Chapter 49 Chapter 49
Tiana
I stepped back automatically, my spine hitting the alcove wall.
I don’t know why, instead of asking her why it concerned her at all, the next thing that left my mouth was, “I wasn’t lurking. I was just delivering…”
“Delivering?” Her eyes flicked to the ledger in my hands, then back to my face. A small, cruel smile curved her lips. “Or eavesdropping? Should I report you to the Alpha?”
Heat flooded my cheeks. “I wasn’t eavesdropping.”
“Weren’t you?” She stepped closer, and two other servants materialized behind her. Wolves I recognized from my days in the servants’ quarters. Both wore the same smug expressions. “Strange place to be standing if you were just ‘delivering’ something.”
“The Alpha was in a meeting,” I said, forcing my voice to stay steady. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“How considerate.” Geraldine’s tone suggested she thought it was anything but what I actually claimed to be doing. “Though I do wonder what a Luna has to deliver personally. Don’t you have servants for that sort of thing now?”
The emphasis on ‘now’ made it clear what she really meant: You used to be one of us. Don’t forget it.
“Gamma Rowan asked me to bring this to the Alpha,” I said, lifting the ledger slightly. “It’s pack business.”
“Pack business.” She repeated the words like they were amusing. “And how is your little project in the supply wing going? Playing at being useful?”
One of the other servants, a sharp-faced she-wolf named Helena laughed softly. “I heard she spent all afternoon reorganizing medical supplies. As if we haven’t been running this place perfectly fine for years.”
“I was helping Gamma Rowan with the supplies. The Alpha assigned me there.”
“Helping?” Geraldine’s eyebrows rose. “Or getting in the way while pretending you understand how a pack actually functions?”
My hands clenched around the ledger. “I don’t understand why you are being this way. I am learning—”
Before I could finish, she interrupted. “Oh, please.” Geraldine took another step forward, close enough now that I could smell the lavender soap she always used. “Let me tell you something, girl. You can play Luna all you want. Wear the fancy dresses, sit at the Alpha’s table, pretend you belong in rooms you used to clean.”
Her voice dropped lower. More venomous.
“But we all know what you really are. A servant who got lucky.” She leaned in. “And when the Alpha gets what he needs from you? When you’ve served your purpose? You’ll be right back where you started. Below my feet”
The words hit me hard and terrible.
Because part of me—a large part—actually acknowledged it.
“I have work to do,” I managed, trying to step around her.
Geraldine moved with me, blocking my path. “Work. In the supply wing. How precious.”
“Let me pass.”
“Or what?” Her smile widened. “You’ll tell the Alpha? Run crying to your mate,” she quoted, “about the mean servants?”
Helena snickered again. The third servant, younger, someone I recognized but had no idea what her name was, just watched with cold eyes.
“I said let me pass.”
“And I said—”
“Is there a problem here?”
Instantly, we all turned our head to the direction the voice had come from. To see, Gamma Rowan standing at the top of the stairs.
He had a stern expression on his face as his eyes moved from Geraldine to me, then back again.
“Gamma Rowan,” Geraldine said smoothly, her entire demeanor shifting into something respectful. “We were just… ummm”
“Harassing the Luna?” His tone was mild, but there was edge of steel underneath. “Because that’s what it looked like from where I’m standing.”
“No,” she chuckled. “I won’t do that. We were only having a conversation.”
“Were you?” It sounded like a question but from the look in Gamma Rowan’s eyes, I did not think he was expecting a response.
He walked closer, and the three servants instinctively stepped back. “The Luna has been working with me all afternoon. She was delivering a ledger to the Alpha on my behalf. Is there some reason you felt the need to intercept her?”
Geraldine’s smile faltered. “We were simply curious.”
“Then satisfy your curiosity elsewhere.” His voice hardened. “And in the future, remember that Luna Tiana answers to the Alpha. Not to you.”
Geraldine’s face flushed, but she knew better than to argue with a Gamma. She inclined her head stiffly. “Of course, Gamma Rowan. My apologies.”
She turned sharply and walked away, the other two servants trailing behind her like obedient shadows.
When they disappeared around the corner, Gamma Rowan turned to me. His expression softened slightly.
“Are you alright, Luna?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
“They have no right to speak to you that way,” he continued. “If it happens again—”
“It’s fine,” I interrupted quietly, letting out a small smile. “Really. I’m used to it. It’s nothing.”
His eyes held sympathy. “You shouldn’t have to be.”
I looked down at the ledger still clutched in my hands, now slightly crumpled from how tightly I had been holding it.
“The Alpha was… occupied,” I said. “I didn’t want to interrupt. Should I leave this with you instead?”
Rowan studied me for a moment, like he was weighing whether to push the issue about the servants or let it drop.
Finally, he reached out and took the ledger from my hands. “I’ll make sure he gets it. You’ve done enough for today.”
“Thank you.”
“And Luna?” He waited until I met his eyes. “You’re doing well. I enjoyed working with you in the supply wing and I hope to see you again. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
The kindness in his voice made my throat tighten.
I managed a small smile. “Thank you, Gamma.”
He nodded once, then turned and walked toward Zane’s office.
I stood there for a moment longer, my hands empty now, my chest still tight with everything that had just happened.
Zane’s volatile anger echoing through that door.
Then Geraldine’s cruel words cutting through whatever fragile confidence I had built this afternoon.
The reminder that no matter what role I played, some wolves would always see me as nothing more than a servant who had gotten lucky.
I turned toward my chambers, exhaustion settling into my bones.
While trying so hard not to think about the fact that Geraldine might just be right.