Chapter 61

Asher pov

On the way to my mansion, my assistant was informing me about what had taken place. Explaining it in detail, she said Sophia had been brooding in quietness, just to solidify her support among the ranks in members to bring me down.

I growled with building growing anger: How could Sophia do this to our pack? Where does she place the interest of our people?

The air grew thick with tension as I approached headquarters. Pack members were huddled together, speaking among themselves.

I steeled myself for the coming fight and took a deep breath. I wasn't going to let Sophia's actions tear our pack apart.

I got out of the car and began to walk towards headquarters with my assistant. The curious and hostile gazes turned to me as we entered the building.

I tuned them out-mentally set my focus on what lay ahead of me. I needed to get in, speak with the pack, reassure them as to my position, reassure them that I remained pack leader and the commitment within remained strong.

But before reaching the hall, I had an intercept a huge man who came across as the muscle for Sophia with a scowl deep on his features.

"Asher, you are not welcome here," he snarled. "Sophia is the rightful leader of this pack, and we will not let you take that away from her."

I snarled my hackles rose at the affront of this man daring to question my authority.

But I kept my cool, knowing full well how losing my temper would only play into Sophia's hands.

"I know you're loyal to Sophia," I said, my voice even, yet firm. "But I can guarantee you, I am the rightful leader of this pack. And I won't let Sophia's betrayal destroy us."

He snarled, but in his eyes was a flicker of doubt. He wasn't that convinced that Sophia's claims were true, and he wavered.

Pressing my advantage, my voice boomed across the hall. "I call a pack meeting, now. Let us settle this once and for all."

Here it is with punctuation marks:

The meeting started, and I could feel the looks of my pack members-none too happy with me, it seemed-as I looked around.

"What is wrong with all of you, or has Sophia poisoned all of you?" I asked in anger.

"Sophia is our luna, and we all love her as she is," one of the elder seated said, looking aside to not meet my gaze. "Yes, she may have had some bad characters, but she is who we have known all these years. Or do you have any plans to remarry?

I shook my head in utter disbelief. "I don't get it Sophia has been using the pack account to fund herself, and you all are blinded by her character. You all should understand what she is doing to our pack," I said with sincerity etched on my face.

"I understand, and we listened to her," added another elder. "Before this meeting was held, she had assured us that whatever she was doing was for the best and to our benefit, and for the future of our pack.

I raised an eyebrow. "Future? Did I hear you right? Who told you she means well for this pack? And most importantly, why would all of you have a meeting with Sophia without telling me? You all are acting in ways that I don't get," I told them, pointing my finger towards each one that sat.

"Alpha, we are sorry for that," one other elder said, "but she has been your luna all these years. You cannot just wake up one morning and reject her because of some little disagreement. We also heard how you embarrassed her at the hotel room, which we found unacceptable."

I then gave a heavy thud on the table and said, "This is madness! I don't know what this luna Sophia said to your ears that made you all align to her behavior. She is my wife, and I know very well what I am saying of her."

Then another one of them repeated, "Then well, you cannot take such a pregnant wife with you."

I stared at him utterly flabbergasted. "What! Pregnant? I couldn't fathom that. Was it even possible?", I asked, gawking beyond disbelief.

Everything just went silent then-as if all eyes had been flipped onto me. It felt almost like a sucker punch into my belly. Pregnant? How was this even possible? Of course, there were problems between Sophia and me. And it had also been months we last shared anything intimate together, untill last two night.

I scanned the room, not really processing what was said to me. There were elders standing in a semicircle and nodding. All of their faces were grim.

"When did you all find out?" I asked, hearing my voice waver with anger and confusion.

"One of the elders spoke and said, "We found it out yesterday. Sophia told us that she was pregnant and had tried for weeks, but you would just ignore her and dismiss her.

A wave of rage swept over me. How could Sophia do this to me? Lie to me, and manipulate the elders into taking her side?

I hit my fist against the table. They jumped. "This is a lie!" I shouted. "Sophia is not pregnant, and even if she was, she'd have told me and not the elders!"

Pandemonium broke out in the room as many voices rose in excited chatter. I shot to my feet, tucking my shirt into my trousers, my heart racing with this injustice. Time was of essence; I needed to get to the bottom of this matter.

"I want to see Sophia," I snarled, my eyes pacing around the room. "Now."

The elders looked at each other uneasily, and one of them spoke up. "Alpha, Sophia is.indisposed. She is not well and must rest."

I snarled, my anger overflowing. "I don't care if she's dying," I spat. "I want to see her now."