1032 Words For a long moment, no one spoke. The silence was suffocating, so thick it pressed against everyone's chest. Elaine stood tall, her words still hanging heavy in the air, final and irrevocable. And then, Michael moved. The future Alpha stepped forward, peeling himself away from Kathy's trembling form. His face was tense, his jaw clenched, eyes locked on Elaine with a mixture of frustration and guilt. His voice, when it came, was sharp-too sharp, as though the weight of his shame demanded he lash out instead of face it. "Enough, Elaine!" he barked, his tone harsher than intended. "You're not being fair." Elaine tilted her head, her expression unreadable. "Fair?" She repeated softly, almost as though the word itself was foreign. Michael took another step forward, his hands curling into fists at his sides. "You think you're the only one hurting? You think this is easy for me?" His voice cracked slightly, but he forced it steady. "I never asked for this either! I never asked for Kathy to be pregnant, for fate to play this cruel trick on us. Do you think I don't feel torn apart knowing you are my mate? Do you think I don't feel the bond pulling at me every second I breathe?" His voice rose, anger and desperation colliding. "Do you think it doesn't kill me that I can't have you?" For the first time since walking into that office, Elaine's mask wavered. Just barely. Her lips pressed into a thin line, and her eyes flickered with a storm of emotions she refused to release. But Michael wasn't done. His chest heaved as he continued, almost spitting the words, as though confessing them burned. "I chose Kathy before I knew. I can't undo that. She is carrying my child. Our pack's heir. She needs me. The pack needs me. And as Alpha, I don't have the luxury to follow only my heart. I have to follow my duty." He looked at her then, his eyes blazing, raw with pain. "Do you think it's easy to reject the mate bond every time I see you? Do you think I don't feel the Goddess's punishment for it? I do, Elaine. Every. Single. Day. But I can't turn back now. I can't abandon her. I can't abandon this pack. So stop acting as though I don't bleed from this too!" His words left the room trembling, and for a brief moment, his vulnerability filled the air with something fragile, something dangerously close to breaking. Elaine let the silence stretch, her eyes locked on his. When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet, but it cut sharper than any scream. "You bleed?" she asked softly, her tone laced with disbelief. "No, Michael. You made a choice. You had me, and you still chose her. You decided my pain was worth less than your convenience. You call it duty, but it was never duty. It was weakness." "You can't abandon her? I never asked you to abandon her. I would never ask you to abandon your pup. All I wanted was a chance to be what I am supposed to be. To be your Luna, your mate as the Goddess created me. But that is too much for me to ask, right?" Michael flinched as though she had struck him. Elaine's eyes hardened, her voice steady once more. "The Goddess gave us a bond, Michael. And you spit on it. You spit on me. Whatever punishment you feel from rejecting me, know this-it is nothing compared to what I am feeling." Her gaze flicked briefly to Kathy, still weeping in the corner, then back to Michael. "So don't speak to me of pain. You do not get to claim my suffering as your own. You do not know what it feels like to be unwanted, to not matter, to not deserve even a chance to be who I am supposed to be." "You chose to abandon me. You chose to use me, use my body for your satisfaction. And everyone here chose to sacrifice me, sacrifice my happiness, sacrifice who I am." The finality in her voice sealed the air between them, leaving Michael speechless, trembling with fury and shame. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, but no words came The air in the Alpha's office was charged, tense enough to snap. Michael stood frozen, shame and anger battling inside him, while Elaine remained unyielding. An unmoved wall of ice in the face of his outburst. It was the Luna who broke the silence first. "Enough," Beatrice's voice carried through the room, not loud, but firm, resonant with the authority of her position. She rose slowly from her seat, her gaze sweeping over both her son and Elaine. Her eyes, full of both sorrow and resolve, settled on Elaine. "This is tearing all of us apart. Elaine, you speak with such venom because you are in pain. I see it, even if you try to hide it. But understand this, the bond between you and Michael is real, yes, but so is the bond he has forged with Kathy. We cannot undo what has already been done. We can only move forward." Elaine's jaw clenched, her silence speaking louder than any words could. The Luna's expression softened for a fleeting moment. "I do not deny that you were wronged. You should not have been put in this position. As a mother, my heart breaks for you, Elaine. But as Luna, I must also see the bigger picture. This pack cannot fracture over this bond, no matter how unfair it seems. Sometimes..." She faltered, her composure slipping just slightly, "...sometimes the Goddess gives us trials we cannot understand." Elaine's laugh was low and bitter. "Trials? That's what you call this? A trial? No, Luna. Trials are meant to strengthen us. This-" She gestured toward Michael and Kathy. "This is a betrayal dressed up as sacrifice."