Strays

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.