Chapter 5

Evelyn’s POV

Victoria’s voice cut through the stunned silence like a blade. 

 “Get the healer—now!” she snapped at the servants hovering nearby. “Scarlett needs immediate attention.” 

Two pack members rushed forward. Scarlett clung to Alexander, her face pressed against his chest, whimpering softly. He held her tightly, one hand cradling the back of her head, murmuring reassurances into her hair. He didn’t look at me once. 

Victoria turned to me, eyes blazing. “Leave. Now.” 

I didn’t argue. I turned and walked out, legs moving on autopilot. Behind me, Alexander’s voice was low and tender, soothing Scarlett like she was the only person in the world. 

The front door closed behind me with a soft click. 

I drove home in a daze, the city lights blurring past. My mind kept replaying a single memory—the night we mated, beneath the same full moon where he had marked me. 

He’d taken my hands, drawn me close. His eyes had shone with something I’d mistaken for love. 

“Evelyn,” he’d said, voice thick with emotion, “if I ever find my fated mate, I swear to you—I will never betray you. I choose you. I will always choose you.” 

I had believed him. 

I had believed him with every fiber of my being. I realized now that he’d only said that because he hadn’t yet found his fated mate.  

At the door of the Thorne estate, Victoria had caught up to me. 

“Now that you know Scarlett is his fated mate,” she said coldly, “you should leave on your own. Stop clinging to my son. An omega as Luna is a disgrace to the pack’s image.” 

I looked at her, calm. “Don’t worry. I won’t be staying.” 

Over the next twelve days, Alexander didn’t come home. Not once.

I finished packing. Almost everything that belonged to me—clothes, books, jewelry, the few small treasures I’d brought from the Lycan Kingdom—was neatly boxed and hidden in the guest room closet. I planned to leave quietly on the day the review period ended. He could have his fated mate with a clear conscience. No more excuses about pack alliances or political necessity—just the truth of it. Betrayal dressed up as duty.

But there were still a few loose ends at the pack house—documents I needed to sign off on before I vanished. I couldn’t leave unfinished business behind. Not when I wanted my departure to be clean.

So I went.

The pack house was quiet that afternoon. I slipped into my old office—still technically mine until the end—and began sorting the final reports. Alexander and I used to work late in this very room. Gosh I hated how familiar that felt. 

The door suddenly slammed open, startling me.

Speak of the devil. Alexander stormed in, a thick envelope clutched in his fist. The divorce agreement. Stamped and rejected.

He threw it onto the desk with enough force to scatter pens.

“What the hell is this?” he growled.

I looked up slowly, arms crossed, voice steady despite the sudden hammering of my heart.

“You’ve been cheating for months. You brought her into our pack. You called her your mate in front of everyone. What did you expect me to do?”

He roared, the sound shaking the windows.

“You have no right to ask for a divorce! How dare an omega file against me? Do you know how much damage you’ve done to my authority with the committee?”

I looked at him—really looked. The man I had once loved with everything I had. The man who had fought for me, promised me forever, and then discarded me without a second thought.

Exhaustion washed over me. No anger, no sadness. Just bone-deep tiredness from seven years of loving someone who chose his reputation over me.

He stepped closer, voice dropping to a dangerous edge.

“I will not divorce you. I’ll deal with Scarlett. But before that, you will apologize to her. Personally. You will go to Crimson Ridge and show sincerity.”

I stared at him. “I’m not apologizing for something I didn’t do.”

“You hurt her!” he snapped. “And you will apologize. I’m ordering you. As your Alpha.”

I shook my head, throat tight. “No.”

His eyes flashed silver. “It’s not up to you. If I have to tie you up and drag you there myself, I will.”

The words landed like a slap.

Something inside me finally cracked.

I looked him in the eyes, voice low and clear.

“You’re pathetic, Alexander. You think throwing threats and orders at me makes you strong? You’re just scared. Scared that without me by your side playing the perfect, obedient omega, your perfect image crumbles. You need me to be small so you can feel big. But I’m done shrinking for you.”

His face twisted—shock and fury at the same time.

Before I could move, he grabbed my wrist, hard enough to bruise.

“You don’t speak to me like that.”

Pain flared up my arm sharply, but it was nothing compared to the humiliation that followed.

I yanked back with all my strength. “Let go of me!”

My voice cracked through the office loudly. I twisted, dug my heels into the floor, tried to wrench free—but his iron grip only tightened.

