After My Mate Chose Her, I Took His Pack

I lunged across the desk before I could think, my wolf surging forward with a snarl. "You knew he was alive and you said nothing?"

Duke caught my wrists mid-strike, his grip iron but not painful. His Alpha aura slammed into me like a physical wall, forcing my wolf to submit even as she raged. "Stop."

The command in his voice made my knees buckle. I hated it. Hated how my body responded to his authority when Harrison's had always felt hollow.

"Let. Me. Go."

"Not until you listen." Duke's eyes had gone completely black, his wolf rising to meet mine. "You want to rage at me? Fine. But first, look at the rest of that folder."

He released me and I stumbled back, chest heaving. My fingers shook as I grabbed the papers beneath the photos. Bank statements. Transfer records. Offshore accounts.

The numbers blurred together until one caught my eye. Two million. Gone. Then another million. And another.

"He's been bleeding your pack dry for three years," Duke said quietly. "Every treaty you negotiated, every investment you secured—he funneled the profits to her."

My wolf went silent. That deadly, calculating silence that meant she was done playing victim.

"Why tell me now?" I looked up at him. "Why not expose him yourself?"

Duke moved around the desk, close enough that I could smell him—dark chocolate and amber, nothing like Harrison's cedar. "Because you deserve to be the one who destroys him. Not me. Not the Council. You."

"How generous." The words came out bitter.

"I'm not being generous." His jaw clenched. "I'm being strategic. If we expose him now, he'll claim he was held captive. Traumatized. The Council will give him time to 'recover' before stripping his title. Your pack will suffer through months of instability."

I hated that he was right. Hated that he'd thought this through while I'd been drowning in grief.

"What's your plan?"

Duke's smile was sharp. "We declare him Fallen. Officially dead. Strip his bloodline rights before he can contest them. By the time he realizes what's happening, you'll have full control of Silver Moon."

"And what do you get out of this?"

His eyes locked on mine. "An alliance. Your pack merges with mine. You get the resources to survive. I get—" He stopped himself.

"Get what?"

"That's not a conversation for tonight." He stepped back, giving me space to breathe. "The Pack Howl is in three days. Can you play the grieving widow that long?"

I thought of Harrison laughing with her. Touching her. Living his best life while I'd cried myself to sleep every night.

"Yes."

***

The clearing was packed with wolves, their eyes glowing in the darkness as they waited for me to begin the ceremony. I stood on the raised platform, wearing the traditional white mourning robes, my hair unbound.

Duke stood to my right, his presence a solid wall of protection. The pack had accepted his attendance without question—allies always honored the fallen.

I raised my arms and the crowd fell silent.

"We gather under the Moon Goddess to honor Alpha Harrison Thomas." My voice carried across the clearing, steady despite the lie. "Taken from us too soon. A leader. A mate. A son of Silver Moon."

The pack began to howl, a mournful sound that echoed through the trees. I tilted my head back and joined them, letting my wolf's voice rise with theirs.

But inside, I was picturing something else entirely. Harrison's face when he learned what I'd done. The moment he realized he'd lost everything.

When I lowered my head, Duke was watching me with an expression I couldn't read. Dark. Possessive. Approving.

He saw exactly what I was doing. And he liked it.

***

Two nights later, I was elbow-deep in financial records when Duke appeared in the office doorway with coffee.

"You need to sleep," he said, setting a mug beside my laptop.

"I need to figure out how deep this goes." I rubbed my eyes, exhaustion making them burn. "He didn't just steal from the pack accounts. He mortgaged the eastern territory. Took loans against our future earnings."

Duke pulled up a chair beside me, close enough that our shoulders almost touched. "Show me."

I pulled up the spreadsheet, walking him through each transaction. Harrison had been careful, spreading the theft across multiple accounts, disguising it as legitimate expenses.

"Here." I pointed to a recurring transfer. "Five thousand a month to a boutique in Manhattan. That's where I saw them."

Duke's scent wrapped around me as he leaned closer to study the screen. Dark chocolate and amber. It shouldn't have been comforting, but my wolf practically purred.

"We can recover most of this," he said. "Once the merger goes through, Obsidian's assets will stabilize Silver Moon's debt."

"Why are you doing this?" The question slipped out before I could stop it. "Really doing this?"

Duke turned to look at me, and the intensity in his eyes made my breath catch. "Because you're brilliant. Because you've been holding this pack together with duct tape and sheer will. Because Harrison was a fool who didn't deserve you."

His hand covered mine on the desk.

"And because when this is over, I'm going to make sure you never doubt your worth again."

My wolf stirred, reaching toward him in a way she never had with Harrison. Not desperate. Not needy. Just... curious.

I should have pulled away. Should have questioned his motives.

Instead, I turned my hand over and laced my fingers through his.

"Tell me your plan for the Council meeting."