Chapter 9
Tiberius’s body went rigid, his pupils contracting to predatory pinpoints. He seized the omega’s collar with a vicious grip, hauling her up until her feet barely touched the ground, his eyes blazing with murderous intent.
“Do you have a fucking death wish? Administering forbidden compounds to a pregnant alpha female? Endangering Silver Crescent bloodline is punishable by immediate exile or death!”
The omega’s body trembled so violently she could barely speak, words fragmented between desperate, gasping sobs.
“I would never… never dare act alone! It was… her direct order!”
“Mercy, Alpha! I follow the chain of command! Your mate gave explicit instructions!”
Tiberius’s expression turned dangerously cold. “Speak plainly, omega. Which mate ordered this?”
“Luna Lilith!”
The omega’s shoulders convulsed with terror. “You commanded all lower–ranked pack members to obey her without question, Alpha! I was following your own directive!”
Tiberius released her suddenly, the fury visibly draining from his face. He stood motionless for several long minutes, his jaw working silently before dismissing the terrified omega with an uncharacteristically defeated gesture.
Just then, excited voices erupted from the pack’s medical facility.
“The cub is here! A powerful son!”
“Luna Lilith has delivered a healthy male! The bloodline continues!”
“Where is Alpha Tiberius? He must come immediately!”
The midwives rushed out bearing the news–a moment that should have filled any Alpha with primal pride. Instead, Tiberius felt only a hollow disquiet spreading through his chest, radiating outward like poison.
For three endless days, he had been haunted by Giselle’s final moments in the ceremonial grounds–her dignified bearing despite her injuries, her emotionless expression, her absolute finality.
Not the behavior of a mate planning to return or negotiate.
22:02
ALPHA’S ENDLESS REGRET: After The Barren Luna’s Leave
6.3%
Chapter 9
She had told him plainly that Lilith had deliberately taken labor–inducing herbs from the forbidden
garden.
At the time, he had instantly dismissed it as desperate manipulation.
He had labeled his true mate a liar and schemer–had drawn her blood with his own dominant hand for the first time in their twelve years together.
Tiberius stared at his right hand, the one that had split his true mate’s lip, and slapped himself with enough force to leave parallel claw marks across his check.
“You contemptible, blind fool,” he snarled at his own reflection in a nearby window.
He raised his eyes to the snow–covered grounds, genuine fear beginning to take root where arrogant certainty had lived just hours before.
“Find her! Find Luna Giselle immediately!” he barked to his enforcers. “Every available wolf–now!”
Memories flooded back of their years together–how Giselle had always suffered terribly in cold weather, her body temperature dropping dangerously during winter months due to an old injury from the wars.
He had always wrapped her hands and feet inside his clothing during those bitter nights, using his elevated alpha body heat to warm her frozen extremities.
But now three brutal winter days had passed.
Giselle had taken the mate–separation papers he had impulsively signed in his rage and vanished without
a trace.
Initially, he had been smugly certain she had nowhere to go, that this was merely temporary defiance that would end with her return and submission.
Now, a creeping dread had replaced his certainty, clawing at his insides.
For twenty–four relentless hours, he dispatched every available pack member, security agent, and ally to search for any trace of her scent.
But they would never find me.
Three days earlier, I had used every resource I possessed to purchase a specially bred Northern Thoroughbred, riding through the blizzard toward the Wilderness Territories where Alliance law held no
sway
My aunt Diana had received my message and sent her most trusted enforcers to escort me safely across the border.
Chapter 9
When she saw the injuries on my face and the broken ribs beneath my coat, her expression shifted between horror and cold fury.
“Giselle, 1 thought Tiberius Dorian worshipped the ground you walked on. What happened to the wolf who threatened to end his own life if his parents forced you apart?”
I offered a bitter smile as I produced the mate separation papers bearing his unmistakable signature.
And the formal decree from Alpha Katrina, officially releasing me from all Silver Crescent pack obligations.
“He is no longer my mate. Our bond is severed completely.”
“From now on, I’ll remain with your Wild Pack, serving as a healer at your side.”
My aunt embraced me with fierce protective instinct, her eyes flashing amber. “I always believed you were living the charmed life of a Luna all these years. I never imagined you were suffering such vicious betrayal.”
Suffering?
Perhaps that word was too simple for the compound fracture of a soul.
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