The Lunar Curse: A Second Chance With Alpha Draven-Chapter 77: Jealous of Meredith and Dennis

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The soft clack of chess pieces echoed between us.

Dennis had decided to have a game of chess with me and insisted.

I moved my knight forward, eyeing Dennis across the board. He barely glanced down before capturing one of my pawns with that insufferable little grin tugging at his lips.

"I’m not going easy on you today," he said, stretching his legs out beneath the table.

"You never go easy on anyone," I replied flatly.

He chuckled, leaning forward. "That’s because you are too proud to admit when someone plays better."

I grunted and refocused on the board.

We were seated in my office, the windows cracked just enough to let in the cool Duskmoor breeze.

The rich scent of spices wafted in from the roasted duck sitting on the other side of the table, but I wasn’t hungry. Not when Dennis was already playing his usual mind games across the table.

"By the way," he said as he tapped his bishop into place, "have you and Meredith made up?"

I froze mid-reach. "What makes you say that?"

He shrugged. "I was watching you both at the breakfast table. You didn’t glare at her like you wanted to set her hair on fire. You seemed... civil."

I scoffed and moved my queen. "We are far from making up."

Dennis raised a brow. "Really?"

"She just had enough decency to thank me after I stopped Wanda from crucifying her maidservants." I didn’t mean to sound so cold, but I wasn’t in the mood for misinterpretation.

Dennis leaned back in his chair. "Speaking of Wanda... why is she still here?"

These days, he is always offended when he hears Wanda’s name.

"Because she is my friend," I said simply. "She’s been loyal. She’s sacrificed a lot over the years. And currently, she is helping out here, remember?"

He sighed. "Still doesn’t excuse her overstepping constantly."

"I didn’t say it did."

He dropped the subject—thankfully—and returned his attention to the board. I guess he didn’t want to ruin his mood.

I caught the flicker in his eyes before he asked, "So... what did you and Meredith fight about yesterday morning? You still haven’t told me."

I narrowed my gaze at him. "I will never answer that," I said. "I told you to go ask your best friend about it."

Dennis smirked. "Are you jealous that I took your wife on a trip?"

I scoffed. "You are delusional."

He just smiled wider, placing his rook in a clever trap I hadn’t noticed until the last second. I scowled and studied the board again.

We played for another twenty minutes, the occasional grumbles and brotherly jabs cutting through the focus.

Then, casually, I asked, "Where did you take her?"

I didn’t even know why I asked that question. It was just out of my mouth before I could process it.

Dennis blinked like he didn’t expect the question. Then he smirked.

"To the town," he said easily. "I bought her ice cream. Took her to the Central Park. You know—normal things mates are supposed to do."

I cleared my throat, refusing to fall into the trap he had set for me.

"Sounds... unnecessary."

"It should have been us." Rhovan’s voice slid into my mind like a blade dipped in salt. "Our mate. Our moment. Not his."

’Shut up,’ I growled mentally, gripping my knight too hard before placing it down.

"Next time, maybe he will propose to her too."

I ground my teeth and focused back on the game.

Dennis and I kept at it for another hour, discussing neutral topics—trade routes, warrior rotations, the council’s latest nonsense. But my focus kept slipping.

Rhovan wouldn’t stop whispering.

"She smiled with him. Laughed. Felt safe."

"What if someone else decides to take her permanently?"

I moved my bishop without thinking.

Dennis snatched it a few turns later and set me up for a three-step checkmate.

"Check," he said, smug.

I tried to focus. Tried to outmanoeuvre. But it was over.

Three moves later, he delivered the final blow and leaned back with the widest grin I had seen in a while.

"I win."

I stared at the board in disbelief.

"That’s the first time you’ve ever beaten me."

"Feels good," he said, grinning like a child who had stolen sweets.

"Wipe that smirk off your face."

"I can’t." He stood and stretched. "I’m going to have this moment engraved into a plaque."

I narrowed my eyes. "Don’t push it." I can’t let him act all cocky to my face.

Dennis chuckled and leaned on the edge of the table. "You know what distracted you, right?"

"Don’t." I knew where he was going.

He pointed at me with that same mocking grin. "You’re jealous."

"I’m not."

"You are."

"Dennis."

"You were thinking about how I took your wife out on a date."

"It wasn’t a date," I retorted and bit my tongue immediately. I should have kept quiet.

"I bet she thinks it was," he teased, trying to get the worst of my reaction.

I glared at him, but he reciprocated with a wink.

And somewhere deep inside, Rhovan howled with laughter.

The moment Dennis left my office—still gloating about his win—I let the silence settle like a stone dropped in a deep well.

The chessboard remained set between us, but I barely looked at it. My fingers hovered above one of the defeated pieces, then slowly withdrew.

It was the first time I had ever lost to him. Not because he played smarter. But because I hadn’t played at all.

My mind had been elsewhere, and now, Rhovan wouldn’t stop pacing.

"You are losing your grip," he growled, his voice slithering through the corners of my thoughts. "First, your dominance. Then your focus. What’s next? Our mate?"

I closed my eyes briefly, but it didn’t help.

I could still hear Dennis’s words ringing in my head.

You are jealous.

I wasn’t. Not in the petty, reckless way he implied. But the thought of Meredith out there—laughing, relaxing, vulnerable—with someone else... it unsettled something in me.

It was the quiet kind of jealousy. The one that burrowed into the bones.

Rhovan stirred again.

"You were made to protect her. Not sit back while someone else plays knight."

I didn’t answer him.

Instead, I rose and walked toward the tall window, letting the late morning light bleed across my desk.