Chapter 5
Lucas's POV:
I sat there staring at my phone long after the line went dead, the silence in Sophia's room feeling heavier than any weight I'd ever carried. The severed mate bond left a hollow ache in my chest, like something vital had been ripped away.
"Alpha?" I looked up to see Maria, one of our older servants, standing in the doorway with her head bowed.
"What is it?" My voice came out rougher than intended.
"We... we heard about the former Luna leaving," Maria said carefully, wringing her hands. "We wanted to speak with you about something important."
I gestured for them to continue, though part of me dreaded what they might say.
"Alpha, with respect," Maria began, her voice gaining strength, "Miss Sophia—the former Luna—she did so much for this pack that went unnoticed. She cleaned the entire pack house herself every morning before dawn. She handled all the correspondence, managed the finances, organized pack events..."
"She what?" I stood abruptly, my chair scraping against the floor.
The youngest servant, barely eighteen, stepped forward nervously. "She... she woke up at 4 AM every day to clean, sir. Miss Elena and Miss Aria, they would deliberately make messes and demand she clean them again. They said it was 'proper for an Omega to know her place.'"
Heat flared in my chest, but it wasn't anger at them—it was rage at myself. "Why didn't anyone tell me this?"
Maria's eyes filled with sadness. "She forbade us from troubling you with it, Alpha. She said you had important pack business and didn't need to worry about household matters."
My phone buzzed before I could process this revelation fully. The caller ID made my stomach drop: Father.
"Get out," I ordered the servants, my voice strained. "All of you. Now."
They scattered quickly as I answered the call.
"LUCAS!" My father's voice thundered through the speaker, making me wince. "Do you have any idea what you've done? The entire Anderson Kingdom is talking about how the Starlight Pack's Alpha couldn't even keep his own Luna!"
I ran a hand through my hair, pacing the small room. "Father, I can explain—"
"Explain? The Lycan King's feast is tonight, and every Alpha will be there asking where your Luna is! Do you realize how this makes our family look? How this makes ME look?"
"It's complicated—"
"I don't want to hear excuses!" he roared. "You have twelve hours, Lucas. Twelve hours to find that girl and bring her back before you face every important Alpha in the kingdom. Fix this mess quickly!"
The line went dead. I stared at the phone, my father's threat echoing in my mind. Twelve hours? Can I get my Luna back within 12 hours?
I stormed through the house until I found Elena in the sitting room, casually filing her nails as if the world hadn't just collapsed around us.
"We need to talk," I said, my voice deadly quiet.
She looked up with feigned innocence. "Oh, Lucas! Did you hear? That awful Omega finally left. Good riddance, I say. Now Aria can properly take her place as—"
"You made Sophia clean up after you deliberately?" I cut her off, stepping closer. "You treated her like a servant?"
Elena's expression hardened. "She IS a servant. An Omega. It's time she learned her proper place in the pack hierarchy."
"She was my Luna!" I shouted, losing control. "She was the woman I chose, not some omega servant for you to abuse!"
Elena stood, her eyes flashing with indignation. "She's a manipulative, evil Omega who wormed her way into your bed and tried to steal what rightfully belongs to Aria! I was protecting our family's interests!"
"Protecting our interests?" I laughed bitterly. "You were torturing an innocent woman!"
"Innocent?" Elena scoffed. "She poisoned your mind against your own family, against your fated mate! And you're taking the word of a lowly Omega over your own sister and the woman the Moon Goddess chose for you?"
Her words hit like physical blows. "Elena, you will apologize to Sophia when she returns."
"I will do no such thing!" Elena's voice rose to a shriek. "I will not apologize to some pathetic, low-ranking Omega! She should be thanking me for teaching her some humility!"
I took a threatening step toward her, my wolf Victor snarling in my mind. "She is the Luna I chose—"
"And look how that worked out!" Elena shot back. "She abandoned you the moment things got difficult! Meanwhile, Aria—your FATED mate—stands by you through everything!"
The accusation stung because part of me wondered if she was right. Had Sophia given up too easily? But then I remembered the pain in her voice during our last call, the way she'd asked about her favorite food and I'd had no answer.
A knock on the door interrupted our argument. Marcus entered, his expression grim.
"Alpha, I've completed the search. There's no trace of Sophia anywhere in our territory."
"Expand the search," I ordered. "Check neighboring packs, the highways—"
"Lucas," Marcus interrupted carefully, "there's something else. Witnesses saw her leaving with a man matching Prince Ryder's description. If she's with the Lycan Prince..."
The words hit me like ice water. Prince Ryder. The Lycan King's son. Why would he be involved with Sophia?
"Keep searching," I managed to say, though my voice sounded hollow even to my own ears.
Marcus nodded and left.
I found myself back in Sophia's room without consciously deciding to go there. The familiar scent surrounded me like a ghost of what I'd lost. I collapsed onto her bed, burying my face in the pillow that still smelled like her.