Chapter 147: Chapter 147 Dream
Jasper
Leon paced restlessly within me. He had been uneasy since the confrontation in the conference room,and that feeling had only intensified after Mia’s convenient fainting spell. The pack doctor had found nothing physically wrong with her—"just stress," he’d said with a nervous glance in my direction.
To ease Mia’s supposed stress,I brought her home. Under my forced calm and steady touch,she finally drifted off to sleep in my arms.
But even with her breathing steady against my chest,I couldn’t shake the gnawing unease. My eyelids grew heavy,thoughts colliding—Mia’s fragile act,Freya’s icy expression in the conference room,the fragile balance of the pack tilting ever closer to collapse.
Somewhere between wakefulness and sleep,the images blurred.
And then—
I tore myself from the heated moment with Mia,feeling the familiar post-desire clarity wash over me. My office was in disarray—papers scattered across the floor,Mia’s clothing half off,my desk a mess. For a moment,I allowed myself to bask in the afterglow,running my hand down Mia’s back as she nestled against me.
"You’re incredible," she murmured,pressing a soft kiss against my throat where my pulse still hammered.
But as I glanced at my watch,reality crashed back in. Noon already? The merger documents needed urgent review,the Shadow Pack partnership was hanging by a thread,and several high-profile clients were threatening to walk. My momentary escape had cost me precious hours.
"Where the hell is lunch?" I muttered,pulling away from Mia and straightening my shredded shirt. Usually by now,Freya would have—
The thought of her name sent an unexpected jolt through me.
"Fucking hell," I growled,reaching for my desk phone. "I shouldn’t have to ask for these basics."
I jabbed at the intercom button for the assistant desk. When someone finally answered,my patience had evaporated.
"You can’t even handle lunch? Does everyone want to get fired today?"
There was a pause on the other end of the line—too long,too deliberate—before a voice I recognized as Amanda’s came through,sounding nothing like the eager-to-please tone I was accustomed to.
"Alpha Kane,your luna kicked us all out this morning. Security escorted us from the building. We’ve talked it over,and we’re done. None of us have Gamma Stone’s superhuman ability to take endless abuse while running this pack."
I froze,my brain struggling to process her words. "What are you talking about? What happened with Freya?"
Mia shifted behind me,suddenly alert. I could feel her eyes burning into my back.
On the other end,Amanda sighed heavily. "It’s all in here. Check your email. See for yourself."
Then the line went dead.
I stared at the phone in disbelief. Had my assistant just hung up on me? On an Alpha? The sheer audacity was unprecedented.
"What’s going on?" Mia asked,her voice honey-sweet as she draped herself over my shoulder,glancing at my computer screen.
"Something about the assistants being kicked out," I muttered,opening my email.
The message from Amanda contained a single attachment labeled "Why_We’re_All_Leaving.mp4". With a growing sense of unease,I clicked it open.
Security footage from earlier that morning filled my screen. I watched as Mia,smiling sweetly while I was in my office,approached the group of assistants who had been trying to catch me up on urgent matters. The timestamp showed it was barely five minutes after I’d left them in her care.
The footage had audio.
"Listen up,you pathetic little bitches," Mia’s voice emerged from my speakers,so different from her usual tone that I almost didn’t recognize it. "I’m in charge now,and things are going to change around here."
I watched,blood turning to ice,as Mia slapped each assistant across the face,one by one. My eyes widened in shock.
"I saw how you were crowding him," she snarled at them,her beautiful face twisted with malice. "What’s your game? Trying to get in his pants? Thinking you can replace me?"
The assistants’ stunned expressions mirrored my own. One of them—Sarah,who’d been with Stone Lake for over five years—found her voice first.
"Are you serious? We were doing our jobs—these are critical business matters! Don’t make crazy accusations!"
Mia’s laugh on the video was cold and cutting. "Your job is whatever I say it is. And right now,I’m saying your job is to get the fuck out."
The footage continued,showing Mia calling security and having all the assistants escorted out,then using my override codes to revoke their building access. With no one left to witness,she rifled through several confidential files before changing into the outfit she was still partially wearing—the one that had so effectively distracted me from the business catastrophe unfolding around us.
The video ended with a split-screen compilation: on one side,Mia crying to me about Freya’s "attacks"; on the other,security footage showing what actually happened—Mia deliberately spilling coffee on documents,"accidentally" tripping in front of witnesses,then twisting the narrative when speaking to me.
