Chapter 137

Elroy POV

I sat in the council chamber and tried to listen while Alpha Hermes droned on about his daughter’s “innovative” proposal for improved Pack relations with human cities, starting with the “fortunate” connection Emma already had with Albsraca.

In truth, I wasn’t really taking in a word. I just kept seeing Olivia’s face when I said those horrible things to her, things I didn’t mean, things I needed to apologize for, but things I couldn’t explain.

A Luna who is rejected by her Alpha does not do well in life afterward.

I had no intention of rejecting Olivia. I loved her, didn’t I? She carried my child. She was an exceptional mate and Luna. Any wolf would be proud to have her by their side.

A Luna who is rejected by her Alpha does not do well in life afterward.

Why did I say that? Why did those words leave my lips? Why did my brain even consider them?

But no, that wasn’t right. I didn’t consider what I was saying. I just said it. It was like I had no control.

Control: there was a word. My inner sight showed me Emma’s face in the moonlight and the uncontrollable elation I had experienced in her presence. It had been all I could do not to kiss her.

Careful to be subtle, I looked over to where Emma sat staring in adoration of her father. I noticed most in the chamber were looking at Emma as well, not at Hermes as he spoke. She drew the eye with her beauty.

A Luna who is rejected by her Alpha does not do well in life afterward.

Why wasn’t Olivia here with me now? Why hadn’t I told her about this meeting?

Looking around, I spotted Sam standing by the door talking with someone. As usual, he sensed my gaze and looked over at me questioningly. I beckoned him over.

“Yes?” he asked me quietly as he bent over so I could respond into his ear.

“Get the Luna, please. She should be here.”

Sam shot me what looked like an unconscious look of approval before straightening and leaving the chamber.

Thank the Goddess, Hermes ended his interminable speech soon after.

“It’s an interesting proposal,” I said. I nodded to the councilmembers as a group. “We should consider it carefully.”

“Thank you, Alpha,” Hermes said, and I adjourned the meeting, wondering what was taking Olivia so long to arrive. I would give her a summary when she came, and we could discuss it, just she and I.

I stood to notice Emma was standing at my side.

“Alpha Elroy,” she said warmly. Her voice was so lovely. My name had never sounded better.

“Thank you for listening to my father’s proposal,” she said next, her eyes wide and sparkling. There was joy in them and comfort. “He and I discussed it beforehand, and I think it could do a great deal to promote trade between wolves and humans. They do many things we do not.”

“Oh?” I asked just to have her keep talking.

She nodded. “Oh, yes. Their whole way of approaching the world differs from ours in the most unexpected ways. Did you know they have their own ideas about the moon?”

I did. “No. Tell me more.”

“Well, the human females tend to have their fertility cycles sync with the moon and go into labor at the sight of the moon at full, and many humans believe the foull moon brings out the ‘crazies.’”

“Crazies?”

She laughed like the ringing of a glass bell. “Yes! People who do odd things for no reason, like become aggressive over nothing or even become criminals. In fact, they have a word for it, ‘lunacy.’”

“Lunacy?” I shook my head. “As in believing in the Goddess?”

She laughed again. I was beginning to live for that sound, along with the redness of her lips, so sweetly curved when she smiled. I knew they would be just as sweet to kiss. “No! Can you believe they actually—”

“Alpha,” Sam said as he came into the chambers.

For a second, I was absolutely furious with him. But no, I told myself if he’d interrupted, it was important.

“Yes?” I asked calmly enough.

“I cannot find Luna Olivia,” he reported, obviously worried. “I have looked throughout the Palace and made inquiries.”

Thank the Goddess, I was worried about Olivia enough that I could leave Emma with only a nod and walk out of the room with Sam at my side.

“I’m sure she’s fine!” Emma called after us, which was quite lovely of her.

Thirty minutes of searching by me, Sam, and all those I saw who could help still turned up nothing. Sam and I stood in the middle of the Lily room, and though I looked with an alpha’s eyes I could see no clue where she was or where she had gone.

A Luna who is rejected by her Alpha does not do well in life afterward.

The memory struck me like a blow. Had I driven her to do something rash? Something dangerous?

“Where is she?” I demanded of the room and of myself.

“Olivia?” my mother asked from the door behind me. I turned to see her standing there in her evening robes. “I heard you were looking for her.”

“Yes,” I said impatiently. “Have you seen her?”

“No.” She paused to regard me. “I sent someone to see if she were at the temple on the grounds, but though she was reported there earlier, she’s not there now.”

I frowned. “At the temple? Did I miss a holy day?”

To my consternation, my mother snorted. I was fairly sure I had never seen her do that before.

“You cannot truly be this clueless,” she said.

I frowned harder.

“She was obviously there to pray to the Goddess to keep her ridiculous husband from mooning around after another female.”

I made sure to look shocked. “What?”

“Don’t try that with your mother,” she said. “Everyone in the Palace has seen how you hang on her every word. Half the staff think you’re going to marry her within the month!”

“I’m married to Olivia!”

“Oh, you remember that?”

“Of course I do!”

She narrowed her eyes. “That’s a lot of rage I’m hearing. Tell me, just who are you angry at? Because I’ve done nothing except tell you what everyone else is thinking.”

I looked to Sam to support me.

“Don’t call on your Beta,” she snapped. “He can’t be honest, and Sam doesn’t like to lie.”

A wave of rage a hundred times stronger than I had felt before washed over me. I shut my eyes against the onslaught as I felt my hands curl into fists.

My cheek stung, and my eyes flew open in shock. Iris stood there glaring at me.

“Did that snap you out of it?” she demanded. “Or should I slap you again?”

I opened my mouth to shout at her, but then the rage just drained away. What was I angry over, really?

She looked into my eyes and nodded.

“That’s better. Now, what did you say to Olivia the last time you spoke with her?”

A Luna who is rejected by her Alpha does not do well in life afterward.

I was spared, at least momentarily, by a servant at the door who cleared her throat. We all turned to look at her, and after just a short moment Sam went to her. They spoke quietly, and then Sam brought her to me.

“This is Astrid,” he told me. “She saw Olivia in the hallway with Jordan and Orlando. She says they all looked anxious.”

“Orlando?” I growled.

“It would seem disloyalty breeds like pups,” Iris muttered.

I refused to comment and asked Astrid to show me where she had seen the trio.

After a few minutes of walking, we were standing together in a little-used corridor I knew all too well. Behind the large arras hanging near a window was a hidden passage to the garden and then off the Palace grounds.

It was obvious this was where Olivia and Orlando had gone.