Chapter 3

Kieran returned to the cottage shortly after sunrise, with Talia walking beside him.

I had already sealed the last travel case. Two larger trunks stood near the door, each marked with a silver crescent from the Moon Council’s transport office.

Kieran noticed them immediately.

“So you finally decided to move into Alpha House.”

Relief softened his expression, as if my silence the night before had been agreement rather than exhaustion. He stepped inside without waiting for an invitation and looked around the nearly empty room.

“I knew you would calm down once you had time to think.”

Talia remained by the doorway. Her gaze moved from the bare shelves to the folded cloak on top of my case.

“I hope this means there are no hard feelings,” she said. “The scent ward was only a misunderstanding. Kieran registered me because I needed access for pack work. It was never meant to replace you.”

Kieran nodded, apparently satisfied with her explanation.

“I’ll have your scent added today. The mating ceremony will proceed as planned, and the house staff can move the rest of your belongings before the end of the week.”

I fastened the final brass clasp.

“There’s no need.”

His brows drew together.

“The Council transport is already arranged,” I added.

He glanced at the crescent marks and misunderstood again.

“Good. Their carriers are more careful than ours.”

Talia smiled. “Then I suppose we should let Mara finish packing.”

Kieran came closer and lowered his voice.

“We’ll discuss boundaries after you settle in. Talia will still need access to the council rooms, but I’ll make certain she respects your position.”

My position. The one he had handed away piece by piece, then offered to restore as though it were a favor.

“I understand,” I said.

That answer pleased him. He touched my shoulder, brief and possessive.

“I have a border meeting. Come to Alpha House before dinner.”

He left with Talia, neither of them asking why I had packed the winter blankets, my mother’s letters, or every book I owned.

An hour later, the Council vehicle I had arranged stopped outside the cottage.

The approval had arrived before dawn. Before signing the final departure record, I checked every detail.

My future Luna registration had been withdrawn. The mating ceremony had been canceled. Silvercrest’s acceptance seal confirmed my destination.

There was no space for Kieran’s signature. Without permanent marks, I did not need his permission to leave.

I signed my name and handed over the record.

The two warded carriers loaded my trunks into the vehicle.

I placed Kieran’s gifts on the kitchen table: the moonstone bracelet he gave me after our first anniversary, the ceremonial comb intended for our mating night, and the key to Alpha House that had never once opened its front door for me.

There was no note.

Anything I wrote would become another argument he believed he could win.

The pack steward arrived before noon. His eyes widened when I handed him the cottage key.

“Does Alpha Kieran know you’re leaving?”

“He knows I packed.”

That was the truth, even if it was not the answer he expected.

At the northern gate, a Council escort checked my permit and pressed it against the boundary ward. Pale light spread across the carved stones, temporarily releasing me from Blackridge’s territorial bond.

Behind me stood the pack where I had spent six years waiting to be chosen.

Ahead, the road curved toward Silvercrest.

I stepped across the boundary without looking back.

By then, Kieran was probably giving orders for my rooms in Alpha House to be prepared.

He would not learn until dinner that I was never coming.

The second bottle of moonwine had already been opened in the private lounge at Alpha House.

Mason leaned back on the sofa, laughing so hard that he nearly spilled his drink.

“Kieran, I’ll give you this. Six months ago, Mara would have torn that ward out of the doorway if she found out Talia could enter before she could.”

One of the others lifted his glass. “And last night, she didn’t even make a scene.”

“Looks like she finally learned,” another man said.

Kieran stood beside the fireplace, slowly turning the whiskey in his glass. His expression remained calm, but he made no attempt to hide his satisfaction.

“She used to turn everything into an argument.”

Mason grinned. “So the entrance ward worked?”

Kieran lifted his chin slightly.

“She’s finally learning to trust me. If she can stop treating Talia as a threat, the mating ceremony will go ahead as planned.”

Mason laughed and raised his glass.

“I told you she’d come around. Mara’s been waiting to complete that ceremony with you for years. She was never really going to walk away.”

The others laughed with him.

Even Talia smiled.

No one in the room seemed to doubt it.

Right then, Kieran’s phone vibrated on the table.

Mason glanced at the screen. “There she is.”

Kieran picked it up with a faint smile, already expecting Mara to ask whether he was still angry or what time she should come over.

But the moment he read the message, the glass slipped from his hand and shattered.

Kieran, we’re done.

You wanted me to stop caring who stood beside you. Now I don’t.

The mating ceremony is canceled. You can choose whoever you want now.