Well Aware

Elara’s POV

My living room has been converted into a filming set.

We’re currently sitting on the biggest couch in the packhouse, our unused chimney behind us, surrounded by four professional cameras, a lighting rig, and approximately seventeen production staff members who are all walking around my house with intense energy.

Everyone has told me about a hundred times what they need from me since they walked into my home. Like they already own me.

And now we’re finally shooting the first interview.

"Luna Elara," the host starts, leaning forward with overly practiced ease. She has perfect hair, perfect skin, and the whitest teeth I have ever seen. If I hadn’t watched her practice her smile in my mirror for ten minutes straight, I would think she’s a robot. "Are you certain you want a divorce?"

I meet the lenses. Four of them, arranged in a slight semicircle, each one a dark and patient eye.

I've stood in front of cameras before, but this feels different. They are all out of my control.

"Yes, I think it’s the best option for u—" I start to calmly respond.

"No. Cut,” Kael demands sharply. I blink and turn to him, just as confused as the host, “Your tone is wrong.”

Kael is sitting next to me, currently frowning at me with more than just dissatisfaction. He has been acting like an absolute prick for two days.

He’s been completely different, with a lot less patience than normal, snapping at everyone in the house, even his beloved Seraphine.

And right now, he looks crazy. The cold detachment he always carries himself with is gone, replaced by nervous anxiety. He’s freaking sweating and twitching, looking like a crackhead desperate for the next hit.

I wish I knew what exactly happened two days ago to make him rush everything like this and become so emotionally maladjusted, but of course he hasn’t said anything to me.

He would never.

"You can’t sound happy," he growls at me, pissed as hell, “I told you to sound angry. This is a fucking reality show. You need more emotion so it feels real and engaging. I told you a million fucking times!”

Seraphine rushes closer and once again wipes the sweat off his forehead and fixes his—usually—perfect hair, which looks very flat today.

His vibes are so bad, even his hair is misbehaving. And he has the whole house tense as hell… except for me, to be honest. I am not intimidated or shaken. I just feel embarrassed.

He has always ignored me and treated me like I’m nothing but an accessory to him, but he has never mistreated me in public. Absolutely not.

He’s unraveling right now.

If we were a real couple, I would do anything to help him ground himself and stop this crazy behavior.

“Sorry,” I murmur, taking a deep breath and hoping my burning face is not too red right now, “I can do it better.”

“Please. Stop wasting everyone’s time,” Seraphine snaps, giving me a nasty look and shaking her head when she finally stops fixing his hair, “Ready. Perfect.”

Kael’s face softens when he looks up at her, and that finally ignites the fire he wanted from me.

“I’m always perfect,” he jokes with her, finally smiling and relaxing just slightly. Then he fucking shoots me a dirty look too, just like Sera, “She’s the problem.”

What?

How dare he? I’ve been doing everything he asked from me, except give the exact tone he needed me to. So now I’m the problem?

Fuck him.

There is a quiet sound from my left that is unmistakably a laugh being poorly suppressed. I turn my head.

It’s Rowan, watching us from the corner. He schools his face back to neutral approximately two seconds too late.

"Alpha," he says, "I think she forgot how it’s like to be on camera. She lost her one talent.”

I take a deep breath and try to hold my smile because I should be used to this… and I guess I am.

The thing about being Luna Elara Draven in a room full of people who work for Kael is that I am always simultaneously respected—simply because of my title—and disrespected because of everything else.

In the eyes of everyone around me, I am an Omega with a good face and a lucky marriage, someone who came from a poor pack and was elevated to a position I have no business holding.

Kael is, of course, an entirely different category of person. Alpha. Unmatched in intelligence and strength, perfect in every way, so I am extremely lucky to be standing next to him.

That's the general consensus in the Greyhound pack.

But right now we’re surrounded by about twenty people who come from the outside and don’t instantly want to bow down to Alpha Kael Draven and suck his dick, so they can realize how rude everyone is being to me.

The embarrassment feels unbearable now, and my eyes start watering. Of course, everyone notices.

Then one of the guys behind the cameras starts pointing at me and ordering the girl on his right to make sure she catches it. My pain.

So they can use it.

Because that is the whole point, isn’t it?

"I'm ready to try again," I say. Then I take a deep breath and look back at the cameras, "I want a divorce from Alpha Kael Draven more than I want anything in this life. I can’t even bear to sit next to him right now. I’m sick of sharing a bed with him every night and having to be around him and the woman he’s obviously sleeping with behind my back. So, to answer your question, Danielle Drover… yes, I am certain I want to divorce him and dissolve our bond completely."

