The Unwanted Omega Wife's Final Goodbye

Khloe Harper POV:

"Khloe, your sister Katharine is back."

The voice of my mother, Kristine Harper, the Luna of the Sunstone Pack, echoed in my mind. It was a cold, formal transmission through our mind-link, devoid of any warmth.

My heart seized. A sudden, sharp coldness spread through my veins, making my fingertips feel like ice.

Katharine.

The name was a splinter lodged deep under my skin, one I'd been trying to ignore for years.

I took a shaky breath, forcing the air into lungs.

"Understood."

I walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse, looking down at the sprawling city lights below. This was Barron Burgess's kingdom, his territory. And I was just a dull pearl on his crown, a political offering to secure an alliance between our Packs.

Katharine was back.

The woman everyone whispered should be the one standing here, beside the Alpha King. My perfect, powerful, Alpha-blooded sister.

A wave of anxiety washed over me. My hand instinctively went to the back of my neck, my fingers tracing the crescent-moon-shaped silver birthmark. It was the symbol of my Omega status, the source of my deepest insecurities.

I couldn't just wait for the inevitable.

I opened the private mind-link to Barron. It was a privilege of being Mates, though most of the time it felt like a one-way street paved with ice.

"Barron, are you coming home tonight?"

My voice sounded more fragile than I intended.

Silence stretched from his end of the link. It was so long I thought he wouldn't answer at all.

Finally, his voice came through, deep and devoid of emotion, like a winter wind.

"Busy with Pack affairs."

It was his usual excuse. The same three words he always used when he didn't want to face me, when he didn't want to come home.

A spark of anger ignited in my chest.

"My sister is back, Barron! Katharine is back! Don't you care at all?" My voice climbed, sharp with desperation. I needed reassurance. I needed him to tell me it didn't matter.

Another silence, but this time I could feel the irritation rolling off him in cold, dark waves.

"That has nothing to do with you."

His voice was laced with an authority that was absolute, the Alpha King's dominance pressing down on me even through the link. It made it hard to breathe.

His words choked me. It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head.

Nothing to do with me? My sister, his once-rumored flame, was back, and he said it had nothing to do with me?

"You have to come home! Tonight, right now!" I was practically screaming, using every ounce of my Omega strength to fight his coldness.

The only response was the hollow void of the link being abruptly severed. The feeling was like having a small piece of my soul ripped away, leaving a gaping hole for the cold to rush in.

I collapsed onto the sofa, my body feeling heavy and useless. I looked around the empty, cavernous space that was supposed to be my home.

Barron, the most powerful Alpha King in North America, my Mate, had just shown me in the most direct way possible that my feelings were worthless.

My gaze fell on the ridiculously expensive watch on my wrist, a gift from him. The irony was suffocating. He could give me anything material, but he was stingy with even a sliver of warmth.

I pushed myself up and walked to the liquor cabinet, pouring a glass of amber liquid.

The harsh spirit burned its way down my throat, a fire in my esophagus that couldn't touch the ice around my heart.

I stared at the liquid swirling in the glass, a single thought crystallizing in my mind.

This position as Luna... did I really want to keep it?

My phone buzzed. A message from my best friend, Aimee. "Honey, you okay? Heard Katharine's back."

I stared at the screen but didn't reply. I didn't want to talk to anyone.

A soft chime from the apartment's smart system announced that the temperature in the master bedroom had been adjusted to Barron's preference. He could control the details of our home from afar, but he wouldn't step foot in it.

I downed the rest of the drink in one gulp. The dizziness from the alcohol was a welcome, temporary numbness.

I walked barefoot across the plush carpet, the expensive wool soft under my feet, yet I felt like I was walking on air, with nothing solid beneath me.

I entered our walk-in closet. One side was filled with my dresses and jewelry. The other held his meticulously organized suits and shirts.

His scent lingered on his clothes-cedar and mint, powerful and cold. The scent I once craved now felt suffocating.

I shut the closet door, as if that could shut out his existence.

Back in the living room, I stared out at the night again. For the first time, this penthouse, envied by so many, felt like a gilded cage.

Katharine's face floated in my mind, always with that victorious smile, as if everything I had was just something she'd temporarily discarded.

I shook my head hard, trying to dislodge the thought.

I needed a shower. Maybe the hot water would calm me down.

As I stepped into the master bathroom, my eyes landed on the two sinks. Two toothbrush cups sat side-by-side.

One of them, Barron's, was covered in a thin layer of dust.

He hadn't stayed the night here in a very, very long time.

The discovery was the final, crushing weight on my already strained nerves.