It was half past eleven when Amiel stepped back into the Duskridge Packhouse.
He hadn’t meant to stay out all night, but it had been Sadie’s birthday–a date he had never failed to remember. No matter the years, that day remained sacred to him.
The housekeeper met him by the stairs. “Alpha, Lady Eleanor left something for you in the study She said it was for your bond anniversary.”
He blinked.
In the past, it had always been Eleanor who remembered. He’d usually show up late or skip altogether.
Last night, he hadn’t even thought about it. In fact, the moment he told the guards to keep her in the dungeons just because she refused to apologize to Sadie, a sharp pang of guilt hit him–but he pushed it aside. Who does that to their own wife? What kind of Alpha throws his Luna into the dark just to prove a point?
His chest tightened as he walked slowly toward the study.
On the desk he found a leather–bound journal. No embellishments. Just its worn edges and her familiar scent lingering faintly.
He opened it, and started reading.
[Amiel, I loved you before I understood what love was. Since I was a child, you were my protector -shielding me from rogues, from the harshness of the world. I used to dream of growing up to become your wife, of standing beside you not just in title but in heart.]
[When I became your chosen mate, I hoped that would be enough. But your heart stayed with Sadie. Still, I believed if I was loyal enough, patient enough, you’d start seeing me too.]
[But you never stopped counting my flaws.
So I counted too. Each cruel word. Each cold night. Every time I bled and you didn’t notice.]
[I promised myself: the day you pushed me away for the 99th time, I’d leave.
Today is the 100th.]
His hands trembled. The paper wrinkled beneath his tightening grip, as if the words were deceiving him.
Could this be true? That the one person he cast aside had seen him as her hero since childhood?
He turned the next page.
Three neatly folded documents lay tucked inside.
Divorce request.
Formal Luna resignation.
Miscarriage report.
His stomach dropped.
A gust from the open window turned the journal to its last page.
Chapter 6
3:37 am DDDD
[Disappointment #100: Our twin pups were gone.]
[Goodbye, Amiel.]
“T–twin pups?”
He staggered back a step, as if the words had physically struck him.
A child–no, two. Twin pups!
Had he truly been that monstrous, so wrapped up in another woman, that he hadn’t even noticed?
“Eleanor!!!”
The notebook slipped from his fingers as he tore through the house, searching every room for a trace of her.
The servants only watched him, confused and afraid. None dared to speak as they sensed the fury building in their Alpha.
Amiel clutched his hair, pacing like a madman, his breath ragged.
“No… this can’t be true. She can’t leave me. She loved me… she loved me that much… she
wouldn’t just go.”
Hands shaking, he pulled out his phone and dialed her number. It rang once, then twice, before the line went dead–out of reach.
Disconnected.
Desperate, Amiel rushed to his office again and into his desktop to log in to Werewolf Archive’s database, hoping to find any new number or updated address. But when he entered her ID, the screen flashed cold and empty: No record found.
His wolf growled low, confused. Lost.
Wasn’t this what he had wanted? Space? Freedom?
Everything she’d written was true.
He had never loved her–not the way she needed, not the way she deserved.
It had always been Sadie.
So why did it feel like his entire soul was falling apart?
