The instant Corvin Draven’s message lit up my phone, a faint warmth flickered beneath the icy numbness that had settled over my chest. After days of nothing but the hollow rhythm of survival, just seeing his name stirred something close to comfort.
[Okay.]
Simple. Final. Safe.
I stared at the screen as though it could soothe the ache gnawing at me. A month is too long, I thought. Seven days will be enough.
Seven days trapped under this roof. Seven more days to grieve what Alpha Moises had already burned to ash. After that, I would leave. No farewells. No whispered goodbyes beneath the moonlight. I would sever myself entirely from this territory, from the pain, from the Alpha I had once believed was mine by fate.
The moment I stepped into the pack house, her scent hit me first.
Veronica.
It clung to the air like a poison, a nauseating mix of lilac and artificial lust. It coated every corner of the home that had once been mine. Following it to the main hall, I froze. There she was—lounging on the velvet couch, exuding triumph, wearing my nightgown. The white silk, threaded with silver, the same one Moises had ripped from me during our mating moon. Seeing her in it was a jolt—a blow to the gut. My wolf stirred, restless, yet silent.
The door clicked behind me, and she lifted her head, a cruel smirk painting her lips.
“Back so soon?” she drawled, mockery dripping from every word. “You look… pathetic.”
She rose, bare feet gliding across the marble. When she reached me, she tilted my chin with a touch that was both brazen and insolent.
“Tsk,” she murmured, inspecting me like I was a cracked mirror. “Pale, weak… if I didn’t know better, I’d say your wolf’s giving up on you too.”
Her silk slipped further, revealing the marks of our mating on her chest. She leaned in, her voice soft but sharp. “See these? All from Alpha Moises. Last night… unforgettable.”
I clenched my jaw, but my feet stayed planted. My silence only fed her audacity.
“He told me,” she continued, venom lacing each word, “that I make him feel alive. That you lie there… cold, dead. Your wolf hasn’t stirred in months—probably tired of you already.”
I didn’t remember raising my hand. One second, her breath was on my cheek. The next, my palm met her face with a sharp smack. The sound echoed in the hall. Her head jerked back, her shock almost palpable.
“Remember your place,” I said, low and fierce, not with fear but with fire. “I am still Luna. You are merely the servant’s daughter, climbing into a bed that was never yours.”
She bared her fangs, snarling, but a flicker of hesitation crossed her features.
As expected, almost at that moment, Alpha Moises arrived.
I felt him before I saw him. His presence rolled over the room like a storm, the weight of his aura pressing down. Almost immediately, Veronica sank to her knees, the submissive posture of prey before a predator.
“L-Luna Lyriana, please!” she sobbed, trembling. “I shouldn’t have come back! I’ll leave—anything to stay out of your way!”
Moises moved with swift authority. She bolted for the marble column, but he caught her, cradling her like she was fragile glass.
“Lex…” His voice softened, gentle and commanding at once. “I invited you. Anyone with a problem can deal with me.”
Something inside me cracked—slow, splintering, final.
I didn’t shed a tear.
Not even when he turned toward me, unfamiliar and cold. “Lyriana Blackthorn,” he barked. “Apologize to her.”
I met his gaze, flat and unyielding. “I did nothing wrong. Are you not even curious where I was last night?”
He frowned. “Did you—”
“Do you want to know who I spent it with? What I endured?” I cut him off.
“I don’t care,” he snapped. “You will not hurt Veronica. Apologize, or you’re suspended from the Council. From everything.”
He assumed I would crumble. He never knew I carried the burden so he didn’t have to. I had taken on his failures, hoping one day he would choose me again.
Moises turned, Veronica in his arms. Just before they vanished upstairs, he instructed the maid, “Don’t let her eat until she apologizes.”
And just like that, the mate I had loved for three years walked away from me.
I remained frozen, staring into the space he had vacated. Slowly, my body caught up to the truth my heart had already acknowledged.
I didn’t love him anymore.
Not after this.
---
Days slipped by in muted agony.
I remained confined within the pack house, treated as an outcast. Three times a day, the maid asked if I had realized my mistake. Three times, I remained silent. I counted the days: five. Four. Three.
Messages from Veronica buzzed relentlessly on my phone.
In the morning, another one arrived:
[Bitch, you couldn’t win our mother, and you can’t win a man. One word from me, and Moises won’t return for a month.]
She was right. My mate never came back.
Veronica, of course, sent daily videos—kissing him on the beach, cooking together in the kitchen, writhing beneath him under the silver moonlight. Once, I would have curled up, sobbing, letting my wolf howl into the night.
Now? I felt nothing.
Moises had never truly belonged to me. He had borrowed my love until it was inconvenient, then discarded it.
By the fourth day, I had survived on little more than water. My limbs trembled, my vision blurred, but I refused to beg. I refused to apologize for crimes I hadn’t committed.
That evening, I sought air in the garden, though it was heavy with lies.
Then it happened.
A golden retriever lunged out of nowhere, colliding with my side. I collapsed onto the stone path, brittle, hollow, barely able to remain upright.
A sharp pain exploded in my abdomen.
Warmth trickled down. I looked down in horror, but my body betrayed me—I could do nothing but watch the blood stain my clothes. My knees gave way. The metallic scent filled the air. I was paralyzed.
No…
I realized instantly. Two months prior, Alpha Moises and I had shared one final hollow night. His mother and elder Alpha Garrick had wanted an heir. We had taken no precautions. I had hoped…
Now, that hope was dying.
“Help…” I whispered.
Only the driver moved. He scooped me into the car, flooring it toward the hospital. I clutched my abdomen, each breath shallow and ragged.
Then the car ground to a halt.
“Why—?” I began.
“Luna Lyriana,” he stammered, “it’s Lady Veronica Moonceil’s birthday. Alpha Moises closed the roads for her celebration. We… we can’t get through.”
I turned toward the window. Fireworks painted the sky in brilliant colors, laughter echoed, the territory alive with festivity.
And I? Bleeding in the back of a car. Forgotten. Cast aside. Alone.
That was the love of Alpha Moises Blackwood—loud, public, extravagant—but meant for someone else.
Each explosion of light was a dagger to my chest, a stark reminder that while he illuminated the heavens for her, I was left to bleed quietly.
With the last strength I could summon, I touched the ring on my finger—the symbol of three years of devotion, sacrifice, and believing in a bond that never truly existed.
My hands shook as I slid it free.
I rolled down the window, letting the cold night air bite at my skin, and without hesitation, I let the ring slip into the darkness.
Let the wolves howl.
I was done.
No more mourning. No more waiting.
The love I carried for him died in that instant—along with everything else he had taken from me.
