Hans picked up Violette and left the Healing Hall. Violette tried not to think about Irene's newly discovered pregnancy.
Hans escorted her back to the Blackthorn estate. Throughout the trip, there was no conversation between them. Hans glanced back several times to check on her because it was unusual to see Violette so quiet.
"Are you still in pain?"
"No," Violette replied indifferently.
"Then why are you so quiet?"
"Ah, I'm just thinking, it's been so long since I've been home to my family," Violette replied.
Hans's expression softened.
"If you want to see your pack, I'll arrange for you to visit them. I'll accompany you."
"You don't need to accompany me. I can go alone."
"How could I let you go alone? I'm going with you."
Violette looked at him indifferently, knowing it was just a false promise from Hans. "I'm worried you'll leave Irene and Damien alone. You can't bear to leave them even for a day."
Hans's face stiffened.
"Don't talk nonsense. I'll arrange passage to Ashwood territory tomorrow and accompany you. It's been a long time since I visited the Ashwood Pack. I miss the Ashwood family's moonlit gardens." Hans smiled slightly as he looked at her. "Remember the first time we met? You were hiding from your shifting lessons and secretly picking moonberries in the garden. You were so cute then."
Violette looked at him, her eyes closed as memories of their childhood flooded her mind. She first met Hans during the Blackthorn delegation's first visit to the Ashwood Pack to discuss their mating alliance.
"You were crying because you wanted the moonberries on the high branch, but you couldn't reach them because you were too short. You ran up to me and asked me to get them for you." Hans continued his sentence nostalgically.
From that moment on, fate intertwined between them. They grew up together and eventually were bonded.
Violette believed that she was the only woman in Hans's life until Irene appeared and slapped her with the cruel reality. Violette closed her eyes, erasing the memory from her mind.
At that moment, her mind-link stone pulsed. She glanced at it and saw a mind-link message from Joshua Greymoor.
*Joshua Greymoor: Ma'am, the bond severance was approved by the Moon Goddess rites earlier today. I will send the documents to you.*
Violette smiled, looking pleased and happy. Hans glanced at her and tried to peek at Violette's mind-link stone.
"Did you receive some good news today?"
Violette immediately closed the stone's surface and smiled as if nothing had happened. "Yes. I just received happy news. One of my friends finally severed her mate bond."
"Your friend broke her bond, but why are you happy?"
"Because my friend has suffered so much. Her mate betrayed the bond and even sired a pup with his mistress. Do you think a wolf like that should be left?" Violette looked at Hans meaningfully.
Hans chuckled and replied, "Not only left, but also destroyed. They are a disgrace to all wolves."
Violette sneered inwardly, but in front of Hans, she only smiled and looked ahead. Because soon, Hans would realize that the friend she was talking about was none other than herself.
But tomorrow he was going to accompany her back to Ashwood territory. Violette smiled slightly; she wouldn't let him succeed.
She sent the recorded conversation to Irene: *"You're just a mistress after all. See? Tomorrow he's coming back to my homeland with me to meet my pack."*
---
The next day, their departure was scheduled for five in the afternoon.
Before leaving, Violette went into her old chamber and placed the bond-severance documents, the miscarriage report, and all the intimate memory stone recordings that Irene had sent her into Hans's safe in the wardrobe.
While they were waiting at the departure point, Hans's mind-link stone pulsed, and Violette saw Irene's name appear on the stone's surface. Hans stepped away to answer the mind-link and then returned.
"Honey, I'm sorry... it looks like I can't accompany you to the Ashwood Pack. The Blackthorn elders have suddenly called an emergency council, and I have to be there immediately." He looked at Violette with a guilty and regretful expression.
"It's okay. I already told you I can go by myself." Violette smiled calmly. She knew it was a lie because Irene had told her that Camila Blackthorn was hosting a pack feast to acknowledge Damien as Hans's son and the pup in Irene's womb.
"All right, send word when you arrive in Ashwood territory. I'll follow you later. The pack guards will escort you safely."
Hans was about to press his forehead to Violette's, but she turned her face away with a look of disgust. The faintest trace of lavender and rain-washed stone drifted between them, and something in Hans's wolf flinched at the rejection, though the man himself only froze for a moment, his brow furrowed. Then he turned and walked away hurriedly. Several guards followed behind him. The others remained at Violette's side.
Violette crossed her legs gracefully and glanced at the guards. "You don't need to escort me. Wolves from the Ashwood Pack will meet me."
They looked at each other hesitantly, then obeyed her, leaving Violette alone in the waiting hall.
A few moments later, Violette received a mind-link message from Irene.
*[You said he would accompany you home? And now? He abandoned you just because of one message from me.]*
*[Eclipse Lodge. Come, I will prove to you that Damien is Hans's biological son and that the entire Blackthorn Pack will acknowledge me.]*
Irene thought she had won, unaware that she had perfectly matched Violette's desires. Only when Hans was not by her side could she truly disappear.
Violette stared at her mind-link stone for a while, then calmly closed it and stood up.
She looked around one last time. A smile spread across her face; for the first time, she felt a strange sense of freedom. Something inside her chest loosened, a tightness she had carried so long she'd forgotten it was there. Her wolf stirred, not with pain or warning, but with something quiet and ancient. Like lifting her muzzle to a wind that carried no threat.
Violette tore up the passage documents Hans had given her.
"Goodbye, Hans Blackthorn. We won't meet again."
She turned and walked away without looking back.
She would never look back, and she would never bond with Hans again.
