When My Alpha Left Me Bleeding for His Mistress

I was arranging flowers in the main hall, a small attempt to bring some life into the packhouse's cold corridors, when Beta Marcus's heavy footsteps echoed across the marble floor. His face was grim, and in his hands, he carried a thick folder that made my stomach knot with dread. I'd learned to recognize trouble in this pack, and Marcus carried it like a storm cloud.

'Do you need something, Beta?' I asked, setting down the vase. My voice came out steadier than I felt.

'Luna,' he said, his tone carefully neutral, 'I need to speak with Alpha Jace immediately. It's... urgent.'

I nodded, pressing my thumbnail into my wrist—a habit I couldn't break. 'He's in his study with—'

'With Miss Knight,' Marcus finished, his eyes flickering toward the closed study doors. 'I know. But this can't wait.'

As if summoned by his name, Jace's voice cut through our conversation. 'What's the delay, Marcus?' He stood in the doorway, Hayden just visible behind him, her honey-blonde hair catching the light. For a moment, I saw something flicker across Jace's face—a softness that vanished the instant his eyes landed on me.

'Alpha,' Marcus said, stepping forward. 'I've discovered something you need to see. Immediately.'

Jace's jaw tightened. 'In my office, then.'

I turned to leave—this wasn't my business—but Marcus's next words froze me in place.

'It's about Luna's father,' he said, his voice dropping to a near whisper. 'The financial discrepancies I've been tracking... they lead straight to him.'

The world tilted beneath my feet. My father? No, that couldn't be right. He was many things—unfaithful, distant, neglectful—but he wouldn't... he couldn't...

Jace's eyes snapped to mine, cold and accusing. 'Bring the evidence,' he commanded Marcus. Then, without a word to me, he turned and walked away, leaving me standing alone in the hall.

I followed them to Jace's study on unsteady legs, my heart hammering against my ribs. The room felt suffocating as Marcus spread the documents across Jace's desk. Ledgers, bank statements, correspondence—all bearing my father's signature.

'These are records of systematic embezzlement,' Marcus explained, his voice clinical. 'He's been diverting pack funds for at least two years. But that's not the worst of it.'

My father's handwriting jumped out at me from the pages—familiar loops and curves that now felt like strangers. I stared at the numbers, trying to make sense of them, but all I could see was the betrayal laid out in black ink.

'He's been making deals with the Silver Claw Pack,' Marcus continued. 'Trading our resources, our information, to cover his debts. The same pack that's been encroaching on our northern border.'

Jace's growl filled the room, his Alpha aura flaring with barely contained rage. 'How much?'

'Nearly half a million in pack funds,' Marcus replied. 'And the information he's sold... that's priceless.'

I couldn't breathe. My father—the man who had already broken my mother's heart, who had taught me that love was conditional—had betrayed the entire pack. The pack that had given us a home, protection, a place in the world.

Jace turned to me, his eyes blazing with a fury that made me step back. 'Did you know?'

The accusation hit like a physical blow. 'No,' I whispered. 'I swear, Jace, I didn't know.'

He studied my face for a long moment, and I saw the war behind his eyes—the Alpha weighing justice against vengeance. Then his expression hardened into the cold mask I knew too well.

'Summon the pack,' he ordered Marcus. 'Everyone. To the courtyard. Now.'

Within minutes, the entire Black Moon Pack had gathered under the harsh afternoon sun. I stood beside Jace on the stone platform, my face a careful mask of Luna composure while my insides twisted with shame and dread. My father was dragged into the courtyard, his hands bound, his once-proud face now haggard and defeated.

'Pack members of Black Moon,' Jace's voice rang out, carrying to every corner of the territory. 'Today, we face a betrayal from within. Richard Taylor has stolen from us, sold our secrets, endangered our lives for his own gain.'

Murmurs rippled through the crowd. I felt their eyes on me, on my father, connecting us in their minds. Blood will tell, they would be thinking. Like father, like daughter.

'Richard Taylor,' Jace continued, his Alpha tone making the very air vibrate, 'you are hereby stripped of your rank and exiled from Black Moon territory. You have until sundown to leave. After that, you will be treated as any other rogue.'

My father's eyes found mine across the courtyard. For a moment, I saw something like apology in them—but it was too little, too late. The guards began to drag him away, and I stood frozen, unable to move, unable to speak. I couldn't call out to him, couldn't beg for mercy, couldn't do anything but watch as the last remnant of my family disappeared beyond the packhouse gates.

Jace didn't look at me once during the entire ordeal. He didn't need to. The message was clear in every line of his body: I was tainted by my father's betrayal, just as I had been tainted by Anastasia's death. There was nothing left of me worth saving.