“Yara, I want to dissolve the mate bond. Prepare a purification-and-departure scroll according to werewolf tradition.”
When those words left my lips, I didn’t even tremble. After five years of a hidden marriage with Henry, I finally understood that he had never loved me.
I decided to keep it from him. On the night of our fifth-year moon ceremony, I would give him this dissolution scroll as a “gift.”
Since phones were replaced by clan messenger wolves inside the territory, Yara answered through the mind-link.
She was startled. “Aurora, have you really thought this through? A five-year mate imprint isn’t something you can just tear apart.”
I lifted my head, my voice far calmer than I expected. “I’ve thought it through. This bond was a mistake from the beginning. I don’t want to continue.”
And the reason I reached this point… was what happened two months ago.
That day, while patrolling the forest outside the territory, I was attacked by a feral rogue wolf. Three deep slashes. I collapsed at the entrance of the Moonstone Healing Hall, waiting for Henry’s signature imprint to authorize treatment.
For a moment, I truly believed he would come rushing to me like he used to.
But I waited… and waited. Neither Henry nor his first love, Demi, appeared.
I activated the mind-link and called for him ninety-nine times.
When he finally answered, all I heard was his impatient voice:
“Demi’s pup is sick. I’m taking care of her. Don’t call me unless it’s important.”
My chest turned to ice.
Before I lost consciousness, I pressed my own blood-stained fingerprint on the scroll to approve my treatment.
Just before the Moonstone Hall lit its healing array, I saw Henry finally running over—holding Demi’s pup in his arms, the little thing’s paw lightly bitten, a faint redness on its knuckles.
I later learned that because Henry had pulled my healer away to tend to Demi’s pup, I lost too much blood during treatment and had to be kept in a deep-recovery chamber for seven full days.
The cruelest part was realizing he had loved Demi all along.
He married me not out of love, but because of that drunken, accidental imprinting five years ago.
While I hovered between life and death, he was comforting another she-wolf—younger, pampered, raised in affection.
The mate I once fought desperately to protect… had changed beyond recognition.
Ending the bond is the last gift I will ever give him.
……
Just as I received the dissolution scroll, my mind-link was suddenly forced open.
The initiator was Henry.
I drew in a slow breath and accepted the connection. His voice carried the same commanding tone as always.
“Aurora, I’m hosting a few warriors at the camp banquet tonight. Prepare some food and count it as celebrating for me. And go down to the river to catch a moon-scale fish for steaming.”
He didn’t ask where I was. He didn’t ask if I was available.
I stayed silent. He seemed instantly irritated, his voice tightening with impatience.
“You’re not still upset, are you? Aurora, I already apologized for the last incident. Demi isn’t like you—she’s delicate and can’t withstand pain. And that night, you were the only ‘healer’ around.”
My knuckles curled sharply.
“The last incident” was him referring to the night I was slashed by a rogue wolf, bleeding out at the healing hall’s entrance while waiting for him—only for him to run in later hugging Demi’s pup and searching for a healer for them instead.
Henry kept talking, every word cutting deeper.
“I knew you’d be fine. You grew up tough. A little injury is nothing to you.”
I froze.
In his eyes, the wounds that kept me in the recovery chamber for seven days were “a little injury.”
I pressed my lips together, forcing myself to stay clear. I couldn’t keep wasting emotions on someone who would never feel pain for me.
Henry was used to my silence and obedience. When I didn’t argue back, he simply assumed I wouldn’t hold anything against him, and casually cut off the mind-link.
Standing on the high slope overlooking the river, I saw him immediately bend down after severing the connection, gently lifting Demi’s hand and blowing on her slightly reddened knuckles, as though she were treasure.
I lowered my gaze to my own hands—covered in scars.
Years of channeling healing energy had left my skin cracked and rough.
And in that instant, I understood: in his heart, I didn’t even qualify to be cherished.
Yet back then, I still naïvely believed we could talk things through.
So I turned and headed to the river to catch the moon-scale fish Henry wanted.
That night, my legs nearly gave out as I worked at the stone stove outside the tent.
Then Henry appeared behind me, holding a massive bouquet of moonlit lilies.
As the flowers drew near, I couldn’t stop myself from coughing softly.
The next second, he shoved me hard.
My back slammed into the stone table. The wound that had just begun to heal tore open again, blood soaking through my clothes.
I could barely stay upright, yet Henry’s attention was entirely on the flowers in his arms.
He frowned at me, scolding, “These flowers are from Demi. She cultivated them specially for you! You almost ruined them!”
I stared at the way he cherished the flowers far more than he had ever cared for me.
And just like that—clarity struck me.
Three years together, and he had never once remembered my pollen allergy.
He remembered only what Demi liked.
As I braced myself on the table and pushed up to stand, a sudden weight dropped onto my shoulder.
Demi had arrived, conveniently “helping” me.
But her fingers dug viciously into the inside of my arm, the force nearly driving me to my knees.
Her face, however, was soft, gentle, harmless. “Aurora, be careful. Your body hasn’t recovered yet.”
Her grip tightened like a creeping vine, digging deeper and deeper until pain clawed up my spine.
Henry saw me swaying and only frowned. “Aurora, why are you so weak? Stop pretending.”
Hearing that, Demi smiled even sweeter. Her fingers needled in a little harder, leaving fire streaking under my skin.
I finally wrenched myself free, clutching the rough wooden table as I staggered toward the fur-covered bench, fumbling for a pouch of moon-leaf pain powder.
My fingers trembled uncontrollably.
Henry watched my humiliation with a cold voice.
“Did you just come back from the healing tent, or were you fighting outside wolves?”
Demi chimed in gently, sugary sweet. “Henry, don’t be harsh on her. And… weren’t you going to cook dinner for me? I’ve been waiting forever.”
Then she naturally slipped her arm around his.
