Chapter 4

Over the next eleven days, I registered Mara as an employee, prepared a guest room, and arranged a New Year’s Eve welcome dinner in honor of the woman who had saved our Alpha’s life.

Everyone decided I had accepted the situation.

As the days passed and I kept cooperating, even Rowan’s unease faded.

On the afternoon of December thirty-first, a royal courier delivered the last of my documents.

I carried the folder to Rowan’s study. Before I reached the door, I heard his mother.

“I thought Elena might make a scene. I even worried she would dissolve the mating.”

“Three years ago, she never would have accepted this so easily.”

Rowan was quiet for a moment.

“She hasn’t changed. She loves me. She knows I only feel responsible for Mara.”

He sounded certain.

“Elena gets angry. She gets hurt. But she won’t leave me.”

His mother laughed softly.

“She’s finally learned what it means to be a proper Luna.”

I remained outside.

Neither of them knew that once these papers were sealed, I would leave Blood Moon for good.

Eleven days earlier, Nina had delivered my reply to the royal court. Since then, the King had approved my appointment, and the Chancery had completed its preliminary review of my transfer and dissolution petition.

Royal law allowed a wolf transferring permanently to royal jurisdiction to petition independently for the dissolution of a mating. For the papers to take effect through this process, Rowan still had to sign.

Until then, I could not let him guess what I intended.

That evening, he brought a blue gift box to my room.

Inside lay a new moonstone amulet. Its stone was clearer than the one Noah wore, surrounded by tiny silver-white diamonds. The back was blank.

“For our next baby.”

He placed it in my palm.

“No name this time. We’ll choose together when it happens.”

I shut the box and set it on the table.

“There are a few documents for tonight that need your approval.”

I handed him the folder.

The dinner budget and guest list came first. Then Mara’s employee registration, Noah’s adoption and registration as first heir, and the security arrangements for the evening.

The final document was my application for permanent transfer, dissolution of mating, and surrender of Luna authority.

I had handled the administrative work for years. Rowan never read every page. He signed wherever I marked.

“You checked everything?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t turn back through the folder.

He signed each page in succession and added his blood seal wherever an Alpha’s authorization was required.

Then he handed it back.

“I always know I can trust you with this.”

I took the papers.

The last authorization was in place.

After dinner, Mara approached with a glass of wine.

“Luna, thank you for welcoming us.”

She bowed close enough to murmur in my ear.

“Noah has the name you chose, the amulet you made, and the inheritance. All you have left is a title. How sad.”

She stepped back wearing the same deferential smile.

She thought she had taken everything that mattered.

But she was counting the possessions of Blood Moon’s Luna.

I would not be that woman much longer.

When the guests had gone, Rowan unfastened the Luna’s badge from my dress and placed it in my jewelry box.

“Finally. Everyone’s settled.”

“Get some rest. I have a little work to finish.”

He kissed my forehead and left.

An hour before midnight, I took the signed documents to the elders’ hall. The Chancery’s representative was waiting.

As the New Year bells rang, the elders’ seal and the royal seal were pressed onto the page.

My name was removed from Blood Moon’s register. My authority as Luna ended. The pack link fell silent in my mind.

Legally, the mating was over.

The final thread of the bond would break when I crossed the territorial boundary.

I rested a hand over my baby.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m taking you home.”

At one in the morning on New Year’s Day, I returned to the pack house with the completed papers.

I left the badge, my mating ring, the keys, and the new amulet behind.

At dawn, I stepped beyond Blood Moon’s border.

Pain burned across my chest. The mating mark slowly faded from my skin.

At that same moment, Rowan was carrying cinnamon rolls and warm milk to our room.

The mark on his wrist began to burn.

Pain tore through him. He shoved open the bedroom door.

“Elena?”

No answer.

On the table lay the keys, the Luna’s badge, my ring, and the dissolution papers bearing both seals.

The cinnamon rolls fell from his hands, scattering across the floor.