The Alpha Who Never Loved Me (Serena and Kieran) novel Chapter 106

Chapter 106

Kieran

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My phone rang.

Mark’s name on the screen. I picked up without checking the time.

“What?”

“Alpha, Grandfather is requesting your presence at the Alpha house. Immediately. He said it cannot wait.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course. Of course Grandfather wanted me there immediately. The earth did not stop spinning for him but he believed it should. The old man had opinions about my marriage, my pack, my life; every opinion he formed required my presence so he could deliver it directly into my face.

“Tell him I’m coming.”

I hung up, grabbed my keys, drove to the estate. The drive was short; I used every second of it to brace for whatever nonsense waited behind that front door. My fan ly had a1 talent for calling emergency meetings over

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matters that required none of my attention, dragging me across the city for conversations that should have lived in

a text message.

I did not knock. I pushed the front door open, stepped into chaos.

The main room was loud before I crossed the threshold;

voices stacked on top of each other, words tangled, tempers sharp enough to cut glass. Grandfather stood by the fireplace with his hand wrapped around a brandy glass; Father paced the length of the rug with his jaw set. Mother sat on the couch with her arms crossed, her eyes furious. Jenna stood beside her chair, hands on her hips,

her face red.

Nobody noticed me come in.

“-disgrace this pack has ever seen!” Grandfather’s voice boomed off the walls. “A woman carrying another man’s child while still legally married to my grandson! The Luna of Crimson Pack! Every pack on this continent is laughing at us, every Alpha is pointing at the Thawthorne name and saying it has lost its dignity!”

“She is not a disgrace!” Mother’s voice climbed to match 2/7

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his. “The woman suffered enough in this family to bury

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three wives. If she found comfort somewhere else, that is the consequence of what was done to her, not her fault-”

“Her fault?” Father stopped pacing. “She left the country, opened her legs for whoever, came back pregnant, used it as a weapon against our son, and it is not her fault?”

“Don’t you dare speak about her like that!” Jenna’s voice cracked through the room; her eyes shone with tears, her hands trembled at her sides but her chin stayed up. “Grandfather, please. Serena is my best friend. You don’t know what she went through in this family. She suffered, nobody cared, and now that she is carrying a baby that is not Kieran’s, she becomes the problem? She is not the problem.”

“I raised you better than to defend a woman who—”

“Please, Father.” Jenna’s voice shook. “Please stop calling her those names. She was always good to us. She was always respectful. If she walked away, it was because she had no choice.”

“Enough!” Grandfather slammed his glass down on the mantle; the crystal cracked but did not shatter. “I will not tolerate that woman dragging this family through the mud for one more day. We are going to her family’s house

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today, we are demanding answers, we are ending this

circus-”

“The circus is not hers!” Mother was on her feet now; her hands shook at her sides. Her eyes did not land on Grandfather; they landed on me. “The circus is yours, Kieran! You brought Sophie back into this marriage! You paraded that woman in front of Serena’s face for months! You caused her pain, you made her feel small, you watched her break and you did nothing!” Her voice cracked. “And now you want us to pretend she is the disgrace? The disgrace is you.”

“She is a whore—”

“Grandfather, please.” Jenna’s voice was small, strained. “Please don’t speak about her that way.”

“She is a common, pack-jumping—”

Mother screamed something wordless; Jenna covered her ears, then dropped her hands, then screamed back. Grandfather barked over both of them. Father yelled over Grandfather. The room was four voices going at full volume, words tangled together, every insult about Serena layered on top of the previous one.

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My blood crossed from warm to molten in under three seconds.

“Enough.”

My voice cut through the room; every head turned.

“Say one more word about my wife,” I said; my jaw was so tight the muscles in my face shook, “and I swear to the Moon Goddess, Father, I will forget that you are my elder.”

Father’s mouth closed.

Mother turned on me; her eyes were sharp, her voice was a blade. “And you, Kieran. You caused this. You brought that woman back into our lives. You put Serena through hell. Don’t stand there acting like you are the victim in

this.”

Grandfather recovered first. “Kieran. Good. You are here. The matter concerns you directly, so-”

“The matter does not concern you at all,” I said. “My marriage, my wife, my child — none of it is your business.”

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“It is the pack’s business!” Father’s voice climbed again. “Your wife is pregnant with another man’s child! The whole city knows! What do you want me to do, pretend this is not happening?”

“I want you to keep her name out of your mouth.”

“Your wife-”

“My wife.” My fists clenched at my sides; Cora surged forward so hard my teeth ached. “Mine, Father. Not yours. Not Grandfather’s. Mine. She is not a disgrace. She is not a whore. She is not a problem for this pack to solve. She is my wife and I will not hear another word against

her in this house.”

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