Chapter 2 — I Heard Everything

I woke up to a white ceiling. The sharp, sterile scent of antiseptic filled my lungs before my eyes even fully focused, and I knew immediately where I was. The medical wing. I had always hated how quickly my body could recognize places like this.

For a moment, I didn’t move. It was a habit I had never been able to break—staying composed long enough to understand the situation before anyone else could define it for me.

The door opened softly.

The pack doctor stepped in, and I watched his face before he even spoke. There was always a moment like this… when people decided how much truth they could afford to give me.

“Luna,” he began gently, already bracing. “You’ve been unconscious for several hours. There were complications from the fall.”

I stared at the ceiling instead of him.

“The pregnancy—”

“I know,” I interrupted.

He stopped.

“I know,” I said again, quieter this time, more to myself than to him.

My hand moved instinctively toward my pocket, but there was nothing there. The test was gone. Someone had taken it while I was unconscious. That detail landed softly at the edge of my mind, but I didn’t follow it yet. There were other things I needed first.

Kieran’s voice came back to me instead. She hasn’t conceived in five years. She won’t.

My chest tightened.

The doctor shifted uncomfortably. “Luna, you should rest—”

“Where is my husband?”

“The Alpha has been informed. He said he would come when—”

“Where is he?” I asked again.

The doctor hesitated. “He gave instructions,” he said carefully. “Only urgent matters are to be brought to him tonight.”

My fingers curled slightly against the sheet. “So I could die in here and he would still be dancing in a hall?”

“The feast,” the doctor admitted and looked away. “The guests arrived this evening. He felt it was necessary to attend.”

I let out a slow breath and finally turned my head slightly. “Thank you,” I said.

He lingered as if he wanted to say more, then left when it became clear I wouldn’t offer him anything further. The door closed softly behind him, and the room settled into silence.

The feast.

Of course life continued outside these walls exactly as it always did. Alliances were still being negotiated, guests were still being entertained, and my collapse had already become something to be quietly managed in the background. Kieran would be there, standing at the head of the hall, calm and composed, wearing the authority I had helped him build. And Liora would be somewhere nearby. She always was.

My hand moved slowly to my stomach.

I’m sorry, I thought, though there was nothing left to hear it. I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you.

There were no tears left in me. Whatever had broken in that corridor had already taken them.

I got dressed carefully, one layer at a time, like someone rebuilding themselves from the inside out.

Kieran came just before midnight.

I didn’t need to see him to know it was him. I heard his footsteps before he reached the door, steady and familiar in a way that made something in my chest tighten before I could stop it.

The door swung open.

He paused at the threshold when he saw me.

I was sitting by the window, already dressed, hands resting calmly in my lap.

Something flickered across his face so quickly it might have been imagined.

“You should be in bed,” he said, stepping inside. “The doctor said you need rest.”

He glanced at me for a second longer than necessary.

“Did they tell you everything?” I asked.

“Tell me what?”

I smiled slightly. “Don’t insult me, Kieran. I want a divorce.”

Kieran stopped.

For a long moment, he didn’t speak. He simply looked at me, as though recalculating something he had not expected to change.

“Nia,” he said finally, moving closer. He crouched slightly so we were at the same level, his voice lowering in a way that would have once felt gentle. “You’ve had a shock. You’re grieving. That’s understandable.”

“I heard you,” I said.

From his expression, I knew he understood immediately what I meant.

“In the corridor,” I continued. “I heard everything.”

Silence.

“The boy,” I said. “Kai. He’s yours.”

Another silence.

“The contraceptives,” I added, my voice steady even as my chest ached. “Five years, Kieran. Five years of believing it was my fault.”

His jaw tightened.

“I want a divorce,” I continued. “I want to return to my father’s pack. And I want it done before the week ends.”

Kieran straightened slowly. And something in him changed.

“No,” he said.

I stood.

“You don’t get to decide that.”

“I do,” he replied. “I decide everything in this pack.”

“That doesn’t include me.”

His gaze held mine. “It always has.”

“I am the daughter of an Alpha,” I said. “My father—”

“Your father gave you to me,” Kieran interrupted calmly. “You are my Luna. My mate. Whatever you think you heard doesn’t change that.”

“You have a child with my best friend,” I said, and this time my voice cracked slightly despite my effort to hold it steady. “You poisoned five years of my life.”

That was when he moved.

He stopped close enough that I had to tilt my head slightly to keep eye contact.

“You’re not leaving,” he said quietly. “And this conversation is over for tonight.”

Then he turned.

He gave orders outside the door to the guards. Two voices responded, and the lock clicked into place.

And just like that, I was no longer alone.

I stood still as his footsteps faded down the corridor, returning to the world I was no longer part of.

Only when the silence settled fully did I look around the room.

The barred window. The locked door. The careful arrangement of furniture I had chosen myself, once believing it meant something.

It took me a moment to realize the truth.

This room had never been a sanctuary. It had always been a boundary.

I sat back down slowly by the window.

Outside, faint music drifted from the feast grounds. Laughter. Celebration. Life continuing without interruption.

I listened to it all without moving.

I would leave.

And when I did, Kieran would learn what he had forgotten somewhere between power and possession.

I was the daughter of an Alpha.

And I had never needed a wolf to survive him.