Luna's Point of view.
I woke up to the soft gray morning light filtering through Kades curtains, his apartment still smells faintly of the Cologne he wore to last night's dinner.
Last night went well... didn't it? Mom had been.... Well, herself. But we survived.
I turned towards Kade, expecting to find him still asleep but instead I found him awake staring at the ceiling.
He does this sometimes—states at notion while his mind works through pack problems or territorial disputes.
"Hey," I whisper, reaching out to touch his shoulder.
But he flinched the moment my touch made contact with his skin.
It was subtle, barely noticeable, but I felt it like a physical blow. Kade has never flinched away from my touch before.
"Sorry," he said quickly, sitting up right and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Didn't means to—I was just lost in thought."
"About what?" I asked, pushing myself up on one elbow, trying to read his profile in the dim light.
"Pack stuff." He said while already reaching for his shirt, pulling it on quickly. "Actually, I need to head out. Jack needs me for...." He pauses, and I can practically see him searching for an excuse. "For...for patrol rotation planning."
"On a Saturday?"
"Yeah. You know how it is. " He said, refusing to look at me which made me feel he was lying.
I watched him awkwardly put on the rest of his clothes. the man I have dated for two years, and now suddenly he was acting like a stranger.
"Kade..." I called out to him just as he was about to leave, grabbing his truck key from the side stool on the bed.
"I'll text you later, okay?" I said. Without saying anything he leaned down and pressed a kiss on my forehead. The kiss felt empty. He did it like something he was supposed to do, not something he wanted to do."
And with that he just left. gone. And I'm left alone in his apartment with the growing certainty that something doesn't quite feel right.
By noon, I had texted him multiple times.
("Hope patrol went well! love you.
" Lunch plant later?
Kade? Is everything okay?)
I stare at my phone screen, watching the little check marks mock me. Kade always replies. Even when he's busy, even when he's in the middle of training or meetings, he sends me something...a quick emoji or a "busy, text you soon," message.
At 2pm, I tried calling him but the phone rang three times before he declined the call.
I stared at my phone screen, a sick feeling spreading through my stomach. In two years, Kade had never declined my calls. Even during pack emergencies, he would at least text to say he will call back later.
I tried again at 3 PM.
Same result. Three rings, then silence.
My hands were shaking as I set the phone down. My wolf paced anxiously inside me, sensing something was wrong but unable to articulate what.
Without meaning to, my mind went back to last night. I closed my eyes and walked through every moment of last night's dinner, searching if anything had gone wrong that I didn't quite notice. Maybe that's why kades acting up.
Mother had been tense, but that's just Selene whitmon on a normal day. Poised, controlled, measuring everything and everyone with those amber eyes. She'd asked Kade the expected questions—his role in the pack, his family lineage, his intentions. Standard Alpha mother interrogation.
"So what's wrong..."
I needed to talk to someone. Someone who would tell me I was being paranoid, that everything was fine.
I found Mara my best-friend at our usual coffee shop, She was seven months pregnant with twins. My best friend looked like she had swallowed a beach ball. She looked up when I arrived, and her smile immediately faded.
"What happened?"
I slid into the booth across from her, trying to hold myself together. "Am I being crazy?"
"Probably," Mara said kindly. "But tell me anyway."
So I did. The whole thing—how distant Kade had been this morning, the flinch when I touched him, the declined calls, the complete radio silence all day.
"And last night seemed to go so well," I finished, my voice cracking slightly. "My mom was polite. Kade was respectful. Marcus seemed satisfied. But now Kade's acting... Acting strange to me since last night's dinner, I could feel it.
Mara reached across the table, squeezing my hand. "Luna, honey. He was probably just nervous meeting your mom. She's the Alpha of one of the most powerful packs in the region. That's intimidating for anyone, especially someone who wants to make a good impression on his girlfriend's mother."
"But he's a Beta," I protested. "He's used to dealing with Alphas. He's confident and strong and..."
"And completely in love with you," Mara interrupted gently. "Which means he was terrified of screwing up. Give him some space to decompress. He'll come around."
I wanted to believe her. Desperately wanted to accept that simple, logical explanation.
But my wolf wouldn't settle. She kept pacing, kept whining, kept insisting something fundamental had shifted last night.
"What if it's me?" I whispered. "What if he realized something during dinner? That I'm not... enough?"
"Stop." Mara's voice turned firm. "Don't do that to yourself. You're amazing, Luna. If Kade can't see that, he's an idiot."
What if my mother had said something last night that upset him. Or what if she says something to him indirectly or sends someone to..."
No. She wouldn't do that. Would she? the thought stayed in my mind.
After I left Mars at the coffee shop, I drove directly to the estate without planning to, my car seemingly navigating the familiar route on autopilot while my mind spun in anxious circles.
The estate mansion loomed ahead, beautiful and imposing as always. Home. Except it hadn't felt like home in a while—not since I'd started spending most of my time at Kade's apartment, building the life I thought we'd share.
I found my mother in her office, surrounded by paperwork and maps of pack territories. She looked up when I entered, and for just a second, I saw something in her amber eyes—exhaustion? Pain?—before her expression smoothed into her usual calm mask.
"Luna, sweetheart. I wasn't expecting you."
"Mom, did you say something to Kade?" The words tumbled out before I could stop them. "Last night, or this morning, or... did you send Marcus to talk to him?"
Selene's eyebrows rose slightly. she stood, moving around her desk with that fluid grace she always have. "Luna, darling. " Tell me what happened that made you think such a thing.
"He's been acting weird since last night's dinner. which is completely unlike him. He won't answer my calls or reply to my messages." I moved closer to her desk, searching her face for answers. "I thought maybe you said something. Or Marcus did Something that made him... I don't know. Stated acting this way."
My mother's hands rested on my shoulders, warm and reassuring. "I didn't say anything to Kade. Neither did Marcus. The dinner went well, from my perspective. Perhaps he's simply processing meeting a girlfriend's mother, especially when that mother is an Alpha. Give him time."
The same thing Mara had said. Logical. Reasonable.
I study her for a while, and then I saw it—the slight tremor in her hands,
and for just a flash—less than a second—I saw something like guilt cross her features. Then her mask is back in place, perfect and impenetrable.quickly suppressed. The way her fingers tighten against each other, knuckles going white.
I could tell she's lying. Or hiding something. Or both.
My suspicion crystallizes into certainty, cold and heavy in my gut. "What did you do?"
Luna..." Her voice held that Alpha command now, the tone that didn't invite further questioning. "Stop being delusional, and by the way don't you have work this afternoon? You shouldn't keep your supervisor waiting."
I was being dismissed. Gently, but unmistakably.
I left the office feeling more confused than when I'd arrived, my wolf's unease intensifying with every step.