Chapter 158: Chapter 158 Divorce
Freya
I wandered aimlessly through this territory that felt both strange and familiar—the land my mate had chosen to expand our pack’s influence,yet where I remained an outsider.
As noon approached,I remembered I had arranged to have lunch with Silvano. Looking down at my phone,I recalled our brief morning exchange. Just as I was debating whether to return home to pick up Isabella,a message from Silvano appeared on my screen:
[Something urgent with the pack. Lunch canceled.]
I stared at the text without surprise,my wolf curling into a resigned ball inside me. Because I was used to this treatment. In Silvano’s heart,whether it was pack business or meeting with other Alphas... anything had become more important than his Luna.
Plans made with me could be canceled at his whim without a second thought.
He never considered how deeply it affected my wolf—how each rejection weakened our mate bond a little more.
Was I disappointed? Perhaps I would have been before.
Now,my wolf and I had grown numb to the constant rejection.
I felt even more lost than before. I had flown across the country so eagerly,longing to reconnect with my family,only to receive cold treatment from both my mate and my pup.
Without conscious decision,I found myself driving toward a restaurant where Silvano and I had shared many meals in happier times. The Wolf’s Den was an upscale establishment that catered to both humans and shifters,with private rooms for those who needed to discuss pack business away from human ears.
I parked across the street,planning to order something simple for my birthday lunch—alone. That’s when I saw them through the large front windows.
Silvano,Isabella,and Aurora were seated at a corner table—our usual table.
Aurora sat intimately beside my daughter,her perfectly manicured hand resting possessively on Isabella’s shoulder. While chatting with Silvano,she played with my little girl’s dark curls,her fingers lingering in a way that made my wolf bare her teeth. Isabella swung her legs happily,completely at ease with Aurora,even leaning over to eat pastries that Aurora had bitten into first.
Silvano smiled as he served them both,his dark eyes rarely leaving Aurora’s face across the table,as if she were the only one in his world. The look he gave her—I knew that look. It was how he once looked at me,when I was the center of his universe.
So this was Silvano’s "urgent pack matter." And there sat the daughter I had carried for ten months,who I had nearly died bringing into this world when her hybrid nature complicated the birth.
My wolf,who had been whimpering in pain,suddenly went silent—a dangerous,evaluating stillness taking over her consciousness. The burn of betrayal coursed through my veins,but rather than the desperate ache I’d grown accustomed to,a cold clarity settled over me.
I smiled bitterly. I stood there watching my family—no,the family they had become without me—for several long minutes. After a while,I withdrew my gaze and turned away,my decision made.
Back at the villa,I prepared divorce papers with steady hands. Silvano had been my salvation after Jasper,yet he had stopped seeing me long ago.
If not for that fateful night when he’d recognized me as his destined mate—if not for his prophetic dreams and the Shadow Pack elders’ pressure to secure the bloodline—he would never have claimed me. In the past,I had naively believed that if I tried hard enough,devoted myself completely to being the perfect Luna,there would surely come a day when he would look at me the way he once had.
Reality had slapped me hard across the face. Almost six years had passed. It was time for my wolf and I to wake up.
After putting the divorce papers in an envelope and instructing Sara to give them to Silvano,I dragged my suitcase to the car.
"To the airport," I told the driver,ignoring the trembling of my hands. "And stop at the first jewelry store you see on the way."
Author
The moon hung like a pendant in the night sky as Silvano entered the pack house alone,the weight of the evening pressing down on his shoulders. Isabella clung to his leather jacket,her small form moving drowsily as they exited the car. Though she was the Alpha’s daughter,tonight she looked simply like a tired five-year-old who had stayed out too late.
"Dad,do you think mom will be upset if we don’t invite her tomorrow?" Isabella whispered,her voice betraying her conflicted emotions about her mother’s presence.
"She won’t insist on coming," Silvano replied with Alpha certainty,his deep voice resonating with confidence. Throughout their mated years,Freya had always respected his authority—whenever he showed displeasure,she backed down rather than challenge him. That was the natural order of things between them.
In Isabella’s young memory,her mother had always submitted to her father. Since he said mother wouldn’t intrude on their special trip with Aurora,then she definitely wouldn’t.
Relief washed over Isabella’s features. Her previous apprehension melted away as she bounded into the house,declaring to Sara that she wanted a bath before bed.
"Of course,sweetheart," Sara responded with a warm smile,then turned to Silvano with a more serious expression. "Alpha,Luna Freya asked me to give this to you." She extended an envelope toward him with slightly trembling hands,sensing something significant in its contents.
Silvano took it casually,tucking it under his arm as he asked,"Where is she?"
"Well..." Sara hesitated,her eyes dropping momentarily. "Luna Freya packed and left at noon. I assumed you knew."
Silvano paused halfway up the grand staircase,turning his head sharply. "She went back?" A flicker of surprise crossed his features before quickly disappearing behind his practiced Alpha mask.
"Yes,Alpha."
The reason behind Freya’s sudden appearance in the Northern Territory—Silvano had never bothered to ask. He hadn’t given her the chance to explain her unexpected visit. Learning of her departure now,he merely shrugged it off as another of her emotional reactions.
Isabella’s eyes widened slightly when she overheard the news. "Mom left already?" A brief shadow of disappointment crossed her face.
She had been secretly hoping that if mom wasn’t going to join her and dad at the beach tomorrow with Aunt Aurora,she might at least spend this evening with her mother. After all,polishing the special wolfsbane beads for Aurora’s birthday gift made her fingers ache,and mom was always good at helping with such delicate work.
Sara,noticing the tension in the air,gently added,"Alpha,the Luna didn’t seem well when she departed. Her wolf appeared... distressed."
This was putting it mildly. Sara had seen the pain in Freya’s eyes,had scented the sharp tang of grief and anger radiating from her as she packed her belongings with methodical precision. In all her years serving the Shadow Pack’s Alpha family,Sara had never seen the Luna’s wolf so close to the surface,golden flecks burning in Freya’s eyes as she handed over the envelope.
"Distressed?" Silvano repeated,a slight frown marring his handsome features. In all their years together,Freya had always been gentle,accommodating—the perfect Luna behind his Alpha authority. Her anger was something he rarely witnessed.
How curious.
"I’m sure it’s nothing," he dismissed with a casual wave,brushing past Sara to continue up the stairs. The bond between mates was sacred,unbreakable—Freya would calm down eventually.
She always did.