Chapter 3

The poison made me weak. But not as weak as she hoped.

I had one night left.

Mira found me in my room, signing documents. "Sister, what are you doing?"

"Transferring assets." I didn't look up. "Properties in my name. Moving them out of joint ownership."

"You're really leaving?"

"I'm protecting what's mine. If I leave, I leave clean. No ties."

I pulled out the pack ledgers. "Come here. Learn."

For two hours, I taught her. Trade routes. Alliance terms. The agreement with the Hale Pack—never break that one, they're good people. Resource management. Everything I'd built.

"I don't want to learn this." She was crying. "I want you to stay."

"Listen to me, little wolf." I held her face. "Someday you might need to lead this pack. When that day comes, you need to be ready."

"But Cade—"

"Your brother is lost. But you? You're just beginning."

Later, footsteps stumbled down the hall.

Cade knocked on my door. Drunk.

"Rhea? Do you still love me?"

I opened the door. "I did."

"Did?" He reached for me. I stepped back. "Past tense?"

"Love without respect is just torture, Cade."

"I do respect you!" His voice cracked. "I just... maybe I need more than this."

"More than what?"

"You're so strong, Rhea. Too strong." He laughed bitterly. "You should have been gentler. A man needs softness. Needs to feel like an Alpha."

"And what am I?"

"You're my Luna. You're important." Desperation bled into his words. "But why can't I have both? You for the pack. Her for me."

He used to say he wouldn't be the Alpha he was without me.

Now he wanted to keep me like a useful tool while he played with softer toys.

"Then you've made your choice."

I pushed him gently. He stumbled back.

"Go to her, Cade. Tomorrow you'll have exactly what you want."

I closed the door.

Through the wood, I heard him whisper: "Why can't you fight for me?"

I pressed my forehead against the door.

"I already did," I whispered back. "For three years."

Silence. Then his footsteps, walking away. Toward the guest wing. Toward Lyra.

Later, I stood at the window. Moonlight streamed through, turning my skin silver.

"Mom, Dad." I whispered to the night. "I kept my promise. I protected myself. And tomorrow—tomorrow I'll be free."

I pulled out the document I'd kept since our wedding. The pact we signed before the pack elders.

Three conditions. The third one clear as day.

If the Alpha marks another she-wolf without the Luna's consent, the Luna reserves the right to invoke immediate severance of the mate bond.

He broke the contract. Whether Lyra was real or fake didn't matter anymore.

I had my way out.

Then I noticed my hands.

They were glowing.

Faint at first. Then brighter. Light poured from my skin, soft and silver.

My wolf. The one that had been dormant for years, ever since my parents died and my old pack fell. She was waking up.

My heart pounded. This wasn't supposed to happen. I'd accepted that my wolf was damaged, maybe forever.

But now—

I looked at the light spreading up my arms. Felt something stir deep in my chest. Wild. Powerful. Ready.

Maybe she'd been waiting. Waiting for me to stop fighting for someone else's approval. Waiting for me to choose myself.

Tomorrow, I would walk into that ceremony. I would expose Lyra's lies. I would invoke the pact.

And then?

I didn't know what I would become. But for the first time in three years, I couldn't wait to find out.

The document glowed in my hands.

Severance of Mate Bond.

Tomorrow, I would be free