accusations continued day and night. I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t focus on work. Everything
reminded me of her absence.
Varian arrived at my office, and for a brief moment, I thought he might have news of Lysandra. But he was only there to discuss pack business–business I found myself caring less and less about.
“The eastern boundary dispute needs your attention,” he said, spreading maps across my desk. “And the council is requesting your presence at-” He stopped abruptly, studying my face. “Tristan, do you regret letting Lysandra go?”
“No,” I answered immediately, too quickly.
Varian said nothing, but his doubtful expression spoke volumes.
The truth was, I didn’t know what I felt anymore. I only knew that something was broken–something I hadn’t realized was important until it was gone.
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Rejected Luna Returns with Secret Twins
