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Chapter 7

Old times? She always felt invisible back then when they all hung out with Carmela getting all his attention, she’ll feel even worse now.

“You go on ahead, I have a meeting with the pack widows this morning,” Leila replies, looking away from his eyes.

Leila.”

The sternness of Tatum’s voice makes her turn, struggling to keep her emotions together.

“Yes”

Tatum closes the gap between them, staring deeply into her eyes, like he is looking into her very soul. Leila’s chest heaves slowly, wondering if he has her figured out but he says nothing and he plants a soft kiss on her forehead before leaving the room quietly.

Later that day, Leila is woken from her nap by the sound of laughter from outside her shared room with the Alpha. The voices are more than familiar, she knows she should pretend to be asleep and not go there but she just cannot hold herself back.

She steps out of the room and to her surprise, the laughter is coming from the room. directly opposite theirs. She selected a room downstairs for Carmela, why is her laughter and Tatum’s coming from this room?

With a thudding heart and trembling hands, she gently pushes the door open.

“Leila!” Carmela shrieks with an excited grin on her face.

Leila manages a small smile and she looks straight at Tatum but he looks away, hist sexy contoured back turned to her as he continues painting the wall. Half his bod covered with the same colour of paint that soils Carmela’s hand.

“You didn’t have to let me stay with you Leila…..I could have managed on my own,” Carmela says, her teary eyes glancing around her new space.

“It’s nothing, we’re just so happy to have you back,” Leila replies with a smile but it doesn’t last really long.

She didn’t have a say in it.

Leila and Carmela were inseparable growing up, real best friends who were born on the same day, wore matching outfits and were often mistaken for twins despite their distinct features but after they turned ten and Carmela got the mark of the phoenix, every girl in the pack wanted to be her friend and she slowly neglected Leila until they rarely even saw each other and when they did, Leila always felt like the odd one out, the

+15 BONUS

misfit in Carmela’s new friend group.

Carmela’s new friends would mock and bully Leila for being awkward and Carmela would join in and laugh at her, chastising her to grow up. ‘The best friend of the next Luna cannot be some timid girl.‘ It was the song Carmela always sang to her and Leila tried to be more like them, social and pompous but the harder she tried, the harder she failed and she eventually gave up.

However, that night changed everything. After the death of Leila’s father, around the time that Carmela got her mark, Leila’s mother could hardly support their family and unlike other girls who wore expensive gowns and tiaras to celebrate their shift and eighteenth birthday, Leila stayed home to study but to her ultimate surprise, her estranged best friend showed up with a dress and tiara for her, demanding that they had a shared birthday party for their eighteenth, just like they used to do when they were toddlers.

Leila was beyond thrilled to get her best friend back. As if all the years between them was just a bad dream. Turns out the nightmare only just started:

Leila not only lost Carmela again, she also woke up with her wolf gone.

In truth she is happy to have Carmela back, she will not feel so guilty about the whole. thing anymore but she wonders if their friendship can pick up from where they left it. This woman will replace her as the Luna sooner or later, she will take her rightful place as the wife of Alpha Tatum.

Will she really be able to stomach all of it and remain true friends with Carmela without. harbouring some form of resentment or bitterness? She doesn’t want to be that kind of friend.

She looks away from Carmela, feeling a wave of sadness wash over her. She has to remain strong in these coming days, they are going to be lethal for her as her decisions could cost her her husband, her best friend and her innocent child.

“Tell me Leila, what is your favourite thing about being Luna?” Carmela asks excitedly, her eyes brimming with a subtle mischief.

Leila wishes she can tell Carmela the truth but how does she tell the woman whose life she stole that the favourite thing about stealing her life is being with the man she was supposed to marry.

“I wouldn’t say I have a favourite thing but being able to cater for the needs of the pack members is something I’m grateful that I get to do,” Leila replies in a calm tone instead.

“You’ve always been a kind soul, it’s a pity you lost your wolf, you would have been a better Luna with it,” Carmela replies in a sullen tone, her eyes closing up

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Leila jerks her head backwards in shock and disbelief, squinting her eyes at Carmela, looking at her in a calculating manner.

How did she replace that out? Only a handful of people know her se-

Her eyes dart to Tatum, it had to be him. He must have told Carmela everything, maybe even how he lied to save her from the pack members. Why would Tatum do this to her? Could he not at least cover her shame and let her keep her dignity before he divorced her?

Is she so worthless and meaningless to him?

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