Bestnovelj08 Facebook ad: “Read next chapter”

About this ad

Meta Ad Library ID

1066275932847600

Platforms

Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger and Threads

Relaunches

0

EU reach

22

Niche

Fashion & Apparel

How we count

Ad text

Part 1, Another Bond For twenty years, Marina had belonged to Alpha Adrian Thorne of the Nocturne Wind Pack, and he had belonged to her. Their mating had not been easy, but it had been steady. Loving. Strong enough to hold through years when affection had been the only thing that had not needed counting, stretching, or sacrificing. Early in their bond, they’d made the choice together. No heir yet. No children at all until the pack could stand without debt hanging over every decision. The businesses had needed attention first, and the pack had needed rescuing before it could safely grow. So Marina had taken over the numbers. She had run the accounting firm, watched every coin that came in, and questioned every expense that tried to leave. When she and Adrian had inherited leadership, the pack had been drowning in red ink. Other packs were owed money. Human banks were owed more. Every ledger had carried another bruise. Now, at last, those accounts had been cleared. No human loans remained. No wolfen allies were waiting to be repaid. The Nocturne Wind Pack no longer survived on borrowed mercy. It had become larger, healthier, and far stronger than the fragile thing they’d taken into their hands. Their businesses were stable now, reliable enough to support the wolves who depended on them. Getting there had taken relentless work from both of them, and the worst of it had been discovering how much debt the former Alpha and Luna had hidden. No one had known. Not until Adrian and Marina had taken control and opened the books themselves. Marina would never have believed the mess if she had not seen every balance, every notice, every demand with her own eyes. She and Adrian had sat across from each other and spoken the ugly possibilities aloud. Disband the pack. Scatter their wolves. Or fight to rebuild what had nearly been ruined. She’d had her accounting degree already, though she had only just come out of university, and even with training, the scale of it had shaken her. For Adrian, it had cut deeper. His own parents had driven the pack into that pit and had told no one how far they’d let it fall. In the end, they had chosen to save it. The choice had cost them. It had demanded years of discipline, arguments over spending, endless work, and private exhaustion. Still, they had endured it. Together, they had survived. Tonight was the first mating ball they had hosted since becoming Alpha and Luna. Before now, they simply had not been able to justify the cost. Their people had understood. Anyone who wished to attend mating balls elsewhere had been allowed to travel to other packs over the years, and no one had been punished for seeking a Goddess-Gifted Mate beyond their borders. This evening, however, marked the beginning of a new pattern. Marina and Adrian had planned it carefully. Future mating balls would be held, but only twice a year for now. Even with the pack finally in the black, they would not throw money at grand displays. More events could come later, when the pack had deeper reserves and fewer memories of desperation. So the night had been arranged simply. A sit-down dinner. Smart casual clothing. Open mingling among the visiting packs. Any mating before the full moon was to happen privately, inside assigned accommodations, so newly scented pairs would not create trouble in the hall. As always, Marina stood beside Adrian while the visiting Alphas arrived. Most were familiar faces. Only one pack was unknown to them, but it had arrived through a trusted affiliate. They had been assured the guests were safe and would not bring disorder into Nocturne Wind territory. Marina and Adrian had both hoped the night would bring pairings. She smiled as allied Alphas teased them about finally holding a mating ball of their own. Those who knew what the last two decades had truly demanded from her and Adrian offered warmer congratulations. They spoke of beaten odds, cleared debts, and a pack that had become prosperous despite everything stacked against it. For a while, Marina let herself enjoy it. She sat to eat, exchanged pleasant conversation with the Alphas at their table, and smiled back whenever Adrian’s gaze found hers. He smiled at her the way he always had. Then the moon began to set. Adrian went still. His nostrils flared. His chest lifted on one deep breath, then another, as though the room had changed scent around him and nothing else in existence mattered. Marina watched the recognition strike him, and her own body turned cold before her mind could name what was happening. Her Alpha Mate of twenty years had scented a second Mate. The shock widened her eyes, but he was already rising from the table. Without a word to her, he left his place and followed the pull through the room. Attention shifted with him. Every wolf there knew Marina was his Goddess-Gifted Mate. She and Adrian were the same age, and they had scented each other at nineteen in this very hall, during the full moon after he’d returned from Alpha College. Now everyone watched him walk away from her. Marina sat frozen as Adrian stopped before a she-wolf and lifted his hand to her face. His touch was tender. Soft. Loving in a way that made the entire room hold its breath. Marina braced for betrayal pain. It should have hit. It should have torn through the mate bond and doubled her over in front of every ally they had invited. Patrick, her Gamma, must have expected the same, because his hand settled on her arm, ready to steady her through what they all believed was coming. Nothing came. She did not stand. She did not object. She did not call Adrian back, even though one part of her wanted to cross the room and drag the moment away from reality. If the Goddess had given him another Mate, then the Goddess had willed it. In this pack, they believed a Goddess-Gifted bond was to be accepted. Adrian cupped the young she-wolf’s cheek, and Marina felt no stab, no burning, no punishment through the bond. Not even the smallest bite of betrayal. Patrick’s fingers tightened