_Kaelen’s POV_

She walked out without looking back.

I stood beside Virella, watching her go from the corner of my eye. The words to stop her did not come.

I told myself the tightness in my chest was nothing more than irritation. Pure irritation. Nothing more complicated than that.

"You know exactly what it is", Shade said.

My wolf had been restless since the moment Rowena walked into that room—crouched low in my mind, pacing with an agitation I rarely felt from him. Like a warrior bracing for a battle he did not wish to fight.

Several times, he had tried to take control. I held him back. I knew he had not abandoned his ridiculous loyalty to our Luna. Even if Rowena did not deserve it.

"You wronged her."

"She should not have challenged my authority in front of the pack."

"You would not be sitting in that chair without her."

"Enough!"

I pushed Shade down. He went quiet, but he did not settle. He never did when he believed I had made a mistake—and lately, it seemed he believed I made nothing but mistakes.

The tension in the room eased when the pack healer confirmed that Virella and the child were unharmed. Grandmama Maelis lowered herself back into her seat. Elvira unfolded herself from the arm of the sofa.

My mother crossed the room and stopped beside me.

"Go and speak with her," she said quietly. It was not a suggestion. From my gentle-natured mother, it was as close to a command as she ever came. "She needs time to calm herself."

"She is not merely angry, Kaelen." My mother’s voice carried a careful deliberation. "She is resolved. Those are two very different things. And before you dismiss that out of hand..." She paused, choosing her words with care. "You should consider that in three years, she has never given this family a single reason to doubt her. Not once."

Across the room, Elvira let out a soft laugh. "She has simply grown comfortable. That is the problem. Three years of running a household, and now she imagines she has more say in this family than she actually does."

She examined her nails with studied indifference. "This talk of divorce is nothing more than posturing. She is not going anywhere. What Alpha would take a woman with no family, no pack, and no wolf to speak of?"

I wanted to agree with her. She was right—Rowena had no better option. Her mother had confirmed that herself three years ago.

But the look in Rowena’s eyes when she said divorce kept surfacing in my mind. Some part of me knew she was not bluffing.

"Kaelen." Virella’s voice came from beside me, still soft from her earlier distress. "Do not trouble yourself on my account. I can leave. I told you from the beginning—I would never be the reason you lose everything."

I looked at her.

She held my gaze, sadness softening her features. I knew she meant every word.

That was who Virella was. She never asked for more than I could give. She had fought beside me in conditions that would have broken most people. She had made decisions under pressure that had saved lives—including mine. She did not complain. She did not demand. She simply stayed, and trusted me to do right by her.

I reached out and covered her hand with mine. "You are carrying my child. You are not going anywhere."

The glistening of tears in her eyes softened something in my chest. Virella had never been one to cry easily—pregnancy had made her more sensitive, that was all. Protecting her and the child was my responsibility.

I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I will make her agree," I said, the words coming out with more conviction than I felt.

"I will make her understand. She cannot defy her Alpha."

**

The hall between the main wing and Rowena’s suite was longer than it needed to be.

I had walked it only once before.

Our wedding night. We had walked it together then, nerves and anticipation tangled between us. I had meant it when I promised her mother I would care for her. I had meant it when I asked her to wait for me.

But in the end, Rowena had never truly been mine.

The war was brutal, but I had not forgotten my wife waiting at home. I wanted to end it quickly, to return to her. Then I learned the truth about her past.

She had chosen me because she had no other choice. Her fated mate had abandoned her when her family fell. She had agreed to marry me only because her mother wished it. I could have overlooked all of that. But when I learned she still carried a torch for the man who had rejected her—that she had been making plans to run away with him while wearing my Luna’s title—whatever tenderness I had felt for her withered.

The only reason she was still here was that I had returned victorious. Because she still had enough sense to care about what remained of her family’s reputation.

Without my Luna’s name, she had nothing. She did not dare to leave me.

"Confident, aren’t you?" Shade’s voice dripped with mockery from somewhere in my mind.

I did not answer.

