Chapter 2

Jade lunged at me.

I slapped her across the face before she could land a hand on me. The crack echoed through the room.

"You know exactly what you are," I said coldly. "Pursuing another woman's mate. Destroying a bonded family. And you have the nerve to cry victim?"

Alistair burst in. He shoved himself between us, his body shielding mine. His eyes locked onto Jade with pure ice.

But Jade had no fear left. She threw herself at him.

And kissed him.

Right on the lips. Quick. Light. Like a whisper.

My mind went blank.

Then I heard her speak, her voice trembling with false innocence.

"Alistair... I was the most sought-after female in training. So many wolves wanted me. Don't tell me you never felt anything."

I raised my hand to hit her again.

Alistair caught my wrist.

He held it there. Frozen.

Seconds passed. Then he turned to Jade, his voice hoarse.

"You don't deserve her shadow."

He released my wrist, grabbed a quill holder from the desk, and hurled it at her. It struck her forehead. Blood ran down her brow.

"That's what you get for touching what is mine."

He wrapped his arm around me and led me out.

But the moment we stepped outside my quarters, he let go.

He turned his back to me and lit a cigarette.

"Selene. Go home. I have work at the pack house tonight."

The words stuck in my throat.

All I could manage was a single sound. "Fine."

That night, Alistair came to bed late. He closed his eyes and moved against me with more desperation than I had ever felt from him.

When it was over, he slept.

And in his sleep, he whispered. "Jade..."

I went stiff. I pulled myself from his arms and stared at the ceiling.

Ten years of knowing this wolf. Eight years bonded.

I thought of how he had broken thirty-three bones defending me from rogues. How he had nearly died in the avalanche to dig me out. How he had once left an international Alpha summit mid-speech and flown across the ocean because I texted him that my stomach hurt.

Alistair had been good to me.

But now, even he did not realize it. His heart no longer belonged to me.

I watched the ceiling until dawn.

Then I sent a message to Dr. Zachary Thorne, the dean of the human medical college.

Dean Thorne. I accept your invitation. One month from now, I will join the Advanced Medical Fellowship.

Days passed. Neither of us spoke of what had happened. Our conversations grew shorter.

Then came the annual Great Pack Gathering. Selene and Alistair—the model Alpha and Luna—were invited to stand on the honor stage.

The crowd whispered. Such a perfect pair. Blessed by the Moon.

And then a young male wolf stormed onto the stage.

He swung his fist into Alistair's jaw.

"Alistair Blackthorn! You hypocrite! If you don't love Jade, why did you let her sacrifice everything for you?"

The crowd went silent.

The young wolf—Logan Ashford, a Beta known for his obsession with Jade—snarled with contempt.

"Remember the training grounds fire? She pulled you out. Burned half her leg. The scar is still there."

Jade lifted her skirt. A twisted, ugly scar ran from her knee to her ankle.

Beside her, Alistair's breath caught.

"The strategy that won you the Alpha's Laurel? She stayed up an entire month perfecting it. You took all the credit."

"Your seat on the Elder Council? She begged for it. She knelt. She wept."

"Alistair, everything you are today—you owe to Jade Moonshadow. Not your Luna."

The crowd erupted in gasps.

I stepped forward. My voice was quiet but clear.

"She did all of that without being asked. Without his consent. If Jade uses her uninvited sacrifices to blackmail my mate, that is not devotion. That is extortion."

Logan opened his mouth to argue.

Jade grabbed his arm, tears streaming down her face. "Stop, Logan. She's right. I shouldn't have hoped... I shouldn't have loved him. It was my choice. I expect nothing in return."

Logan's eyes welled. "You're too good for him, Jade."

Then Alistair spoke. His voice was steady.

"Selene is right. She is my Luna. She was. She is. She always will be."

His hand was firm. His voice was certain.

But I felt his arm tremble.

And when his eyes drifted to Jade, just for an instant, there was something there he could not name.

My heart twisted. Even now. Even knowing I was leaving.

Then came the crack.

Above us, the massive ceremonial chandelier groaned. Stones and iron began to rain down.

I closed my eyes.

Alistair shoved me—hard—away from the falling wreckage.

And then he ran.

Not toward me.

Toward Jade.

Crash.

The chandelier shattered beside me. Glass and stone tore into my arms and face. Through blurred vision, I saw Alistair's body curled over Jade, shielding her completely. The main beam had struck his back.

Jade sobbed beneath him, barely scratched.

Around me, voices I could barely hear:

"Jade only scraped her knee. Why is the Alpha using every healer on her?"

"His Luna is bleeding out! Someone get help!"

Then darkness.

I woke in the pack healer's den.

Outside the curtain, young nurses whispered.

"Did you hear? Alistair fractured his spine protecting Jade. He can barely walk."

"And he's been feeding her soup, holding her hand. His own Luna hasn't seen him once."

"Maybe Jade is his true mate after all. They look so right together."

Hours later, Alistair came to my bedside.

He held a bowl of soup—half empty.

"Selene. Drink."

I knocked it out of his hand. It splattered across the floor.

"I don't want what someone else has already tasted."

His face crumbled. "Selene. I'm sorry. Jade saved my life once. I only repaid the debt. I had to. It's what any honorable wolf would do."

"But I swear. Nothing like this will ever happen again."

I laughed.

Not a happy laugh.

I pulled the Severance papers from beneath my pillow. I had hidden them there before the ceremony.

"Sign this."

He didn't even look. He signed.

I smiled.

If he had opened the first page, he would have seen. This was not a permission slip for medical treatment.

This was the end of us.

He said he wanted to make it up to me. He booked a trip to the northern hot springs.

But at the airport, his phone rang.

Jade. Sobbing that she was alone. That she was afraid.

Alistair hung up. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Selene. Urgent pack business. I'll meet you there."

I waited from dawn until dusk.

He never came.

Jade posted a photo. Two hands intertwined. On his wrist, the red cord I had tied for luck—a Luna's blessing.

My heart confessed. Eight years of waiting. Finally answered.

I liked the post.

He called. I didn't answer.

The sky grew dark. Rain began to fall.

I went home. To my mother.

Elara Nightshade opened the door. She didn't ask questions. She just poured me a bowl of hot soup.

Halfway through, she said quietly.

"A wolf who changes his heart cannot be chained."

My hand froze on the bowl.

"Your father was the same. He chose another woman. I begged. I fought. In the end, he still left."

I remembered telling Alistair that story years ago. He had wept. He had pulled me into his arms and sworn he would never be that wolf.

He had lied.

My mother took my hand.

"Whatever you decide, I am your shield."

The tears came. Hot. Unstoppable.

I pulled out the Severance papers—the ones Alistair had signed without reading.

"Mother. I already have the answer."

I sent word to the elders.

Sixteen hours later, the bond would be severed.

I watched the clock.

When the time came, my wolf lunged inside me. A tearing pain. A ripping at the very core of my soul.

Then—nothing.

The weight that had pressed on my chest for eight years vanished.

I was free.