Se connecterDamon’s POV. Departing from the pack for three days was supposed to be just a routine task. I told everyone I needed to check the outer border regions where rogue activity had begun to show irregularities again. It wasn’t anything new. I had dealt with much worse situations before, and I never needed to explain where I was going or why to anyone. I always made decisions based on what needed to be done, not on emotions or attachments. And yet, the moment I crossed beyond the pack perimeter, something felt different. Everything I had left behind was fine. Patrols continued, reports came in, and communications stayed intact. The system didn’t break in my absence, but something in me didn’t feel as steady as I usually did. Haliyah remained behind. That fact wasn’t something I should care about. She wasn’t part of the border operation. Her presence in the pack was unrelated to my work. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she wasn’t there with me. It kept bothering me, eve
Damon’s POV. Leaving was always something I had been good at. Not in the physical sense alone, though that was part of it, but in the way I could detach myself from situations before they became too complicated Distance had always been my preferred method of staying in control. When something became unstable, I removed myself from its influence, allowed time and space to flatten what intensity couldn’t be resolved in the moment, and returned only when things were clear again. It was efficient and clean. It worked. At least, it used to. But standing in front of Haliyah now, I could feel that system failing. She wasn’t something that became easier with distance. If anything, she stayed in my thoughts more the further I tried to step away. That wasn’t the part I was used to dealing with. The persistence of her presence in my awareness even when she wasn’t physically in front of me was beginning to break the control I was used to having for years. She had asked me why I reacted earl
Haliyah’s POV. The silence that followed the council gathering didn’t feel like an ending so much as a suspended breath that no one had decided to release yet. Even after the formal session dissolved and the Elder Council members began filtering out of the hall, the atmosphere remained charged. I noticed the multiple pairs of eyes looking at Damon. Some conversations remained unfinished, and others felt careful like no one wanted to say the wrong thing after what they had just witnessed. What happened between Damon and Raven wasn’t officially talked about. That was how the council would frame it later if anyone asked— an interruption, a breach of decorum. But labels didn’t change the reality of what I had seen. I had always known Damon as controlled. Even when he was distant or cold, there was discipline behind everything he did. He didn’t allow emotion to dictate behavior. That was the version of him I had built my understanding around. But what I saw today didn’t fit neatly into
Damon’s POV. I stared blankly out the car window while Ford drove in silence beside me, just as lost in thought as I was after everything he had learned. Just as I expected, his world had collapsed upon discovering the truth that Hailey, the woman he admired, and Haliyah, the one he knew as Luna, were the same person. As for me, I couldn’t find any peace. I was worried about where Haliyah had gone or whether she had made it home safely. The memory of what happened earlier replayed in my mind like a curse. Raven and I argued over who would take Haliyah home, but she rejected both of us and walked away without a second glance. We were like tamed wolves, instantly made to obey her. We tried to catch up to her, but she disappeared before either of us could find her. The tension between Raven and me remained heavy until we finally went our separate ways. The only advantage he had over me was that he and Haliyah lived under the same roof in the pack house because, legally, they were sti
Haliyah’s POV. “What are you implying?” Raven’s tone carried a threat in response to what Damon had said. Even I, still reeling from Damon’s words, found myself waiting for his reply. “You lost the right to call her your wife the moment you forgot how to treat her like one,” he said. “At that point, you already forfeited whatever claim you think you still have.” But instead of clarity, his answer only deepened my confusion. It was far from what I expected to hear. Raven’s jaw flexed. “You don’t know anything about our relationship.” My heart pounded loudly in my chest, my gaze darting between the two men. The air around us felt suffocating. I didn’t expect Damon to push this far, or Raven to look this unhinged. “I know enough,” Damon replied coolly. “You’re ignoring what’s right in front of you. She doesn’t want you anymore, Raven.” “That’s not your call to make.” “Then, whose is it?” Damon challenged. “Yours? Because from where I’m standing, you’ve been making the wrong one
Haliyah’s POV. I walked fast out of the mall, my chest constricting with anger after being triggered by Raven. He had taken me to the store where I used to love shopping, deliberately reminding me of our past there. It was the same store where we bought our wedding rings, even my wedding gown and his suit. And even though I hated that those memories still affected me, I couldn’t escape the truth that it was a place filled with beautiful moments for us, nothing like the ugliness Raven had etched into my heart and mind after betraying me. Ever since I caught him cheating with Cassandra and discovered the cruel things they did behind my back, I forced myself to erase and forget every good thing they had ever done and every happy memory I shared with them. What Raven did to me was unforgivable. I had done nothing wrong to him. My only mistake was loving him blindly for five years. And now that everything between us was completely shattered, beyond repair, that was when he started acti
Haliyah’s POV. “Raven planned it…” When Cassandra said those words, it felt like the ground vanished beneath my feet. My father’s death wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t fate. It was a deliberate murder. I stared at her, my mind struggling to accept the truth she had just thrown at me. My father
Haliyah’s POV.I ran my fingers over the rope I had cut from old supplies, checking the small lockpick I had fashioned in secret, and tested the window latch I had loosened. Everything was ready. I just had to wait for the right moment. I could almost taste freedom.I exhaled slowly, steadying my n
Haliyah’s POV.The door slammed shut behind me with a thud. The sound echoed through the hallway, while I just stood there, staring at the wooden door in front of me. The click of the bolt sliding into place sounded louder like a cage closing.Raven’s Beta didn’t meet my eyes when he pushed me insi
Raven’s POV. “I said… I want a divorce.” The word divorce hit me like a hard slap across the face. For a second, my mind went blank. I stared at Haliyah, standing in front of me with that pale face and those swollen eyes, and waited for her to take it back and apologize. But she didn’t. My brow