slightly before he frowned. Marina released a quiet breath, relief and grief tangled together. “It is Seraphina’s will,” she murmured. “So she gives me no pain.” The words were true. They did not make her happy. Her loyal, loving Alpha Mate now had another woman in his arms. A younger one, likely. Much younger, from the look of her. Marina knew Adrian would not reject her. If Seraphina had gifted the girl to him, he would accept that gift. Of course he would. Carefully, Marina lifted Patrick’s hand from her arm. “It’s all right,” she said softly. “This is meant to be.” There was nothing else she could do in that moment but accept what had been placed before her. Had it been a lie, or magic meant to deceive him, the mate bond would have punished Adrian’s touch. Marina would have felt that agony. Since there was no pain, she remained seated and watched him claim the she-wolf aloud for everyone present. “My pack,” Adrian announced, voice carrying through the hall, “Seraphina herself has blessed me with a second Mate and Luna.” Pride rang clearly in every word. He was pleased. More than pleased. And still, he had not looked back at Marina to ask what she felt or what this did to her. In a heartbeat, a new Mate and Luna had eclipsed her. Adrian was supposed to love and cherish Marina alone. Now another she-wolf had been placed beside him, another woman for him to love, protect, and honor. The girl barely seemed old enough to attend a mating ball at all. Eighteen, perhaps. Maybe only a moon or two past it. At Adrian’s declaration, the girl’s smile faltered. Her gaze swept the room and landed on Marina. The young she-wolf looked directly at her, and Marina gave the smallest nod she could manage. Only then did the girl turn back to Adrian. She bowed her head and spoke in a soft, careful voice. “I am happy, Alpha. I will work beside your first Mate and learn from her, so I can become the perfect Luna for you.” Adrian laughed, warm and untroubled. “Marina is kind and loving. She’ll be your friend, your confidante, and she’ll teach you everything you need. The three of us will be truly happy together.” Then he brought the she-wolf to the table where Marina still sat. His smile was bright, almost boyish, when he looked at Marina. “Sweetheart, Seraphina has blessed me again. This is Celia.” So that was her name. Celia. Marina felt eyes pressing in from every direction. Not just from the table. From the entire room. No one could pretend this was ordinary. When a wolf received two Mates, it usually happened at the same time. Not with twenty years separating one bond from the next. If an ordinary wolf had been gifted two Mates from two different packs, a choice would have been required. One Mate would have been accepted, the other rejected, because life could not be split between territories. But Adrian was an Alpha. He ruled here. Both women could live in Nocturne Wind if he chose it, and that made keeping both of them possible. That was exactly what he was choosing. He had not paused. He had not asked Marina what she wanted. He had not even seemed to consider that a second Mate would change the shape of her entire life. He had accepted Celia, announced her, and brought her over as though Marina’s acceptance was a formality already settled. Marina would not throw a scene in front of allies. There was no point. Adrian had made his decision. He had framed it as the Goddess’s blessing, and no argument from her would undo that now. Besides, Marina was not reckless with conflict. She argued when there was a chance to win the fight. This one, at this table, before these witnesses, could not be won. Nor was it truly her place to dictate whom Adrian accepted if Seraphina had granted him a second Mate. That choice belonged to him. He could accept Celia or reject her. He had accepted her. “Hello, Celia,” Marina said. The girl shifted closer to Adrian at once and curled herself into his side. “It is the Goddess’s will,” Celia said, her voice trembling just enough to be heard. “Please, Luna, don’t ask him to reject me.” Marina arched one brow. “I would never dare,” she replied. “If Adrian accepts you, then I accept you as well.” The accusation hidden inside Celia’s plea had been obvious. In that instant, Marina understood something important. This she-wolf had not merely been frightened. She had been testing the room, trying to make Marina look cruel, unreasonable, unwilling to accept a second Luna. Marina would not give her the performance she wanted. Her gaze moved to Adrian. He was frowning down at Celia. Adrian was many things, but stupid had never been one of them. He had noticed the same omission Marina had: Celia had offered no true greeting. Only a fragile little claim that Marina might try to destroy what the Goddess had given. “Celia,” Adrian said, his tone cooling, “what was that? Marina would never come between us, and you’ve just accused her of it the moment you met her. I brought you over to say hello.” He removed Celia’s hand from his arm. Marina kept her expression composed, refusing to let the smile that threatened her mouth appear. The disappointment in Adrian’s voice mattered. So did the fact that he had stepped back. Celia looked up at him, startled. She had expected him to defend her instantly. She had expected the delicate, frightened-new-Mate act to pull him to her side and make him protect her from his first Mate. She had performed it clearly enough for everyone in the room to see. But she did not know Adrian. She had played that card far too early. Marina understood then that this would not be a single mistake. Celia was already thinking ahead, already measuring how to shove aside a Luna and Mate of twenty years so she could become the only woman beside Adrian. The only Luna of the pack Marina and Adrian had nearly ruined themselves to save. CH 2: A Second Claim Marina could not imagine this young she-wolf's little performance succeeding with Adrian. He was steady by nature, for one thing. For another, he and Marina had been raised inside this pack together. He knew her history, her temper, and the shape of her character. He knew she would not injure anyone without cause. He knew, without needing to be told, that she would never strike at his other Mate simply because the Goddess had