Alexander dragged me toward the door.

I fought him every step.

“Let go!” I shouted again, louder this time, voice echoing off the walls. “Alexander—stop!”

My free hand clawed at his forearm, nails raking skin, but he didn’t even flinch. Veyra surged inside me, snarling, begging to be let loose.

*Rip the necklace off,* she demanded. *Show him who you are!*

But the moonstone chain was still heavy around my throat, its suppression spell keeping my power trapped deep beneath my skin. And with his hand locked around my wrist, I couldn’t reach the clasp. Every ounce of Lycan strength I should have had was muted, locked away, leaving me no stronger than the omega he believed me to be.

He hauled me into the hallway.

Pack members froze—betas, warriors, maids—all of them staring, mouths open, eyes wide.

No one moved to help.

No one dared.

I felt every gaze on me like a brand. Heat crawled up my neck, shame and fury twisting together until I could barely breathe. They all watched as I was being dragged like a disobedient child through the halls I used to walk as Luna.

“Let go of me!” I screamed again, voice breaking on the last word.

Alexander didn’t answer. He just kept moving, jaw set, eyes fixed ahead as if I were nothing more than a problem to be contained.

Down the stone stairs.

Through the lower corridors.

Into the detention wing.

The iron door to the cold holding cell loomed ahead—reinforced with silver bars that would burn any shifter who tried to force them.

He shoved me inside.

I stumbled, catching myself against the far wall just as the heavy door slammed shut behind me.

The clang reverberated through my bones.

Alexander stood on the other side of the bars, breathing hard, eyes wild with anger and something that looked almost like regret, but gone too quickly to name.

“You’ll stay here until you learn some respect,” he said. “And until you’re ready to apologize.”

Then he turned and walked away.

The silence that followed was suffocating.

I slid down the wall until I hit the floor, knees drawn up, arms wrapped around myself.

Tears came hot and fast.

He had done this because of Scarlett.

In seven years he had never once raised a hand to me. Never once locked me away. Never once treated me like something to be caged.

Until now.

Until she. 

Veyra whined softly in my mind, hurt mirroring mine.

*He doesn’t deserve us,* she growled, but her voice cracked with pain. *He never did.*

I pressed my forehead to my knees, tears soaking the fabric of my dress. 

I couldn’t escape.

The cell had been designed with a special suppression field—woven with spells that weakened werewolf powers twice as much as the moonstone necklace ever could. The longer I stayed, the weaker I became. Already I could feel it: Veyra’s presence dimming, her growls growing faint and distant.

The necklace around my throat, once the only thing holding my true power in check, now felt almost redundant—the cell’s magic was far crueler.

I tried to reach for the clasp anyway.

My fingers trembled, sluggish, barely able to close around the chain. I tugged once—weakly—and the moonstone resisted, as if the runes had already claimed dominion over every scrap of my strength.

Veyra’s voice came through like a whisper carried on dying wind.

Evelyn… we can’t…

I squeezed my eyes shut, fresh tears slipping free.

There was no hope. 

So I sat there, crying quietly in the dark, while the man I once loved walked away thinking he’d won.

Then, all of a sudden, my mind-link opened.

A voice I hadn’t heard in seven years flooded my mind.

*Evelyn.*

My breath caught. My father.

I choked on a sob. “Father…”

His voice softened, but the edge of steel remained. *I was right, wasn’t I? You should never have entered this marriage.*

Tears spilled freely now. I forced my voice steady, refusing to let myself sound as broken as I felt. “You were right,” I whispered. “I was wrong. I want to come home. Please… I want to come home.”

*You will,* he said simply. 

Before I could speak again, my phone—still in my pocket—buzzed once, twice.

I pulled it out with trembling fingers.

**From: Werewolf Committee – Kingdom Jurisdiction**  

**Subject: Marriage Status Update & Travel Authorization**  

**Effective immediately: The marriage between Alexander Thorne and Evelyn Reed Thorne is hereby annulled due to invalid mating bond and concealment of true identity. All prior restrictions on travel are lifted. Permission granted to leave Shadowfang territory.**

Annulled.

Not divorced. Annulled.

And he didn’t even know yet.

Another message followed, I pressed a hand to my mouth to stifle the sob that tried to escape when I saw it.

**I’m on my way. Two hours out. Welcome home, my little Princess.**

Veyra’s voice came again.

*We’re going home.*

I wiped my face with the back of my hand.

Yes.

We were.