The party music thumped through the floorboards beneath our feet. Laughter echoed up from the main hall where Rudy's birthday celebration was in full swing. Without us.
I pulled my old duffel bag from the closet—the same one I'd brought when I first came to the Blood Moon Pack as Elliot's mate. Back when I thought I was walking into a fairy tale.
"Just the essentials," Andie whispered, folding her pre-mating clothes with shaking hands. "Nothing they gave us."
I nodded, my throat too tight for words. The designer gowns Elliot had bought me stayed in the closet. The jewelry from our mating ceremony stayed in its velvet box. Even the Luna pendant—the symbol of my position—stayed on the dresser.
We were taking back only what had always been ours.
The guest room felt smaller than usual. They'd moved us here months ago when Zora complained that our "negative energy" was disturbing her sleep. The Alpha suite—my rightful place as Luna—had become Zora's sanctuary while we were relegated to quarters barely bigger than a servant's room.
"The letters," Andie said, her voice hollow.
I sat at the small desk, my hands trembling as I pulled out the formal parchment. The old laws were clear about rejection protocols. It had to be written in blood. It had to be witnessed by the Moon Goddess herself.
My pen hovered over the paper. Once I wrote these words, there would be no going back.
*I, Maddison Brooks Harrison, Luna of the Blood Moon Pack, formally reject the mate bond with Alpha Elliot Harrison...*
Each word felt like swallowing glass. The mate bond pulled at my chest, trying to stop me, but I kept writing. Beside me, Andie scratched out her own rejection, tears falling onto the parchment.
When we finished, I pulled out the ceremonial knife I'd hidden in my jewelry box. The silver blade gleamed in the lamplight.
"Together?" I asked.
Andie nodded. We pressed the blade to our palms simultaneously. The cut was shallow but deep enough. Blood welled up, bright red against our pale skin.
I pressed my palm to the bottom of my letter. The blood spread across the parchment like spilled wine. Andie did the same.
The moment our blood touched the paper, something shifted in the air. The mate bond flickered, like a candle in the wind.
"It's done," Andie whispered.
We bandaged our hands and sealed the letters in envelopes. Downstairs, the party continued. Zora's laughter rang out above the music, bright and victorious.
The Alpha's office was empty. Elliot was too busy celebrating with his precious sister to notice us slip inside. I placed both letters on his desk, right where he'd see them first thing in the morning.
My wedding photo stared at me from the corner of his desk. I looked so young in it. So hopeful. I turned it face down.
We grabbed our bags and walked toward the front door. The party sounds grew louder as we passed the main hall. Through the doorway, I caught a glimpse of Rudy on Elliot's shoulders, chocolate cake smeared across his face. Zora stood beside them, radiant in white, looking every inch the perfect Luna.
Nobody noticed us leave.
The night air hit my face like a slap. We walked down the long driveway in silence, our footsteps crunching on gravel. The pack house grew smaller behind us, its windows glowing warm and golden.
At the territory border, I stopped. This was it. Once we crossed this line, we'd be rogues. Packless. The mind-link would sever completely.
"Ready?" Andie asked.
I thought about Rudy's face when he'd destroyed my cake. About Elliot's smile when he'd praised our son for rejecting me. About four years of being invisible in my own home.
"Yes."
We stepped across the border together.
The pain hit like lightning. The mind-link snapped, sending agony shooting through my skull. I gasped, stumbling, but kept walking. Andie grabbed my arm, her face twisted in the same pain.
Behind us, the Blood Moon territory disappeared into darkness.
We didn't look back.
---
The next morning, I imagined Elliot finding our letters. I pictured him reading the formal words, seeing our bloody handprints.
But when Andie's phone buzzed with pack gossip from a friend still inside, the reality was worse than I'd expected.
"They're laughing," she said, her voice flat. "Elliot told the pack elders we're just throwing a tantrum. He said we'll be back in three days, begging for forgiveness."
My chest tightened. Even our rejection was a joke to him.
"Zora's playing the victim," Andie continued, scrolling through messages. "She's telling everyone we abandoned Rudy because we were jealous of her. The pack elders are eating it up."
I closed my eyes. Of course they were. Zora had always been the perfect victim, and we'd always been the convenient villains.
"They're not even looking for us," Andie whispered.
That hurt more than the severed bond. They weren't worried. They weren't concerned. They were just... relieved.
A week passed in a blur of pain and silence. The mate bond withdrawal felt like dying slowly. My wolf whimpered constantly, confused by the sudden emptiness where Elliot's presence used to be.
But it was Rudy who broke my heart completely.
Andie's friend sent updates. Rudy cried for me every night, asking where his mommy had gone. Zora tried to comfort him with candy and toys, but he wanted me.
Then came the message that shattered what was left of my soul.
*Elliot told Rudy you went on vacation because you were tired of him. The pup's been quiet ever since.*
I stared at the words until they blurred. Elliot had poisoned my son against me with a lie so cruel it took my breath away.
Tired of him. As if I could ever be tired of my own child.
"Maddie?" Andie's voice seemed to come from far away.
I looked up to find her watching me with worried eyes. We were sitting in the car outside our childhood home, the Moonstone Pack territory stretching out before us.
"We're home," she said softly.
Home. The word felt foreign after so many years away.
The front door opened, and Alpha Elena Brooks—our adoptive father—stepped onto the porch. His face crumpled when he saw us.
"My girls," he whispered, rushing down the steps.
He pulled us both into his arms, and for the first time in a week, I felt safe. His familiar scent wrapped around us like a blanket.
"Look at you," he murmured, his voice thick with tears. "So thin. So pale."
I caught my reflection in the car window. He was right. The mate bond withdrawal had hollowed out my cheeks and dimmed my eyes. I looked like a ghost of myself.
"Come inside," Elena said, guiding us toward the house. "You're home now. You're safe."
As we walked up the porch steps, I felt something I hadn't felt in years.
Peace.
But even as Elena fussed over us, making tea and calling the pack healer, one thought echoed in my mind.
Rudy thought I'd abandoned him because I was tired of him.
And somewhere in the Blood Moon territory, my son was learning to live without his mother.
