A Broken Butterfly
His Discarded Luna, the Rival's Obsession
"No wolf. No family. Harmless. Useful. The second I am done with her, the Luna title is yours." Eira Crawford heard those words through her husband's office door. For four years, she had been Sebastian Vale's hidden mate. She managed his household, entertained his relatives, cleaned up his messes, and lived on the three thousand dollars he gave her each month like charity. Even buying a new coat required an explanation. But for his first love, he casually prepared three hundred thousand dollars in research funding. To Sebastian, Eira was nothing more than a wolfless Omega from an orphanage. A quiet, obedient wife with no pack, no power, and no value beyond being useful. He had never introduced her publicly as his Luna. His family treated her like a servant. His sweetheart mocked her as a woman who could only survive by clinging to an Alpha. So Eira stopped crying. She recorded the affair, filed for mate dissolution, and placed the divorce papers in front of Sebastian. Even then, he thought she was throwing a tantrum. He signed without hesitation, certain she would come crawling back once she realized no one else would want a discarded, wolfless Omega. He was wrong. The woman he left at home washing dishes was a Stanford-trained electrical engineer. The "useless" wife he ignored was the hidden chief engineer behind a national self-developed chip project. Her movements were classified. Her disappearance could alert the federal authorities. Her name, once revealed, was enough to shake the entire scientific community. And Sebastian knew nothing. After walking out of his house with nothing but her freedom, Eira crossed paths with Killian Sterling, the coldest and most powerful Alpha in the north. He did not know her name yet, but his wolf recognized something in her that everyone else had missed. Meanwhile, Sebastian finally realized that Eira was not bluffing. He searched the entire city like a madman. For the first time in four years, he publicly called her his wife. He demanded she return. He begged for another chance. But by then, Eira was no longer waiting in his house. She was seated at the Sterling Pack's dinner table, dressed with quiet confidence, while the most feared Alpha in North America stood beside her. In front of everyone, Killian Sterling placed his hand at her back and said coldly, "Eira is not anyone's discarded Omega." "She is my Luna."
Chapter 1 Serpent's Coil
The main screen flashed green.
SUCCESS
For one stunned second, the clean room went silent.
Then the lab exploded.
"We got it!"
Cheers broke out across the room. Someone slapped Eira on the shoulder as Professor Davies pushed through the crowd and pulled her into a quick hug.
"Eira, look at those numbers. This is huge. We just changed the game."
A researcher behind him let out a low whistle. "National pride, military contracts, and enough money to make half the country lose its mind. Not bad for one night, Dr. Crawford."
Davies leaned closer so she could hear him over the noise.
"Your husband is Alpha Sebastian Hale, right?"
Eira nodded.
"This could give Hale Pack a serious edge," he said. "If they get access before the other Packs, they'll leave everyone else in the dust."
His words hit harder than she expected.
She pictured Sebastian opening the certification report. His face would go still first. Then his eyes would sharpen. Maybe, just maybe, he would look at her with something close to respect.
She had wanted that look for four years.
"I'll tell him tonight," Eira said.
Davies grinned. "Good. Let him see what you've been up to."
Eira smiled, but her fingers tightened around the folder.
[No, ]she thought.
[I'm giving him the biggest advantage of his life because I'm his wife.]
She cleared three security checkpoints, changed out of her clean-room suit, and collected the final certification documents.
Her name was printed across the first page.
Dr. Eira Crawford.
She ran her thumb over the title.
This time, no one could call her useless. No one could brush her off as a wolfless omega. No one could say she had nothing to offer an Alpha.
She had built something powerful enough to make entire Packs fight for access.
And tonight, she was going to put it in Sebastian Hale's hands.
--
The VIP elevator took her straight to the top floor of Hale Tower an hour later. Alpha Sebastian used the private suite for late business meetings, and sometimes he slept there when he claimed Hale Group's work ran too late. Eira had brought him dinner there more times than she could count.
This time she brought him a future.
She stepped out of the elevator with the folder held against her chest. The hallway was quiet, thick with expensive carpet and soft yellow wall lights. She was twenty feet from his office when her steps slowed.
Her nose knew before her mind did.
Cedar. Sharp, familiar, warm in the way only Alpha Sebastian's scent could be. It was the scent she had fallen asleep beside for four years, even when his side of the bed stayed cold too long.
But under it was something else.
Sweet. Floral. Not hers.
