Chapter 32
DEREK
The Alpha Ball was meant to be a display of strength, of unity. Instead, it had become a
personal battlefield, and I stood in the center of it, seething in silence.
Elena was radiant. The deep blue of her gown hugged her frame, the copper mass of her hair swept up to expose the delicate curve of her throat–the spot where my mark should
have been.
Instead, she stood beside Logan, his hand hovering too close to her lower back, his smile
too smug. The way she leaned into him, the way he murmured something against her ear that made her lips twitch upward—it was too familiar. Too intimate. My jaw tightened.
How long had this been going on?
The thought burned like acid in my gut. Elena had lost her memories, yes, but had she fallen into Logan’s arms so easily? Had she been with him even while we were together, planning our own wedding?
A slow, measured breath did nothing to calm me.
I forced my attention away, scanning the ballroom, only to have my night worsen.
Cassandra approached, her movements poised, her expression unreadable. I felt the
familiar pang of guilt when I saw her. No matter what had passed between us, I couldn’t
forget what she had done for me as a child. That memory alone made it difficult to hold onto anger when it came to her.
“She’s quite the vision, isn’t she?” Cassandra said, tilting her head toward Elena. “A shame
you had to find out this way.”
I exhaled, weary. “What are you getting at, Cass?”
She sighed, swirling the wine in her glass. “I just think you deserve to know the truth. I
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heard she and Logan have been close for a while now. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? When did it start? Before she lost her memories, or after? Or was it during?”
I frowned, my patience slipping. “That’s a big assumption,” I said, though I’d thought the
same thing.
“Is it?” she murmured. “She was with you, then she was gone. And now she’s with him, looking… comfortable. Like she never belonged anywhere else. And she has a child. Who’s what? In kindergarten? Makes you wonder.”
A knot tightened in my chest. Cassandra wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t mean she was right, either. I had seen Elena confused, lost, struggling to find her place. And yet, tonight, she
looked like she had found it–with Logan.
Still, this was Cassandra. And as much as I wanted to believe she had good intentions, I knew she could be manipulative when it suited her. Even now, there was a softness in her voice, an almost hesitant concern, as if she wasn’t sure whether she should be telling me
this at all.
I wanted to trust her. I always did.
I grunted, neither a confirmation nor a denial. Truth be told, I didn’t trust myself to speak.
Cassandra hesitated, then sighed. “Her family seems quite pleased with her engagement. Did you see her parents? Her brother? They adore Logan. They trust him. They think he’s the best choice for her.”
I swallowed hard, glancing toward the Moonstone Alpha and Luna. They stood with Logan, their expressions warm, approving. Mason clapped Logan on the shoulder, the gesture one of camaraderie, of family.
Of belonging.
And then another shock. I watched as my own mother, the formidable former Luna of Silverclaw walked up to Elena and spoke a few words to her. Elena smiled gracefully.
They had always gotten along, my mother and Elena. My mother had always shown her
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kindness and respect. Even when I hadn’t myself.
My stomach twisted painfully.
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I turned back to Cassandra, but she had already stepped away, leaving me alone with the
weight of my thoughts.
I needed to talk to Elena. Needed to hear from her lips what was real and what wasn’t. If I had been a cuckhold or betrayed in an entirely different way. Had she moved on while I was drowning in grief?
But before I could take more than a few steps, Mason appeared, stepping in front of me with an easy, practiced nonchalance that I didn’t buy for a second.
“Derek,” he greeted, his voice neutral. “Enjoying the Ball?”
“I need to speak with Elena.”
“She’s busy.”
I met his gaze head–on, my patience thinning. “I wasn’t asking.”
Mason’s expression didn’t waver. “I wasn’t either.”
A slow growl rumbled in my chest. I wasn’t in the mood for whatever game he thought he
was playing.
Before I could respond, Logan appeared at Mason’s side, his lips curling into something that wasn’t quite a smirk. “Problem, Alpha Derek?”
I ignored him, my eyes locked on Elena. She was speaking with her mother, her expression easy and open. It was a look I hadn’t seen in years. Not since she’d first stepped foot in my pack, confused and wary.
Had she ever been truly happy with me?
And what had that look been right after Logan had announced their engagement? I swear it
had been regret. I needed to know.
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I wouldn’t let them keep me from her. Not Mason. Not Logan. Not her entire family if it
came to that.
“Elena,” I called.
She turned, startled. Her lips parted slightly, but whatever response she might have had died as her mother took her arm, gently steering her away.
I took a step forward, but Mason moved with me, blocking my path.
“It’s not the time, Derek,” he said, softer this time. “Let her be.”
My pulse pounded. I inhaled deeply, just catching a brief hint of her scent.
Let her be? When she was standing next to another man, ready to be his Luna? When her
entire family seemed determined to erase me from her life? When she still smelled like she belonged to me?
I exhaled sharply, reigning in the anger that burned hot under my skin. It wouldn’t help. It
wouldn’t fix this.
But I couldn’t just walk away.
I took a step forward, my eyes locked on Elena, willing her to turn, to look at me.
Mason shifted immediately, blocking my path with an easy, practiced stance, like he’d been expecting this. Logan didn’t even bother with subtlety–he stood tall beside Mason, his
posture rigid, his smirk gone. I remembered the way his hand settled at the small of Elena’s
back. It made my blood boil. It had been possessive. Final.
Elena didn’t turn.
She didn’t even hesitate.
Instead, she let her mother guide her away, disappearing into the crowd as if she hadn’t heard me at all.
A cold weight settled in my chest.
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I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms. I wanted to shove past Mason, to rip Logan’s hand off of her, to demand that she look at me and tell me to my face that she had truly chosen him.
But they weren’t giving me the chance.
Mason stayed planted in front of me, his gaze steady but unreadable. “Don’t make a scene,
Derek.”
I exhaled sharply, my jaw tightening as I stepped back, forced to watch as Elena was swallowed by her family, by Moonstone, by a life that no longer had room for me.
Not tonight.
But if they thought this was all they had to do to keep me away from her, they didn’t know
me very well.
日
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