CHAPTER 3: Blythe Everard POV

"You’ve finally made up your mind to sever the bond?" Alwyn Rooke asked tentatively, keeping his silver-streaked eyes on the road ahead while guiding the crimson sports machine through the snow-bound pass of the Frostmere Border Territory.

Alwyn was her childhood packmate, an Alpha-born wolf from a high-ranking family who had watched her waste her youth inside the Northcott domain.

"I have never been more certain of anything in my life," Blythe Everard said, a light smile gracing her lips the moment she stepped away from the Silvermere Moon Estate.

She was a breathtaking female, and that simple smile seemed to instantly burn away six long years of lingering darkness, illuminating her sharp, royal features with newfound strength. Her inner wolf stretched inside her chest, howling with a fierce, long-denied hunger for freedom.

Alwyn let out a heavy breath, shaking his head. "I honestly thought you would let that mate bond drag you into the ground. I’ve been sick with worry for six years. What did you ever see in that cold, ruthless High Alpha anyway?"

Blythe gave a sharp, self-deprecating nod. "I ask myself the same thing. Why was I so blind?"

"At least your eyes are open now," Alwyn continued with a dry chuckle, trying to cut through the heavy tension. "Another six years under Honoria’s thumb and your fur would have turned grey before your time. I even had a backup plan—if Caspian threw you out when we were old and broken, I’d reluctantly take you into my pack house as a companion. We grew up hunting in the same woods, after all."

Blythe rolled her golden eyes at him, a genuine flash of warmth hitting her chest. "Keep your mouth shut and drive, Alwyn."

"Right, right. By the way, here is the official Moon-Bond Dissolution scroll you asked me to draft," Alwyn said, reaching into his leather jacket to pull out a rolled parchment bound with black silk. "Review the pack covenants."

Blythe accepted the heavy parchment, unrolling it with steady fingers and skimming the formal runes. "I am taking nothing from High Alpha Caspian Northcott. I owe his bloodline nothing, and I refuse to let him hold a single copper over my head in the future."

Without an ounce of hesitation, she unsheathed her small silver dagger, cut her index finger, and pressed her blood-seal firmly into the wax at the bottom of the scroll.

Alwyn watched her blood mark take hold, his smile widening. "Not a second of regret. That’s the Everard Luna I remember."

Blythe wiped the thin line of red from her skin, her eyes turning cold and focused. "Take me straight to the Silverfang Healing Sanctuary."

"As you command, Sovereign."

The highest tower of the Silverfang Healing Sanctuary was reserved strictly for Alpha elites and wounded leaders.

Blythe reached Room 1203, stepping past the armored guards who dared not bar the path of a recognized Luna. She pushed the heavy oak door open without knocking, her boots clicking sharply against the cold stone floor.

On the raised bed draped in furs, Calista Veyne gasped in sudden terror. The delicate, pale wolf shrank back into her bedding, her eyes brimming with tears as she cowered like a frightened pup.

High Alpha Caspian Northcott, standing beside the hearth, turned instantly. His jaw hardened, his amber eyes dropping into a dangerous, predatory glare. "Why are you here, Blythe?"

Blythe slowly drew the blood-sealed scroll from her suit jacket and tossed it onto the heavy table between them. "Sign the Moon-Bond Dissolution, and I will vanish from your sight immediately."

Caspian glanced down at the official pack scroll, his expression darkening into pure thunder. The dominant pressure in the room surged, threatening to force any lesser wolf to their knees. "You dare bring dissolution papers here?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Blythe tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear, offering him a faint, razor-sharp smile. "It has been six grueling years for you, Caspian. Signing this frees your pack from my presence and releases you to your former fated bond. You should be thanking me."

Caspian’s golden eyes narrowed into thin, lethal slits. His chest heaved as he stared at her, trying to decipher what game his quiet, submissive Luna was playing.

"Caspian..." Calista whispered weakly from the bed, her fragile voice breaking through the heavy silence. "Please... my head hurts..."

The weak cry pulled Caspian's attention back to the bed for a split second. His Adam's apple bobbed as he looked from Calista’s tear-stained face back to Blythe’s impassive mask. "We will settle this back at the Everard Alpha Tower. Get out now. Do not disturb Calista while her wolf is recovering."

Blythe let out a soft laugh that carried no warmth whatsoever. "I am entirely serious, High Alpha. You are bringing your former fated into the main estate today anyway. Why delay the inevitable? Sign it now, and I will be out of your territory forever."

"Blythe. Everard," Caspian growled, his voice dropping an octave, heavy with a dangerous warning that made the air freeze.

"What's wrong, Caspian?" Blythe stepped closer, her posture radiating absolute authority. "She is watching you right now. Is it possible... that after six years of ignoring me, your wolf has actually grown attached to mine, and you can't bear to break the bond?"

Calista looked up at Caspian with panicked, wide eyes, searching his harsh face for any sign of hesitation. "Caspian... what is she saying?"

Caspian’s jaw twitched, his pride pushed to the absolute limit by Blythe's taunt before his entire pack. He snatched the quill from the desk, slashed his own finger, and slammed his blood-seal onto the scroll alongside hers.

"It is done," Caspian snapped, throwing the parchment back at her. "Get out."

Blythe grabbed the finalized dissolution scroll, her smile bright and untamed. Without a single word of farewell, she turned her back on him and walked out of the room, her boots echoing down the corridor.

The moment the heavy double doors of the sanctuary closed behind her, cold tears spilled over her lashes, streaming silently down her pale cheeks.

Six years of a cold, unyielding marriage. Eight years of loving a male whose eyes only ever reflected another female. All reduced to a single drop of blood on an ancient scroll.

Her heart felt as though a silver blade were turning inside it, tearing through muscle and bone with relentless pain. She pressed a hand against her chest, struggling to catch her breath as her inner wolf whimpered in grief.

She forced herself to walk down the stone steps toward Alwyn’s waiting transport, wiping the moisture from her face with a furious stroke of her hand. She was an Everard. She would not bow her head in front of the pack that had discarded her.

Alwyn opened the door for her, his eyes softening as he noticed the red rims of her eyes, though he wisely said nothing.

Blythe slid into the leather seat, resting her head against the headrest as the sports car roared back onto the mountain highway, leaving the Silverfang Healing Sanctuary far behind.

Her encrypted comms device buzzed again in her pocket.

Blythe pulled out the sleek black device, expecting another formal notice from the Pack Council regarding the territory borders. Instead, an unknown, high-priority frequency flashed across the screen, displaying a private mind-link transcription originating from the deepest vault of the Elderfang Research Hall.

She tapped the glowing rune, opening the voice file.

Professor Ambrose Fenwick’s gravelly, frantic voice echoed softly through the small speaker:

"Sovereign Everard... if you receive this message, it means High Alpha Caspian has signed the dissolution. You must return to the Everard Alpha Tower immediately. The six-year-old silver-poisoning logs for Calista Veyne were forged. The blood sample that saved her life six years ago did not come from a voluntary donor—it was forcibly harvested from your late father's fallen body, and Caspian Northcott knew it all along!"