Chapter 10
I was reviewing border patrol reports when Annalise knocked on my office door. The sound was so soft I almost missed it, but something about the hesitant quality made me look up from the papers scattered across my desk.
"Come in," I called.
She entered slowly, her eyes wide with what looked like fear. At seventeen, she'd grown more beautiful over the past few months, though she seemed thinner lately, more fragile. She wore a loose sweater that hung on her frame and jeans that looked too big for her small body.
"Marshall," she said quietly, closing the door behind her. "I need to talk to you about something important."
I leaned back in my chair, studying her pale face. "What's wrong? Are you sick? You've been missing a lot of meals lately."
"I'm not sick, exactly." She took a deep breath, her hands twisting together in front of her. "I'm pregnant."
For a moment, I couldn't process what she'd said. Pregnant. Annalise was pregnant.
"What did you say?" I asked, my voice deadly quiet.
"I'm pregnant," she repeated, her voice barely above a whisper. "About two months along."
The timeline crashed through my mind like ice water. Two months ago was February. The winter solstice festival. The night I'd drunk too much and woken up the next morning with fragmented memories and a satisfaction that suggested an excellent evening with Scarlett.
For a split second, a memory tried to surface—the scent of wildflowers and something, a feeling of rightness so profound it ached.
But it was gone as quickly as it came, buried under my memories of waking up next to Scarlett.
Ranger whined in my mind, a low sound of distress, but I slammed a mental wall down, refusing to listen.
Betrayal coiled in my gut, hot and venomous. Annalise was pregnant. Which meant...
"Who?" The word came out as a growl, and I saw her flinch.
"What do you mean, who?"
"Who's the father?" I stood up abruptly, my chair slamming back against the wall. "Who did you sleep with?"
Her face went even paler, if that was possible. "Marshall, you know who—"
"I know that two months ago, you were a virgin," I snarled, moving around the desk toward her. "I know that you've been living under my protection in this house, surrounded by my pack. So tell me, Annalise, which one of my wolves betrayed me by touching what was mine?"
"It was you," she whispered. "The baby is yours. The night of the winter festival, you came to my room—"
"I was with Scarlett that night," I said coldly. "I remember exactly where I was and who I was with. Try again."
"Marshall, please." Tears were starting to fill her eyes. "I know you don't remember, but it happened. You were drunk, and we—"
"ENOUGH!" I roared, and she shrank back against the door. "I don't know what sick fantasy you've created in your mind, but I was never in your room. I would never touch a child."
"I'm not a child," she said brokenly. "I'm your mate."
"You're a liar," I spat. "And a whore as well."
The words hung in the air between us like poison. I saw her face crumble, saw the exact moment her heart broke, but the rage was too strong to feel anything else.
I grabbed her arm roughly. "If you're going to spread lies about me, then the whole pack can hear them."
"Marshall, no, please—"
But I was already dragging her out of my office, down the hallway toward the dining room where I could hear the sounds of the evening meal in progress. She stumbled beside me, trying to keep up, tears streaming down her face.
I kicked open the dining room doors with enough force to make them slam against the walls. The pack looked up from their meals in surprise, conversations dying as they took in my furious expression and Annalise's tear-stained face.
"Everyone listen up," I announced, my voice carrying easily across the room. "Our future Luna has something she'd like to share with all of you."
My mother rose from her seat at the head table, concern written across her face. "Marshall, what's going on?"
"Tell them," I said, shoving Annalise forward into the center of the room. "Tell them all about your condition."
Annalise looked around the room desperately, taking in the confused faces of pack members who'd known her for years. "I... I don't..."
"She's pregnant," I announced when she couldn't find her voice. "Our seventeen-year-old future Luna is carrying someone's bastard child."
Gasps echoed through the room. Luna Etta's hand flew to her mouth in shock. I saw pack members exchanging glances, some looking scandalized, others merely curious about the drama unfolding before them.
"Marshall," Luna Etta said sharply, "that's enough. Whatever this is about, it should be discussed privately—"
"No," I cut her off. "This affects everyone here. Your future Luna has been spreading her legs for someone other than her mate."