Eira stopped.
The office door was not fully closed. A thin line of light spilled through the gap, and with it came the mixed scents of two people standing too close.
Then Alpha Sebastian spoke.
"Serena, you know I've always loved you. She means nothing."
The folder slipped slightly in Eira's grip. She caught it before it fell.
Serena's voice came next, soft and wet around the edges, but there was a thin blade of amusement underneath. "If you love me, why did you let that Omega orphan become your Luna? Why didn't you come after me when I left?"
Alpha Sebastian gave a low laugh. Eira knew that laugh. He used it when he wanted someone to feel foolish for doubting him. "You're jealous?"
"Shouldn't I be?" Serena asked.
"I chose her because you left," Alpha Sebastian said. His voice softened, but the softness made it worse. "I needed a Luna. The elders wanted the position filled, and Eira was harmless. No family. No wolf. No one to challenge me."
Harmless.
Eira stood outside the door, unable to breathe.
Serena made a small sound of disgust. "And now?"
"Now she's useful." Alpha Sebastian sounded almost bored. "She runs the house, handles Pack accounts, keeps my mother from turning every dinner into a war. Why would I throw away a tool that still works?"
The word sank into Eira slowly.
Tool.
Not wife. Not Luna. Not partner.
Tool.
Serena was silent for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice had lost its tears. "I don't want to stay hidden forever."
"You won't." Fabric shifted inside the room. "When the time is right, the Luna position will be yours."
"And the heir?"
Alpha Sebastian's answer came without hesitation. "My heir will only come from you."
Eira closed her eyes.
For four years, Alpha Sebastian had avoided touching her. He told her she was young. He told her the silver poisoning he suffered years ago might still affect his body. He said he did not want to hurt her. She had believed him because she wanted to believe there was kindness inside the distance. She had thought he respected her. She had thought patience was love wearing a quiet face.
No.
The truth was simple.
She was not Serena.
Through the crack in the door, she saw Alpha Sebastian lower his head to Serena's neck. His nose brushed her skin, and his expression changed in a way Eira had never seen directed at her. Desire made his proud face almost drunk.
"I missed you," he murmured. "Your scent. Your voice."
Serena leaned into him. "Then divorce her."
"Not yet."
"Why?"
Alpha Sebastian's tone cooled, turning into the voice he used in board meetings. "Because she still serves a purpose. Give her a little attention, and she'll do anything for this family. Don't touch the tool before I'm done using it."
Eira's fingers tightened around the folder until the edge bent.
Inside it was a certification that could have changed Hale Pack's future. She had imagined placing it on Alpha Sebastian's desk and watching pride finally dawn in his eyes. She had imagined him saying her name like it mattered.
Instead, she heard the truth.
For a moment, pain emptied her completely. Then something colder moved in.
She took out her phone with steady hands and pressed record. The screen captured the gap in the door, the angle of Alpha Sebastian's face, Serena's hands on his shirt, the kiss that followed, the way he whispered her name like a vow. Eira recorded until her soul felt far away from her body. Five minutes. Enough for any lawyer. Enough for any Council hearing. Enough for any fool who later tried to call her dramatic.
Then she stopped the recording.
She walked back to the elevator without making a sound. The doors closed around her, cutting off cedar and flowers at last.
In the polished steel, her reflection looked calm.
So calm it felt like a stranger was staring back.
***
Outside Hale Tower, the cold air hit Eira's face. She did not cry. Tears felt too small for what had happened.
She called the legal division of the National Research Institute. Susan answered on the third ring.
"Dr. Crawford?"
"I need a formal mate separation agreement. I have proof of my mate's affair. I want the bond ended and my name removed from all Hale Pack records as soon as possible."
"Standard filing or protected status?"
"Full protection. Highest level. Sebastian must not learn about my security clearance."
Susan paused. "That process will cost you."
"I don't care how much it costs." Eira looked up at Hale Tower. "Get his signature before he figures out what he's losing."
She ended the call and walked away without looking back.
