By the time Naomi finished her work, the healer’s quarters had grown quiet. The assistants had put away the instruments, the last patient had left, and Healer Evelyn was checking the following day’s appointments.
Naomi signed the final record and returned the folder to its shelf.
"You can leave the remaining supply requests for tomorrow, Madam," Healer Evelyn said. "You have done enough for today."
"I only have one more thing to check."
"You said that half an hour ago."
Naomi glanced at her, and Healer Evelyn gave her a knowing look.
"I’ll finish it tomorrow," Naomi conceded.
"Good. You should go home and rest."
Naomi collected her bag. The word home had once brought a complicated mixture of comfort and disappointment. These days, it mostly reminded her of a place where she had spent four years trying to make herself wanted.
She left the medical building and walked toward the pack house.
The sky was darkening, and lights flickered on along the paths. Several pack members greeted her as she passed. One of the younger warriors stepped aside to let her through a narrow entrance, addressing her respectfully as Madam.
The greeting still felt unfamiliar. The council had affirmed her position that morning, and people were already adjusting to the decision. Naomi knew their attitudes might change now that Alpha Kaidan had spoken, but she had no intention of measuring her worth by how warmly they treated her.
She had earned her place through her work long before the council meeting.
When she entered the pack house, Grace approached from the direction of the dining room.
"Madam, would you like me to prepare something for you?"
"Has dinner been served?"
"Not yet. Alpha Kaidan asked that it be kept until you returned."
Naomi paused briefly. "He is waiting?"
"Yes, Madam."
"Thank you, Grace. I’ll go upstairs first."
Grace nodded and stepped aside. Naomi went to her room, changed out of her work clothes, and washed away the day’s exhaustion. She considered eating upstairs and avoiding the conversation altogether. Nothing she had to say to Alpha Kaidan could not wait.
But she had already told him she would eat when she returned. She had not promised to avoid him, either.
She went downstairs.
Alpha Kaidan was seated at the dining table when she entered. He had changed from his formal clothes into a dark shirt and trousers, and a folder lay beside his plate. He looked up as she approached.
"You’re back."
"I said I would return."
His gaze rested on her for a moment before he gestured toward the chair opposite him.
"Sit. Dinner is ready."
Naomi took her seat. Grace brought the final dishes and quietly withdrew, leaving them alone.
For several minutes, they ate without speaking.
Alpha Kaidan appeared to be considering how to begin, while Naomi concentrated on her meal. She was hungry. She wanted no part of another exhausting discussion about their marriage. Eventually, he set down his cutlery.
"I want to talk about what happened this morning."
Naomi swallowed before answering. "What about it?"
"The council challenged your position. I should have dealt with the possibility before it reached that point."
"Yes, you should have."
He accepted the response without argument. "I allowed the situation with Serena to affect decisions that concerned you. I should never have permitted that to happen."
Naomi looked at him. "You didn’t merely allow it, Alpha Kaidan. You made choices that left me vulnerable to it."
"I know."
"Do you?" She placed her fork beside her plate
"Because you keep speaking as though the problem began when Serena returned. It didn’t. She came back to a marriage that was already broken. She didn’t create the distance between us. She only made it impossible for me to keep pretending I could live with it."
Alpha Kaidan remained silent.
"I spent four years trying to fulfil my part of our agreement," Naomi continued. "I studied, graduated, and qualified as a healer. I kept believing that once I achieved something for myself, I would finally have the freedom to decide what happened next. Then I asked you for a divorce, and you reminded me that the contract had no end date."
His fingers curled slightly against the table. "I remember."
"You refused to release me because you believed you had the right to decide when our marriage ended. This morning, you told the council you intended to keep me as your wife and Luna. I heard you. But you need to understand that those are two very different things."
"What do you want me to do?"
The question came quickly, almost as though he had been waiting for her to provide a list of tasks he could complete.
Naomi studied him. "I don’t want to have to teach you how to treat me, Alpha Kaidan."
He drew a breath but did not interrupt.
"I don’t want to explain every time that I deserve to be considered. I don’t want to ask you to remember that I have a life outside this marriage, or convince you that my work matters. And I don’t want you to do these things because you are afraid I will leave."
"What if I am afraid you will leave?"
"That fear is yours to deal with. It cannot become another responsibility for me."
Her answer left him with nothing immediate to say.
Naomi picked up her fork again, but Alpha Kaidan had lost his appetite. He looked at the woman across from him and understood that she was not asking him to make another declaration. A single morning’s decision could not repair the years he had taken for granted.
"I won’t ask you to trust me because of what I said today," he told her.
"Good."
"I know I have to prove it."
Naomi met his eyes. "Then prove it."
She returned to her meal, and he did the same. The conversation had not brought them closer. But it had made one thing clear: Naomi would no longer make his intentions look better than his actions.
