LOGINAdrian never contacted me directly again after Oslo. The calls stopped. The messages stopped. Six months later, Vito sent a brief note through pack lawyers confirming that the public Luna recognition had been dissolved, Matteo's trust had been restored under separate management for Bianca and Sophia, and Noah's interests would be protected independently from the severance proceedings.It was formal, clean, and free of apology. That was how old wolves like Vito admitted defeat.I signed where I needed to sign and sent the papers back.A year after I left Blackwater, a pack attorney arrived in Oslo with a sealed envelope, a revised will, and a letter in Adrian's handwriting.I almost refused to take it. Then I saw the way the attorney held the documents and understood this wasn't another attempt to drag me into a conversation. It was an ending.The letter was short.Evelyn, By the time this reaches you, I'll already be gone.I told no one about the wolfsbane sickness until it became impo
By late afternoon the next day, Adrian stood across the street from Skadi Medical Research in Oslo. The building was all glass and pale stone. He waited in the cold for hours, coat collar up, eyes fixed on the doors. Every wolf who passed knew he was an Alpha. Every wolf also knew he had no welcome here.When I finally came out, Noah was beside me with his hand tucked into mine, talking about dinner and whether I would make salmon or pasta. He sounded ordinary. Safe.Then Adrian said my name.I turned. He looked thinner than I remembered, not tragic, just stripped down, as if the past two weeks had peeled away everything that once read as ease.Noah froze."What are you doing here?" I asked."Taking you home."The answer came too quickly, and he knew it was wrong the second it landed between us.I almost smiled. "Home?"Adrian swallowed. "Evelyn, listen to me. I ended it with Bianca. She's out of the packhouse. The trust is being rewritten. The recognition is being undone as far as the
That night, Adrian let memory do what shame hadn't managed yet.Ten years earlier, Matteo had just died and Blackwater was drowning in grief, debt, and Council threats. Adrian had gone down to the river cliffs drunk enough to shift wrong and break his own neck. He had stood above the black water with no real reason to step back.I had been there by accident, a temporary legal strategist sent by Vito's firm to keep the Council from tearing the pack apart. When Adrian slipped, I grabbed him. When he fought me, I cursed him. When he nearly went over again, I wrapped my coat around both of us and sat with him until dawn because I was too stubborn to leave a grieving wolf to die just because he had made a spectacle of wanting to.Later, when he pursued me, Vito objected. So Vito tested me with a hostile negotiation, a pack scandal, and a medical fund no one wanted to touch. I solved all three. After that, there was no keeping me outside the door.Over the years, Adrian had stopped noticing
The doorbell rang while Adrian was still staring at the papers.Hope hit him first. He was on his feet before thought caught up, already imagining Noah's running steps and my fury on the other side of the door.Instead, Bianca walked in wearing white, the moonstone still at her throat and that soft little smile women wear when they think the room already belongs to them."I heard you left the review," she said. Then she saw the papers. "Evelyn left?"Adrian said nothing.Her surprise lasted one second. "Well, that solves one problem."Adrian looked up."Blackwater has already seen me at your side," she said, stepping farther into my house. "They saw the moonstone, the head table, the Council registration. If Evelyn is gone, stop fighting what already happened. Make the recognition permanent."When she reached for his arm, he jerked away. "Don't touch me."Bianca frowned. "What's wrong with you?""My mate cut our bond, took my son, and left this house with severance papers on the table.
Liv met us outside the Oslo terminal, took one look at my face and Noah's swollen eyes, and asked nothing. She took a suitcase from me, wrapped her scarf around Noah's shoulders, and drove us into Skadi territory.It smelled of snow, pine, clean stone, and wolves who didn't know me as Adrian's Luna. The quiet should have frightened me. Instead, it gave my wolf room to breathe.The townhouse Liv had arranged stood on a narrow street lined with pale facades and bare trees. When she opened the door, the lights came on all at once.Noah stopped in the entryway.A deep blue piano stood in the living room beside a new scooter, a boxed racing set, and a birthday cake with his name written in white icing.I knelt beside him. "Happy birthday, baby. I know I'm late."His lips trembled before he threw himself into my arms. "You did all this for me?""Yes." I held the back of his head. "I should've done more sooner.""No," he said, crying into my shoulder. "This is the best birthday ever. You're h
After the banquet, Adrian caught my wrist in the corridor outside the hall. "Listen to me.""About what? Why you handed my place to another woman in front of the pack? Or why you thought I would keep understanding you forever?"His grip tightened just enough for my wolf to bare her teeth. "Before Matteo died, he begged me to protect Bianca and Sophia. The Council challenge is still active, and rogues are watching the southern border. I had to make them look protected. I didn't do this because I love her.""So you hid it from me.""I knew you wouldn't agree."I almost smiled. "You weren't afraid I'd refuse, Adrian. You knew it was wrong, so you made sure I never got a choice."His jaw hardened. "When the challenge is over, everything goes back to normal. You'll still be my mate. You'll still be Luna.""But tonight everyone saw who stood at your right hand."Before I could walk away, Bianca came toward us with pity painted on her face."Don't be so sensitive, Evelyn. Every pack needs bot







