Viya's POV

I woke in Sophia's guest room with a headache, a dry throat, and the humiliating memory of kissing Caesar Blackwood in public.

I pulled the pillow over my face.

Sophia walked in with coffee. "Good morning, disaster."

"I hate you."

"You threw yourself at North America's most terrifying Alpha and lived. That deserves breakfast."

I groaned. "Tell me I didn't say anything too terrible."

Sophia sat on the edge of the bed. "You told him he was late."

I lowered the pillow.

Her teasing faded. "Were you talking about Lucius or Caesar?"

"Yes."

She handed me the coffee and a folder.

"Divorce papers," she said. "Asset separation, clinic independence, provisional evidence packet. I drafted the first version years ago."

"Years?"

"Viya, I'm a lawyer. I prepare for disasters. Your marriage had disaster written in calligraphy."

Despite everything, I laughed softly.

Then I opened the folder.

Seeing my name beside Lucius's in legal language made something inside me ache. Not because I still wanted him. Because once, I had wanted the name Luna Wilde to mean chosen.

"When can I have him sign?" I asked.

"As soon as possible. Before he knows you know."

An hour later, I drove back to the Wilde mansion.

Miranda's car sat in my parking spot.

My books, coats, medical journals, and framed photos were scattered across the front lawn like trash.

For a moment, I simply stared.

Then the front door opened.

Miranda stepped out wearing my silk robe.

"Viya," she said sweetly. "You didn't come home last night. Lucius was worried."

"No," I said, walking past her. "He wasn't."

Her smile stiffened.

Inside, the house smelled of roses. Her scent. Her claim.

"You threw out my things," I said.

"I reorganized."

"You put my medical journals in wet grass."

Miranda tilted her head. "They looked old."

I turned to face her fully. "Be careful. Stupidity can be forgiven. Malice is harder to explain."

Her mask slipped.

"Don't act superior," she hissed. "Everyone knows why Lucius married you. You were useful. That's all."

"Useful enough to be Luna. Useful enough that you had to sneak around like a thief."

Her eyes flashed. "He loves me."

"Then why are you wearing my robe in my house, waiting for me to notice?"

She stepped closer. "Because soon this will be my house."

"Say it louder."

"What?"

I smiled. "Say you want my husband, my title, my bedroom, and my life. Say it like a woman brave enough to own her choices."

Miranda's lips parted, but no words came.

Of course not. Women like her needed shadows. Tears. Plausible grief.

"You're pathetic," I said quietly. "Not because you love him. Because you need me humiliated to feel chosen."

Her hand flew toward my face.

I caught her wrist before it landed.

Her eyes widened.

"Touch me again," I said, voice soft, "and I will make sure every wolf in this pack hears how the grieving widow tried to slap the Luna she stole from."

"You think they'll believe you?"

"No." I leaned closer. "But they'll wonder. And that will ruin you faster than truth."

The front door opened.

Lucius stepped in.

Miranda instantly collapsed into tears.

"Lucius!" she cried. "I only tried to help organize the house, but Viya threatened me."

Lucius looked first at Miranda's trembling form, then at me.

That hesitation told me everything.

"Did you threaten her?" he asked.

I laughed.

The sound startled him.

"My belongings are on the lawn, your brother's widow is wearing my robe, and you're asking whether I hurt her feelings?"

His jaw tightened. "Viya, don't twist this."

"I don't have to twist anything. Look around."

Miranda sniffed. "I didn't realize she would be so possessive. I only thought, since Lucius asked me to stay-"

I looked at him. "You asked her to stay?"

Lucius rubbed his brow. "She's grieving."

"She's pregnant with your child."

The room went silent.

Miranda's face went white.

Lucius's eyes widened. "What?"

I held his gaze. "Relax. I'm not asking you to explain. Not today."

From my purse, I pulled out the divorce papers folded beneath a clinic grant cover sheet.

"In fact, I need your signature."

He frowned. "For what?"

"A clinic document. Time-sensitive. As my husband, you're required to sign."

Miranda stepped forward. "Lucius, maybe you should read-"

I turned to her. "Are you worried about my clinic now?"

Lucius, irritated by the tension, took the pen. "Enough. I trust Viya with medical paperwork."

The irony nearly made me smile.

He signed without reading.

I accepted the papers with steady hands.

"Thank you," I said. "That's all I needed."

For the first time since marrying him, I walked away from Lucius Wilde with something he had given me willingly.

My freedom.

Before I went upstairs, Lucius followed me into the corridor.

"Viya, wait."

I stopped but did not turn around.

"What did you mean about Miranda being pregnant with my child?"

There it was-the panic beneath his Alpha voice. Not guilt. Not concern for me. Fear that his hidden world had leaked into mine.

I looked back over my shoulder. "Ask her."

"I am asking you."

"No, Lucius. You are asking whether I know enough to become dangerous. Those are different questions."

His face tightened. "Don't speak to me like I'm your enemy."

"Then stop standing on the other side."

