Seraphina’s POV
The echo of our last conversation haunted like a persistent shadow. Julian’s casual dismissal of my feelings had shattered sothing fundantal inside . The realization hit with brutal clarity - he didn’t see as his mate, his partner, or even as soone worth his ti.
Exhaustion settled into my bones like a heavy fog. I needed space to breathe, to think, to understand what I truly wanted from this life. The solution seed simple enough - I would retreat from the world that demanded so much while giving so little in return.
I pulled the covers over my head and announced to anyone who asked that I was running a fever. For days, I remained hidden in my room, claiming illness while my heart slowly cracked apart.
My absence created chaos I hadn’t anticipated. The pack mbers who had always taken my work for granted suddenly found themselves lost without their invisible caretaker. The whispers started almost imdiately, floating through my closed door like poisoned arrows.
"Where is she when we need her?"
"A real Luna wouldn’t abandon her responsibilities."
"This ss is all because she’s hiding in her room."
Their complaints stung worse than any physical wound. Not once did anyone knock to ask how I felt or offer comfort. No warm soup appeared at my door, no gentle hands checked my forehead for fever. Instead, they treated my supposed illness like a personal attack against them.
The pack’s daily routines crumbled without my constant attention. Supplies ran low because I wasn’t there to reorder them. als were delayed because the kitchen staff expected to coordinate everything. Children wandered around asking for , so crying when told I was sick, and their tears made guilt twist in my stomach like a knife.
Julian’s absence made everything worse. He was consud with so important pack seminar, leaving the territory for days at a ti. Even when I was supposedly ill, he didn’t visit, didn’t call, didn’t seem to notice or care that his mate was suffering.
Then there was Roxanne.
While I hid away licking my wounds, she glided into my role with practiced ease. Through my bedroom walls, I heard pack mbers singing her praises, their voices warm with genuine appreciation.
"She’s so thoughtful, always knows exactly what to say."
"Roxanne handles everything with such grace. A natural born Luna."
"We’re so lucky to have soone like her helping us."
The comparison was inevitable and crushing. Roxanne had slipped into my life like she belonged there, winning hearts I had spent years trying to reach. She possessed the effortless charm that I could never master, the instinctive understanding of what people needed to hear.
This pattern wasn’t new. Back in the Solstice Fang, Roxanne had played the perfect daughter while I struggled for scraps of parental affection. Despite being their biological child, I watched my parents lavish love on the girl who knew exactly how to earn it. Roxanne had a gift for making others feel inadequate, and she wielded it like a weapon.
Lying in my bed listening to the world spin without , the truth beca impossible to ignore. No matter how hard I tried, how much I sacrificed, how desperately I worked to prove myself, they would never fully accept . The reason was simple and unchangeable - I was a Luna without a wolf.
Without that primal connection, without the power that commanded natural respect, I was just a human girl playing pretend in a role ant for soone stronger. Roxanne had what I lacked - the wolf spirit that made her one of them in ways I could never be.
The realization should have broken , but instead it brought clarity. For the first ti in years, I made a decision based solely on what I wanted, not what others expected.
I was leaving.
Packing took less ti than I had imagined. Most of my possessions had been bought with Julian’s money, and I wanted to take only what was truly mine. Three years of my life fit into a single small suitcase, a fact that struck as both pathetic and liberating.
I had wasted so much ti trying to mold myself into soone Julian might love, soone the pack might respect. All of it had been pointless.
The packhouse seed empty as I made my way toward the exit. Most people were busy with their daily routines, too absorbed in their own lives to notice one more person walking through the halls.
I almost made it out undetected.
"Going sowhere interesting?"
Gamma Nolan stood near the front entrance, his eyes moving between my face and the suitcase in my hand. His expression twisted with disdain as understanding dawned.
"Let guess," he continued with a cruel smile. "This is so dramatic gesture to force Alpha’s hand? Make him choose between you and Roxanne?" He laughed harshly. "You’re not nearly important enough for that kind of power play."
I said nothing, but Nolan wasn’t finished.
"Everyone knows where Julian’s heart truly lies," he taunted, circling like a predator savoring wounded prey. "Roxanne has always been his real mate. You were just a placeholder, a poor substitute until she returned. Did you actually believe you could replace her permanently?"
Other pack mbers had begun to gather, drawn by the confrontation. They watched in silence, their faces revealing nothing but mild curiosity. No one stepped forward to defend .
"Julian never wanted you," Nolan delivered the final blow with obvious satisfaction. "And neither do we."
Sothing cold and sharp crystallized in my chest. When I spoke, my voice carried a deadly calm that made several onlookers step back.
"Tell , Nolan - does Roxanne keep you on a short leash, or do you simply enjoy groveling at her feet?"
His face darkened instantly, muscles tensing with barely controlled rage. "What did you just say to ?"
I smiled, the expression containing no warmth. "I’m suggesting you follow her around like a desperate dog hoping for table scraps. How utterly pathetic."
His hand connected with my cheek before I could blink, the slap echoing through the sudden silence. Pain blood across my face, but I didn’t flinch or touch the injury. Instead, I turned back to et his furious gaze with calm satisfaction.
"There’s the real you," I murmured, tasting blood on my lip. "A violent brute who strikes females when his feelings get hurt."
Nolan lunged forward again, but other pack mbers finally intervened, grabbing his arms before he could land another blow.
"Rember this mont," I told him, my voice carrying a promise that made him still. "When our paths cross again, you’ll pay for that mistake."
I walked toward the gate without looking back, leaving behind the only ho I had known for years. The sting of Nolan’s slap faded with each step, but so did the last traces of any affection I had felt for the Zenith Moon Fang.
As the territory disappeared behind , I wondered if Julian would even notice my absence. Would he care enough to follow? Would he realize what he had lost?
The answer ca to with brutal certainty - no, he wouldn’t.
He had spent years trying to push away through indifference and neglect. His treatnt of had given the pack permission to view as an outsider, soone unworthy of basic respect. A true Alpha would have protected his mate, but Julian had only offered cold disdain.
My leaving wasn’t a tragedy - it was freedom.
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