Chapter 12 For What It's Worth
ARYA
They loaded me into one of the pack vehicles. Not Elira’s, thank God. I don’t think I would have been able to keep calm locked in car alone with her. Delta Marcus drove, his silence heavy between us.
“For what it’s worth,” he said quietly after a few miles, “I think this is wrong.”
“Then why are you doing it?”
“Alpha’s orders. Pack loyalty.” He sighed. “I’m sorry.”
I didn’t respond. What was there to say?
We pulled up to the pack house forty-five minutes later. The place was lit up like Christmas, every window glowing. Pack members lined the driveway, watching as I was escorted out of the vehicle.
They didn’t look angry. They looked… curious. Like I was a spectacle. Entertainment. Like this was something they always saw coming.
Mrs. Hargrove was standing on the front steps, her face pale and drawn. She must have found my note. She’s the only person that looked even slightly distraught and I felt my eyes burn with unsehd tears at the sight of her. At that moment, she looked like a lot like my grandmother.
“Luna Arya,” she whispered as I passed, her voice breaking.
I lowered my head. I couldn’t look at her. If I looked at her, I’d break down completely.
They led me to Jaime’s office. The door was open, and inside I could see the council members already assembled.
Jaime sat behind his desk, his expression unreadable. Elira stood beside him, one hand possessively on his shoulder.
“Sit,” Jaime ordered, gesturing to the chair facing his desk.
The chair where accused pack members sat during disciplinary hearings. They were really treating me like a criminal.
I held back the manic laugh I could feel wanting to escape my chest and sat, lifting my chin and meeting his eyes directly. I wouldn’t cower. I wouldn’t give them that satisfaction.
“You attempted to flee pack territory,” Jaime began, his voice formal. Colder than usual. “Without permission from your Alpha or prior notification. And in the company of my Beta, who appears to have aided you. Arya, you understand how this looks, right?”
I ignored the way he said my name. In the five years we’ve been married, he rarely ever calls my name. Just directs his order like i was some nameless being.
“I was leaving,” I corrected. “Not fleeing. There’s a difference.”
“Is there? When you’re running away in secret with packed bags?”
“I was leaving to avoid exactly this.” I gestured to the room full of hostile faces. “Being dragged back like a prisoner to be judged by people who decided I wasn’t good enough long before tonight.”
Murmurs rippled through the council members. Jaime’s jaw tightened.
“You agreed to stay until the separation was finalized.”
“I agreed before I learned that you staged the rogue attack. Before I discovered you’ve been planning this with Elira for who knows how long. Before I realized my entire marriage has been a lie.”
More murmurs. Louder now.
Jaime’s eyes flashed with something, anger, maybe, or guilt. “That’s not—”
“I heard you,” I cut him off. My tone sharp. “This afternoon. In the foyer. I heard Elira tell you the rogues were staged to make me look dangerous. To give you cover for the separation.”
The room went silent. Every eye turned to Jaime, then to Elira. She’d gone pale, but recovered quickly.
“That’s a ridiculous accusation—”
“Is it?” I pulled out my phone, and thank god I’d had the presence of mind to start recording when I heard them talking. “Would you like me to play the audio? Because I have it. Every word.”
Jaime stood abruptly. “You recorded a private conversation?”
“You staged an attack that injured pack members!” My voice rose. “You let me think I was bringing danger to the pack, let me feel guilty and responsible, when the whole time it was YOU.”
“I didn’t—” Jaime stopped, seeming to realize he was about to admit something.
“You didn’t what? Know about it?” I laughed bitterly. “Maybe not before it happened. But you knew after. Elira told you this afternoon, and you didn’t even seem surprised.”
Councilman Bardon stood from his seat in the corner. I hadn’t even noticed him there.
“Alpha Jaime,” he said, his voice carrying authority that made even Jaime pause. “Is this true? Was the rogue attack orchestrated?”
“I… I didn’t authorize it.”
“But you knew about it.” Bardon’s statement wasn’t a question.
Jaime’s silence was answer enough.
The council erupted. Voices overlapping, some angry, some confused, all had one thing in common. They wanted answers.
“ENOUGH!” Jaime’s Alpha command silenced them all at once. “This changes nothing. The separation stands. The council vote will proceed as planned.”
“Actually,” Bardon said calmly, “I don’t think it will.”
Every head turned toward him.
“As a representative of the Lycan King’s court, I have the authority to intervene in pack matters when I believe laws have been violated.” He looked at Jaime with something like disappointment. “And staging an attack to manipulate your Luna into a separation? That violates about six different pack laws.”
“You can’t—”
“I can. And I am.” Bardon turned to me. “Luna Arya, do you still wish to separate from Alpha Jaime?”
“Yes.” I replied with no hesitation. “Absolutely yes.”
“Then I’m granting you immediate sanctuary under Lycan Law. The separation will be processed through the High Court, not this council.” He looked around the room. “Where it truly will be fair.”
Relief flooded through me so intensely I almost couldn’t breathe.
“This is outrageous,” Elira sputtered. “You can’t just—”
“I can. I have.” the looks Bardon’s shoots her make petty satisfaction lift the corners of my lips. “And if you interfere further, Miss Elira, I’ll have you arrested for conspiracy to harm a pack Luna.” His voice was steel. “Which, in case you’re wondering, is a capital offense.”
Elira’s mouth snapped shut.
Bardon extended his hand to me. “Come, child. Let’s get you somewhere safe.”
I stood on shaking legs, hardly believing this was real.
“She’s not going anywhere,” Jaime said, but there was desperation in his voice now. “She’s my wife. She belongs to this pack.”
“She belongs to herself,” Bardon corrected. “Something you should have remembered.”
I walked past Jaime without looking at him. Then past Elira, whose face was twisted with fury. The council members who’d been so ready to tear me apart looked meek and unsure now.
At the door, I paused and turned back. I had one last thing to say.
“For what it’s worth, Jaime, I really did love you once. Or at least, I loved who I thought you could be.” My voice was steady now, calmer than I would have thought possible when the sight of Elira’s hand on his shoulder make something in me burn. “I hope Elira gives you everything you wanted. You deserve each other.”
Then I walked out with Councilman Bardon, leaving my old life behind.