Chapter 6

On the day of the engagement party, I stood at the hall entrance managing the guest registry.

A glass of champagne in my hand.

My eyes would not leave the pair that everyone was congratulating.

In a daze, I thought back to the day I signed the Mistress Agreement.

I had quietly slipped a pregnancy report into the study drawer.

I had told myself that when he found it, the next step would follow naturally. A formal bond. A real future.

So when he produced that document, my heart had leapt. I had been certain it was a mate registration form.

High-pack alliances came with paperwork. Signing made sense.

I had been willing.

Because all I had ever wanted was him, not the status that came with him.

I had not imagined that six years would close into a joke, and I would end up as a mistress who could not see the light of day.

Near the end of the reception, Vivienne stopped in front of me with a wide smile.

"You must be Sera?"

I nodded, caught off guard for just a moment.

"Caelum has mentioned you. He said you have been with the pack operations team for years. Very capable."

I said something polite in return.

"By the way, I will not be letting him stay in that apartment from next week. We have already found our new home."

"I imagine it is not very convenient for you there anyway. You might want to start looking for somewhere else soon."

My fingertips went sharp with cold.

The heat behind my eyes almost broke through. I bent over the registry instead and swallowed it back.

"Of course. I will make arrangements."

Before the words had fully settled, she reached across and lifted the champagne glass right out of my hand.

I had not processed it yet when she screamed.

"You threw that on me!"

A slap caught me across the face before I could move.

When I looked up, I saw her standing there, soaking wet, eyes red, every line of her face performing injury.

Half the hall had turned to look.

Caelum appeared with his brow drawn. "What happened?"

Vivienne pressed herself against him at once. "Caelum, I only told her nicely that you would not be at the apartment anymore and asked her to find somewhere else to go. And she threw champagne at me."

"Sera."

"I did not." My voice had gone rough.

"Are you saying she poured it on herself and then slapped you?"

His logic was airtight.

No one was going to believe a future Luna staged a scene at her own engagement party.

And he had already decided I was defending territory that was not mine.

"Apologize," he said, cold and flat.

I did not move.

"Do not make this harder than it needs to be. You know what today is. If this gets bigger, it will only hurt you. Apologize, or do not come to headquarters tomorrow."

I looked at him.

Six years ago, he had pulled me in off the street and told me no one would dare touch me while he was there.

Six years later, he had the person who touched me pressed to his side, and he was asking me to apologize.

Something freshly healed inside my chest tore open again.

I lowered my head. "I am sorry. I should not have done that."

Caelum was not fully satisfied.

But he turned and dispersed the crowd. "Nothing to see here. Everyone, go back."

Before he walked away, he looked at me one last time. "Go clean yourself up. Do not stand here embarrassing everyone."

I touched the swollen side of my face and the loose knot of hair the slap had scattered.

He was right. What an embarrassment.

But the most embarrassing thing of all was that the man I had loved for six years had convicted me in front of everyone without asking a single question.

I picked up my phone and typed a message: I want to move up the timeline.

Then I laughed through the tears I still had not let fall.