Chapter 5

As she took the flight home, a strange kind of elation filled her.

She felt like a lost queen returning to take her kingdom back after being away for so long, and her hurting heart felt something beyond the pain of being a rejected bride, and an unwanted Luna.

It felt peaceful, and she knew that the moment she walked past the doors of her house, she would be fine, and not need to worry about Alpha Tony, Cheyenne, or their baby anymore.

What mattered was that she was at home.

She soon got off the plane and went into the taxi sent over for her. It took her home, and there her mother stood, watching with smiles on their wrinkled faces.

Jenny had made a promise to herself to not cry or do anything to let them know how much pain she had gone through since the rejection at the wedding, but as soon as she fell into her mother's arms, the tears came falling.

Nothing could have stopped them then, especially when she was aware that she was in a place of comfort.

“He left me, mother. Alpha Tony left me —”

Only, she did not say what she truly wanted to say, which was something along the lines of:

“Alpha Tony left me for Cheyenne, mother.”

That part of her heartbreaking tale had gone unspoken, and her mother shushed her, holding her head close to her chest. “We know what happened, Jenny, but you should forget it. You don't have to think about him anymore.”

Her nostrils took in the scent of her mother's clothes, and they felt nostalgic to her, reminding her of the days in her childhood when that scent had meant protection and safety to her.

In the distance, someone was being pushed in a wheelchair, and Jenny did not wait for him to come to her, but rushed to her father, an old, weakening Alpha who had lost the ability to walk. He sat in the wheelchair, his eyes stone-cold, so that he looked to have the same power as any young, strong Alpha.

“Father.” She stopped before him.

He looked her straight in the eyes, before beckoning her to come with his arms. At this, Jenny did all but jump on him, planting kisses on his face and faking her laughter until he stopped her by holding her chin, forcing her to look deep into his eyes.

“You think I am a fool, Jenny. I am your father, who sat by your infant bed every time you cried and held your hand when you took your first step. Do not think you can hide your pain from me.”

“You know everything, Father.” She smiled, though a teardrop made its way down her cheek.

He kissed her forehead as she shut her eyes, feeling the warmth of his lips.

“You will forget all about him, Jenny. You are the daughter of the Alpha of the Senith pack, the most powerful wolf family. Other alphas will fight each other to have you, and one more deserving of you will have you, not that fool Tony.”

His eyes glazed over as he spoke, and Jenny knew that her wedding's drama had hurt them just as much as it did her. They had never been at the wedding because of an emergency that forced her father into a hospital, and when she had planned to call off the wedding for them, they both vehemently refused, insisting that it had to happen.

If they had known, then they would never have insisted on having it continue.

Together, they went into the mighty palace that was her home, and her luggage was moved to her room while she sat to eat dinner with her parents. Together, they shared the time as a family, saying nothing about the disastrous wedding and everything to put smiles on their faces.

Soon, her father had to attend to visitors, and he left the meal early. As the Alpha of the Senith pack, he was visited by other alphas paying their respects all the time, who counted his friendship as important to them. In fact, only Alpha Tony had dared to do something to break their friendship.

As she continued to eat with her mother, her mind was first haunted by the image of Cheyenne's baby, whose father was the man she would have married, before something else dawned on her.

Barely anything happened without her father knowing. He was so well connected and in control that from his wheelchair, could influence anything with a simple snap of his fingers, and destroying Alpha Tony would have been no issue for him.

It would even have been a favourable course of action for him.

Yet, her ex-fiance roamed free and happy.

It could only mean that her father was aware of the relationship between Alpha Tony and Cheyenne, and her mother was possibly in the know as well, and they were both hard pressed to act in a situation that ruined one daughter and favoured another.

Cheyenne was only a year older than Jenny's twenty-four, the former's father marrying their mother before dying of an illness. Jenny had come from her own father and their mother, a love that blossomed from a second chance mate union. Despite all that, her father had loved Cheyenne as his own daughter and treated them the same.

He would be between a rock and a hard place on what to do, if he knew about it. Still, she could never be sure, not unless she asked her father if he knew, and it was what she was going to do, to brave it and ask him.

Jenny took her mother's permission to leave the table and went to her father's waiting room, a large room with gold painted walls and bright lights.

However, something else had caught her attention.

It was a scent hovering in the air, and she could not have gone wrong with it or mistaken it for anything, not after all the nights she spent with it teasing her brain.

“The Stranger.” She gasped to herself.

The very werewolf who had saved her from dying when she attempted suicide in the chasm and given her reason to live.

She could catch his scent in the air of her father's waiting room.