The Luna You Betrayed Is No Longer Yours

Chapter 6: Chapter 6 An Audience With The King

_Rowena’s POV_

The Alpha King didn’t work from a huge traditional looking pack house.

That had surprised me the first time I learned it.

Alaric ran the most powerful office in the region from a corner suite on the fourteenth floor of a building that looked like every other building in the financial district, a clean glass, quiet lobby, and staff who moved without being noticed.

Celeste had gotten us in within eighteen hours. She hadn’t told me what she’d said to arrange it, and I hadn’t asked.

We were shown down a corridor by a woman who introduced herself only by her role and then stopped speaking. Velvet had stayed in the car. This was not a meeting for witnesses.

"Oh goodness, his wolf is strong," Kyra sighed, as we neared the end of the hall. She had been quiet most of the morning, conserving something. "I can feel it already."

"Focus."

"I am focused. I’m just telling you, this one is too powerful."

The door opened before we reached it.

Alpha King Alaric was standing at the window with his jacket off and his sleeves rolled back, the city spread out behind him in the hard afternoon light. He turned when we entered, unhurriedly, like a man who had already decided the shape of the meeting before it began.

He was taller than I remembered. His wolf sat close to the surface, I felt it as a pressure shift in the air, the way you feel a storm before the sky changes color.

His eyes found me immediately. Not Celeste, but me.

"Luna Rowena," he said.

"Alpha King." I held his gaze. "Thank you for seeing me."

"Celeste said it was urgent." A brief glance at my cousin. "She doesn’t use that word lightly."

Celeste smiled and said nothing. Her part was done.

The rest was mine.

I stepped forward carefully, feeling my heart beat accelerate with each step.

"I’ll be direct," I said. "My marriage to Kaelen Varkos was never consummated. No bond was completed. No mark was given. In my three years as his Luna, I managed his pack, his accounts, and his family’s welfare entirely alone." I kept my voice even. "He has now brought another woman into the household, declared her his wife, and she is carrying his child. I’m asking you to issue a formal decree of dissolution. The bond is incomplete. The Luna’s position has been materially and publicly compromised. The legal grounds exist."

Alaric was quiet, and I swear I saw his lips twitch in what should be either amusement or irritation.

"You’ve done your research," he said.

"I had time."

"And Varkos, does he know you’re here?"

"No. And I’d like the decree issued before he finds out."

Something shifted in his expression. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

It was definitely not surprise, he didn’t look like a man who was easily surprised. More like a detail clicking into place.

He moved to his desk, not to sit down, just resting one hand on the edge of it, and looked at me steadily.

"A King’s decree dissolving a pack marriage carries weight, Luna Rowena." he said. "It also carries consequence. For Moonreign’s standing. For yours."

"I totally understand that, Alpha King." I remained steady with my response, even though his gaze on me made me feel so small.

"You’d leave without a pack."

"I’d leave with my name," I said. "The Ashthorne name still holds weight in this city. I’m not without standing."

"No," he said, almost to himself. "You’re not."

He studied me for a moment longer than necessary.

Long enough that I felt Kyra stir in something complicated.

"Rowena," she said quietly.

"I know. Please stop."

"There’s also the matter," Alaric suddenly added, "of what Moonreign Pack loses if this decree goes through."

"That’s Alpha Kaelen’s problem."

"Financially speaking," he continued, as if I hadn’t spoken, "I’m told the Ashthorne transfer constitutes a significant portion of Moonreign’s operational base. If you withdraw those assets as part of the dissolution...."

I cut him short in the most polite way ever. "The pack would feel it within a month," I said. "Yes. I know."

He paused. "You’ve already moved to freeze the accounts."

It wasn’t a question.

"I moved to protect my family’s assets," I said. "What Kaelen does with the time that buys him is his concern."

For the first time, the corner of Alaric’s mouth moved fully. Not quite a smile, something more restrained than that, but real.

"Sit down, Rowena," he said. He didn’t use the title again. Which made me relax slightly.

I obeyed.

He pulled his chair around and sat across from me, not behind the desk, which I noticed. Celeste had drifted to the far side of the room with the particular discretion of someone who understood exactly when to become furniture.

"Tell me about the three years," Alaric suddenly said.

I looked at him in what seemed to be confusion. "That’s not relevant to the legal petition, Alpha King."

"No," he agreed. "But it’s relevant to me."

The room went quiet.

I hesitated for a second, but I knew I had to open up if I wanted his help.

Without a second thought, I told him. Not entirely everything, not that part of the torn dress, or the way Kaelen had gripped my throat. But the shape of it.

Three years of accounts managed and alliances maintained, of medications sourced and school fees paid. Three years of being a Luna in practice while being invisible in everything that mattered.

Alaric listened without interrupting. That was its own kind of strange. I had grown accustomed to rooms where I spoke and was either ignored or redirected.

When I finished, he was quiet for a moment.

"He left on your wedding night," Alaric said.

"Hours after the ceremony." I nodded.

"And never completed the bond."

"No."

"And when he came back, he brought another woman and her child into the house you built with your own money and your family’s name." His voice hadn’t changed, but something underneath it had gone very flat. "And then he told you that you had no say."

"He said he was the Alpha," I said. "That he makes the laws in his pack."

"He does," Alaric agreed. "Just Inside his pack." He leaned back slightly. "He has no authority over a King’s decree."

I held his gaze. "Then you’ll issue it?"

He looked at me for a moment, that same beat too long, the one I remembered from years ago and had spent considerable effort not thinking about since.

"Bring me your documentation tonight," he said. "Full record of the Ashthorne transfer, the marriage contract, and written confirmation that the bond was never completed." He paused. "I’ll have the decree drawn up by morning."

Something released in my chest. Quietly. Like a door unlocking rather than breaking down.

"Thank you, Alpha King" I said.

I stood up. So did he.

"Rowena." My name again, without the title. He said it the same way he had the last time, like he’d been holding it at a slight distance and had decided, just now, to close the gap.

"When this is done," he said, "and you’re no longer anyone’s Luna...." a pause, brief and precise.... "I’d like you to come back."

I looked at him steadily. "For what purpose?"

"A conversation," he said. "Without the petition. Without Celeste in the corner pretending to look at her phone."

From across the room, Celeste said, without looking up: "I’m not pretending."

Alaric’s mouth curved, fully this time. It changed his face considerably.

I said nothing. But I didn’t say no.

I turned and walked out ahead of Celeste, and didn’t let myself think about the way Kyra was pacing until we were safely in the elevator with the doors closed.

"I told you," she said. "Different."

"Quiet," I said.

But even I couldn’t argue with her this time.