Chapter 2

Alessia POV:

The scent hit me like a physical blow.

Alpha pheromones are powerful. They are meant to signal authority, protection, and possession. Seeing another woman wrapped in my husband's scent, in his clothes, in my home, was a declaration of war.

Valentina looked up, a piece of bacon halfway to her mouth. She smiled, a sticky, sweet expression that didn't reach her eyes.

"Good morning, Luna," she chirped. "I hope you don't mind. I didn't have any clean clothes, and the Alpha insisted."

"Get up," I said. My voice was low, vibrating with a tone I hadn't used since I left my father's palace.

Valentina blinked, feigning innocence. "Excuse me?"

"Get out of my seat," I commanded. "And take off my husband's shirt."

"Alessia!"

Santino walked into the dining room, his hair wet from the shower. He took one look at the scene-me standing tense and angry, Valentina shrinking back with a trembling lip-and immediately made his choice.

He moved to stand between us, his back to me, shielding her.

"What is wrong with you?" he growled at me. "She is a pregnant woman."

"She is wearing your clothes, Santino," I pointed out, my voice trembling with suppressed rage. "She is sitting in the Luna's chair. Do you have any respect for our laws? For our marriage?"

"It's just a shirt!" Santino shouted. His Alpha voice boomed off the walls, shaking the silverware on the table. "You are being petty. Valentina needed comfort. Her scent was... distressing her. She needed the scent of a pack leader to feel safe."

"She needs the scent of her Alpha?" I laughed, a dry, humorless sound. "Or does she want the Alpha himself?"

"My stomach!" Valentina suddenly cried out. She doubled over, clutching her belly. "Oh, the stress... the baby..."

Santino was at her side in an instant, his face full of panic. "Valentina! Breathe. It's okay."

He glared at me over his shoulder. "Look what you did. If she loses Marco's pup, it will be on your hands."

"There is nothing wrong with her," I said coldly. My senses were sharpening by the minute without the suppressant. I could hear her heartbeat. It was steady. She wasn't in pain; she was acting.

"Enough!" Santino roared. He unleashed his Alpha Command. It slammed into me, a heavy weight designed to force me to my knees. "I command you to apologize to her!"

I stood still.

The weight pressed down on my shoulders, trying to crush me. An ordinary wolf would have been flattened. An ordinary Luna would have bowed.

But I remained standing. My knees did not buckle.

Santino's eyes widened in confusion. He pushed harder with his will, but I just stared at him.

"I will not apologize to a home wrecker," I said clearly.

"You..." Santino sputtered. He turned back to Valentina, helping her stand. "Come, Valentina. You will not be treated like this. From now on, you will assist me with the pack finances. You need a distraction, and Alessia is clearly too unstable to handle the accounts right now."

I felt the blood drain from my face. The pack finances? That was my job. I had used my own personal inheritance to bail this pack out of debt. I had built their trade routes.

"You are giving her my duties?" I asked quietly.

"I am giving her a place in this pack," Santino declared. "This is her Den now, too."

This is her Den.

The words echoed in my mind. A Den is a wolf's safe space. It is shared only with family. By calling it her Den, he was effectively inviting her into our marriage.

He looked at me with disdain. "Maybe if you learned to be softer, more nurturing like her, you wouldn't be just a title, Alessia. You act like a cold statue. Sometimes I forget you are even a wolf. You have the spirit of an Omega."

The insult pierced through me. He thought I was weak because I chose to be gentle. He thought I was powerless because I hid my strength to protect his fragile ego.

I looked at the man I had married three years ago. I looked for the charming, ambitious man who promised to build a world with me. He was gone. All that remained was a fool seduced by a cheap trick.

I reached for my left hand.

"What are you doing?" Santino asked, frowning.

I gripped the silver band on my finger. It was the Luna's ring, passed down through the Silver Creek generations. It was supposed to symbolize eternal loyalty.

I pulled it off.

It hit the wooden floor with a hollow clink. It rolled and stopped right at Valentina's feet.

"If you want her so much," I said, my voice devoid of emotion, "you can have her. And she can have the ring. It's worthless to me now."

"Alessia!" Santino stepped forward, anger flashing in his eyes. "Pick that up. You do not walk away from me. You are my mate!"

"We were a political match, Santino. We were never Fated Mates," I reminded him. "And as of this moment, I no longer recognize you as my Alpha."

I turned on my heel and walked out of the dining room.

"If you walk out that door," Santino bellowed behind me, "don't expect to come back! You are nothing without my protection! You are just a weak female with no family!"

I didn't look back. I grabbed my keys from the hallway table.

He was right about one thing. I was walking out.

But he was wrong about the rest. He had no idea what kind of family I had. And he was about to find out exactly what happens when you wake a sleeping wolf.