I folded the last of my simple dresses, hands trembling not from fear but from the hollow ache where the mate bond had been. The severing left me raw, like skin stripped of its protective layer, every emotion magnified to the point of pain.
The quarters that had been mine for three years now felt like a stranger’s room. I’d never been allowed to change much, Lady Vela had made certain of that, but there had been small touches: the wildflowers I’d collect each week, the handwoven blanket from my childhood, the small carvings I’d made during long winter nights when Rovan was… elsewhere.
All traces of me, erased in moments.
“You’re not taking the Luna pendant,” I said aloud to myself, eyeing the silver wolf medallion on the dresser. “It was never truly yours anyway.”
The metal caught the candlelight as I turned away, a final winking goodbye. Let Lady Elene wear it. Let her discover how heavy it could be.
I cinched my pack closed with finality. The pack lands had never truly been home, but the unknown beyond the territory borders seemed equally daunting. Still, anywhere would be better than remaining here, watching another woman take my place beside the man who had so easily discarded me.
The door burst open without warning, slamming against the wall with enough force to make the candles flicker. Neressa stood in the doorway, her beautiful face twisted with a fury that made her look suddenly like Lady Vela.
“You ungrateful little nothing,” she spat, stalking into the room. “How dare you? How dare you humiliate my brother before the entire pack?”
I continued packing, refusing to give her the satisfaction of seeing me flinch. “I merely finished what he started.”
“You rejected him publicly!” She circled me like a predator, her voice rising with each word. “You made a mockery of our most sacred ritual!”
“Sacred?” I laughed, the sound brittle even to my own ears. “Is that what you call taking a second mate without bothering to dissolve the first bond? Where was your concern for sacred rituals then?”
“He is Alpha! He can take as many mates as he desires!”
“And I can reject a bond that’s been betrayed,” I replied, keeping my voice steady. “The Moon Goddess seemed to agree, wouldn’t you say?”
Neressa’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “Don’t you dare invoke the Goddess. You’re nothing but a commoner playing at nobility. Look at you, pathetic, weak, barren, you never deserved the Luna title.”
“Then why are you so angry I’ve given it up?” I slung my pack over my shoulder, ready to depart. “Shouldn’t you be celebrating?”
“Oh, we will celebrate your departure,” she hissed, moving to block my path to the door. “But first, I want to make sure you understand exactly what you’re leaving behind.”
“I understand perfectly. A pack that never accepted me. A mate who betrayed me. A family that despised me from the moment I arrived.”
“Poor little Slyra,” she mocked, her voice a cruel singsong. “Always the victim. Did it ever occur to you that the problem wasn’t us, but you? That maybe if you weren’t so pathetically inadequate, Rovan wouldn’t have needed a second mate?”
I pushed past her, unwilling to engage further. “Move, Neressa. We’ve said all there is to say.”
“He only chose you out of pity, you know.” She followed me into the hallway, her words chasing me like poisoned darts. “Found you half-starved in that pitiful excuse for a village and felt sorry for you. Mother warned him, but he wouldn’t listen. Said taking a mate from common stock would endear him to the ordinary pack members.”
I stopped, her words striking a nerve despite my resolve. “Is that what he told you?”
“Does it matter? The truth is written in your failure.” Her smile was vicious with triumph. “Three years and not a single pup to show for it. What use is a Luna who can’t even fulfill her most basic purpose?”
“Neressa!” Lady Vela’s sharp voice cut through the air as she approached from the main hall, her elegant form silhouetted against the torchlight. “I could hear your screeching from downstairs.”
Rather than looking chastised, Neressa practically preened. “Mother, I was just seeing off our former Luna. Ensuring she understands exactly what she’s throwing away.”
Lady Vela’s cold gaze swept over me, taking in the pack on my shoulder, the travel clothes. “So, you’re running away. How predictably cowardly.”
“I’m not running,” I replied, squaring my shoulders. “I’m choosing a different path.”
“Call it what you will.” She moved closer, her expensive perfume suffocating in the narrow hallway. “Your little display at the ceremony may have temporarily disrupted our plans, but make no mistake—your departure is a blessing in disguise.”
“Then we finally agree on something.”
Her perfectly painted lips curved into a cruel smile. “Where will you go, I wonder? What pack would take in a Luna who publicly rejected her Alpha? What Alpha would want a mate proven to be barren and disloyal?”
“I don’t need another Alpha,” I said, the words tasting of newfound freedom. “And I certainly don’t need your son.”
“Such brave words from a wolf with no pack,” Neressa taunted. “The forests aren’t kind to lone females, especially ones as weak as you.”
Lady Vela adjusted her immaculate sleeve. “Rovan’s recovering from the rejection bond-sickness. Had you stayed, he might have been obligated to offer some form of protection despite your actions. But since you’re choosing to leave…” She shrugged elegantly.
“Your concern is touching,” I replied, sarcasm dripping from each word. “But I’ll take my chances with the forest predators. At least they’re honest about their intentions to destroy me.”
Lady Vela’s eyes hardened. “Get out before I call the guards to drag you out. Your renunciation of the mate bond means you have no place here. You’re nothing to us now—less than nothing.”
“I was always nothing to you,” I said quietly. “The only difference is now I know my worth isn’t determined by your approval.”
I pushed past them both, head held high despite the hurricane of emotions threatening to tear me apart from within. Their voices followed me down the corridor.
“Good riddance to bad blood,” Neressa called after me.