My heart seemed to stop as I stared at the screen.
"What’s the holdup?" Mia’s voice pulled me back to the present. She was lounging in her chair now,examining her nails with casual indifference. "Weren’t you calling about lunch? I’m starving."
Slowly,I turned toward her,something cold and unfamiliar replacing the lust that had consumed me earlier. Leon was growling now,a low,dangerous sound that reverberated through my chest.
"What did you do?" My voice came out as a whisper,though I wanted to roar.
Mia blinked innocently. "What are you talking about?"
I turned my laptop screen toward her,rewinding to the moment she slapped my staff. "This. Explain this."
Her expression flickered for just a moment before she rolled her eyes. "Oh please,they were being disrespectful. Someone needed to put them in their place."
"Their place?" I stood up so abruptly my chair crashed against the wall behind me. "Their place is doing the critical work that keeps this pack functioning! Work that Freya coordinated flawlessly for years!"
At Freya’s name,Mia’s facade cracked. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Freya again? Always Freya! I’m your mate,Jasper! ME! Not her!"
"My mate who lied to me," I growled,advancing toward her. "My mate who deliberately sabotaged pack business,assaulted my staff,and framed my Gamma."
Mia stood her ground,tossing her hair back. "I did what was necessary. She was too close to you. Everyone saw it—the way she looked at you,the way she was always there,always the perfect little helper." She spat the words. "She wanted you. She was trying to come between us."
"Between us?" I laughed bitterly. "Freya kept this pack running while you were gone for years. She managed everything—our finances,our partnerships,our reputation—all while I was drowning in the mate-bond grief you left me with."
Mia’s expression hardened. "So you admit it. You did have feelings for her."
The accusation hit like a physical blow. Had I? Leon growled louder in my mind,the answer clear in his agitation.
"This isn’t about my feelings," I said,gesturing at the screen where the security footage was frozen. "This is about you deliberately destroying the relationships and systems that took years to build."
"I’m your Luna!" Mia shouted,slamming her hand on my desk. "Everyone should respect that! Including Freya! Including you!"
"Being Luna means serving the pack,not tearing it apart for your ego!"
Mia laughed,the sound sharp and mocking. "Oh,that’s rich coming from you. The great Alpha Jasper,so concerned about the pack. Were you serving the pack when you were fucking your Gamma behind closed doors for four years?"
My blood ran cold. "How do you know about that?"
"Everyone knows,Jasper. The whole pack talks about it." Her smile was cruel. "How the mighty Alpha couldn’t keep it in his pants,how he used his loyal Gamma for sex while waiting for his real mate to return. How pathetic you both were—you for using her,her for letting you."
Each word felt like a knife. Was that how the pack saw what happened between Freya and me? As me using her?
"Get out," I said,my voice deadly quiet.
"Excuse me?" Mia’s eyes widened.
"Get. Out." I enunciated each word,letting my Alpha dominance fill the room. "Of my office. Now."
For a moment,she looked like she might challenge me,but even a mate couldn’t easily defy an Alpha’s direct command when delivered with full intent. She grabbed her purse,her movements jerky with rage.
"You’ll regret this," she hissed. "She’s gone,Jasper. Your precious Freya left you. And now you’re choosing her memory over me? Over your mate?"
The door slammed behind her with enough force to rattle the windows. I collapsed into my chair,the weight of everything crashing down on me.
My phone buzzed with a message from Beta Timothy: Just heard from the assistants. Shadow Pack partnership officially withdrawn.Alpha Silvano Moretti’s taking his business elsewhere. He also sent you a wedding invitation. He and Miss Freya are getting married.
The realization hit me like a freight train—Freya wasn’t just gone from Stone Lake Pack. She was moving on,possibly with another Alpha. The thought made Leon howl with a pain that echoed my own.
I’d lost her. And it was entirely my fault.
With shaking hands,I reached for my phone again and dialed Freya’s number. It went straight to voicemail.
I called again. And again. Each unanswered ring sliced deeper until—
I jolted awake.
Mia’s face hovered above me,her expression puzzled. "Darling,what’s wrong?"
Was it all a dream? Yet it felt so real—like a glimpse of the future waiting to happen. I looked at my mate,but the fascination,the love,the pull I once felt was gone. In its place was only the image of Freya in another Alpha’s arms,a pain tearing through me like my chest was being ripped apart.
I had to stop it.