The Eclipsed Life of Luna Mischa (by Jennifer Francis) novel Chapter 191

Part 6: Regret, cuts deep

Anthony

He sat staring at the phone in his hand, she’d just ended the call they’d been on without so much as warning him, and she’d just voiced she was pregnant and to another Alpha. His phone clattered to the desk in front of him. How had it come to this? How had she, after two decades, gotten pregnant to another?

Why had their Goddess allowed this to happen? He wanted her to be the mother of the heir to this pack, his and her pack, and now she was carrying an heir to another’s pack. She was never coming back to Night Whispers, is what she’d said. It was a place filled with pain for her and Laud.

He’d been punished for what he’d done. He’d taken that punishment at her own hands to see she’d never leave him… but even as he sat there, he understood they’d been his words that day, she’d stated she’d never reject him, that she would stay true to the will of the Goddess.

She’d left him, but was still bound to him, his hand touched the filigree on his neck as pain filled him and his wolf, she’d not lied. Held true to her words, she was still bound to him, only she’d walked away, and he’d not even known she had.

He didn’t understand how he didn’t know she wasn’t there. He sat there and really thought about that and realized something. Even though he’d been at odds with Christy, and she’d, he thought, caused no trouble at all, he now understood she’d actually done something he’d not considered to be causing trouble.

A few times over the course of the weeks, before the pains of betrayal, she’d told him she’d seen Mischa going into the city, that she’d left the pack carrying files of some sort. She’d answered before others could when he’d asked where Mischa was. No one had stopped her from saying those things.

When he really thought about that very thing, he’d even taken her words and turned away from having Letti answer him when he’d been asking her directly. Christy had been in that office at her desk, before he’d unseated her officially and she’d lied to him about Mischa being here inside this very pack.

Lied right to his face now he understood and in front of Letti and Rebecca, and he’d believed her, he recalled nodding his head and turning to walk away. He hadn’t even waited for Letti to answer him, just didn’t get her answer to his direct question, because Christy had answered it.

He understood in this very moment that it wasn’t just Mischa he dismissed over Christy’s words, it was going to be anyone she spoke over the top of. He’d not even questioned her about it when he knew there was no way she’d have spoken to Mischa or even known what her schedule was. Mischa wouldn’t care to tell Christy anything about her life or where she was going or what she was doing, yet he’d nodded and accepted her words.

He stood up and left his office walk from it to the dining hall, knowing Christy would be in there, and she was: setting up the buffet table. She had no idea right this minute that Mischa was severed from the pack; none here did, bar himself and his unit. He walked over and made himself coffee and turned to her, “Have you seen Mischa today? Did she come down for breakfast?” he asked Christy.

“I’ve not seen her today, no.” Christy answered him simply.

Not a lie, he thought, because how could she have seen her, when she’d left him. “When was the last time you saw her, Christy?”

< Part 6: Regret, Cats deep

+25 Points

“I don’t know. I’m busy working these days,” she stated blandly, as if that was something that was his fault.

“But your memory isn’t broken, so think about it,” he asked.

She turned and looked at him. “I honestly don’t recall the last time I saw her. I have bigger issues than tracking Mischa for you. She’s your Mate, shouldn’t you know where she is? She and I don’t have anything to do with each other.”

Again, not a lie, but worded so it actually matched the truth, “When was the last time you spoke to her, in the Luna’s office or out in the pack?”

“What do you want? I’m staying away from her, you put me in my place and that’s all I’m doing, working to save money to be able to raise my pups. Seeing as you don’t care about them at all.” She bit out.

He raised an eyebrow at her and her attitude towards him. “I’ll check the cameras then, because from what I recall those few weeks leading up to Mischa’s heat you told me you saw her here in this pack, going off to the city more than once. Yet I now know she wasn’t inside this pack at all for you to see her.”

“Why would I lie about that?” Christy muttered.

He shook his head and snapped a hand out and grabbed her by the neck. “Why indeed?” He snarled at her as he yanked her towards him, “Mischa just severed from this pack, and finally picked up the phone, finally spoke to me and told me she left, the day after Paul did and has never returned to the pack. Yet you…”

He squeezed her throat. “Lied to me about her still being here, and why.” He grated out as she clawed at his hand to make him let go. He thrust her away from him, and she stumbled and hit the table behind her, glared up at him as he spoke.

“So, I wouldn’t realize she wasn’t inside this pack, that she had in fact left me, or go and look for her.” He bit out as he understood this was exactly what she’d done. She hadn’t changed at all, had been outed by him even all those months ago about wanting to be his one and only Luna, and her telling him she’d seen Mischa inside this pack or getting in her car to go somewhere, showed him just how far she was willing to go to get what she wanted.

What she’d done this time, was exactly what she’d done over that phone call, played at knowing Mischa was about and where she was, when, in fact, what she was doing was making sure that he appeared he didn’t care to know where she was or if she was okay. “Showing Mischa that I don’t care about her not being here at all. When I was trying to fix things you had ruined, with Nicholas… you haven’t changed one bit at all, I see. Still trying to prove I only care about you, even after she left me in full, and I’m certain you know she left me.”

“How would I know if she left you or not? I’m not bound to her, don’t feel where she is, like you can. If you didn’t know she’d actually left you, and whose fault is that? Not mine, Anthony. That is completely on you.” She snapped at him.

“Everything is completely on me now, isn’t it? even my not going and attending Mischa’s heat a year ago. He bit out.

“What’s the point of bringing that up? It was a year ago, more than that now.” She stated, “I’ve got work to do.” And she turned away from him.

“What’s the point in bringing it up?” he asked right back. “I just spoke to Mischa.” He stated and saw her stiffen a little and a smile touched his face. “She told me something interesting. Do you want to know

Part 6 Regret fets deep

what it was?”

+25 Points:

“don’t care about anything that has to do with her,” Christy snapped and walked off towards the kitchen.

“You might, she claimed, you self–induced that heat.” He called after her. “I’m going to research how that’s done and what the signs of it are.” Then he followed her when she picked up the pace and pushed into the kitchen, he stepped inside it himself. “I believe you had how many heats in how many months, let’s see there was that overly aggressive one in November, to coincide with Mischa’s,

“Your normal heat in February, then an overly aggressive one in May to again coincide with Mischa’s heat, and one in August as well. Four heats in, he counted the months off on his hand 10 months. That is bloody unheard of now, isn’t it.

“Although that one is August, confuses me, you weren’t trying to put yourself into heat just because she was in heat. It was out of character from what I now realize is happening inside this pack, where those I do now actually believe induced heats were concerned…”

She was just glaring at him, appeared angry to him, and he didn’t think it was because he was outing her. No, it was because he now understood that heat in August hadn’t been her doing. Mischa’s words to him had stated she’d actively incited Christy into doing things to herself; that he thought was about the heats Christie had had, but he also knew Mischa hadn’t lied about it, which meant it was, in fact, Christy that had induced all those heats all on her own and why, to have him pulled away from Mischa when she was in heat and nothing more.

Then he kind of laughed as he realized something, Mischa had done something to make Christy do that to herself. He didn’t know what it was, but it had worked, whatever it was, “But from what Mischa stated today to me, she had a hand in making you do that to yourself in August.”

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