02. Goddess Help Me

Esme’s POV

From the other side of our bedroom door, Stella moaned for the third time. I could no longer deny what I was hearing, and indescribable rage burned through me. After all the sacrifices I’d made? Every single thing I had gone through to get the damned contract I was holding rushed through my mind as I placed my hand on the doorknob.

My body trembled. But with one last silver of hope that I was wrong, I pushed the door open. Everything I feared manifested before my eyes. Calvin had Stella straddling him while he sat on my vanity chair and thrust into her as if his life depended on it.

It took them a second to realize I was there, and Calvin froze as he met my gaze. “Esme!” he cried with his eyes wide.

Stella rushed to get off him, while Calvin pulled up his pants and then fell to his knees. “Esme, she seduced me—”

“Seduced you?” I shouted in disbelief. He had been pounding her like it was his only mission on earth, yet he had the guts to claim she’d seduced him?

My gaze went to Stella.

She had grabbed a sheet to cover her nakedness and now met my gaze head-on. “You’re back early,” she said.

It was four words, but my eyes misted with tears. While I had only known Calvin for two years, Stella had been my best friend for ten. We had grown up together and shared every important moment of our lives. And now, her sneer and nonchalance—I couldn't believe it, any of it. Was this the same Stella I knew?

“Why are you surprised?” she asked. “You abandon your husband every single day to chase after success. Do you expect him to keep waiting for you?”

“Are you out of your mind?” I asked, incredulous. “Chase after success? Me?” My voice rose octaves higher than usual, unable to believe she’d made such an outlandish accusation. “I’ve been working for him! Tirelessly. Day and night, doing everything he should have done for this pack. And you say I’m chasing success?”

She approached, her sneer deepening. “It’s your family’s pack. Even now, it’s still named after your grandfather. Why should Calvin have to work for it?”

Calvin, still on his knees, nodded in agreement.

My mind couldn’t help but travel back to when I’d chosen him as my mate. Father had disagreed fiercely, unwilling to make Calvin the next alpha, while Stella had also tried to talk me out of it. However, back then, I had been determined to break the marriage arrangement my father held with Alpha Silvan. So regardless of what anyone said, I had gone ahead and married Calvin.

At first, things were awkward, and I quickly realized Calvin was unable to handle anything significant. I had to pick up the hard tasks and take care of everything that should have been his responsibility. But eventually, we grew from being strangers to being friends who could have a conversation and shared a connection. And somehow, I had come to believe Calvin was the perfect man.

He didn’t rush me into being intimate with him in the two years since we got married either. He also tried his best to make sure there was company and someone to make me feel better about all the work I had to do when I got home.

For me, he had been perfect. Or so I thought.

How wrong I’d been.

I took a deep breath, doing my best to keep my emotions under control, though my insides felt like they were coming undone. “You’re right,” I said, barely able to contain my rage and hurt. “This pack does belong to my family, and I have done everything to make it grow bigger and stronger. And since you two love each other so much, I’ll let everyone know you’re now a couple and will be sent out of the pack tomorrow.”

Calvin stood, his face going pale. “Esme, you can’t do this. I’m your husband. Besides, it only happened this one time, and I swear by the moon goddess, Stella seduced me.”

I turned to Stella, who looked aghast at the ease of his betrayal. I shook my head, my lips curling up in disgust, not feeling the least bit sorry for her. She’d gotten what she deserved.

Of course, I had been blind to choose him, too, and even more stupid to think he was some wonderful gentleman I could spend my life with. I peered at him with newfound disdain. “There’s no need to explain anything,” I said. “I’ve made up my mind, and I’m done here.”

I turned away, unwilling to look at them any longer and even more unwilling to stay in the room where I’d caught them.

“You really want to cause a scene at the festival tomorrow?” Calvin called to my back, desperation clear in his voice.

I paused. Causing a scene at a large-scale event we had spent a lot of resources on wasn’t what I had planned. Nor was it good for pack morale. Then Silvan’s gloating face flashed in my mind. That alone was more than enough for me to rethink my decision.

“Both of you can be guests for the New Moon Festival,” I said. “After that, leave the pack on your own.” That was the best solution.

I slammed the door on my way out, then meandered through the house, not knowing what to do with myself. I had grown up in that house, and it held memories of Stella and me playing in nearly every room. Those images flashed through my mind, making my heart feel as though someone held it in a treacherous vise.

Where did I go wrong? Why would she do such a thing?

Now that I’d caught them, I could see Calvin for what he was, could see what I should have seen all along. But Stella? My lifelong best friend? The woman who was like a sister to me? It didn’t make any sense.

I entered one of the guest’s rooms, not caring which, and fell to the floor with a loud sob. Not only had I been betrayed by my husband, but I had lost a friendship that meant the world to me. The pain crushed my soul to where it felt like I could barely breathe. Another sob escaped my lips, and I allowed myself to cry, to wail, to drown in my tears. In the empty darkness of that guest room, I let it all out until there was nothing left, until I knew I could control my feelings the next day.

Because I was the pack’s luna, and that’s what was best for the pack.

I would wake tomorrow, get dressed in my ball gown, and stand beside Calvin like I didn’t want to drive a knife through this chest. I would smile at Stella as though she hadn’t torn my heart out, too. Then I would endure through the New Moon Festival before I could actually punish them for doing this to me.

Goddess help me.