Chapter 4

Claire's POV

My son was gone. I had fought so hard to save him, but I would never get the chance to hold him in my arms and show him just how much I loved him.

Then I remembered his last words to me.

Mama, you deserve to be loved, too.

Those words stayed with me long after the doctor left. For four years, I had tried to be a good wife to Ryan, endured his indifference, and put the pack's needs before my own. Were I asking for something I didn't deserve.

But my baby had been right. I deserved to be loved. And if I couldn't give myself a chance at a different life, who would?

I was going to try. For my son, and for the life he had wanted me to have. It was the least I could do to honor him and let him rest in peace.

After I was discharged, I printed a mate bond dissolution agreement and signed it. Then I returned to Ryan's house and packed two bags: clothes, my personal documents, and the small wooden comb my mother had given me years ago. I left the jewelry, the expensive dresses, and everything else that belonged to my life as Luna.

As I zipped the last bag, my phone lit up.

Sabrina had posted photographs from Reign's birthday.

In one, Ryan sat on the floor with his son in his lap, the wooden wolf resting in the boy's hands. In another, Sabrina leaned against Ryan's shoulder, all three of them smiling for the camera.

The comments were full of congratulations. People praised them as a perfect family and celebrated the Alpha's happiness. No one mentioned me.

I had been bleeding outside that very house while they celebrated inside.

I typed a comment beneath the photographs.

Congratulations, Ryan. You finally got the life you wanted.

Then I put my phone away, carried the signed mate bond dissolution agreement into the living room, and placed it in the center of the coffee table. He wouldn't have to search for it.

I picked up my bags and left.

The drive to the eastern border was short. At the gate, a young guard stepped in front of my car.

"Luna, I have to report your departure. Those are the Alpha's standing orders."

"Then report it."

He called Ryan and put the phone on speaker.

"Alpha, Luna Claire is at the east gate. She's trying to leave the pack."

A brief silence followed.

"I'm not involving myself in her affairs anymore. She can do whatever she wants." Ryan's voice was flat.

The call ended.

"You heard him," I said. "Open the gate." For the first time, I was grateful for Ryan's indifference. He had made it so easy for me to walk away.

The guard stepped aside.

I drove beyond the boundary of the pack, leaving behind the house where I had spent four years waiting for my husband to love me, the title I had worked to uphold, and the man who had refused to save our baby.

I didn't look back.

***

Ryan's POV

I had no intention of entertaining another argument about Claire's supposed pregnancy.

At first, I had believed Claire and agreed to mark her. But after the meeting, Sabrina showed me Claire's medical report. The pregnancy section looked altered, and with Sabrina pointing it out, I began to suspect Claire had fabricated the report to get me to mark her.

The suspicion quickly turned to anger. I had been willing to mark Claire to save our unborn child, only to realize she might have been lying to me all along. I wasn't going to let her get away with it.

When the guards called to report her departure, I gave them a direct answer and returned to what I was doing.

Funny. Was Claire trying to get something out of me by leaving? My sympathy, perhaps? If she wanted to leave, let her. I wouldn't waste the pack's time chasing after her. She would come back. She always did. In four years, Claire had never managed to stay away from me.

But her silence began to bother me.

She had stopped calling. No messages, no attempts to reach me through the mind link. Nothing.

I noticed it most in the quiet moments, when I reached for my phone out of habit and found no new messages from her.

I told myself there was no reason to contact her. There was nothing more to discuss.

Still, I found myself pacing near the window at Sabrina's house, unable to settle down. Was this because of Claire? If so, what had four years of marriage done to me? If not, then what was wrong with me? The pack's affairs were running smoothly. I had no reason to feel this restless, yet the unease persisted.

Sabrina entered the room with Reign on her hip. "Come and play with us," she said, guiding the boy toward me. "He's been asking for you all morning."

"Of course," I said. The son Sabrina had brought back into my life. Whatever else was going on, being his father was something I could at least get right.

I'd spent the past several months learning how to be a father to him.

I lifted him briefly, kissed his forehead.

But I had to admit, I wasn't in the mood to play. Even as Reign tugged at my sleeve, eager for my attention, my thoughts kept drifting elsewhere.

"Go play for a while, son."

He toddled toward the wooden figures on the rug. Sabrina watched me, her smile fading.

"What's wrong, Ryan? You've barely been here with us today."

"Nothing you need to worry about." I glanced toward the window again. "I have something to take care of."

"Is this about Claire?" Her voice tightened. "After everything she's done, you're still thinking about her?"

I turned to face her.

"Claire is my responsibility to deal with. You don't need to concern yourself with her."

Sabrina fell silent. I could see that she wanted to argue, but I had no intention of letting this become another discussion about Claire. I had made my own choices, and I would decide what to do next.

"I need some air," I said, and left the house.

The cold air cleared my head, but it didn't quiet the memory that had been following me for days.

Claire had been crying, begging me to come home and mark her. She had said our baby was running out of time.

I had dismissed her words because of the report. At the time, it had seemed straightforward. Now, with no new calls and no sign of her, I found myself replaying that conversation.

I took out my phone and opened her contact.

My thumb hovered over the call button.

What would I say? That I was willing to listen to her explain herself again? Or why had she gone silent for days? I had already made my position clear, and I wasn't prepared to pretend otherwise.

I locked the screen.

Claire had always been capable of handling herself. She had managed her duties as Luna for four years without needing my help. She would be fine.

I started back toward the house, intending to put the matter aside. Then I checked the date on my phone.

Seven days.

I stopped walking.

Seven days had passed since Claire stood in my office and told me she was pregnant—and that without my mark, our baby would miscarry within a week.

Now, I was haunted by terrifying what-ifs. What if Claire had been telling the truth? What if our baby really had been running out of time, and I had turned her away when she needed me most?

For the first time, I couldn't push the thought aside.