placed the girl in his path. Nor would Marina wedge herself between them or forbid him time with Celia. Adrian understood that she believed in the Goddess's will. Unhappy or not, if the Goddess had given him a second Mate, Marina would make peace with that truth and live inside it. She would not force a contest. She would not ask him to choose. Celia should have been wiser. She should have secured her bond with Adrian first, taken his mark, become fully mated, before attempting anything so reckless. Instead, she had tried to set herself against Adrian's first Luna, his Mate of twenty years, without knowing either of them well enough to judge what they would tolerate. "I... I'm sorry," Celia said, her voice trembling as though she had only now realized how badly she had misstepped. "I was afraid she might want to hurt me. You're her Mate first, and Lunas can be... possessive." "So can Alphas," Marina replied at once. She kept her tone even. "In the Nocturne Wind Pack, a Mate is still a Mate. If the Goddess ever sent me a second Mate, Adrian would accept it, just as I am accepting that you have been given to him, Celia. You do not need to fear me. I would be glad to have another Luna beside me to share the work of leading this pack." She offered the girl a calm smile. A soft laugh came from Adrian. When Marina glanced his way, he was watching her with warmth in his eyes. "I would be jealous, sweetheart," he admitted, drawing in a breath, "very jealous of another male having any claim to you. But I would accept it as the will of our Goddess, Seraphina." "I know, darling." Marina smiled back at him. "You have always been a good Mate. Kind, loving, and loyal." She reached for his hand. Adrian closed his fingers around hers, lifted it, and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. It was a small gesture, but she knew exactly what it meant. Gratitude. Respect. A quiet thank-you for not turning his new bond into a war. Celia made a broken sound. Tears gathered in her eyes as she stared at their joined hands and the affection passing so naturally between them. "You don't want me," she choked out. Then she was gone, fleeing through the packed ballroom before anyone could answer. Adrian stood frozen, staring after her with open disbelief. He had never said he did not want her. He had claimed her in front of every wolf present. For those words to leave her mouth, and for her to run as though wounded by him, made no sense. His gaze dropped to Marina's hand. Then he looked at Marina herself. She shook her head once. "She did not feel betrayal through the bond. I felt nothing when you touched her. No pain at all." "Sweetheart, I need to go and..." He stopped, uncertainty crossing his face in a way she rarely saw. "Of course." Marina released him before he could ask permission for something he had already decided to do. "I understand, Adrian. Go find your second Mate. She seems young and very..." Marina let the sentence die. Scheming was the word in her mind, but she was not foolish enough to say it to him now. She waved him on. Once he had gone after Celia, Marina lowered herself back into her chair. She picked up her wine and took one careful mouthful. Every part of her wanted to drain the glass. She would not give the room the pleasure of seeing that. The Alphas seated with her were watching with expressions far too knowing to be polite. Marina gave them a small nod. Yes, she had seen it too. Adrian's new Mate had already tried to maneuver the room, and she had not even been marked or mated yet. Celia and Marina had not recognized each other by scent. That meant they were not bonded to each other, only to Adrian, and his attention would have to be divided between them. No true Mate welcomed being made to share. Celia's Alpha exhaled heavily from his chair. "My apologies, Luna. She is new to my pack. Her mother mated into mine only two moons ago, so I don't know the girl well. She seemed pleasant enough." "How old is she?" Marina asked. "She turned eighteen after joining my pack." "Very young, then." Marina turned the stem of her glass between her fingers. "I am not. She has been handed a Mate who already has a Mate. I imagine that can pull many sides out of a she-wolf, especially one who expected to become Luna and then discovered her Mate already had one. "Do not trouble yourself too much over it. Adrian does not tolerate games, and he is not ruled by impulse. He will likely mark and mate her only if he believes she is truly prepared to accept a three-way Mate bond. Since she and I did not scent each other as Mates, the situation is more complicated than it might have been. "She will have to choose, willingly, to share him with me. Adrian is not going to reject me, his Luna and Mate of twenty years, for a girl he barely knows, especially while she is behaving like a jealous child in front of an entire ballroom. I do not act that way, and I will not start now. "He will want both of us as his Mates. I know him well enough to know that. If young Celia cannot even attempt to accept what the Goddess has arranged, he may reject her for refusing that will." Marina lifted her glass. "I can be patient. I will wait and see what happens." She drank again. The Alpha studied her. "You look remarkably composed, Luna. Most would be visibly upset with all this unfolding around them." "I am not delighted, Alpha," Marina said plainly. "But what would you have me do? Adrian's choice is not mine to make. Only he can accept or reject Celia. I felt no betrayal pain, so this is likely meant to be. I am willing to accept whatever Seraphina has planned for this pack." Simple words. Controlled words. The kind a Luna could say while the whole room measured her spine. If a three-way Mate bond was about to form, as she suspected it was, Marina would not be the one who collapsed into hysterics. The matter might be beyond her control, but her conduct was not. She could meet what she disliked with grace. She could stay calm, even when she did not yet know how she would endure it. She had learned that lesson long before this night. Panic had never solved the unknown. During the years spent rebuilding this pack and dragging it back toward stability, fear had come often enough. She had survived by taking one problem