ALPHA'S ENDLESS REGRET: After The Barren Luna's Leave novel Chapter 8

I stood my ground, refusing to kneel, my posture rigid despite my injuries.

After more than a decade as mates, this was the first time he had drawn blood from me.

He savagely scrawled his signature across the mate-separation papers, hurling them at my feet with a growl. "Isn't this exactly what you've been howling for? We'll see how long you survive before crawling back to the pack!"

"Tiberius," I asked, my voice deadly calm, "do you actually believe I attacked your pregnant mistress?"

I collected the scattered documents, dabbing at my split lip as I released a cold, humorless laugh.

"Her body reeks of medicinal herbs. I trained under the Northern Alliance's chief healer for six years—did you honestly think I wouldn't recognize the distinctive scent of wolfsbane-based labor inducers?"

Tiberius's head jerked up, his predatory focus momentarily disrupted.

"...What did you just say?"

His uncertainty flickered only briefly before his expression hardened back into suspicion. "You're lying to save yourself, Giselle!"

"Lilith has carried three healthy litters. She understands the risks premature birth poses to wolf cubs. Why would she deliberately trigger early labor and endanger our offspring? It defies all logic!"

Her strategy was painfully transparent to anyone not blinded by lust.

She needed to frame me, to push Tiberius into such a protective frenzy that he would permanently exile me from all Northern territories.

But she had miscalculated badly.

I had no desire to remain.

At this point, explanations were meaningless. I simply drew myself up despite the stabbing pain in my ribs and smiled with glacial calm.

"Congratulations, Tiberius. I finally see with perfect clarity. You two are ideally matched in every way."

With that, I limped toward the ceremonial grounds' exit, each step sending daggers of pain through my battered body.

His beta enforcers formed a wall across my path, claws partially extended.

The omega female instantly dropped to her belly in submission, whimpering as the discarded herb remnants spilled from her shallow burial attempt.

"Alpha, these are just... just pregnancy-stabilizing herbs for your mate... standard protocol..."

Tiberius's expression darkened ominously.

He had personally attended Lilith through three previous pregnancies, witnessing countless administrations of stabilizing compounds from the pack physician. That distinctive herbal profile was embedded in his memory.

Lifting the discarded vegetation to his nose, he immediately detected the deception—the sharp undertones of forbidden compounds.

"You're lying to your Alpha," he growled, eyes flashing crimson.

"Tell me the truth now, omega, or I'll have you running beyond our borders by moonrise!"

The young omega crumpled completely, pressing her forehead into the dirt in absolute submission.

"Mercy me, Alpha! They're labor-inducing herbs from the forbidden gardens! She made me gather them—threatened my family if I refused!"