The Entire Pack Chose My Alpha’s First Love, So I Canceled the Luna Ceremony Chapter 07

The Entire Pack Chose My Alpha’s First Love, So I Canceled the Luna Ceremony Chapter 07

The studio was almost finished when the wind chime above the door jingled.

Joseph stood outside.

He’d lost weight. His stubble was unshaven. He was wearing the old hoodie I’d given him five years

ago.

“Madison, I finally found you.”

I looked at him coldly. “How did you find me?”

His eyes were bright, almost hopeful.

“Your sister gave me the address.”

I smiled bitterly and added another mark to Lyra’s tally in my head.

Joseph stepped inside and stopped.

“You’re really opening a studio here?”

In his mind, leaving Frostvale Pack and leaving him meant I should have nothing.

“Eight hundred a month. It’s small, but it’s enough.”

I kept my head down, editing a design. I didn’t offer him a seat.

He stood there for a long time before his voice came out, rough and low.

“Madison, I’ve cut things off with Aurora completely.”

“For real this time.”

I didn’t respond.

He rushed to explain.

“I mean it! She lied to me.”

“She said she waited eight years, but she got a boyfriend the second she went abroad.”

“She went through several after that. When she finally couldn’t make it work overseas, she came crawling back to me.”

He was talking faster and faster, desperate to make his case.

“Madison, I honestly didn’t know she’d done all those things.”

“After you left, I looked into it. She had planned to steal your project from the very beginning.”/

“She never had good intentions. Not from day one.”

He looked at me, eyes rimmed red.

“The Showcase, the dress, that was all her too. She checked the weather forecast ahead of time.’!

“Madison, I’ve already got the Pack lawyers going after her.”

“The project, your clearance, your reputation. I’ll get all of it back for you.”

“Can you please just give me one more chance?”

His voice was careful, almost fragile.

“There’s nobody standing in our way anymore!”

He threw that in quickly, afraid I’d say no.

I finally set down my pen.

“So you’re here now because you found out Aurora lied to you. Because you feel cheated.”

His mouth opened. Nothing came out.

I kept going. “What if she hadn’t lied?”

“What if she really had waited eight years? What if she genuinely just wanted to know what it felt like to be your Luna?”

“Would that have made it okay to steal my crown? To erase my name from my own work? To have me publicly humiliated and exposed in a Moonstorm?”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Then what do you mean?”

He went quiet again.

That silence was my answer.

If Aurora’s story had been true, he would have done every single thing exactly the same way.

Because in his world, I was always the one who would understand. Aurora was always the one who needed to be compensated.

Whether Aurora lied or not was never the point.

“Joseph, I have one last question.”

He looked up sharply, and something like hope flickered across his face.

“The day of the Moonstorm. When you told me to do the walk, did you genuinely think a little rain and losing control of my wolf was no big deal?”

“Or did you know something could go wrong, but you were certain I wouldn’t say no?”

The hope on his face froze solid.

After a long silence, he said quietly, “I thought you’d walk off stage on your own.”

I laughed.

“See? You’re always thinking.”

“But if I had walked off, you would have blamed me for ruining Aurora’s event.”

“And since I didn’t, you blamed me for not protecting myself.”

“Joseph, in fifteen years, you never once asked me if I was willing.”

The color drained from his face, inch by inch.

“I can change!”

“Madison, give me one more chance.”

“I kicked Aurora out. Come back to Frostvale. I’ll give you the Alpha seat if that’s what it takes.”

I picked up my pen and erased a crooked line.

“Too late.”

“Go.”

“And don’t bother remembering this address. I’m moving after the holidays.”

He didn’t move.

After a moment, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.

Inside was a Moon Ring.

He knelt in front of me and held it up.

“Madison, I’m proposing again.”

“This time there’s no ceremony. No guests. No one else.”

“Just me and you.”

I looked at the ring for three seconds.

I didn’t reach for it.

His hand slowly dropped.

I went back to my sketches, voice flat.

“Fifteen

night.”

years ago, you gave me a twenty-dollar silver ring. I was so happy I couldn’t sleep all

“This one’s too expensive. I don’t want it.”

“Because the man giving it isn’t worth it anymore.”

Joseph stood up slowly. He stood there for a very long time.

Then he turned and left.