Butterfly
When she walked into my office, she took my breath away; she was the definition of beauty. Flowing red hair and eyes the colour of emeralds. I had to make her mine. The talented designer was hiding something though I could see the fear in her eyes. When her past catches up with her, and I almost los
His Butterfly
They said nobody without mafia blood could enter Blackthorn Academy.** They were wrong. Elena was supposed to be nobody. A poor girl with a quiet life, a cheerful best friend, and no connection to the dangerous world that ruled Blackthorn Academy. Until a mysterious scholarship changes everythin
A Butterfly on the Wheel
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 edition. Excerpt: ...what have I done to you?\" \"George, I did lie,\" she wailed--\"yes, I did
The Butterfly Effect
Josephine Jackson managed to reinvent herself after a failed loveless marriage. She has everything Beauty, Brain and Body. The only thing that's missing is LOVE. Alex Montgomery is a handsome successful lawyer who doesn't believe in relationships. He is the one night stand type. What happens when
A Broken Heart's Awakening
At 25, Evelyn Carter was known as the luckiest woman in all of the city of Beaumont. Victor Blake, the aristocratic heir to Beaumont's most influential family fell in love with her at first sight, marrying her despite her leg disability, and pledged unwavering loyalty. Yet, when Evelyn entrust
A BROKEN MARRIAGE
Bella Aryani is an elegant woman who is very good at cooking. He is his mother-in-law's favorite. This woman who always wears a rectangular headscarf is very cute with thin lips and a sharp chin. Her white face and clean skin on her hands made Bella warm the hearts of everyone who saw her. But no
The Silver Butterfly
Hayden was back in New York again after several years spent in the uttermost parts of the earth. He had been building railroads in South America, Africa, and China, and had maintained so many lodges in this or that wilderness that he really feared he might be curiously awkward in adapting himself to
Requiem of A Broken Heart
Rachel used to think that her devotion would win Brian over one day, but she was proven wrong when his true love returned. Rachel had endured it all-from standing alone at the altar to dragging herself to the hospital for an emergency treatment. Everyone thought she was crazy to give up so much of
BROKEN
"I hate love"!!I screamed as tears streamed down my face and my voice echoed back. "I looked around me waiting to see if anyone was going to pass by. I looked back into the depths of the sea and I became so anxious as I held her out about to throw her in it....." "She had practically broken me, s
Data of a Broken Heart
The kiss was cold. Not just the late hour, but his eyes, fixated on a spiking graph over my shoulder, measuring my every breath. "Perfect," Ethan murmured, pulling away. "The oxytocin response was exactly as predicted." He wasn' t talking to me. Our kiss, a desperate attempt to reconnect, was just
Broken Vows, A Scientist's Revenge
My husband, a powerful tech mogul, stole my sister' s posthumous research award. He gave it to his young protégé. The same woman who killed my sister. He didn't just steal her legacy. He threatened to destroy my lab and my life's work-the cure for the very cancer that took our family-if I didn't pu
The Butterfly Effect of Ava
The afternoon sun warmed my art studio, a sanctuary I' d built for myself, far from my chaotic family. Life was good, my canvas humming with color, ready for final touches. Then, the phone rang, a cold dread seizing me as Leo' s name flashed across the screen. He demanded money, as always, his v
Broken Vows - A Mafia Romance
She's my fake wife, my property... and my last chance at redemption. She's beautiful. An angel. I'm dangerous. A killer. She's my fake bride for a single reason – so I can crush her father's resistance. But marrying Eve brings me far more than I bargained for. She's fiery. Feisty. Won't take no for
Drawn Blood, A Broken Promise
After six years of failed fertility treatments, my fiancé Blake and I were finally expecting our miracle child. Our shared dream, the one that had held us together through years of heartache, was finally coming true. But then I discovered he was faking amnesia to cheat on me. Heartbroken, I went
Echoes of a Broken Vow
Kathleen was diagnosed with liver cancer and needed a transplant. To her shock, she discovered that her husband of five years, Joshua, not only intended to give the liver to someone else but also had a mistress and an illegitimate child outside their marriage. Upon learning the truth, Kathleen wa
Broken Vows: A Billionaire's Secret
Zyliah Smith had it all, until betrayal shattered her world. A scandal, a one-night stand, and a secret she never saw coming. Now, six years later, she's back with twin sons and a new name, ready to bury the past. But fate isn't finished with her yet. When the man from that long-forgotten night rea
Echoes of a broken past
Anna Harriet, the only daughter of Shaun Bordman Harriet, had been struggling to fend for herself since the deaths of her father and grandmother. They had been her world, her foundation, and now, without them, she felt untethered. "I'm not doing that. Never," Anna said firmly, lying on her bed.