at a time and refusing to drown in what had not happened yet. This, she supposed, would have to be handled the same way. If Adrian marked and mated Celia, and if Celia kept playing the innocent while trying to push Marina out of Adrian's life, then Marina would find a way to deal with her. For now, there was nothing to do but sit, wait, and see how the night ended. She did wonder whether Celia was clever enough to talk herself out of what everyone had just witnessed. Petty. Jealous. Transparent. No one had threatened her. Adrian had not once said he did not want her. Marina had not presented herself as a danger; she had welcomed the girl. That meant Celia would have to apologize, and she would have to explain why affection between an established bonded pair had sent her running. Because that affection was not going away. Fully bonded Mates touched. They smiled at each other. They exchanged small, private gestures in public rooms. If Celia intended to remain, she would have to learn to stand in the presence of that reality. "She is full of she-wolf jealousy, if you ask me," Alpha Nathaniel said, leaning back in his chair. "And that, Luna Marina, never leads anywhere pleasant. I have been on the receiving end myself." Marina nodded. She knew his story. This pack had been allied with his during the long, difficult time when he had been trying to claim his Luna, Lorelei. "I am neither as young as Celia nor as immature," Marina said, allowing herself half a smile. "I can handle myself, and most situations, with reason and calm. She appears to struggle with both." She took another sip of wine, then gave a slight motion for her glass to be refilled. "That," Nathaniel said, nodding, "may be the clearest difference between you. If you need distance from the trouble I suspect is coming, visit the Risen Black Lavender. Take a proper rest. Bennett's Mate has just opened a day spa near the edge of the pack. I am certain she and her team can knead away, or soak away, whatever tension follows you there." Marina's smile warmed a little. "I may accept that invitation, Nathaniel." "It would be my pleasure, Luna Marina." He tipped his glass toward her. She answered with her own, and they both drank. For the remainder of the mating ball, Marina stayed where she belonged and presided over the night. She waited for Adrian to return. She expected him to explain Celia's behavior. She expected him to tell her what he intended to do. He did not come back. Only once did Marina reach for him through their connection. It was a little after ten. The moment she touched the bond, she shut it down again. He was mating. So Adrian had claimed the girl. He was marking and mating her somewhere beyond the ballroom while Marina sat before their guests with a glass of wine and a steady face. She told his unit quietly. They stared at her in the stunned, silent way that asked whether she was serious. Marina merely nodded. What answer was there? The Mate bond had taken hold of him, or Celia had recovered her sweet, innocent mask, invented a convincing reason for her earlier outburst, and drawn both Adrian and his wolf in until they had claimed her officially. Once again, he had done it without speaking to Marina first. Without telling her that this would happen tonight. Without sitting down with the Mate he had shared twenty years with and deciding how this new bond would be managed. Marina went to bed alone. Adrian's unit escorted her up to the Alpha Suite. At the door, she paused and let out a quiet sigh. "I hate being an inconvenience, but could one of you remain here until Adrian returns? I do not want that she-wolf in my suite tonight. Not until everything has been discussed properly. He will have to understand that, considering he has moved ahead without a conversation and without any agreement about how this arrangement is meant to work. "Please tell Adrian and his new Mate that they may use the Luna Suite for the night. I am happy that he has been given a Mate. I am not happy that he has gone ahead and done this without first having the discussion he owed me. I do not want to wake to the sound of my Mate having sex with his other Mate in my suite." All of them nodded. Keaton, their Beta, spoke for the group. "I'll wait for him. It should come from me. If he does not understand and decides to bring her in anyway, what do you want us to do, Marina?" "Tell him to respect my wishes," she said. "It is one night. He can spend it curled around his new Mate in the Luna Suite. It is every bit as comfortable as his own. If he cannot honor what I ask for even one night, then I suppose I will know exactly where I stand with him and with her." CH 3 - Divided Suites Marina had already forced herself to accept the impossible: Adrian had been given another Mate. The morning after he had claimed Celia, he had wrapped Marina in his arms and told her he loved her. Loved her deeply. Loved her even more, he had said, because she had accepted Celia into the bond instead of rejecting what fate had placed between them. Marina had asked for only one thing in return. Their bond was not equal in every direction. Celia and Marina were not mated to each other. They shared Adrian, and only Adrian, between them. So Marina had stated that Celia should live in the Luna Suite, the suite that had been set aside for that role, while Marina stayed in the Alpha Suite. She had been Adrian’s Mate for twenty years. She had been his Luna for twenty years. That room had been hers long before Celia had arrived, and Marina had earned the right to remain there. Adrian had glanced toward Celia. Celia had given a small nod and said, “I’m fine with that.” Neither woman had wanted to share private quarters with the other. Since there was no mate bond between Marina and Celia, separate suites made sense to both of them. In a bond like theirs, it felt normal. Necessary, even. Adrian had seemed relieved that they had reached the same conclusion, and he had agreed to the arrangement as well. The person at the center of the bond also got to decide where he slept each night, and with whom. Marina had explained that part when Celia had frowned at seeing Adrian pull Marina into his lap in his office that morning. He had been away from Marina for an entire night. He