Cade's POV
The alliance documents spread across his desk meant power. Wealth. Territory. Everything an Alpha was supposed to want.
Cade stared at them and felt absolutely nothing.
Two weeks had passed since Rowan left. Fourteen days of pretending that nothing was broken. Fourteen days of playing the perfect Luna with Victoria while his wolf clawed at his insides screaming. The mate bond was still there, still burning, but now it was stretched so thin that it barely reached her anymore. Miles away. Getting farther every day.
He could feel her exhaustion through the connection. Could feel her pain in waves. Could sense that she was somewhere in a city, doing something that required healing magic, helping other broken people while her own heart was in pieces.
It was torture.
The council meeting had ended an hour ago. Twelve new territories. Three new alliances. The Stone Pack was now the wealthiest, most powerful pack on the continent. Victoria's family had delivered everything they promised. Cade had expanded his empire exactly the way he was supposed to do.
His father would have been proud.
So why did he want to burn it all down?
Cade pushed the documents aside and pressed his palms against his eyes. He hadn't slept properly in two weeks. When he closed his eyes, he saw Rowan's face. Saw her in that gray dress standing at the back of the hall. Saw the way she'd looked at him when the Luna crown touched Victoria's head. Saw the absolute destruction in her eyes when she understood that he'd really done it.
A knock on his office door.
Jaxon walked in without waiting for permission. His Beta looked tired too. Tired and worried and like he was running out of patience with Cade's falling apart.
"You need to fix this," Jaxon said without preamble. He closed the door and locked it.
"Fix what?"
"Whatever you're feeling." Jaxon sat down across from him. "The pack senses your weakness, Cade. They can feel it through the Alpha bond. Warriors are questioning orders. Younger wolves are testing the hierarchy. The entire structure is starting to crack."
Cade wanted to tell him to mind his own business. Wanted to pull rank and remind Jaxon that he was the Beta and Cade was the Alpha and some things weren't his problem. But Jaxon was right. Through the pack bond, Cade could sense the unease. Could feel his wolves starting to doubt him.
An Alpha who doubted himself made wolves nervous.
"I'm fine," Cade said.
"You're not." Jaxon leaned forward. "I've known you since we were kids. I've watched you take over this pack and build it into something legendary. I've watched you become the strongest Alpha anyone has ever seen. But right now you're falling apart and everyone can tell."
"Because I made a mistake."
The words escaped before Cade could stop them. Before he could remember that an Alpha doesn't admit mistakes. Doesn't show weakness. Doesn't break down in front of his Beta.
Jaxon was quiet for a long moment. Then he said, "You're talking about the omega."
"She was my mate," Cade said quietly. "My true mate. The bond was real and I destroyed it because I wanted power more than I wanted her."
"Can you get her back?"
Cade shook his head. "She's blocked me from the bond. She's running as far away as she can. She sent me a message that said I hope she was worth it and then she disappeared."
"So fix it," Jaxon said simply.
"How? She won't talk to me. She won't even let me feel her through the bond. She's made it clear that she's done with me."
"Then you chase her." Jaxon stood up. "You find her. You convince her. You do whatever it takes to get her back because right now you're a ghost pretending to be an Alpha and the pack knows it."
Cade looked at his friend. "Victoria is the Luna now. I can't just abandon her to go running after an omega."
"Why not?" Jaxon's voice was hard. "You never actually wanted Victoria. You wanted the power she represented. So if getting the omega back means giving up that power, then that's the choice you need to make."
After Jaxon left, Cade sat alone in his office and stared at the alliance documents. Twelve territories. Three new family connections. Everything he'd fought for since he became Alpha. Everything his father had taught him to value.
But it all felt hollow.
He tried to sleep that night but it was impossible. He kept thinking about Rowan. Kept feeling her through the bond, even at the distance. Kept sensing her pain and her exhaustion and her absolute determination to never come back to him.
Victoria was asleep beside him, her breathing soft and even. She looked peaceful. Content. Like she'd gotten exactly what she wanted.
Cade got out of bed and moved to his office. He needed to work. Needed to focus on something that didn't involve his falling-apart life. He started reviewing documents. Territory reports. Alliance contracts. Security arrangements.
Then something caught his eye.
A signature.
Victoria's signature on a document that shouldn't have her signature on it.
Cade leaned closer and read the letterhead. It was a communication log from Silas Cross, the rival Alpha. From the Cross Pack. The pack that had been trying to destroy the Stone Pack for years.
And Victoria's signature was on it.
Cade's hands started shaking.
He pulled out more documents. Started searching through his files. Looking for anything else with her signature. Looking for proof that what he was seeing was real or imaginary.
There. Another signature. And another. On documents from rival packs. On communications that should never have reached Victoria's hands. On evidence of something he didn't want to believe but was starting to make terrifying sense.
Cade called Jaxon.
His Beta answered on the first ring like he'd been waiting for this call.
"I need you to do something," Cade said quietly. "I need you to follow Victoria. Watch her. Document everything she does. Every place she goes. Every person she meets. Can you do that?"
"What did you find?" Jaxon asked.
"I don't know yet. But I think my Luna might be working with Silas Cross."
There was a pause. Then Jaxon said, "I'll have evidence for you in three days."
Cade hung up the phone and sat in the darkness of his office. He stared at Victoria's signature on the documents and tried to understand how many mistakes he could make before everything he'd built came crashing down.
First he'd chosen power over his true mate.
Now he was discovering that the power he'd chosen might have been a trap all along.