For a moment, he looked as if he wanted to reach for me. Miranda's muffled sob came from the sitting room, and his hand fell back to his side.

I smiled faintly. "Go comfort her. You always do."

"Viya-"

"Don't worry. I won't make a scene. I know how much you hate when I inconvenience your lies."

Viya's POV

The next morning, the mansion sounded like it was being dismantled piece by piece.

I opened my bedroom door to find workers carrying out paintings, books, cushions, and several pieces of furniture I had chosen when I still believed this house might become a home.

Martha hurried toward me, wringing her hands.

"Luna Viya, I'm so sorry. Mrs. Miranda said Alpha approved the changes."

"Did he?"

"I don't know." Her eyes lowered. "Alpha left before dawn for border patrol."

Of course he had.

Lucius always disappeared before Miranda's cruelty required consequences.

I walked downstairs slowly. My favorite reading chair was gone. The wall where my landscape paintings had hung was now covered with dramatic rose-themed art pieces. The living room smelled like Miranda's perfume.

Then she appeared at the staircase in a red dress, smiling as if she owned every brick.

"Oh, good. You're awake. I was afraid the noise might disturb you."

"It did."

"How unfortunate."

I looked around. "You redecorated my house."

"Our house soon."

"You're confident."

"I'm realistic." Miranda walked closer, letting her hand trail along the banister. "Lucius wants comfort. Warmth. A family. You gave him rules and medical books."

"And you gave him betrayal wrapped in grief."

Her smile vanished. "Careful."

"No, Miranda. You be careful. You've been acting like Luna in borrowed rooms, borrowed robes, and borrowed affection. But borrowed things are always returned."

She laughed, too sharp. "Returned to whom? You? Lucius barely looks at you unless he feels guilty."

"He looked at me long enough to sign what mattered."

Suspicion flickered in her eyes. "What does that mean?"

"It means you should enjoy the curtains."

Her lips pressed together.

I turned away, then paused as if remembering something. "By the way, don't touch the tea room set."

Miranda's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"It's valuable. Sentimental." I let the hesitation linger. "Never mind. I'm sure even you wouldn't be that petty."

Her expression changed exactly as I expected.

"What tea set?"

"The ivory bone china. Blue crest. Grandma,former Luna Beth's gift."

"Your favorite?"

I lowered my gaze, hiding my smile. "Forget I said anything."

I went back upstairs.

Three hours later, porcelain shattered.

I descended unhurriedly.

In the tea room, Miranda stood over broken pieces, her face flushed. A maid trembled nearby. Martha looked close to tears.

"What happened?" I asked.

Miranda snapped, "It was an accident."

Martha rushed to explain. "Luna Viya, Mrs. Miranda insisted on seeing the tea set. I warned her not to touch it, but she-"

"Enough!" Miranda barked.

I looked down at the broken cup. "That was Former Luna Beth's royal bone china."

Miranda froze.

"You said it was yours."

"No. I said it was valuable. I said not to touch it."

Her eyes flashed with hatred. "You set me up."

"I warned you."

"You wanted this to happen!"

"I wanted you to show who you are."

She stepped toward me. "When Lucius returns, I'll tell him everything."

"Please do. Tell him you destroyed his grandmother's gift because you were jealous of a tea cup."

Martha gasped softly.

Miranda's face turned red. "You smug little-"

"Choose your next word wisely," I said. "There are witnesses."

For once, Miranda had no tears ready.

Within an hour, two Gamma warriors arrived with Thompson, the main estate's butler.

He bowed to me first. "Luna Viya."

Then he turned to Miranda. "Mrs. Miranda, Former Luna Beth requests your presence at the main house."

Miranda swallowed. "For what?"

"For instruction."

Her confidence cracked. "I am Alexander's widow."

"And the rules apply to widows as well." Thompson's tone remained perfectly polite. "Anyone who damages a Pack Elder's possession must kneel in the courtyard for three hours."

Miranda looked at me with pure venom.

I smiled faintly.

"What?" I asked softly. "No tears this time?"

She was escorted out protesting, her voice rising all the way to the driveway.

Martha watched anxiously. "Luna, will Alpha Lucius be angry?"

"Probably."

"Are you worried?"

I looked at the broken porcelain on the floor.

The real tea set, of course, was safely locked in my clinic office. This one was an expensive replica.

"No," I said. "I'm curious which lie he'll choose to believe first."

When Thompson arrived, Miranda attempted one last performance. She clutched the doorway and looked at me with trembling lips.

"Viya, please. Tell them it was a misunderstanding. You know Lucius will be upset if I'm humiliated."

"I'm sure he will be."

"Then help me."

"Why?"

The single word stunned her.

I walked down the last step and faced her in front of the servants. "When my belongings were on the lawn, did you help me? When you wore my robe and called this your future home, did you worry about humiliating me? When Lucius forgot our anniversary because he was with you, did you ask him to go back to his wife?"

Miranda's eyes filled with furious tears. "You're cruel."

"No. I'm learning. You should be proud. You've been an excellent teacher."

