Anniversary?

Flashback

"Alpha Gabriel Wynter, it's an honor to have you at my pack celebration, and if I may ask, is this beautiful young lady your daughter?"

That man was Alpha Hudson, the second to the most powerful Alpha after my father in the city.

My dad nodded at him and confirmed, "Yes she's my daughter."

"I would like to introduce my sons to her, especially my heir if the young lady would like to meet them."

My father looked at my face for approval. Right, we have ways of talking to ourselves without opening our mouths.

"Of course you can..." he replied with a smile as Alpha Hudson took us to a larger room where his sons were.

"This is Derek, the eldest of my sons, he will be the next Alpha after my retirement." He motioned to the tallest of the four men sitting at the table in the center of the room, his dark hair tousled up, and his ink black eyes gaze up to look at me with a little grin.

I tore my gaze away from him to Alpha Hudson, who took that as a gesture to continue, "Next to him is my third son, Reed." Reed was in a pale blue shirt, he was chatting engrossingly with one of the servers, which I thought flirting would be the best words to describe. He lived up to his name, I've heard he fucked anything under skirts.

"And the one sitting separately is Caleb, my last son." Caleb was just a head taller than Reed, he had a lean build, his dark hair fell on his forehead, but beside him was another man.

He was taller than Reed, almost as tall as Derek, he has a jet black haired, and a lean athletic build, he was facing the opposite direction, so I couldn't see his face, but the moment he turned to look in my direction, a pair of charming blue eyes locked unto my black ones for a brief second.

I felt my heart thumping in my chest, Caleb said something to him as he laughed at his words, breaking the stare, his presence felt as if it brightened the whole room.

My heart melted at an instant.

But why isn't Alpha Hudson introducing him? I hadn't even asked when my father nudged me, I knew what he was trying to say, I'm of age to get married, and considering the position and influence of my father, there were many men lining up to marry me, but my father wanted me to make the decision myself.

"Daddy, I want him." So I pointed to him,

Alpha Hudson was a little taken aback, "You must mean Caleb right? Of course, you made a great choice, I will set up a date with him—"

"No Alpha, I was talking about the one beside Caleb, and what's his name!" I asked with excitement, all while still having my gaze fixated on him.

"You can't possibly mean Liam Ryder? He's no son of mine and his position in the pack was just as ordinary, just as his father's."

My father tried to reason with me, "Aurora..."

"It's him that I want," I insisted.

End of flashback

I shook my head, clearing the memories from my mind

I stayed in that same position for a few minutes. I guess Liam got tired of the silence as he snorted coldly and walked away.

The sigh that escaped my lips was like the dying breath of a defeated soldier. Of course, I felt worse, maybe more than worse, but I just let myself go as I slumped on the sofa, the tears streaming down my face.

I remained there for a sometime before dragging my heavy feet towards my room. I quickly packed my things.

Although the bags were too heavy for me to carry alone, I had more things to worry about than a heavy bag. However, I sensed the presence of someone behind me.

When I turned to look, it was Karina. She was right at the door with her eyes drooping.

Coming closer, "Let me help you Luna." she said, grabbing one end of the box.

I nodded and smiled faintly at her, "Thank you, Karina."

She shifted her gaze to my face, "Luna, you don't have to thank me... I just feel sad you're going through this."

I sighed, "I'm fine, Karina. Just tired of it all."

There was concern etched on Karina's face as she also sighed.

Karina has been a very supportive woman to me in this house. She always comforts me, "Are you sure you really want to leave?"

She probably must've guessed that I was leaving. Obviously, I was already packing, and due to how Karina had been all nice to me, I nodded in response.

"Okay Luna. But you have to promise me one thing. You have to promise me you'll take care of yourself. I could say I'm relieved you're finally ending this because I couldn't stand by and watch you suffer like this every day. You deserve better. You deserve to be happy."

I smiled faintly, "Thank you, Karina. Just being here for me...means a lot."

We both carried the bag to the car. I could see the reluctance on her face.

I hugged her to myself, knowing this would be my last time here. She sniffed back her sobs as she hugged me tighter.

I finally pulled back and watched as she walked away, but still stood at the door looking at my car. I took a deep breath before I drove out of the estate.

I've sacrificed enough, I couldn't risk more, because I've lost enough, even if I knew this was happening because of my selfish desires.

*****

I unlocked the door to the apartment I had rented a while back. I had even stopped here earlier that day to do some cleaning.

The room was a small, one-bedroom apartment with plain cream-colored walls and a beige carpet. A moderate-sized bed sat in the center of the room, with a simple wooden headboard and a few pillows, so I started arranging my things.

I collapsed onto the bed, the exhaustion washing over me, my heart was heavy, because no matter how much I tried to keep it out of my mind, it just kept popping up, so I opened my laptop to mindlessly scroll through social media. But my aimless browsing came to a screeching halt when I stumbled upon a headline that made my heart skip a beat.

[Moonlit pack Alpha, Alpha Liam Ryder announces his wedding Anniversary with his lovely wife, Aurora Rory Wynter, for the very first time since their marriage.]