11 It wasn't until Luna June had been gone for a full month that Alpha Nicholas finally noticed something was seriously wrong. He'd figured she was just playing some kind of game to get his attention, but when he couldn't reach her no matter what he tried, he started to worry. He called up other pack members who knew her, but every single one claimed they hadn't seen her. Pissed off, he slammed down the phone and went straight to his office. There, he pulled up her bank account details on his computer. The screen showed that the money envelope he'd given her was still untouched. When she left, she'd only taken her own savings and hadn't used a penny of the Blackstone pack's resources. "Damn, she's got some backbone," he muttered with a cold laugh, then shut off the computer. It was probably just some childish move to make them come running after her, and he knew it wouldn't last long. The next morning at breakfast, Kai and Cora chattered about their training while Megan gently served them food, flashing sweet smiles at Nicholas every so often. The scene looked perfect, but for some reason, Nicholas couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. "Dad, there's a pack sports competition next week. Can you and Aunt Megan come watch?" Cora asked, looking up at him with big eyes. "Of course," Nicholas said automatically, then stopped. "Wait-who used to come with you before? Your mom?" Both pups made disgusted faces. "Yeah, her... but we don't want her there!" Kai said, his lip curling with dismissal. "All she ever did was stay home doing boring Luna stuff, never went anywhere fun, didn't even dress cool. We didn't want her embarrassing us." "Exactly!" Cora jumped in. "Aunt Megan always looks so gorgeous and put-together. All our friends are so jealous!" Megan gave a shy smile and poured Nicholas some coffee. "Nick, try this-I had the staff make it just how you like it." Nicholas took a sip, and his face scrunched up slightly-it was way too bitter. Back in the day, June had always made his coffee perfectly, never screwing it up. She knew he liked it with just a touch of honey. "Is it not right?" Megan asked, looking worried. "It's fine," he said, putting the cup down. He straightened his leather jacket and added, "I'm heading out to patrol the territory." Over the next few days, the pack house seemed to run normally on the surface, but there were subtle change: happening. Megan had never done any real work before, and after a few half-hearted attempts, she left everything to the staff. Everything still functioned okay, but only Nicholas and a few others noticed the quiet differences. The clothes weren't as soft and perfectly clean, the late-night herbal tea that helped him sleep was gone, and the meals made specifically for everyone's tastes were history. Life didn't fall apart or anything, but the house had lost that warm, comfortable feeling it used to have. Then came the night Nicholas got home late from a territorial meeting, stumbling to the couch and waving of Marcus with a gruff, "You're done. Go get some rest." The door closed, leaving the room in silence. Nicholas rubbed his temples tiredly and said without thinking, "Where is everyone?" The words hung in the air as he suddenly realized everything felt different tonight. There was no lamp left on for him, no steaming mug of the special tea that helped with his post-shift headaches waiting on the side table. "Marcus?" he called out. "Didn't I tell you I had pack business tonight? Why isn't anything ready?" It wasn't long before Marcus hurried into the living room, looking flustered. "I'm so sorry, Alpha. Everything for your late nights-the Luna always handled that herself, so we just forgot..." "And that herbal tea you're asking about-she always gathered the ingredients herself from the forest, spent hours brewing it in the kitchen, never let any of us touch it..." "If you want some now, I can try to figure out how to make it." Nicholas felt something hit him right in the chest, stirring up a weird mix of emotions. So all those little things... she'd done them by hand, every single time. He'd always known she put her heart into taking care of the pack house, but he'd never felt regret this sharp before-not like this, not with this nagging feeling that he'd screwed up big time.