Alpha's Costly Mistake

The evening pack dinner had always been my favorite time of day. The great hall filled with warm chatter, the scent of roasted meat and fresh bread, and Alessandro beside me at the head table where we belonged together as Alpha and Luna. Tonight should have been perfect—I was finally showing, my hand resting protectively over the small bump that held our future, and for the first time in months, Alessandro had been... present. Attentive, even.

Then she walked in.

The hall fell silent as if someone had cast a spell. Conversations died mid-sentence, forks paused halfway to mouths, and every head turned toward the massive oak doors. Lola Freeman stood in the entrance like something out of a dream—or a nightmare, depending on your perspective. Two years of training with the European Lycan Council had transformed her from the eager young wolf I remembered into something magnificent and untouchable.

Her auburn hair caught the firelight, longer now and styled with an elegance that spoke of European courts. The simple traveling clothes she wore somehow looked more expensive than my formal Luna gown. But it was her posture that commanded attention—shoulders back, chin raised, every inch of her radiating the confidence of someone who had trained among werewolf royalty.

"Lola." Alessandro's voice was barely a whisper, but in the absolute silence of the hall, it might as well have been a shout.

I felt him tense beside me, his fork clattering to his plate. The warmth that had been building between us over the past few weeks—the gentle touches, the protective gestures toward our unborn pup, the hope that maybe, finally, he was learning to love me—evaporated like morning mist.

"Alessandro." Her smile was radiant as she stepped into the hall, and I watched my mate's face transform. The careful Alpha mask he wore dissolved, replaced by something I had never seen directed at me: pure, unguarded joy.

He stood so abruptly his chair scraped against the stone floor. I reached out instinctively, my fingers barely brushing his sleeve, but he was already moving. Already leaving me.

The pack watched in stunned silence as their Alpha crossed the hall in long, urgent strides. When he reached Lola, he swept her into an embrace that lasted an eternity. Her laughter rang out, bright and musical, as he lifted her feet from the ground and spun her once before setting her down.

My hand fell to my lap, empty.

"I can't believe you're here," Alessandro murmured, his hands still on her shoulders as if afraid she might disappear. "You didn't tell me you were coming home."

"I wanted to surprise you." Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "The Council released me early. They said I'd learned everything they could teach me."

Of course she had. Lola Freeman had always been exceptional at everything she touched.

I sat frozen at the head table, acutely aware of every pair of eyes in the hall. Some watched with curiosity, others with poorly concealed excitement at this