Rejected Luna Returns with Secret Twins (Lysandra) novel Chapter 70

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Chapter 70

Tristan’s POV

I snatched the photos off the coffee table, each one feeling like a burn against my fingertips. There she was–embracing another fucking Alpha. Alaric Ravencroft. One of his arms wrapped possessively around her waist while his lips pressed against the top of her head.

My teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached. The next photo showed Lysandra leading him into her hotel, that smile on her face–relaxed, genuine, unguarded. A smile I’d never seen during our marriage.

“Where did you get these?” I kept my voice dangerously low.

Selene took a small step back, perhaps sensing the razor edge in my tone. “I–I have a friend who recognized her and took these pictures. They said Alpha Alaric called her baby. They seemed very… intimate.”

My wolf surged forward, claws raking against my consciousness. The ring of blood around my irises must have expanded because Selene’s breath caught, her eyes widening.

“When were these taken?” I demanded, the

“Last night.”

photos crumpling at the edges where my fingers dug in.

I turned my gaze fully on her. “And you waited a whole day to show me these pictures?”

“She only sent them to me an hour ago.” Selene’s voice trembled slightly. “She even said she overheard them talking about the Lunaris Essence. Lysandra asked Alpha Alaric if he brought that thing.”

The implication hit me like a bullet. So that’s how she got it. She’d been fucking the Moonshade

Alpha all along, using her body to secure the rare treatment. No wonder she’d been so confident

about helping my father.

Every muscle in my body went rigid. The thought of them together, of him touching her, marking her

My wolf’s roar nearly broke through. The lamp nearest me shattered, glass exploding outward. I

didn’t remember striking it.

Selene dropped to her knees instantly, head bowed, blonde hair spilling forward to hide her face. The classic submission posture of a lower–ranked wolf before an enraged Alpha.

“Please, don’t be angry with me,” she whispered, voice small and frightened. “I just thought you

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Chapter 70

should know.“.

I barely heard her. All I could see was Lysandra smiling up at another Alpha. After rejecting me, fighting me, acting like I disgusted her–she’d run straight to someone else’s bed. Someone with more power than her “fiancé” Beta.

My teeth ached with the need to elongate, to shift. The scent of Selene’s fear permeated the room, her shoulders visibly shaking now.

“Tristan, I’m sorry,” she murmured, still on her knees. “I just couldn’t bear to see you being manipulated by her.”

Her hand reached forward tentatively, fingers brushing my pant leg. The contact snapped me back to

reality.

“Get up,” I ordered.

Selene scrambled to her feet, relief washing over her face. She stepped closer, arms lifting as if to

embrace me.

I raised my hand, stopping her before she could make contact. “Go home. I don’t want to talk about anything right now.”

Hurt flashed across her features, but she quickly masked it. “Of course. Call me tomorrow?”

I didn’t answer, just turned away and walked to the liquor cabinet. The dismissal was clear. Behind me, I heard her soft footsteps, then the click of the door as she left.

Alone, I poured myself three fingers of bourbon and downed it in one swallow. The familiar burn did nothing to counteract the cold fury crystallizing in my chest.

Why the fuck should I care who Lysandra spent her time with? We’d gone through the rejection ceremony. Our official bond was severed. She wasn’t mine anymore.

Yet the image of another Alpha’s hands on her body made me want to tear something apart. Preferably Alaric Ravencroft’s fucking throat.

***

Twenty minutes later, I sat in my home office, phone pressed to my ear, voice deceptively calm.

“I want the security footage from last night,” I told the Black Stone Hotel manager. “All cameras covering the entrance, lobby, and fifth floor.”

“I’m sorry, Alpha Wolfbane, but hotel policy strictly prohibits-”

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“Do you understand who you’re speaking to?” I cut him off, letting my Alpha timbre bleed into my voice.

A pause, then a nervous swallow.

“Good.” I ended the call.

Of course, Alpha. I’ll have the footage sent immediately.”

My laptop pinged minutes later. The security team had worked quickly–multiple video files already delivered to my secure inbox. I clicked on the exterior camera feed first, setting the timestamp to match the photos.

The video quality was excellent. I could see every detail as Alpha Alaric’s car pulled up outside the hotel. Lysandra emerged from the entrance, her face lighting up when she spotted him. They

embraced exactly as the photos had shown.

But something was wrong. The embrace wasn’t sexual–it was… familiar. Comfortable. Like they’d done it a hundred times before.

Lysandra pulled back to look up at him, saying something I couldn’t hear. The genuine affection in her expression hit me unexpectedly. She looked at him with a warmth I’d never seen directed at me.

For one disorienting moment, I was thrown back in time–to the early days of our marriage, when she’d tried so hard to please me. How many times had she looked at me with hopeful eyes, waiting for approval that never came? How many smiles had I deliberately ignored, believing they were just part of her manipulation?

The back of my neck tingled, right at the spot where the mate bond had once pulsed. I shook my head violently, trying to dislodge the unwelcome memories.

I clicked to the interior lobby camera, watching as she led him toward the elevators. His hand rested on her lower back with casual possessiveness. The familiarity of the gesture made my blood boil. She leaned slightly into his touch, comfortable and trusting.

My finger hesitated over the next file–fifth–floor hallway camera. Did I really want to see this?

A low growl escaped my throat as I clicked play. The timestamp showed them exiting the elevator, still talking. She pulled out her key card, opened the door to her room, and they both went inside.

My hand contracted violently around the crystal tumbler I’d been holding. Glass crunched, shards embedding in my palm. Blood dripped onto the keyboard.

I slammed the laptop shut, breathing heavily through my nose.

Reaching for the phone again, I barked instructions to my intelligence team. “I need to know if Alpha Alaric Ravencroft has any connection to Eldreth Frostwhisper’s Lunaris Essence treatment.”

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Rejected Luna Returns with Secret Twins

Chapter 71