When dinner ended, she thanked Grace for the food and left the dining room.
Alpha Kaidan remained at the table for a while. He had wanted the evening to be a beginning. But he was starting to understand that Naomi would not call it one just because he wished it.
For now, she had eaten dinner with him. Nothing more had been promised. And he would have to learn to respect that.
The following morning, Serena arrived at Christine’s sitting room earlier than usual.
Christine was reading a letter when Serena entered. She looked up, surprised by the early visit.
"Is something wrong?"
"I need to know what happens next."
Christine placed the letter on the table. "What do you mean?"
"Alpha Kaidan has made his decision. He has told the council that Naomi will remain Luna, and he has made it clear that my presence does not give me any claim over his marriage." Serena paused. "I cannot continue as though nothing has changed."
Christine regarded her carefully. "You should not have expected him to change his mind overnight."
"I didn’t expect him to do it overnight. I expected him to remember what we had before he made a decision that settled everything in Naomi’s favour."
"He remembers."
"Then he has chosen to disregard it."
Christine’s expression tightened at the bluntness.
"You need to be careful, Serena. Kaidan has made it clear that he will not tolerate further challenges to Naomi’s position."
"I’m not planning to challenge her in front of the council again."
"See that you don’t."
Serena lowered her eyes for a moment. She had hoped Christine would offer a more useful answer, but her support had limits too. Christine wanted Naomi removed as Luna, but she would not risk her relationship with her son by openly defying him.
Serena needed to know whether Blackclaw could still offer what she had come for. Without Alpha Kaidan’s support, her position was uncertain, and the people from her former pack had not forgotten the circumstances that led to her exile.
She had returned to Blackclaw because she believed Alpha Kaidan’s guilt would make him receptive to her needs. She had expected his old feelings to give her influence, and for a time, he had let her believe they might.
Now she had to consider what would happen if that influence disappeared altogether.
"Does he intend to send me away?" she asked.
Christine’s expression softened slightly. "He has not said that."
"But he has not offered me anything either."
"Give him time to settle the matter with Naomi."
Serena almost laughed at the suggestion. Time was precisely what she could no longer afford to waste.
Still, she nodded. "I understand."
Christine reached for her letter again, apparently satisfied that the conversation had ended. Serena rose and left the room without another word.
In the corridor, she stopped beside a window overlooking the grounds. Below, several members of the pack were crossing the courtyard, carrying on with their morning as though the previous day’s decision had settled everything.
Serena watched them for a moment.
Alpha Kaidan had chosen Naomi, and the pack would follow his lead. If Serena wanted to remain under Blackclaw’s protection, she would have to face the fact that the influence she once held over him was no longer enough.
She turned away from the window and continued down the corridor.
She had not come back to Blackclaw to accept an uncertain future. But before she could decide what to do next, she needed to understand how much time she had left—and whether Alpha Kaidan’s decision had closed the only door she had expected to find open.
Later that morning, Alpha Kaidan reviewed the reports John had brought to his office. Most concerned ordinary pack administration: patrol schedules, supply requests, and arrangements for the coming week.
He worked through them without difficulty until he reached a request for approval involving the outer training grounds. A section of the grounds had been reserved for a scheduled exercise, and the responsible officer needed confirmation before finalising the arrangements.
Alpha Kaidan signed the document and passed it back to John. "Make sure the schedule is circulated today."
"Yes, Sir."
John collected the approved papers but remained beside the desk.
"Is there something else?" Alpha Kaidan asked.
"Several members of the household have been asking whether Luna’s responsibilities will change following yesterday’s meeting."
Alpha Kaidan’s expression became serious. "Why?"
"Because the council discussed her position publicly, Sir. Some people are uncertain about what the decision means for the administration."
"Then tell them there is nothing uncertain about it. Naomi remains Luna. Any responsibilities attached to her position remain hers unless she decides otherwise or we discuss a change together."
John nodded. "I’ll make that clear."
"And if anyone has a concern about her ability to fulfil those responsibilities, they can bring it to me directly. I won’t have people using yesterday’s meeting as permission to undermine her."
"Understood, Sir."
John left with the documents. Alpha Kaidan turned back to his work, but the conversation stayed with him. He had spent years treating Naomi’s place in the pack as a consequence of their contract rather than a position that required his active support. Even after marrying her, he had allowed others to question her standing whenever it suited him to avoid taking a side. That could not continue.
He would not ask Naomi to be grateful for the respect she should have received from the beginning. Nor would he expect her to stand beside him simply because he had finally stood beside her.
For the first time, Alpha Kaidan understood that choosing Naomi was not a single decision made before the council. It was a responsibility he would have to honour in the ordinary moments that followed.
And those moments, unlike the council meeting, would not have an audience to impress.