Chapter 4

To avoid Silas interfering, I moved out of the apartment early and stayed in a hotel a few blocks from City Hall.

I did not expect the first call would be from Iris Nightingale.

I had heard her voice in Silas’ phone before, soft and gentle, like moonlight grass swaying in the wind. This time it was different.

“Calla Hayes,” she said, her voice cold. “You gave way five times. Don’t you see who he really loves?”

I did not answer.

“The first time you said he was soft. The second time you said he had no choice. The third time you said it would be the last.” She laughed lightly. “Five times. How long will you keep lying to yourself?”

I gripped my phone tightly.

“Do you know why he chooses you each time?” Iris continued. “Because I need him. You don’t need me. You have your own territory, your own pack, the Hale Pack supporting you. I have nothing.”

“So?” I asked.

“So he will never choose you,” she said evenly. “He will only temporarily place you in that position. When I truly need him, he will give it to me. Over and over. Haven’t you realized it?”

I closed my eyes. “You called just to say this?”

“I only want you to know,” Iris said softly. “You gave way five times, not to protect me. It is because he never truly put you first.”

The call ended.

I sat on the hotel bed as the screen went dark.

I did not cry. I had cried the first time I gave way. The third time I knelt before Silas, holding his legs, asking what I had done wrong. The fifth time I had learned to pack silently, expressionless.

Iris was wrong. I was not unaware. I just did not want to see it.

I did not sleep that night. I sat on the sofa and looked at the moon through the window. Moonlight poured in, bright and cold, filling the room like an ice cellar.

Tomorrow was the seventh day.

By then, Silas would expect me to return to the main house and take back everything I had given up: the Luna title, the protection, the residency rights, the medical access, and my seat in the council.

But I would not go back.

At seven in the morning, I took a taxi to the airport.

Silas had not sent a message. I tapped on his profile and deleted it.

I boarded the plane, phone in hand. A short message had just arrived: the mate bond release agreement had taken effect. It reminded me that I was no longer bound by the wrong mate and could start anew.

A sharp, hollow ache spread through my chest. The mate bond, the invisible line connecting our wolf souls, had been severed. Not a title, not a public role. It’s something deeper, something primal. My wolf stirred, whining low in my chest before settling into quiet resignation.

I pressed my forehead against the seat in front, biting my lip to swallow the pain. The plane hummed around me. Everything I had known, everything that had held me in place, had been cut away.

Then, a new message buzzed through. The screen lit up with his name.

“Calla. Where are you?”