Thompson lowered his eyes, but I caught the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Lucius's POV

When I heard Miranda had been forced to kneel in the main estate courtyard, something hot and protective surged through me.

I arrived in twenty minutes.

She was still on her knees in the snow, shoulders trembling, face pale beneath carefully fallen strands of blonde hair.

"Lucius," she whispered when she saw me.

I lifted her without thinking.

Behind us, Thompson said, "Alpha Wilde, Former Luna Beth ordered-"

"I heard the order." My voice was cold. "And now I'm ending it."

Miranda clung to my coat, shaking.

Once inside, I placed her on the sofa and examined her reddened knees. Guilt and anger mixed uneasily in my chest.

"What were you thinking?" I asked. "If Grandmother summons you, you send for me first."

"I was scared." Her eyes filled instantly. "Viya tricked me. She wanted this."

I paused. "Viya doesn't play tricks."

Miranda stared. "You're defending her?"

"I'm stating a fact."

"She set a trap with that tea set!"

"Grandmother gave Viya that set. She would never risk damaging it over petty revenge."

Miranda's expression hardened. "You sound very sure of your wife."

The word wife landed awkwardly between us.

"She is gentle," I said. "Too gentle sometimes."

Miranda pulled her legs back from my hands. "Can you honestly say you have no feelings for her?"

I looked away.

Ray, my wolf, growled inside me. *Tell the truth.*

"I married Viya for the pack," I said.

"That wasn't my question."

"I have never touched her."

The lie tasted bitter.

I had touched the bond. Not her body, not the way Miranda meant, but worse. I had drugged that bond. I had mixed herbs into Viya's tea, telling myself it was necessary. I had weakened Serena because I feared the pull of fate would drag me away from the woman I believed I loved.

Ray paced in disgust. *Coward.*

Before Miranda could respond, a soft sound came from the doorway.

Viya stood there, wearing an apricot coat and holding a gift box tied with a perfect butterfly bow.

Her face was calm.

Too calm.

"Lucius," she said, "Grandmother asked whether you'll attend the Blackwood Pack dinner tomorrow."

I straightened. "Of course. I'll take you."

"Alright."

Her gaze moved briefly to Miranda on the sofa, then back to me. No accusation. No tears. That somehow made me feel worse.

"What's in the box?" I asked.

"A gift."

"For whom?"

"You."

I frowned. Then realization struck.

Our anniversary.

I had forgotten.

Viya placed the box in my hands with a small smile. "It was for yesterday, but your birthday is soon. Consider it early."

"Viya, I-"

"It's fine. You're busy."

She said it lightly, as if excusing me was a habit she had perfected.

Then she turned and walked away.

Something about her steps looked wrong. Stiff. Painful.

Ray snapped, *She is hurt.*

I started after her.

Miranda hissed behind me. "Lucius, my knee-"

I stopped.

Just for one second.

That second was enough for Viya to disappear through the door.

Miranda's voice shook. "You see? Even now, she makes herself look pitiful and you chase after her."

"She did nothing."

"She exists between us."

The accusation filled the room.

I looked down at the gift box in my hands. The bow was tied with such care that I could picture Viya sitting alone, adjusting it until it looked perfect.

Had she waited for me last night?

Had she worn something beautiful?

Had I been with Miranda while my wife prepared an anniversary gift I forgot to receive?

Ray's voice was low. *You are losing her.*

I almost laughed bitterly.

Had I ever had her?

Miranda noticed the gift box too.

"Aren't you going to open it?" she asked lightly. "Since Viya prepared it with such care."

Her sweetness was a knife.

I held the box tighter. "Later."

"Why later? Afraid I'll see something touching?"

"Miranda."

"No, answer me." Her tears had dried, leaving anger behind. "If she is only a political wife, why does a forgotten anniversary gift make you look like someone kicked your ribs in?"

I said nothing.

She laughed bitterly. "You keep saying you chose me, Lucius. But every time she lowers her eyes, you act like you've committed a crime. Maybe the real problem isn't that Viya wants too much. Maybe it's that you gave her too little and still expected her to adore you."

Ray went still inside me.

Because for once, Miranda had said something true.

For the rest of the afternoon, I carried the gift box with me like a problem I refused to solve. I set it on my desk, then moved it to the shelf, then finally placed it in the locked drawer beneath my private documents.

Ray gave a humorless growl. *You can hide a box. You cannot hide from what it means.*

"Enough."

But my wolf was not done. "She remembered. She always remembers. You forget her, then punish her for being hurt."

I looked toward the window. Outside, the courtyard where Miranda had knelt was already swept clean of snow. Evidence disappeared quickly in Alpha houses. Too quickly.

A thought came, unwanted and sharp. How many times had Viya's pain been swept away before I returned home? How many bruises had healed under long sleeves while I stood beside Miranda and called myself loyal?

My phone buzzed with another message from Miranda.

[Will you come upstairs? I don't want to be alone.]

I stared at it for a long time before replying.

[Rest. We'll talk later.]

For the first time, I did not go to her immediately.