My world lurched sideways.
I stared at him, disbelief tearing through my chest. “You think I’d sink that low?”
Haldrick didn’t avert his gaze.
“You’re clever,” he said coldly. “You know how pack politics work. Stirring up rogues wouldn’t be difficult for someone like you.” His voice sharpened. “I never realized how vicious you truly were.”
“Stop!” I screamed.
Pain detonated in my chest, stealing my breath.
“You think this is about jealousy?” I cried. “That I’d hire rogues just because you protected her? Haldrick, I have never stooped that far.”
His eyes hardened. “The entire pack knows you despise her. Don’t pretend otherwise.”
I laughed—short, hollow and freezing.
“She sheds a tear and the whole world shields her. I tighten my jaw once and I’m a monster?” My voice trembled. “You only see her. You always have.”
For a moment, he faltered—then Danella clutched his sleeve.
“Haldrick,” she said softly, eyes brimming, “don’t argue. It’s not worth it. This is my fault. I… I panicked because back in the academy, she once had others intimidate me.”
That was it.
The final spark.
I lifted my chin, voice sharp as broken ice. “You think I’d waste my time plotting against you?”
I turned to Danella, eyes blazing. “If I’d wanted you gone back then, you wouldn’t have survived initiation—let alone stolen my mate.”
“Enough!” Haldrick roared.
His hand came down.
The sound cracked like thunder.
My cheek burned as I stumbled backward, crashing onto the stone ground. My palms scraped raw, blood seeping through torn skin.
He… hit me?
Haldrick didn’t help me up.
He didn’t even look at me.
Instead, he turned and swept Danella into his arms, holding her as though she were fragile glass. He carried her away, the car door slamming shut like a final judgment.
He left me there.
Discarded.
A sharp, unbearable pain exploded in my abdomen.
I staggered forward—and warmth spilled down my legs.
“Miss! You’re bleeding!” someone screamed, rushing toward me. “You’re losing too much blood!”
I tried to say it was nothing.
I couldn’t.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
***
The healer’s wing was a blur of white light and frantic voices.
“She’s hemorrhaging!”
“Where’s her bonded mate? We need his consent—now!”
“She’s married, but the Alpha isn’t answering. We’ve tried repeatedly.”
“If we wait any longer, the pup won’t survive!”
The words drifted around me like water.
My body felt distant, fractured, no longer my own.
My chest felt heavy, my throat burning as though lined with glass.
I forced my arm up and gripped the healer’s sleeve with the last of my strength.
“I’ll sign,” I rasped. “Release the pup. I don’t want… I can’t keep it.”
The words fell like stones.
The healer froze. “Are you certain?”
I nodded, biting back a scream as tears finally slipped free.
The ritual chamber was freezing, far colder than moonstone walls should allow. The scent of herbs and silver filled the air. Tools clinked softly as they were laid out.
“Stay still,” a nurse murmured. “It will be over soon.”
The sedative hadn’t fully taken hold.
I felt everything.
Every pull. Every burn.
I bit my lip until blood filled my mouth, swallowing the sob I refused to release.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered silently. “I’m sorry, little one.”
You weren’t born of love.
You were an obligation—a demand from an Alpha’s bloodline.
I couldn’t bring you into a den where your father would never look at you the way he looked at another.
Letting you go… was the only mercy I had left.
***
When I woke, the pain was dull but constant.
My stomach felt hollow—empty in a way that went beyond flesh.
No one sat beside my bed.
Not even him.
I hadn’t expected him to come.
But somewhere deep inside, I had hoped.
Reality answered clearly.
Haldrick never came.
Not for the blood.
Not for the screams.
Not for the life he never knew existed.
My communicator buzzed on the bedside table.
A new post from Danella.
With shaking fingers, I opened it.
The images sliced through me.
There they were—Danella and Haldrick at Moonfall Glades, wearing matching enchanted ears shaped like cartoon mice. He was smiling, laughing softly as she clung to his arm.
They looked happy.
I remembered begging him once.
“Please, Haldrick,” I’d laughed. “Just once. I want to go to Moonfall Glades. I want the silly headbands and overpriced sugarfloss.”
He’d always frowned. “That place is childish.”
Yet here he was.
For her.
My chest tightened until I couldn’t breathe.
Letting go of Haldrick hurt like tearing out my own spine.
He wasn’t just my mate.
He was my childhood longing, my teenage dream, my entire youth bound to one cold Alpha.
But I was done lying to myself.
I pitied myself.
I turned off the screen, catching my reflection—pale, hollow-eyed, lifeless.
A new message arrived.
From the legal scribe.
[The dissolution of the mating bond is nearly complete. We can arrange the final signing tomorrow.]
I stared at the words.
And for the first time—
I didn’t cry.