had wanted her close. Wanted to hold her. Wanted to tell her he had missed her. Celia had not taken it well. “I think we need a schedule,” she had said, her voice tight with displeasure. “That would make it fair. I could have Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, and she can have the other days.” She had not even said Marina’s name. Marina had settled against Adrian’s chest and hugged him back, telling him softly that she had missed him too. While she had done it, she had watched Celia’s reaction with care. Then Marina had said, “I don’t believe we should put our Mate on a timetable. Adrian should be able to choose, night by night, who he wants to be with. That is his right.” She had noticed the numbers immediately. Celia had assigned herself four nights and left Marina with three. Barely inside the bond, and already the she-wolf had been trying to seize control of it. Marina had to admit one thing: Celia had nerve. Adrian, however, had offered a different solution. “I’ll alternate between you,” he had said. “One night with you, Celia, then one night with Marina, and we keep that rotation going. That way both of you get the longer week and the shorter week equally over the month. Otherwise one of you would end up with sixteen nights and the other with twelve. That isn’t fair.” He had also promised Marina that he would never take Celia to bed in the Alpha Suite. Not in the room he shared with Marina, and especially not in their bed. When Celia had pouted, Adrian had imposed the same boundary for her benefit. He would not sleep with Marina in Celia’s suite or in Celia’s bed. Fair was fair, he had said. Then he had told Celia he would have walls opened up and rooms joined so she could have a proper suite, one just as large and functional as the one he shared with Marina, especially for when pups came. Marina had not argued. She had nodded and told both of them that it sounded sensible. She had known Adrian was trying. He had been trying to keep both women from feeling pushed aside. Trying to make the new three-person mate bond work in a way that would not break any of them. “We’ve only just mated,” Celia had murmured later. “You and Marina have had decades together. I need a little more time with you so we can bond properly.” Marina had answered without heat. “You’ll go into heat in about a week. Then you’ll have him to yourself for three to seven days.” “You’ll interrupt us,” Celia had muttered. “No, I won’t. I have no desire to come between you and Adrian.” Marina had risen from her chair, crossed to where the pack blade rested, and picked it up for him. Holding it out, she had made her acceptance visible. “You should come here and let him initiate you, though. He hasn’t done that yet.” That had been then. Now, a year and a half later, Marina was not living in the Alpha Suite. She was not living in the Luna Suite either. Six months earlier, she had moved herself out of the Alpha Suite after walking in and pushing open the bedroom door to find Adrian and Celia having sex in the bed Marina had shared with him for two decades. For one frozen second, she had simply stopped. Then fury had climbed through her body like fire. She and her wolf, Laurel, had ground out his name, letting every part of their anger scrape through the sound. He had promised her that this would never happen. He had promised that bed would remain untouched by Celia. Instead of shame, she had received a snarl. “Get the hell out of my bedroom.” His aura had hit her before he had even turned enough to see who stood in the doorway. Celia had looked straight at Marina. Not startled. Not guilty. She had smirked, as if the expression itself said, You know you cannot win against me. “Fine.” That single word was all Marina had given him. She was his equal. His aura could not force her. She could have stood there and defied him if she had wanted to. Instead, she had turned and left the suite because he had ordered her out. After that, she had chosen a suite farther down the hall, across from Damon’s rooms, and moved herself into it. Once she had felt Adrian leave the Alpha Suite, she had sent omegas to collect her belongings. Not only clothing. Everything that belonged to her and could be moved. Her things had been carried down the corridor and placed in her new rooms. The omegas had not understood. Marina had lived in the Alpha Suite for twenty years. No one could make sense of why the Luna would suddenly abandon it. For the first time since Celia had entered the pack and begun casting a shadow over Marina’s place, Marina had not bothered to keep silent. She had told the omegas the truth: the Alpha had ordered her out of the suite. Because he had. Adrian had not reacted well when he realized she had truly moved out. He had expected her to leave in anger, calm down, and come back. He had thought she was merely furious because he had broken his promise. Since he had known he had been in the wrong, he had left her alone that night and slept in Celia’s suite. He had understood enough to know she deserved to be angry. What he had not understood came the following evening. When he had gone back to the Alpha Suite to shower and change, likely preparing himself to apologize, he had found Marina’s side of the closet empty. Not reduced. Not temporarily cleared. Empty. Not one dress. Not one pair of shoes. Not even her jewelry had remained. Only then had he realized she had moved out completely. He had gone looking for her. He had not seen her all day either, because Marina had chosen to work from her new suite. She had not been in the mood to face a smug Celia, and she had been in even less of a mood to deal with the Mate who had broken the one promise she had asked him to keep. Adrian had found her in the suite across from Damon’s. Many of her belongings had already been arranged around the room. She had made the space hers with startling speed. His shock had been plain when he saw that she had taken more than clothes. Trinkets. Throw rugs. Her favorite vase. Several of the books from the study they had once shared in the Alpha Suite. He had asked what, exactly, was going on. Marina had closed the book she had been writing in—her Luna’s Diary—and looked up at him. His face had been full of worry when he sat on the