Silence.

Everyone in this room can see I actually mean that. Including Kael, who is now staring at me with surprise in his eyes.

“Was that good enough for you, dear?”

“I guess,” he murmurs, then looks at the host again, who is still staring at us with her mouth open, “Keep going. We don’t have all day.”

She recovers wonderfully.

“Alpha Kael, how does that make you feel?”

He takes a second to get into character and then pretends to be sad.

And the crazy thing is… he’s good at it.

Kael lowers his head, jaw tightening just enough to look wounded instead of furious. His eyes lose that sharp edge he always carries around like a weapon, softening into something almost vulnerable.

If I didn’t know him, I would believe him.

“It’s difficult,” he says, voice rough in all the right places, “Obviously. Elara is my wife. My fated mate. I never wanted things to end like this.”

I can already imagine the comments online. Poor Alpha Kael. Cold, bitch of a wife humiliates him on television while he fights for his marriage.

Meanwhile, this man has barely looked at me for the last five years unless it benefited him.

"Next question,” she quickly adds, “What is one thing the other person has done that moved you the most?"

"For me, there isn't just one most touching thing,” Kael responds, “Only many warm and ordinary moments that I keep in my heart."

I watch the crew from the corner of my eye. The host is nodding and the camera-guy looks satisfied.

"I do have one," I say, "Five years ago, when I was severely attacked by public opinion once he announced me as his Luna… he spoke up for me. Defended me and made me feel special.”

The room is quiet for a moment, and then it’s filled witht the warmth of an audience that has finally been given something real to hold onto. I can hear it in the small sounds people make, the way attention shifts and settles.

I look at my hands.

I meant what I said. That is the complicated truth sitting underneath all of this — that Kael has never been a villain in a simple way.

He did speak up for me back then, without being asked.

"Second question," the host continues, "In your years of marriage, what benefit do you think you have brought to each other?"

I open my mouth.

"I'll answer first. She’s too slow,” Kael says, lifting his hand to wipe his sweat himself. I simply close my mouth.

Alright.

"The benefit I've brought her," he continues, "Is a fortune of over ten billion dollars. She has limited education and entered society late, so her understanding of certain things is quite lacking. I am five years older, and as an Alpha, whenever I have time, I guide her, correct her, and help her understand deeper social rules."

A pause.

"Honestly," he adds, with something that is almost a fond laugh, "I sometimes envy her. If someone had guided me like this when I was younger, I would have been very fortunate."

I become aware of how the camera-guy’s expression turns uncomfortable again, and how the host, whose smile has been professionally maintained this whole time, finally does a clear confused look.

Kael looks satisfied. He means it well, I think.

That is the thing that would make other people angrier than it makes me —he genuinely means it well.

In his mind, he has just described a benevolent arrangement. A gift, even.

"Luna… what about you?"

I consider the question.

"None," I say.

A beat.

"Sorry?" The host blinks in confusion.

"Nothing," I say honestly, holding her gaze, "The benefit I've brought him is nothing. He’s always been the one who benefits me and that’s it.”

“Got it," she moves us forward with another one of her smiles, "What is the thing you regret the most over your marriage?"

Kael shifts into the answer like he was prepared for this one.

"Probably that I've spent too much time managing the pack these past five years," he says, with perfectly calibrated emotion. He turns toward me, and the look he gives me is warm in a way that makes something in my chest do a complicated thing I refuse to examine, "There's never really been any conflict between us. The only issue is that I've been too busy. That's also why I joined this show."

I scoff and allow myself to show my displeasure to that, shaking my head dramatically.

“Darling… don’t be over-dramatic,” he complains, trying to hold my hand. I snath it away.

"The thing I regret the most," I say before the host can ask, and I hear my voice come out steady, quieter than usual, "is once kneeling in front of him. Willingly submitting to him.”

The words fall into the silence and stay there.

I don't elaborate. I don't need to.

The image is its own complete sentence, and the room seems to understand that, even without knowing the story behind it.

“Last question… do you still love each other?” Danielle asks softly. Kael pauses for exactly the correct amount of time.

“With all my heart.”

What a wonderful fucking liar.

“Now, Elara,” The host continues, everyone’s eyes shift to me, “Do you love him?”

“No,” I respond, and I’ve never been more honest before, “I don’t.”

To my surprise, Kael looks utterly incredulous, his face turning pale, as if he had never expected my answer.