Unmatched Wife: Not His To Claim Anymore novel Chapter 133

MATTHEW

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“I know. I’m not arguing against that. I’m suggesting we think carefully about what he might want from the visit.” Marcus leaned forward. “Matthew, someone out there has been sending threatening messages to Mia and possibly orchestrating her behavior toward Theo. We have a challenge petition gaining signatures from within our pack. And now a senior official from a powerful neighboring territory wants to attend our most significant pack event in years.” He paused. “I’m not saying these things are connected. I’m saying I want to be thoughtful.”

He was right to be thoughtful. Marcus was almost always right when he was being cautious, even when his caution was inconvenient.

“Increase security for the assembly,” I said. “Quietly–I don’t want to signal to the pack that I’m expecting trouble, or it’ll undermine everything I’m trying to communicate. But make sure we have additional people positioned throughout, and make sure childcare security is doubled. Theo is going to be in that building and I want eyes on him at all times.”

“Already planned,” Marcus said. “Do you want someone assigned specifically to monitor Mia Roberts? If she makes another attempt to get near Theo-”

“Yes. And Marcus-“I paused, working through the thought that had been forming. “Get me a record of everyone Mia has been in contact with over the past three months. Phone records if you can access them, known associates, anyone who’s visited her apartment. I want to know who’s been in her orbit.”

“You think she’ll lead us to whoever’s behind the threats?”

“I think she’s the only thread I can pull right now. And I think Dr. Martinez is right that someone is using her.” I looked down at the security reports again. “I’d rather know who than keep reacting to whatever they throw at us.”

Marcus made a note. “I’ll have something for you by tomorrow.”

“Good.” I turned back to the reports, trying to find the thread of what I’d been working through before Thorne’s call. “Where

we? The Harker family transfer.”

were

“Before we continue with that-” Marcus hesitated, which was unusual enough that I looked up. “There was something in your conversation just now. You said you realized some things in BloodMoon City. About what you actually wanted versus what you convinced yourself you wanted.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t need details,” he said carefully. “But I’ve known you for fifteen years. And I watched you with Mia–watched you risk your marriage, your pack position, your relationship with your son–for something that, now that it’s over, doesn’t seem to have been worth what you paid for it.” He met my eyes. “Can I ask what you think that was actually about?”

The question deserved honesty. I owed him that.

“Mia and I were–we had something, when we were young. Before I met Bianca. And I convinced myself, when things between Bianca and me became difficult, that what I’d had with Mia was what I really wanted. That I’d made the wrong choice by choosing Bianca. That somewhere in going back to that old relationship I’d recover something I’d lost.” I stopped, looking for the right words. “Dr. Martinez helped me understand that what I was actually chasing was the version of myself that existed before I’d made so many bad choices. Before I’d damaged things. I thought if I could have what I had at twenty–two, I could somehow be who I was at twenty–two. Before all of this.”

“And Bianca?”

“Bianca deserved better than me,” I said. “She deserved someone who saw her clearly and loved her for it. And instead she got someone who was so consumed by his own nostalgia and selfishness that he didn’t see her at all.” I looked at the photograph on my desk–the one of Theo at the park in BloodMoon City, the one that had been taken by a stranger who’d offered to snap it

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when Theo had insisted on climbing a particular piece of equipment. My son, laughing, the sky bright behind him. “I can’t change what i did to Blanca. I can’t undo any of it. But I can make sure Theo grows up with a father who’s actually present, actually honest, actually trying to be the person he should have been all along.”

Marcus was quiet for a long moment. “That’s a better answer than I expected.”

“Therapy is humbling,” I said dryly. “It turns out when you actually examine your own motivations, the picture isn’t usually flattering”

“No,” Marcus agreed. “It usually isn’t.” He picked up his papers again. “Harker family transfer. Timeline.”

We worked through the morning in the focused, way that Marcus had always been able to sustain regardless of what else was happening around him–which was one of the reasons I’d made him Beta when my father had stepped down. He could hold complexity in separate compartments, attend to the immediate task without losing the larger picture.

I’d never been as good at that as he was. My natural inclination was to collapse everything into a single overwhelming weight rather than breaking it into manageable pieces. But I was learning.

The Harker transfer was largely unrecoverable–they’d completed the process, established ties with Creston, and reaching out to reverse it would read as desperate rather than genuine. I made a note to send Sandra Harker a letter anyway, personal rather than formal, acknowledging that we’d failed her when she needed us.

The financial situation was more recoverable than I’d initially feared. Several of the dipping trade relationships were salvageable with direct outreach, and our pack’s underlying economic foundation was sound enough to withstand the temporary disruption.

Beta Adam’s challenge petition was a different matter.

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