Chapter 3

After the documents were sent out via pack courier, the Alpha Council's reply came quickly:

[Luna Wren, the Mate Bond dissolution has been officially processed. It will take full effect on the next full moon, in two weeks' time. Both marks will fade naturally under the moonlight.]

I read the message, and something that had been lodged tight in my chest finally started to loosen.

When I got back to the pack house, the hallway was in chaos.

Servants were hauling my belongings out of the Alpha suite — box after box, stacked in the corner of the corridor. At the same time, Vivienne's clothes and personal items were being carried in.

The butler approached me, choosing his words carefully. "Luna, which room would you prefer? The east guest room has good natural light. I can have it prepared right away—"

"Don't bother."

I glanced at the boxes.

The moonstone candleholder — I'd searched through markets in three different packs before I found it. I'd thought it would catch the moonlight perfectly from the bedside window.

The calming incense I'd blended for Cain — I kept the exact ratios written in a notebook, batch by batch, because he was a light sleeper and even a fraction too strong would give him headaches.

The photograph on the wall, taken at the sacred lake during our first year together. One of the rare times he'd smiled.

"Get rid of all of it."

The butler opened his mouth, then closed it. He turned and went to make the arrangements.

Over the next few days, I shut myself in the small room that had been hastily cleared for me. I packed my things and quietly contacted Elder Seline for updates on Kingsley Pack.

My parents had been the Alpha and Luna of Kingsley Pack.

After they died in the aftermath of a territory war, my mother's sister, Elder Seline, had taken over as interim leader.

She'd been waiting for me to come back and take the Alpha position. But I'd turned her down — I'd been set on being Cain's Luna.

The day Cain recovered enough to return to the pack house, Vivienne came with him.

I heard them arrive. Didn't even look up.

The next few days were the same. I avoided them completely, treated them like they didn't exist.

I thought I could quietly wait out the remaining time until the mate bond dissolved on its own.

Then one night, I was ripped from sleep.

Cain's voice came down through the darkness — low, barely containing his fury.

"Wren, someone put wolfsbane in Vivienne's food."

"She's been here a few days and you're already pulling this?"

"Did you think she wouldn't dare tell me? That you could get away with anything?"

Before he finished, a slender figure appeared in the doorway.

Vivienne stood wrapped in Cain's jacket, face pale, her voice so soft it barely carried — as though she were afraid of disturbing something fragile.

"Alpha… it's really fine. It was just a little wolfsbane. I can handle it. Compared to what Luna used to do to me, this is nothing… Please don't blame her…"

"Compared to what I used to do" — what had I ever done? I had never laid a finger on her.

But Cain's eyes went colder.

I shoved his hand off me.

"I didn't do it. The pack house has surveillance crystals. Check them yourself."

"The servant already confessed." Cain's voice held no warmth whatsoever. "You ordered it."

He threw a half-empty bottle of wolfsbane at my feet. "This is the same type of bottle you use for your herb blends. What's left to explain?"

"Now apologize to Vivienne."

I looked at him.

Then I looked at the woman behind him — head bowed, eyes glistening, every word calculated to perfection.

I let out a short laugh.

I grabbed the bottle of wolfsbane and splashed it directly at Vivienne, right in front of Cain.

Vivienne shrieked, clutching her arm. Where the liquid hit her skin, red welts bloomed instantly.

I met Cain's stunned gaze.

"If I wanted to hurt her, I wouldn't bother sneaking around."

Then I walked past his darkened expression without a second glance, grabbed my jacket, and left the pack house.

My friend Bianca cursed the moment she got my message. Twenty minutes later, she showed up at a tavern outside the territory with a handful of friends.

She slammed her hand on the table before she even sat down. "A wolfsbane frame-up? Seriously? Buy off one servant and suddenly it's your fault? How stupid does Cain have to be to fall for that?"

Mara, sitting next to her, took a long pull of her drink and scoffed. "Wren, you were the Alpha's daughter of Kingsley Pack. You had suitors lined up from the east coast to the west. Who the hell does Cain Ashford think he is?"

"Exactly!" another friend chimed in. "You'll be better off without him."

They went back and forth, ripping into him with gleeful abandon. The pressure in my chest finally eased a little. I raised my glass, clinked it against theirs, and drained it.

When Bianca saw some color return to my face, she slung an arm around my shoulder and steered me toward the back. "Come on. There's a sparring match tonight — some young warriors going at it. Better than sitting here stewing."

They swept me through the crowd. I'd barely found my footing on the viewing platform beside the fighting pit when —

A bucket of ice water crashed down on me from above.

The burn of wolfsbane detonated across my skin — scalp to limbs — like a thousand white-hot needles driving into every inch of my body at once.

Drenched, I stood frozen in place.