Chapter 2

Ivy's POV

I stood naked in the bathtub, unable to move.

The world had gone mute in that instant, and my gaze tracked Gabriel like a camera lens following its subject.

I watched that perfect body disappear beneath his shirt, one button at a time.

Watched that surging, feral energy caged once more under the fabric of civilization.

I watched him walk into the bedroom and pick up a box of cigars from the desk.

I watched him fumble for the cigar cutter—

But these trivial little tasks had always been my domain. He could never find the lighter, the nail clippers, or which drawer the cigar cutter lived in.

Yes, his leadership over the pack was at its zenith, yet in daily life he was as helpless as an overgrown child.

How pathetic that my self-important little creed—the quiet pride I took in handling these small things for him—had ever felt like enough.

I stepped out of the tub, wrapped myself in a towel, and padded barefoot to his side.

With practiced ease I pulled open the third drawer of the side cabinet and retrieved the cigar cutter.

"Let me."

I knelt before him, tilted my head, and took the cigar from his hand.

His warm palm settled on top of my head. He drew me gently closer and pressed his lips to my hair.

"I won't leave you with nothing, Ivy. However much you need—I'll have Kyle write you a check."

My hand trembled. The cigar cutter slipped and sheared through my index fingernail along with the cap.

A sharp sting lanced straight to my heart. I watched the bead of crimson bloom at my fingertip and said nothing.

I didn't let him see it—just slipped the finger quietly into my mouth and sucked.

The wound stopped hurting soon enough. My heart did not.

I lit the cigar for him. In the swirling haze of smoke, I finally had an excuse for the redness creeping into my eyes.

Then I faked a cough—loud enough to cover the hoarseness and the stifled sob caught in my throat.

"Do you want me… to move out today?"

I glanced at the pitch-black night beyond the window. Scattered streetlights traced a path toward some uncertain future.

"At least let me pack my things and book a flight."

"No. I'm not asking you to leave."

Gabriel held the lit cigar between his fingers but had yet to take a single draw.

"This house—it can be yours. If you'd like, you can go on living in Silver Moon Pack. Isabella will be my Luna. She won't give you any trouble."

He said she would be his Luna.

My heart lurched, skipping a beat.

I had been married to him for three years and never once been given the title of Luna—it had never even been mentioned.

Because I was nothing more than a lowly omega. Gabriel's parents, his people, perhaps even Gabriel himself, had always assumed I lacked the capacity to be Luna—to be the partner who helped him lead the pack.

Isabella was different.

She was the princess of the neighboring Blackthorn Pack, a born alpha wolf, a mate who could stand as Gabriel's equal.

They had been fated lovers. But more than three years ago, a coup swept through Blackthorn. Isabella's father was killed. To protect her younger brother, still underage at the time, she refused to marry Gabriel and declined the position of Silver Moon's Luna.

She returned to her own pack and shouldered its burdens, becoming the only female Alpha among the hundreds of packs across North America.

Now her brother had come of age and could hold his own.

So Isabella had come back.

I imagined she had returned to reclaim the love she had put on hold for three years.

And it was time for me to go.

"No, Gabriel. I won't be staying in Silver Moon Pack."

I shook my head firmly.

"I have my own pack. My own family."

"You're going back to Iron Fang?"

Gabriel's brow furrowed. The skepticism packed into that single question said everything he left unspoken—

Back to Iron Fang?

Back to that tiny settlement between town and country, where there was nothing but endless grapevines stretching over the hills and virtually no modern industry to speak of?

My parents were the most ordinary omegas you could imagine. They had tended grapevines their entire lives and were even too afraid to board an airplane.

But their love for me was fierce and true.

They would never cast me aside without so much as a blink, the way the man before me just had.

With nothing but a check and one extravagant round of sex that amounted to charity.

"Yes, Gabriel. Don't worry—I'll be fine. I'll go back and live a good life."

I smiled, swallowing the bitter tide rising in my throat.

"I've been away from home for so many years. It's time I went back. They miss me, and I miss them."

At this, Gabriel's brow creased unexpectedly.

"Your parents never once came to visit you. They left the very day after the wedding. I assumed… you weren't particularly close."

I looked at the matter-of-fact expression on his face, and a wave of cold absurdity washed through me.

So in his eyes, my parents' absence over these three years was simply because we weren't close?

It had never occurred to him that they had left the day after the wedding because his parents, his people, even his housekeeper and servants, had treated my family with open contempt.

They had called my parents "grape-picking hicks" to their faces, mocked them for being too afraid to fly and for driving two days and two nights in a beat-up old car to reach this grand city.

When my mother left, she had hugged me and cried until her eyes were swollen. She told me they shouldn't stay any longer and cause me trouble—because this marriage, this life, was the best future I had fought so hard to win.

But I had never told Gabriel any of this before, and I had no desire to bring it up now.

"No. We're very close."

My reply was calm, offering no further explanation. "They're just busy all year round. They don't have time for visits."

After a moment of silence, Gabriel softened his tone. "Ivy, you could have them move to Silver Moon Pack. You could all live together. I can arrange comfortable positions for them on the estate."

He said it so casually, as though a small act of generosity could bridge the chasm of dignity that separated our worlds.

"Thank you for the kind offer, Gabriel." I shook my head, my gaze steady on his. "But I think they'd be more comfortable in the place they've lived their whole lives."

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