lounge beside her. “You broke your promise,” she had said calmly. “Then you ordered me out of your suite. I did what you wanted.” He had exhaled, tired and regretful. “That isn’t what I meant, sweetheart. I’m sorry for what happened. Celia was upset because she had never seen the inside of the Alpha Suite.” Marina had said nothing. Adrian had continued, trying to explain. “She only wanted to know what it looked like. She’s only ever been in the Luna Suite, and she felt like I didn’t truly see her as my Luna because she had never even stepped through the door of the Alpha Suite.” Another heavy sigh had left him. “I didn’t see the harm in showing her around. She was happy just to see where I live when I’m not with her. She kissed me to thank me, and then… we got carried away. That’s all it was. It turned into sex, but it wasn’t planned.” Perhaps not by him. Marina had no doubt it had been planned by Celia. “In our bed,” Marina had said. She could read the spaces between his words. Celia had coaxed him into the bedroom, the one room she was never supposed to enter unless Marina herself invited her. Just as Marina was not permitted to enter Celia’s bedroom. Somehow, once again, Celia had managed to make herself look innocent while ending up exactly where she had wanted to be. She had convinced Adrian to take her into Marina’s room so she could feel more like his Luna, despite already having been given a remodeled suite of her own. And Adrian had believed her. He was still blind to Celia’s maneuvers. This time, she had used sex to make sure he stayed blind. Marina had heard the important detail in his explanation. Celia had been the one to kiss him. Celia had been the one to stir him up. Celia had done it deliberately. Marina knew that from the look Celia had given her from the bed. Adrian had not seen that look, but Marina had. She did not understand the she-wolf’s hunger for more. It was not as if Adrian neglected Celia. It was not as if he refused her anything she asked for. The Luna Suite had been expanded until it was as large and luxurious as the Alpha Suite. It now had four bedrooms, with enough space for them to begin a family. Celia had received her Mate. She had received the title of Luna. She had a desk in the Luna’s office. She was allowed to give Luna Blessings. Day after day, she spent more time with Adrian than Marina did. Still, it was not enough. “Well,” Marina had said at last, “she can have what she wants now, can’t she, Adrian? Both the Alpha and Luna suites. Since she got you to break your promise to me so easily.” “Don’t be like that, Marina.” His sigh had sounded pained. “It won’t happen again.” “You’re right. It won’t.” Marina had nodded because she already knew she would never set foot in the Alpha Suite again. “You ordered me out,” she had added. “I had no choice but to obey. You are the Alpha.” His eyes had widened at the words. She could almost see him searching his own memory, trying to determine whether he had made it an Alpha command. Marina knew he had not meant for her to move out permanently. He had only wanted her out of the room. But in that moment, when his body and his wolf had been consumed with mating Celia, he might have pushed power into the command without realizing it. Adrian and Shadow might not even have known what they had done. After a full minute of silence, he had huffed. “I take it back. I rescind it. If I did that, I don’t know for certain, but I rescind it.” “There’s no need.” Marina’s voice had remained even. “I understand my place now, Adrian. Your new, younger Mate is the one you want to please. I’ll step aside for her. She can move into the actual Alpha Suite if that’s what she wants. I’ll stay here, where I belong.” She had not said it to wound him. The decision had already been made inside her. She was not returning to his suite. Celia had tainted it, and Marina had no desire to reclaim what now felt spoiled. Adrian could keep it for himself. Or he could move Celia into it. It no longer mattered. “Your place is beside me, Marina,” he had said. “It always will be.” “Hmm.” That had been all she gave him. Because she had already begun wondering how long it would take before Celia pushed her out of the Luna’s office too. Celia was still in Luna training for the moment. That was the only reason she had not yet taken everything. But when the training ended, Marina knew the pressure would begin. She did not yet know what method Celia would use, but she would have wagered plenty that the she-wolf was already planning it. She simply could not make her move until she had finished learning how to wear the role. CH 4 - The Ledger The diary rested shut across Marina’s lap, plain enough to look harmless. Inside it, though, she had been recording every detail. Celia’s details. It was not an official Luna’s Diary, not exactly, though it wore the shape of one. This one held the pattern Celia had been building from the beginning: the small performances, the wounded looks, the sudden tears, the claims that she was insecure or overwhelmed by Marina’s place in Adrian’s life. Celia had insisted she could never compete with his first Mate. She had said Marina intimidated her. She had trembled and wept and folded herself into whatever version of fragile would pull Adrian close. And Adrian, so often, had answered that fragility with comfort. He had taken Celia shopping. He had taken her to dinner. He had tried to make her feel cherished, wanted, secure in the position of second Mate. Celia had learned limits, at least. Direct insults against Marina did not work. Not anymore. In the beginning, Celia had tested that boundary more than once, sometimes through tears, sometimes with little sideways remarks designed to sting without sounding like open cruelty. She had been trying harder then, more openly, to carve Marina away from Adrian so she could have more of him than Marina did. The lesson had landed badly for her. Adrian would not tolerate Celia speaking against Marina. He had defended Marina each time, because Marina had never once insulted Celia in return. That was not who Marina was. She did not sharpen herself for the sake of hurting someone. Even now, after finding Celia and Adrian having sex in Marina’s bed, Marina had not laid the blame at