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Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Lucien sat in the sleek black SUV sent to pick him up, watching his phone screen light up and fade as he received no reply from Mira.
The last message displayed remained his own: “Just landed. Brought you this.”
But Mira hadn’t responded.
This was unusual.
In the past, even if he’d only sent a single period, she would have replied instantly with paragraphs, always ending with some ridiculous wolf emoji that made him roll his eyes. Her eagerness had always been predictable, reliable–like the moon’s phases.
Now, she couldn’t even be bothered to fake interest.
Ryder, his Beta, caught his Alpha’s reflection in the rearview mirror, fingers tightening on the steering wheel as he gathered his courage.
“Alpha, should we head to Miss Saela first, or… Luna Mira?”
Lucien’s eyebrow twitched slightly. Before he could answer, Ryder suddenly pressed on: “Maybe… we should check on Luna Mira first?”
He hesitated before adding tentatively: “You’ve been away. I’m sure your mate has been waiting for you.”
Lucien looked up, his cold gaze sweeping over Ryder. “Since when did you start questioning my priorities?”
“I know how you feel about Miss Saela,” Ryder continued, his jaw tightening as he powered through his Alpha’s displeasure. “But Luna Mira is your actual mate. She chased you for six years, Alpha. Six years of putting you above everything else in her life.”
Lucien’s fingers froze mid–movement.
“You realize what she gave up for you, right?” Ryder pressed, his voice carrying a rare edge of frustration. “She used to be legendary at full moon gatherings–dancing, drinking every Alpha under the table, making the whole pack howl with laughter. Since your mating? She hasn’t shifted freely once. For you, she’s even adopted that ridiculous blood–free diet, started those lunar meditations, tried to suppress her own wolf just to match your restraint.”
Ryder’s knuckles whitened on the wheel as he continued, the words spilling out like he’d been holding the
for years.
back
“She used to dress in bold colors that matched her personality. Now she only wears those muted, washed–out things, afraid you’ll think she’s not ‘proper‘ enough for an Alpha’s mate.”
“And whenever you lock yourself in the Moon Chamber, she waits outside like a sentinel. That time you sequestered yourself for three days during the blood moon? She sat outside your door for the entire time until she literally
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collapsed. When the pack healer revived her, her first words weren’t about her own condition–she asked if you’d come out yet because, and I quote, ‘I miss his scent.“”
Ryder’s voice grew more impassioned as he recounted what he’d witnessed.
“Every time you travel, she spends hours preparing your luggage–hell, she even researches the local weather patterns to make sure you’re perfectly equipped. When you return, she’s always the first one at the door, asking if your trip was tiring, if you’re hungry. And what do you give her? A grunt without even a glance in her direction.”
“You casually mentioned once that you found perfume distracting during meditation. The next day, I watched her throw away every bottle she owned–some were limited editions she’d spent months tracking down.”
“Last winter, when that silver poisoning gave you a fever, she drove up to the northern territory’s sacred grove in a blizzard to gather those rare healing herbs. The pack found her car half–buried in snow, with her inside, unconscious from the cold but clutching those damn plants…”
“Alpha, don’t you see what’s happening? For your sake, she’s been systematically killing everything that made her Mira Solvienne.”
Ryder’s voice grew quieter, tinged with genuine sadness.
“I still remember the first time she visited Shadowpine. Blood–red dress, confidence for days, laughing over drinks at the pack gathering. When she lost that drinking contest to Mason, she just laughed it off and challenged him to a rematch; when she won at cards against those visiting Alphas, she had this way of raising one eyebrow that had every wolf in the room captivated. She was alive in a way most people never are–like her wolf was always right at
the surface.”
“But now?” Ryder shook his head. “That fire’s almost gone. And nobody seems to notice but me.”
Lucien’s mind unwittingly flashed back to his first encounter with Mira-
Twenty–year–old Mira in that infamous red dress that had every unmated wolf in the territory talking for weeks. She’d stood under the moonlight outside the pack house, her laughter carrying across the clearing.
She’d approached him directly while every other wolf kept a respectful distance, tilting her head with that mischievous smile: “So you’re the famous Lucien Ashmorne? I heard you were raised by the Moon Priests. Do you really have no desires at all?”
Back then, she’d been untamed and electric–a force of nature that commanded attention.
And now?
Now she was his mate, having carefully filed away every sharp edge, learning to be the quiet, obedient I thought he wanted.
she
She no longer wore vibrant colors or challenged other wolves to contests of skill. She no longer laughed with her head thrown back, exposing her throat in that unconsciously provocative way.
Every day she wore those faded clothes, sitting quietly nearby with a book, occasionally glancing up at him with eyes full of careful hope–like a wolf trying not to startle prey.
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“Alpha.” Ryder’s voice pulled him back to really, and
sow. “Lowe Mire loves you so much that she’s willing to erase herself piece by piece. But what happens when she realizes saw’s lost hy deurity in loving you? That loving you has drained her spirit dry? Shu’ll leave, Alpha. And could you really handle thar
Lucien’s breath caught in his throat.
The possibility had never occurred to him.
In his mind, Mira had always been a fixture–reliable, changing permanen
He’d mated her as a shield against his inappropriate feelings for fasla, as a way to appear normal in the eyes of pack society.
He had never once considered her feelings, never imagined she might simply.
Now, Ryder’s words sliced through his carefully constructed indifference, forcing him to confront what he’d deliberately ignored.
If Mira left… what then?
If their den no longer contained her presence–the figure who found endless creative ways to try to seduce him, the voice that filled the silence he’d once treasured, the face that somehow managed to smile despite his coldness….
A strange, unfamiliar anxiety began to build in his chest.
“Is she at the Medical Center?” Lucien asked, his voice uncharacteristically uncertain.
Ryder’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “She should have been discharged by now. The healers said she’s recovering well, despite…” He trailed off, unwilling to mention the skin graft.
Lucien gave a short “Hmm” before saying quietly, “Take me home first.”
Ryder nodded, immediately turning the car toward their territory.
During the drive, Lucien’s mind kept replaying moments with Mira he’d previously dismissed:
Her deliberately falling against him in that ridiculous transparent nightgown, then narrowing her eyes when he pushed her away, declaring “I’ll get you next time, Moon Wolf.”
Her sneaking into the sacred bath during his purification ritual, being wrapped in a ceremonial cloth and escorted out, yet still winking and whispering, “Worth it to see you naked.”
Her sitting in his lap during meditation, being firmly deposited on the cushion beside him, yet still lear plant a quick kiss on his cheek before he could stop her…
Over to
These moments had once been irritations, interruptions to his controlled existence. But now, imagining a life without them left an unexpected hollowness in his chest.
The car pulled into their territory, and Lucien stepped out, striding purposefully toward their den, a strange urgency in his steps.
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Chapter 11
Chapter 11
