From Betrayed Luna to Wolf Queen (Lillian) novel Chapter 15

Chapter 15 The First Move

Lillian’s POV:

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Julian’s gaze locked onto me, searching, probing for any crack in my composure. “So you’re telling me you had a miscarriage last night?”

My eyes were a frozen wasteland. I said nothing, merely watched him in silence–the Alpha I once believed I could entrust with my very soul.

The corner of his mouth twitched, curving into a vague, almost derisive smile. Then he turned, pulled open the door, and walked

out.

The hospital door clicked shut with a sound of finality.

Chloe stared at the closed door, then back at me, stamping her foot in sheer frustration. “What was that smug look?! Is he implying you’re making it up?! I swear… is the man blind?! Last night you were clearly-”

“I’ve already told you,” I cut her off, my voice eerily calm. “He never believed I was pregnant to begin with, so why would he believe I lost the pup? Right now, anything I say is just another manipulation in his eyes—a ploy to keep him from Iris.”

That was the stark reality of where Julian and I stood. He didn’t trust my pregnancy, and I no longer believed a word about his “innocent” support of his sister–in–law.

Chloe snapped, “You’re about to sever the mate bond with him! Who needs to manipulate him into staying?!”

A humorless smile touched my lips. “Perhaps in his mind–and in the view of the entire Graves Pack–I wouldn’t dare, and couldn’t afford, to actually leave.”

After all, I was just a low–ranking Omega with no pack lineage, raised in an orphanage. Snagging the Alpha of the Graves Pack was seen as my one stroke of incredible fortune. Without him, I was nothing. They likely assumed my talk of severance was just another dramatic episode, and that I’d eventually come crawling back.

Chloe had no retort. Because that was precisely their perception.

“Buzz.”

My pl

My phone vibrated on the sheets. A message from Iris.

“Julian is back with me. You lose. Again.”

My eyes darkened.

Chloe saw the message over my shoulder. Before I could react, she snatched the phone from my hand. “Wait!”

Her fingers flew across the screen, swiftly capturing a screenshot.

I looked at her. “What are you doing?”

“Preserving evidence!” Chloe declared. The moment the words left her mouth, the notification on the screen updated “This message has been recalled“.

Of course. Iris had given me just enough time to read it, then instantly recalled it. She’d calculated I would see it but was terrified of 1/3

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Chapter 15 The First Move

leaving a permanent record.

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Chloe looked at the “recalled” notification and scoffed. “Seems the little snake is still scared of Julian seeing her true fangs.”

if she weren’t afraid, why recall it so hastily?

Chloe shoved the phone back into my hand. “Now, you can reply.”

I glanced at her.

Chloe raised a brow. “She’s scared of her true colors being seen. You’re not, are you?”

A soft, cold laugh escaped me. “Of course not.”

I typed my reply directly. “Wasn’t it past your five–minute prediction? Seems you didn’t win completely either.”

I didn’t care about that Alpha anymore. But in front of Iris, the other woman, I would not concede an inch of pride.

Iris replied almost instantly, “Only by six minutes. You find pride in that? How pathetic…”

“Screenshot, now!” Chloe reminded.

immediately captured another screenshot.

Almost the second I did, this message too was marked as recalled.

Then, I sent two messages of my own.

‘Enjoy your recycled Alpha.”

‘Don’t worry. You’ll find out soon enough who the truly pathetic one is.”

ris didn’t reply again. Probably because Julian had actually arrived at her side, and she was too busy perfecting her role as the iragile, wounded victim to spare a thought for me.

Chloe looked at me, concern evident in her eyes, but beneath it was unwavering support. “Lily… what exactly is your plan?”

She asked because she feared I would come out worse in this fight. After all, Iris had the protection of the entire Graves Pack and Eleanor, not to mention the backing of her mother, Margaret–the formidable Alpha of the Hayes Pack. From Chloe’s perspective, me suing Iris for plagiarism was a little like throwing a pebble at a fortress.

I thought for a moment and decided not to keep her in the dark. “Tomorrow, the official registration of my and Julian’s mating bond, along with the severance agreement, will be circulated through every werewolf social circle and gossip channel in Gilneas City,”

Chloe was stunned. “You’re going to make it public that you and Julian were formally mated? Wait… but you’re severing the

bond?”

“Precisely because we are severing it, it needs to be made public,” I said, my voice icy. “Iris wants to climb her way up to become the new Luna of the Graves Pack, doesn’t she? Then she’ll have to wear the labels ‘mate poacher‘ and ‘other woman‘ officially, and publicly, first.”

Margaret and Iris, that mother–daughter pair, were masters of cultivating a pristine image while playing dirty underneath Margaret used plenty of cutthroat tactics in business but despised anyone suggesting she’d ever relied on her looks–she insisted on her

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Chapter 15 The First Move

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narrative as a self–made, ruthless business Alpha. What they feared most were precisely the tarnishing labels of ‘mistress‘ or ‘side piece.’

So I would start there. I would rip that shiny, polished facade right off.

Chloe looked momentarily dazed, then a spark of understanding lit her eyes. “Once your mating bond with Julian is exposed, that means Iris… gets publicly branded as the female who seduced her late mate’s own brother?”

Lately, the entire werewolf social scene in Gilneas had been buzzing with speculation that Julian, the Graves Alpha, would step up to care for his late brother’s widow and pup. No one knew he already had a lawfully bonded mate. Once this news broke, the court of public opinion would detonate, and all that venom would rain down squarely on Iris.

As an opening move for revenge… it did sound satisfying.