I stood in the corridor, staring at the door before me. On the other side, I could feel something—not a mate bond, nothing so clear or definitive, but something I had never found the right words for. It had been there on our wedding night. Three years of silence and distance had not erased it entirely.

I raised my hand to knock.

And then I heard Rowena’s voice from somewhere inside.

"And find me a family law attorney. Someone outside the pack. Someone who owes Kaelen nothing."

The cold fury I had nursed for years surged through me.

I pushed the door open.

"You’re so eager, aren’t you, Rowena?"

I let my Alpha presence fill the room. Her handmaidens flinched at the weight of it but still managed to execute their bows—barely.

Rowena sat on the edge of her bed, her spine rigid. The only sign of weakness was her fingers, white-knuckled where they gripped the bedsheet. A woman, after all.

I eased back on my presence. Velvet, her maid, immediately stepped forward.

"Alpha," she said, her voice trembling but her words bold, "you should not enter without knocking."

I let out a cold laugh. "Since when do I require permission to enter my wife’s chambers in my own pack?" I kept my eyes on Rowena. "Is this how you teach them to speak to their Alpha?"

Rowena’s brow flickered, but she did not scold her maid. She rose to her feet and faced me squarely.

"What brings you here, Alpha Kaelen?"

The distance in her voice made something twist in my chest. This woman had never truly wanted me home. And now this talk of divorce—it was nothing but an excuse. She wanted to cast me aside and run back to the man who had abandoned her.

The thought took root the moment it appeared, and the more I turned it over, the more it explained everything.

I lowered my voice. "Everyone out. I wish to speak with my Luna alone."

Neither maid moved. Their eyes stayed fixed on Rowena, waiting—waiting—for her permission. Fury coiled in my gut. Three years away, and they had forgotten who held authority in this pack.

Before I could act, Rowena spoke. "Grace. Velvet. Leave us. I can handle this."

They withdrew at last, though I heard them stop just outside the door. As if I posed a threat to my own wife.

"Say what you came to say, Alpha Kaelen." Rowena moved to the table and poured herself a cup of tea.

"Virella stays." I made my voice hard. "She has no family. She saved my life and the lives of my soldiers. This pack owes her a debt, and I promised her a home."

Rowena took a sip of tea. I braced for her protest.

Instead, she smiled—a cold, thin thing. "Did I say I objected?"

I blinked. "You... agree?"

"Do I have the right to object?" She tilted her head. "She carries your child. Did you truly expect me to demand you cast her out?"

Some of the tension in my chest eased. "I am glad you see reason."

"Since I am giving you what you want." She was still smiling, but her eyes had gone flat. "I expect the same courtesy. Give me a divorce. Then we owe each other nothing."

"Owe each other nothing?" I repeated the words slowly, as if tasting them for the first time.

I crossed the room in two strides and closed my hand around her throat. Not enough to hurt—but enough to make her understand.

"I gave you a home when you had nothing. And this is how you repay me?"

"You promised her a home." She did not fight my grip. Her hands stayed at her sides, but her voice came out tight, strained. "What am I supposed to do? Sit beside her and pretend I am content? You cannot have two wives, Kaelen."

"And why not?" I tightened my fingers—just slightly. Just enough to feel her pulse hammer against my palm. "I am the Alpha. I make the laws in this pack."

She wrenched herself free before I could react, stumbling back a step with her hand pressed to her throat. Her composure had finally cracked.

"Have you lost your mind?" Her voice rose, raw and shaken. "You want to make me a laughingstock? Make us both a laughingstock?"

She drew a ragged breath, forcing herself back to calm.

"You do not love me. We have never even consummated this marriage. By any measure that matters, we are not husband and wife. So tell me—why does letting me go cost you anything at all?"

Never consummated.

The words hit me like a spark catching dry tinder.

I closed the distance between us before she could move. My arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her against me. She gasped, her hands coming up to push at my chest, but I did not let go.

"Never consummated," I murmured, my voice low. "Is that what this is really about? Not being truly married?"

I looked down at her—at the flush spreading across her cheeks, the way her breath had gone shallow. "Perhaps I should remedy that."

Her eyes widened.

I kissed her.