"That's not true," Annalise said desperately, finding her voice. "Marshall, please, you know it's not true—"
"What I know," I said loudly enough for everyone to hear, "is that you're trying to convince me I'm the father of this child. You're claiming that I somehow forgot sleeping with you, even though I've never laid a hand on you."
"But you did," she whispered. "After the winter festival. You came to my room—"
"I was with Scarlett that night," I announced to the room. "Ask her yourself."
Scarlett stood up from her table, a small smile playing at her lips. "It's true. Marshall and I had a wonderful evening together."
I nodded firmly, remembering waking up next to her the morning after.
Annalise's face went white as she realized what was happening.
I expected her to fight, to scream, to deny it with more force.
Instead, she just looked... broken. A part of me registered the depth of her despair, the absolute devastation in her eyes, but the fury was a roaring fire that consumed everything else.
She had made me a fool. She would pay for it.
"So you see," I continued, "our future Luna is not only unfaithful, she's also a liar. She's trying to pass off another man's child as mine."
"I'm not lying," Annalise said, but her voice was barely audible over the murmurs spreading through the room.
"You're a whore," I said coldly, and the room went completely silent. "You're not worthy to be a pack member, let alone a Luna."
"Marshall!" Luna Etta gasped in horror. "You cannot speak to her that way—"
"I can speak to her however I want," I snapped. "She's betrayed the mate bond, betrayed this pack, and betrayed me personally."
I turned back to Annalise, who was now sobbing openly. The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them, fueled by rage and humiliation.
"I, Marshall Kane, Alpha of the Cascade Pack, reject you, Annalise Sloane, as my mate and Luna."
The formal rejection hit the room like a physical force. Gasps echoed from every corner, and I heard Luna Etta cry out in horror. Annalise staggered as if I'd struck her, her hand flying to her chest where the mate bond was severing with agonizing precision.
"No," she whispered, her face going deathly pale. "Marshall, please—"
But the bond was already snapping, the invisible thread that connected us fraying and breaking apart. I felt it too—a sharp, tearing pain in my chest that made me grit my teeth.
"By the laws of this pack, I banish you from our territory," I continued, my voice hard despite the pain. "You have thirty minutes to gather whatever you can carry and get out of my sight."
"No," My mother said firmly, stepping forward. "Marshall, you can't just—"
"I can and I will," I roared, my Alpha command echoing through the room. "Another word from you, Mother, and you can join her in exile."
My mother's mouth snapped shut, but her eyes blazed with fury and disappointment.
"Thirty minutes," I repeated to Annalise. "If you're still on pack grounds after that, I'll set the warriors on you. And trust me when I say they won't be gentle."
Annalise looked at me for one more moment, her eyes full of heartbreak and something that might have been pity. Then she turned and ran from the room, her sobs echoing down the hallway.
My mother gave me a look of such profound disappointment that it almost made me flinch. Then she followed Annalise out of the room without a word.
The silence stretched for a moment before the whispers started. Pack members leaned toward each other, gossiping and speculating about what they'd just witnessed. Some were giggling behind their hands, clearly enjoying the drama.
"SILENCE!" I roared, unleashing my Alpha command across the room. The effect was immediate and absolute—every mouth snapped shut, every whisper died, every movement ceased. The pack sat frozen in their chairs, unable to speak or move without my permission.
I took a deep breath, surveying the room of motionless faces. "Good. Now finish your meals."
The command released them just enough to eat, but they remained unable to speak. I sat down at the head table, cutting into my steak with deliberate precision. The only sounds in the room were the quiet clinks of silverware against plates and the occasional nervous swallow.
The silence stretched on. Minutes turned into an hour as I forced myself to eat slowly, methodically, refusing to acknowledge the weight of dozens of eyes watching my every move. I could feel their judgment, their confusion, their fear—but none of them could voice it.
My mother's chair remained empty. She hadn't returned.
I was contemplating a second helping when the dining room doors opened and Jackson walked in. He stopped just inside the doorway, his eyes sweeping over the unnaturally quiet room, taking in the tense faces of pack members who sat like statues.
"Jesus," he said, looking around the room. "Who died?"
I looked up from my plate, meeting his dark eyes. The question hung in the air with unintended accuracy.
"It’s nothing that concerns you," I said finally.