Chapter 3

Day three. The day Dominic wanted us gone to Ashvale. It also happened to be Finn's fifth birthday.

The packhouse had been busy since before sunrise, lights and banners strung up everywhere.

None of it had anything to do with Finn.

Dominic announced to the whole pack that today he'd be holding a grand homecoming ceremony for "a descendant of a lost bloodline," some story he'd made up on the spot to raise Camille's status. To really put on a show for her, he did something he'd never once done for me in eight years. He stood at the front gate as Alpha himself, walked Camille and Rosie down the main road for a full lap, and made the whole pack line up and watch.

Eight years. He didn't even bother changing his clothes for my own Luna ceremony.

By the time the sun was fully up, cheering was already rolling in from outside.

I sat alone on the edge of my bed. None of the celebration out there touched me.

The room was quiet. Finn was asleep next door with Maren watching over him. The frostbloom bath Frostcrown had rushed over the night before had finally broken most of his fever. His face wasn't burning anymore.

I reached back and touched the mate mark on my neck.

In our world, the mark an Alpha bites into his mate's neck isn't just a mark. It's a soul-deep chain. As long as it's there, my life force keeps flowing through the bond straight into Dominic, propping up his silver poisoning, keeping up the act of a healthy, top-tier Alpha.

Eight years of him living off me. And now he wanted to swap me out for a mating ceremony.

There was only one way to break the mark. A formal rejection.

Whoever said the words would feel their soul tear apart, the mark would burn off, and the bond would snap for good. Both sides would feel it.

I stood in the middle of the room and took a breath.

No hesitation. Not a single tear.

"I, Elara of Frostcrown, reject you, Dominic Grey, as my mate."

The second I said it, my neck felt like someone pressed a hot iron against it.

Pain exploded from the mark and shot down my spine, up into my chest, out to my fingertips. I doubled over. My nails dug into my palms until they bled. I bit my lip until it went white.

I didn't make a sound.

Less than two minutes later, the burning faded. I reached back and touched my neck. Smooth. Clean. Nothing there.

Eight years of that mark, gone. Burned down to a small, dark scorch mark that faded fast, like it had never existed at all.

The second the bond snapped, the weight I'd been carrying for eight years lifted off me all at once. My chest had never felt this light. I took a deep breath and flexed my fingers, still tingling from the pain.

Then I walked over to the desk where Dominic usually did his paperwork.

A single sheet of paper sat on top. I'd written it three days ago. Not many words, written in blood from my own bitten finger.

I, Elara of Frostcrown, sever every mate tie with Dominic Grey, Alpha of Blood Moon Pack, as of today. From this day on, dead or alive, we have nothing to do with each other.

I looked down at the Luna ring still on my finger. When Dominic gave it to me, there hadn't even been a proper ceremony. He'd just shoved it onto my finger and said "here," like he was handing off something he didn't want to be bothered with.

I slid it off and set it down next to the letter.

Then I raised my foot and brought my heel down. It crushed into pieces, scattering across the bloody words.

"Mommy!"

Finn had woken up at some point and come running in with a small bag on his back. His eyes went straight to the back of my neck.

"Mommy, that ugly thing on your neck is gone!"

"Yeah. I got rid of it." I crouched down and fixed his collar. "You don't have to carry that man's name anymore. You're taking mine now. Finn Frost."

Finn nodded hard, his eyes bright.

I took his hand and stood up, taking one last look at the bedroom I'd decorated myself and lived in for eight years.

A loud knock hit the door. It was one of the pack's runner omegas, loud enough to carry down the whole hallway. "Luna! Alpha says you and the young master need to be gone by two! Camille's ceremony is about to start, and Alpha said don't let the boy anywhere near it!"

I ignored him.

"Maren."

She stepped in through the side door.

"Are they here?"

"Since last night. Waiting across the river on the east border."

I nodded and picked up the bag. Nothing from Blood Moon in it, just a few changes of clothes for me and Finn.

I led Finn out of the room, down the hall, and out the side door of the packhouse, onto a trail through the hills behind it. I'd walked that trail so many times over the last three years I could've found every tree and every rock in the dark.

Out front, the main road was still full of cheering. The whole pack was busy celebrating Camille's arrival.

Nobody noticed the Luna and the young master slip out the back.

By the time we reached the east border river, I could see the Frostcrown warriors waiting on the other side. Two dozen white wolves, lined up behind the tree line.

Maren crossed first and traded a few words with whoever was leading them.

Finn held my hand at the water's edge and looked back at Blood Moon's territory, lit up in the distance.

"Mommy, we're never coming back to this fake home, right?"

"Never."

I stepped into the river and didn't look back.

"Let him and his Camille rot in that empty house together. We're going home."