After My Alpha Whipped Me for Exposing His Mistress

The summons came at nine o'clock the night before the banquet.

*My office. Now.*

Three words through the mind link. That was all Caden ever gave me anymore.

I tucked the blanket around Kashton's shoulders and kissed his bandage. Then I walked up the main stairs, past the Luna wing that still smelled of peaches, and knocked on his door.

"Come in."

He didn't look up. He never did. A glass of whiskey sat by his elbow, half gone. The photo of his father watched me from the shelf behind him.

"Tomorrow," he said, "you'll sit at the far end of the table."

I stood very still. "The far end is for junior Gammas."

"Then you'll be in good company." He set down his pen. "You won't speak unless someone speaks to you first. You won't make a scene. You'll behave appropriately while I present Callie to our allies."

*Present her.* Like a new treaty. Like a prize.

"Caden, Alpha Hale and his Luna have known me for six years. They'll ask questions."

He stood. And then his Alpha tone came down on me.

It felt like a hand on the back of my neck. Heavy. Hot. Pushing my head lower and lower until my chin almost touched my chest. My knees wanted to bend. Nova whined inside me and pressed herself flat.

"You will do as you're told," he said. "Is that clear?"

I could have fought it. Lycan blood runs under my skin like a river under ice. One flare of it, and his tone would have cracked like glass. He would have known what I was.

Not yet.

I lifted my eyes slowly. I made my voice smooth as silk.

"As you wish, Alpha."

He blinked. I think he wanted me to cry. Or beg. Something he could push against.

I gave him nothing.

"Get out," he muttered, and reached for the whiskey.

---

Back in the east wing, the hall was cold and dark. I checked Kashton's breathing. Once. Twice. Three times. His small chest rose and fell under the moon nightlight.

*He tried to break us,* Nova said.

*He tried,* I agreed.

I opened the narrow closet. My Luna gown hung inside. Deep midnight blue, silver thread at the collar. I wore it the night I was crowned seven years ago. Caden had told me once it was too plain. Callie's dresses were always new.

I took the healer's records from my journal and unfolded them. Blood types. Scent profile. Dates in neat little numbers.

I pressed them flat against the inside of the bodice and stitched a thin seam over them by hand. The paper sat right over my heart.

It felt like armor.

---

The great hall glowed the next evening. Candles on every table. White roses I had ordered from the Hollow Creek Pack in exchange for a border easement no one remembered I'd signed. Twelve allied Alphas. Twelve Lunas. Their Betas and Gammas behind them.

I waited in the corridor until the music started. Then I waited longer.

Caden entered first. The doors swung open, and Callie was on his arm.

She wore red. Of course she did. The silk was cut tight over her stomach, and she kept one hand resting on the small curve of her belly like she was showing it off in a shop window. She smiled at every Alpha she passed.

The room went quiet in a strange way. Not silent. Just uneasy. Alpha Hale shifted in his chair. Luna Sophia of the Ironvale Pack set down her wine glass very carefully.

I walked in alone.

No announcement. No escort. My heels clicked on the stone floor, and I felt every head turn. I didn't hurry. I kept my shoulders back and my chin level, the way my mother taught me in a court none of them knew existed.

I passed the head table. Callie was sitting in my chair, beside Caden. She tilted her head at me, sweet as poison.

I kept walking. All the way to the far end, next to a young Gamma who looked like he wanted to sink under the floor.

"Luna," he whispered, red-faced. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." I smoothed my napkin across my lap. "The roses are lovely from here."

Across the room, Luna Sophia caught my eye. Then she turned to the Luna beside her. Their faces said everything. Horror. Pity. And something else, something hard, like they were each counting.

Good. Let them count.

Caden rose and lifted his glass. His aura filled the hall.

"Friends. Allies." His voice was warm. He never used that voice with me. "Thank you for standing with Blackridge. This year, rogues tested our borders. We held. We always will."

Polite applause. He didn't mention Owen. He didn't mention the son with six stitches sleeping upstairs.

Then he looked down at Callie, and his face softened.

"And tonight, I have joy to share. Callie Reed is carrying my pup." He laid his hand over hers on her belly. "A blessing for the pack's future."

Callie glowed. She leaned into his side and looked straight down the long table. Straight at me.

The applause was thin this time. Scattered. Alpha Hale didn't clap at all.

I folded my hands on the white tablecloth and felt the paper shift against my heart.

*A blessing,* Nova growled.

I smiled.

The toast wasn't over yet. And neither was I.