Chapter 3
My fingers tightened around the phone until my knuckles turned white.
The next second, Rex’s call came through.
“Calantha, how long are you going to keep this up?”
My voice was calm.
“As the Luna of the GloomFall Pack, do I not even have the authority to dismiss a secretary?”
“Anyone but her,” Rex cut in quickly. “Reflect on your behavior.”
The one who betrayed me was him—
yet somehow, I was the one who needed reflection.
But I had never been the obedient kind.
Early the next morning, I plastered the company walls with photos of Rex and Poppy.
Kissing passionately in the car.
Bodies tangled in the office…
And even a photo of Poppy nestled in the old Alpha’s arms—one I had someone dig up.
By the time Rex arrived, it was already too late.
Clients and enforcers alike had seen everything.
“I knew there was something going on between Rex and Poppy.”
“But isn’t he a germaphobe? How could he touch an Omega with such impure blood?”
“And wasn’t she originally the old Alpha’s mistress?”
Whispers spread like wildfire.
Rex tore the photos off the wall, his movements sharp and violent. When he looked at me, his wolf eyes glowed with dangerous light.
“Calantha, how are you any different from a rabid wolf right now?”
Wolf inside me—Amelia sneered within me.
So he did know this was disgraceful.
Then why do it?
All eyes fell on Poppy. She covered her face, hiding behind Rex.
“Rex… maybe we should just end this.”
I thought he would deny it.
He didn’t.
Instead, in front of everyone, he took off his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
His gaze swept across the room, cold and ruthless. The pressure of an Alpha heir rolled out like an invisible blade, suffocating everything in its path.
“Enjoying the show?”
He stared down the crowd.
“From today onward, Poppy is in charge of the company. Her salary is tripled.”
“She’s mine. Anyone who dares say another word can get out of the GloomFall Pack.”
No one spoke.
No one would risk challenging the future Alpha for the sake of a woman who had already lost her standing.
I had lost.
Just as Rex said I would.
In everyone’s eyes, I had become nothing more than a hysterical, irrational she-wolf.
When I walked out of the company, Poppy—who had been crying moments ago—quietly followed me.
As she drew close, a restrained yet unmistakable Alpha scent drifted from her.
Not hers.
Rex’s mark.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Otherwise, Rex wouldn’t have known how long to keep me hidden.”
I returned, dazed, to the most authoritative hospital in the GloomFall Pack.
The psychological treatment wing there—
was my territory.
“Calantha, um…”
My assistant called out to me. Nearby, nurses whispered among themselves.
Even though I had braced myself, the moment I pushed the door open, my breath caught.
The sofa was torn apart.
Bookshelves overturned.
Glass and documents shattered across the floor.
This had once been my workplace.
Rex had acquired it as a private hospital for the GloomFall Pack—because of me.
And now, because I refused to submit—
he had destroyed it with his own hands.
I slowly crouched down, picking up the scattered medical records.
A familiar photograph slipped out from the bottom of a folder.
In the photo, Rex looked fragile—his eyes hollow, lips pressed tight.
Back then, his severe germaphobia had made him unable to tolerate anyone’s presence. He had been cast aside by the Pack.
I was the one who helped him.
I suppressed his episodes, treated him for three years, helped him regain control—helped him stand again as the Alpha heir.
And his Alpha father, seeing the advantage my Frostveil Pack could bring, arranged our marriage.
But why?
Why should I be the sacrifice for his rise to Alpha?