Celia’s feet aloud. She had said only that he had broken his promise. Whenever Celia crossed the line, Adrian would order her to apologize. Celia hated that. Marina had witnessed one apology collapse in a way Celia could not have anticipated, because Patrick had stepped into the room behind Marina and heard enough. Celia had not noticed him. After barely ten seconds, Patrick had cleared his throat and said, “That apology’s false, Alpha. She doesn’t mean a word of it. What I’m getting from her is trouble, nothing else.” His southern drawl had carried through the room, slow and certain, which meant he was fully switched on. He was not guessing. He was explaining what Celia’s emotions were telling him. Adrian had become more irritated after that, and Celia had discovered something important. Patrick trusted his instincts more than he trusted her pretty words. If Celia was near him and words were being exchanged, Patrick stayed open, alert, and difficult to fool. Her tactics did not work on him. He saw the purpose beneath them: Celia wanted Marina gone. He had told Adrian as much. Adrian had looked at Celia with anger in his eyes. Celia, already glaring at Marina, had swung that glare onto Patrick and accused both of them of plotting together. According to her, they were trying to drive her out, trying to tear apart her bond with Adrian. They were ganging up on her, she said, because Marina and Patrick had shared a twenty-year Luna-Gamma bond. Then the insecure act returned. How, she had demanded through tears, was she supposed to build any kind of bond with Patrick when he always stood with Marina? After that, she had run. For the first time, Adrian had not followed. Instead, he had looked at Patrick and asked, “Is she really trying to break what I have with Marina?” He had sounded as if he dreaded the answer. He had not truly believed Marina and Patrick were conspiring against Celia; he knew them better than that. “That’s what I’m reading,” Patrick had answered. “She doesn’t like Marina. Never has. Think back to the first thing Celia said when she was brought before Marina. That was your first warning. You saw it then. You reacted to it. You corrected her for it.” He had paused, then added, “And what did she do? She cried, ran off, acted like you didn’t want her, and said she was leaving the pack. “Now look at what she’s doing again. She’s crying and running like she’s about to abandon the pack because she got caught lying and knows you’re about to reprimand her, maybe worse. Don’t chase her, Adrian. My guess? She won’t leave. She’ll go straight for the border.” That had been Celia’s method. She would provoke the fear inside Adrian and his beast, make them believe his Mate was fleeing while hurt and rejected. They would feel the pull of that bond, the panic of losing her, and race after her the moment they realized she seemed to be leaving pack lands. Marina saw it. Patrick saw it. The whole Alpha Unit saw it. Only Adrian struggled to see through it, because Celia’s act struck directly at his fear of a damaged mate bond. Once that fear took root, he felt compelled to soothe her, to win her back, to prove she was wanted. That day, he had let Celia go. He had refused to follow, waiting instead to find out whether his Gamma had been right. Celia did not leave the pack. She ran to the farthest border from the packhouse and stopped at the very edge of their territory. Marina had tracked her through the pack tether, just as everyone else in that room had. Celia remained out there for hours. Eventually, she returned. She stalked through the front doors of the packhouse, passed the open door of the Alpha’s office without a word, stomped up the stairs, and slammed into the Luna Suite. Patrick had reported it plainly. “She’s angry because you didn’t chase her like you usually do.” He had read her the instant she came back. After that, Celia had pulled herself in. Adrian stayed away from her for more than a week, and Marina later heard the end of a conversation between them. Celia had been standing before him, sobbing again about feeling insecure. Adrian’s voice had been hard. “If you’re going to sulk because you’re my second Mate, do it quietly. You knew I already had a Mate. You said you accepted that.” Then he had issued a demand of his own, one that made clear he had reached the edge of his patience. “Either accept that you are my second Mate, or reject me and actually leave. Stop pretending you’re going to just to get my attention.” Marina had not heard how the conversation started. Only that ending had reached her. She had stayed out of it. She always stayed out of their bond, never stepping between them. For a while, she had believed Adrian’s ultimatum had ended Celia’s games. Then Marina had walked into her own bedroom and found them having sex in her bed. She had seen the smirk on Celia’s face. So here they were again. After a few quiet months, Celia had returned to scheming. That she-wolf, it seemed, would never simply stop. Marina would keep documenting it. Every incident. Every expression Adrian missed. Every reaction. Then, when there was nothing left in her but exhaustion and the life she was living had finally become unbearable, she would hand Adrian the diary currently resting on her lap and leave. She did not want a life built around fighting to keep her Mate. It should never have become that. One day, she would probably give Celia exactly what Celia wanted. Yet it would not be the victory Celia imagined, not once Adrian opened this book and read what had been happening from the start of Celia’s mate bond with him. He would see the pattern. He would see that his first Goddess-gifted Luna—the woman who had helped him drag the pack out from beneath its debts and had loved him through every hardship—had walked away because Celia had pushed and pushed until Marina had been shoved aside. Marina had made the diary meticulous. In black ink, she recorded the event itself: who had been present, what had been said, what actions had followed. In blue, she wrote her own feelings about it—whether she had been frustrated, wounded, angry, confused, drained, or simply sad. When she had expected something to happen, when she had predicted how Adrian or Celia would respond, she used green ink to