ENLIGHTENMENT

I spent the rest of the day working on pack security and setting up meetings. There are a few alphas wanting an alliance with us. Kosta and I have become quite the power couple in the werewolf society. Since we took over as Alpha and Luna, the pack and the businesses have grown tremendously. I put my heart and soul into making our pack the best. I got an early start. I graduated from high school when I was 16 and went to university. I graduated with a business degree at 20. Kosta has let me take the lead in our businesses. He knows that beast at negotiation and a whiz at growing businesses. I have acquired several new companies since working in the pack’s business. Kosta is still the CEO, but I am the COO of the company. I broker the deals and then call Kosta in to close the deal. Most alphas in our circle are jealous of Kosta because he has me at his side. Kosta used to be proud of me and the things I do for the pack, but lately, he has been a little resistant to the changes I have been making and is trying to pull more and more of the daily operations of the business from me. He can’t take it all because I am the sole financial backing of the pack and the businesses.

I am known in werewolf society as a child prodigy but don’t get it twisted. I am not all brains. I can be very deadly when needed. I train every day. I am one of the strongest wolves alive, although I keep that hidden. I can be ruthless, but fair. I know that I am the total package. I am athletic, tall with curves in the right places. I’ve never been one to compete with other she-wolves. I thought I was happy and had a good life. I thought Khalis was happy. We used to talk about finding our fated mates. I just can’t understand how or why Khalis would try to come between me and my mate. As much as I would like to believe that my bond was safe and solid, Sapphire is right about Kosta acting suspiciously lately. Kosta has been questioning me a lot lately. It’s like he woke up a different person one day. He suddenly lost trust in me, but I have never given him a reason to doubt me. I have found him outside of my door listening to business phone calls, which is crazy because he could just walk in at any time and join the conversation. I have never hidden anything I was doing from him. The worst thing is that our sex life is now nonexistent. Kosta is always too busy or too tired. He has been acting like he is not attracted to me anymore. He had the nerve to ask me why I had been trying so hard to seduce him lately. Like he didn’t just stop making love to me cold turkey all of a sudden. We went from making love every day, sometimes multiple times a day, to nothing in over a month. Seems like he should have been worried if I didn’t try to seduce him. I don’t know any mated pair that has gone this long without being intimate with each other. I don’t know what the issue is. If we were not marked, I would wonder if he was cheating, but I know he is not. I would have felt it. Why did all of this suddenly become so hard? Why do I even need to seduce my goddess-given mate? It was never supposed to be this way. At least not yet. I’m only 20 years old. Much too young to be going through a dry spell while mated.

I got so desperate at one time I asked our friends what was going on with him. Kosta tells his beta and gamma everything. I figured if there was a problem, they would tell me and I could fix it, but they just said that he was under a lot of stress. What exactly does he have to stress about? The pack is doing better than it has been in years. In half a year, the pack will be self-sufficient again and won’t need to depend on my finances to keep it afloat. I have everything set in motion for the pack to have more disposable cash and residual income. I have a feeling this has Khalis written all over it. It looks like she has already gotten a foothold in place, and Kosta is falling in line. Maybe this was their plan all along. Kosta needed me to get his pack back on track and now that they are almost completely independent, they don’t need me anymore. If that’s the case, they are in for a rude awakening. My 6-month plan depends on me closing several more deals. All of these deals are allies with my father, uncle, and grandfather. They will not work with Kosta if our bond falls apart. He would erase everything that I have done over the past three years. Well, that would be his problem.

I got so caught up in working and thinking; that I didn’t realize I worked up to dinner time. No one called me for lunch. In fact, no one called me for dinner. That is strange. Usually, one of the omegas would come to check on me when I was working too much and make sure that I ate. I guess everyone is following Kosta. Since he has not been showing me any care, they are not either. That really hurts. I sacrificed a lot for this pack. I thought they cared more than this for me. I should just go back to my room. I don’t know if I really want to be around this pack right now, especially if they could turn their backs on me this quickly. Were they all just using me for my family’s wealth?

“We need to eat Zell. Remember, we are eating for our pup as well. Don’t let them win. We are better than this. If they show us they don’t want us here, we will leave. Remember, we are alpha-born. We will rise above this. We will go back to where we are celebrated. If they turn against us, they don’t deserve us. We will sit back and let them destroy themselves.”

“You are right Sapphire. Let’s go eat. Our pup needs sustenance.”

I went and cleaned myself up and walked to the dining room. As soon as I walked through the door, all the talking stopped. The whole place went silent. As I walked all the way in, I saw why everyone went silent. Khalis was sitting in my seat, putting food on Kosta’s plate like she was the Luna. When she saw me, she just smirked and kept doing what she was doing. Kosta just kept eating like I was not standing there. Sapphire started pushing forward. She wanted blood. I did too, but I have to think about our pup.

“What the hell is going on, Kosta? Why is she sitting in my seat feeding you?” I growled.

“I meant no harm, Zell. You were busy, so I decided to take care of Kosta for you. Someone needs to care for him while you are caring for other things. “Khalis said.

“I was speaking to my mate, not his whore on the side.” I sneered.

