Chapter 119: Villain Mode Activated

Tessa’s POV

My infidelity had taken over me. It swallowed me whole ... and I hadn’t even noticed the moment it became who I was.

I kept fucking Kael. Kael the Beta. I had forced him into all of it. He hadn’t wanted any part of it, and now we had gone so far under Lucian’s nose that there was no turning back.

I couldn’t get pregnant, so we might as well have kept going. Lucian wasn’t going to find out a thing.

I snuck out late every night ... around eleven ... to go to Kael’s room. I always pulled a hoodie over myself. No one saw me. No one was supposed to.

But they say nothing stays hidden under the sun. If I got caught, I wasn’t ready to bear the consequences of that.

Whether I was the thief or the owner, every day of that season belonged to me.

Lucian was still my puppet.

We released the third batch of names ... lady wolves selected for special employment. All made possible by my husband the Alpha.

Anytime I wanted sex, I called on him ... even in the dead of night ... and he always responded, no matter how exhausted he was. He found the energy every single time. I knew that if people ever found out what I was doing to my husband, they would call me wicked. Until they heard what he had done to me in the time before. Then we would see who was truly more wicked.

Now we had a new case on our hands. A wolf had been killed. His alleged associates and the culprits behind it were still unidentified, even though the people they had been holding captive were released. I still wanted to know who had done it ... and just how smart that person was to pull off something like that.

"Lucian, we need to find whoever killed those wolves," I said to him. It wasn’t the first time I had brought it up.

"We’re handling it at the council. Don’t concern yourself with it," he said. The same answer, every time.

Why was he trying to cut me out? Who was he hiding? Who was he protecting? It was becoming painfully obvious he didn’t want me involved, and for me, curiosity was like a drug. I was determined to see it through to the end.

There was no footage from that night. Whoever did it had done so deliberately behind every camera. Even the new-age surveillance couldn’t expose them.

So I started my own investigation.

Every time I slipped out at night to see Kael, I noticed that someone else in the chambers had also gone out. It was always the same person.

Selene.

Where was she going? And how had she been doing this right under our noses this whole time?

I thought I had my answer. The only thing missing was proof ... and a clear motive. But it was her. The midnight walks said everything. I was going to give her a reason to be executed. I would have loved nothing more.

Because I hated her. That was all. I hated her more than any person should hate their worst enemy.

I went straight to Lucian ... Kael’s cum still wet between my thighs.

"I know who did it," I said.

I was still trying to understand how Lucian hadn’t figured out what I was doing. He wasn’t a stupid man. But maybe love had made him stupid for me, and I was more than happy to benefit from it.

"Did what, Tessa?" he asked.

"It was Selene. She was the one who killed those wolves. She may have had help, but she’s the real culprit."

"What the hell ... how do you know that? You can’t just go around accusing people like that," he said.

"Lucian, are you fucking Selene behind my back?"

"I’m with you every day. How could you even say that?" he replied.

"Then why do you keep defending her? She’s a criminal. She deserves to be brought in."

"Selene wouldn’t do something like that. She’s been wrongfully accused before ... more than once. Give her some slack," Lucian said.

We went back and forth, and he refused to budge. He was not going to let me arrest Selene.

"I’ll fucking expose you," I threatened.

"You want to expose your own husband? Go ahead. But you will not arrest Selene, and that is the command of your Alpha," he said.

He meant every word of it. He was willing to go down for her ... for Selene’s sake. That got under my skin in a way nothing else could.

Fuck everything else. I was going to burn it all down.

After all these years, Lucian still didn’t understand the nature of my love. It always won in the end. It always would.

"Watch me burn this shit down, Lucian," I said. "You think you can have it your way all the time? Fine ... if I can’t arrest Selene, I’ll arrest her accomplices."

Since he’d decided Selene was untouchable ... their precious little dietary supervisor ... I didn’t give a damn about her friends.

I ordered the arrest of all the breeders in their chambers. Their time was up. They had been living here, occupying space, and giving nothing back. All fifteen of them ... fifteen, because Selene would have made sixteen, and Selene was off-limits.

I brought them before the council to receive swift judgment. Lucian wasn’t there. He was wise to have stayed away. Any interference from him and I would have exposed every truth I was sitting on.

"I’m sure you know why you’re here," I said to them.

Some were crying. Others looked stunned, like they hadn’t been able to process it yet.

"Please, Luna ... whatever this is, it’s a misunderstanding, please..." one of them started.

"A wolf and his companions were murdered in cold blood," I said. "You breeders are credible suspects."

They all started speaking at once. The noise filled the hall until I couldn’t make out a single word.

"Shut the fuck up," I said.

Silence.

I let my eyes move across the room and settled on Valerie, Nora, and Brynn. They weren’t crying. They weren’t begging. They just stood there, still and composed, like they thought dignity was going to save them.

I remembered Lucian bringing them into his chambers. Remembered what they were there for. Well ... there was no more of that. Just judgment.

I had them brought forward.

"You three were the main event, weren’t you?" I said.

They said nothing.

"Lock these three in a special cell," I told the guards. "The rest go into the general cell. The suffering starts now ... right before the end."

The guards moved to cuff them when Selene burst into the hall, breathless.

"What is happening?" she demanded, still catching her breath.

"Your sisters are criminals," I said. "Cold-blooded murderers."

"That’s not possible. Luna, I’m demanding a proper investigation before any judgment is passed. I will not allow this to happen."

Like she had power over me. Let her try to stop me. And when she did, Lucian was going to have to explain to everyone exactly what he had been protecting ... what made a common breeder bold enough to stand in her Luna’s court and make demands.

They were going to find out who their Luna was.