record what Adrian had not seen: the look Celia aimed at Marina when no one else was watching. At a glance, if Adrian or anyone else opened the diary, it would seem no different from the official Luna’s Diaries in her office. She had used the same kinds of pens for years to separate different types of entries. Seeing her with it now would not concern him. It was normal for Marina to sit and write in a Luna’s Diary every day. But when Adrian finally held this particular book and read it properly, he would understand she had not written it to make him hate Celia. She had not written it merely to make him feel guilty. She had written it so he could see how their bond had been eroding over time. The fading of her emotions across the entries would show him it had not happened in one burst of anger. It had been gradual. She had stayed for years, hoping Celia would grow tired of her selfishness and stop. The pages would show him Marina had not been petty. She had not been cruel, not the way Celia could be. She had simply been moved aside, little by little, until she no longer felt needed by him or by this pack. So she would leave. She would go somewhere she might be useful again, perhaps in another pack. She would begin over. Maybe, eventually, she would find a way back to the happiness she had once known when she stood at Adrian’s side. Across the room, Adrian sat watching her. “Please,” he said. “It won’t happen again.” He was pleading now. “Yes, it will.” Marina answered with the truth as she felt it. No amount of begging could make her believe he would keep Celia out of the Alpha Suite. No promise would restore the one he had already broken. Some part of Marina wondered whether Celia’s jealousy was vicious enough that, one day, she would push Adrian to bring her into this very room. She could imagine Celia engineering it, pretending it had gone too far by accident, then letting it become deliberate enough to poison every space Marina claimed. Room by room, until Marina finally hurled a rejection at Adrian for continuing to break his word. Part of her hated thinking that way. Another part would not put it past Celia at all. “If it happened once, Adrian, it can happen again,” Marina said. “One broken promise makes room for the next.” She gave a small shrug, though nothing about her felt light. “That bedroom is tainted now. To me, it is. I won’t sleep there again. It feels dirty. “And not only because you had sex with Celia in it. It is because you, my Alpha and my Mate, ignored the only thing I asked of you when you took a second Mate. I accepted her willingly. I accepted her into our pack, into our home, and into the center of the mate bond that had belonged to us first. “I am disappointed in you. Honestly, Alpha, your new promise means nothing to me right now. You have already shown me your word to me no longer matters to you. If it did, you would never have let that happen.” She rose and crossed the room, putting distance between them before she continued. “And while we are making things clear, this is my room now. Celia is not allowed in here. Not under any circumstances. I do not care if she says being kept out makes her feel excluded, or unwanted, or like she is not part of anything. I am not her Mate, and I have the right to deny her access to my home.” Marina turned back to face him fully. “This room is my home now. Please leave. I am finished discussing this with you, and I have work to do.” She tapped the diary once, then walked into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. There could be no misunderstanding. He was meant to go. CH 5: The Nights He Left Six months had gone by. Marina was lying in her bed, watching Adrian in the dimness, when the faraway stillness came over his face. A mind-link. She knew the look too well now. When it ended, he exhaled through his nose, slow and tired, and turned his head toward her. “Celia needs me,” he said, already pushing himself upright. Marina gave him nothing. Not a word. Not even the argument he probably expected. There was no use in speaking. He was going to dress the situation up as something urgent, something only he could handle, and he was going to leave her room. He would not return. It was supposed to be Marina’s night with him, but that had stopped meaning what it used to mean. Celia would have some terribly important thing to discuss, important enough to pull him from another woman’s bed at midnight. Then, once she had him in front of her, she would touch him. Climb over him. Have him. By morning he would be asleep in the bed he shared with Celia. After that, Adrian would come back with regret painted across his face and say he was sorry. He would tell Marina he had meant to return. He would explain that one moment had led to another, that because he had already been intimate with Marina, being with both of them in the same night had exhausted him, and he had simply passed out. Nothing intentional. Nothing cruel. Once, she had tried to believe him. Months had stripped that from her. It happened too often now to be accident. It was Celia reminding her, again and again, that their Mate could be summoned away. That he would choose to answer. Because he always did. Marina knew that part beyond doubt. If he truly wanted to stay, he would tell Celia it was Marina’s night and whatever she needed could wait. He would say morning was soon enough. Nothing that mattered only to Celia should have been powerful enough to drag him from bed at midnight. If the pack were in danger, everyone would already know. So when Adrian rose from Marina’s mattress, it was not duty carrying him. It was willingness. He went to Celia because he wanted to go, and Marina understood that with an ache she could no longer lie around. He had become the one pushing her aside. Not Celia alone. Him. Leaving a bed he was meant to share with her and walking to another woman was a choice. At his words, and at the careless way he was already getting up, Marina rolled onto her side and turned her back to him. Her chest tightened. Still, she kept silent. She had fought this battle in the beginning. She had told him it hurt. She had reminded him what happened every time. He had always...

Where the ad sends people

weread.novelspark.net

Read next chapter👉🏻