“You were not here for your mate, so I have been taking care of his needs,” Khalis replied.

Sapphire pushed forward and growled loudly. Everyone in the room bowed their neck to her.

“I could kill you in less than 30 seconds, Khalis. I would advise you not to keep crossing my line and you will find yourself very dead. You obviously have forgotten who I am. Don’t make me remind you what my family name is,” Sapphire said.

I regained control and looked at Kosta. He didn’t even appear to be concerned. He didn’t show an ounce of regret or remorse. That actually took a little of the fight out of me. Khalis can only do what Kosta allows her to do.

“Kosta, I asked you a question. What the hell is going on?” I said.

“Like Khalis said, you were busy, so she came to do your job for you. If you spent more time catering to me, your mate, and less time working or whatever you are doing, Khalis wouldn’t have to step in and take care of my needs.” Kosta said.

I and every pack member gasped. I could not believe he openly disrespected me like that after everything I had done for him and this pack. I did all of that for him. This ungrateful ass.

“So now I’m working too much, making your pack financially secure? You were not complaining when the pack was bankrupted and I worked day and night just so you could feed the pack another day. Was I working too hard then? It’s only now that you think the pack is out of the woods that I am working too hard. Now that everyone is comfortable and not at risk of starving, you want to change. Ok, I see who you are now. So instead of appreciating the sacrifices I made for us and the pack, you are sitting here with your whore, enjoying the feast that my hard work made possible. I’m glad I finally understand where your priorities lie. Trust me, I will never make the same mistake twice.” I said a started to walk away.

I need to get out of here before I wolf out and kill one of them. After tonight, Khalis can have him. He is not the male I thought he was. I refuse to fight for someone who can spit on all the effort I put into making him great.

“Don’t walk away from me Zell,” Kosta yelled.

“Why not? You don’t need me. You have Khalis here to take care of all your needs. She is welcome to you. I hope you all will be very happy together. As for me, I’m done. Good luck to you and this pack. I hope you can handle the fallout for you and your whore’s actions.” I said and kept walking.

“Mind how you talk to me, Zell. I may be your mate, but I am still the alpha. As a matter of fact, as of right now, I am stripping you of all of your Luna privileges.” Kosta yelled.

“Alpha, what are you doing?” Beta James asked.

“Mind your business Beta. This is my pack.” Kosta says.

“Yes, and as your beta and friend, it is my job to tell you when you are making a mistake. Alpha, you are dangerously close to crossing the line of no return. Let’s all calm down and discuss this later.” Beta James said.

“Beta, my word stands. Zell, until you learn to respect me as your alpha, you can forget about representing this pack in any aspect. I will be instructing the security team to restrict all of your access. You are no longer the COO of our businesses. As of now, you are just a regular pact member with no power.” Kosta said with a smirk.

“First of all Alpha.” I spat. “Respect is earned. While you are trying to throw your weight around, you can have the Luna title back. I no longer want it. As far as the business, have you forgotten that I own 51% of every business we have? I also provide 60% of the pack budget from my personal accounts. So while you can restrict my duties as Luna, you cannot touch the business, but I’ll do you a solid. You can buy me out of the business and I will withdraw all of my personal finances from the pack.” I said, smiling.

I can see that he had forgotten how dependent his pack was on me, but oh well. He made his bed. Now he and his whore can lie in it.

“Oh, and Alpha, if you try to strong-arm me, I will have to call in the full loan that I gave this pack when we mated. Remember, we signed a contract for the loan. You have only paid me a small portion of the loan and I have not pushed the issue because we were happily mated, but the contract is legal and binding. Don’t push me, Kosta. You, of all people, know how ruthless I can be if pushed.” I said calmly.

I walked off again and made it as far as the stairs. I realized that I could not stay in my current room anymore. There is no way on this goddess-green earth that I want to be in a room with Kosta. Not that he has really shared it with me lately. Now I know why. Khalis has been feeding him and he has been eating it up. They both miscalculated. They thought I would be leaving here with nothing. The jokes on them. I may have been in love, but there is no love in business. I may have put my all into saving this pack and making it independently wealthy, but my parents did not raise a fool and I protected my finances. I invested millions in this company and pack. Did he really think I would protect my money? Does he not remember the prenup my father made him sign since I was a minor when he brought me to this pack? He never gained control over my finances.

Khalis just showed her hand. After what I just saw, she has a right to be confident. Kosta has completely changed. He is not the man that I mated. He is not the boy that I followed around when I was younger. I don’t know what happened or when he changed. Maybe this is who he really is and, like with Khalis, I just never saw his true self. He must have hidden it from my father and brother as well. There is no way they would have let me come here when I was 17 if they knew this was how he would end up treating me. I can see now that it is over between Kosta and me. I need to start planning my exit. I pulled up my computer and moved all of my finances from the pack accounts. I closed all the joint accounts I had with Kosta. Most of them were financed with my money. I left the ones that he financed in his name. I don’t want anything from him at all. After I handle business, I call my brother. I will need his help to leave here safely. Now that Kosta knows that all the money is still tied up with me, I doubt he will let me leave easily. I’m sure he and the whore are plotting up something.