Chapter 4

Freya POV:

Fiona recovered from her "disappointment" quickly, her expression shifting to a venomous sneer. "You watch him too closely, Freya," she said, her voice dripping with condescension. "You're just like his mother, always trying to control him."

The herbs I had brought, carefully gathered and precious, were still in my hand. She snatched them from me, walked to the door, and tossed them out into the mud. Then she slammed the door in my face.

A moment later, I felt a tremor through the pack's public Mind-Link. It was Fiona, her mental voice a pathetic whimper directed at Alan, miles away. "Alan... Freya was so mean to me... she threw the medicine away..."

I stood in the rain, stunned by the audacity of her lies.

It was Philip, Alan's Beta and the closest thing I had to a friend, who later confirmed my darkest suspicions. He found me in the castle library, trying to lose myself in old pack ledgers.

"She's his demon, Luna," Philip said quietly, his gaze full of pity. He then told me a story from their youth, one Alan had never shared.

Fiona's family had arranged her marriage to the Alpha of a neighboring pack. Alan, then just a teenager, had convinced her to run away with him in a grand, romantic gesture. He'd taken her to a hidden cabin in the mountains, and for three days, Fiona thought he was her hero, defying the world for her.

His face darkened. "But Alan got scared. He was terrified of what his mother, the Luna at the time, would do. On the third night, he secretly mind-linked her and told her exactly where they were."

Fiona had been dragged back, believing their hiding spot had been discovered by chance. She never knew that her brave hero had been the one to betray her.

The truth settled over me like a shroud. Alan had never been brave. He had always been a coward, ruled by his domineering parents. The quiet, rule-following nature I had once mistaken for stability was nothing more than a crippling fear of consequence. It was a realization that made my own gilded cage feel infinitely smaller and more suffocating.

With this new, terrible clarity, I started piecing things together. The little lies, the unexplained absences. Every year, on my birthday, he would claim he had to "inspect the border." An urgent pack matter that couldn't wait.

Now I knew. I knew with a gut-wrenching certainty that he was taking Fiona. He was taking her to the Starlight Ridge, the Crystal Caves, all the beautiful, secret places I had told him I dreamed of visiting. He was giving my dreams to her, celebrating her birthday while leaving me alone with the hollow title of Luna.

The man I was fated to love didn't just neglect me. He was actively stealing my life, piece by piece, and gifting it to another woman.