CHAPTER 3 — "The Night She Stopped Being His"

Sera's Pov

"Months," I said, my voice dangerously level. I watched as he just went back to the bottle of whiskey and poured another glass. I didn't know if I should be angry or if I should cry over how unbothered he was.

"You've been drafting legal terms while lying next to me in my bed every night?"

Caden arched an eyebrow, completely unfazed by the icy shift in my demeanor. "Don't make this dramatic, Sera. Just pick up the pen and sign. The terms are non-negotiable." He picked up the pen and pointed it at me.

"Non-negotiable!" I repeated, walking slowly toward the desk. I looked at the silver pen, then up into his hollow gray eyes. "You strip me of my title, my home, and my son, and you call it a legal logistics check?"

The tears were threatening to fall again.

*What did I ever do to him?*

"What did I ever do to you?"

"I call it managing an asset that no longer yields a profit," Caden said, crossing his arms over his bare chest. He leaned back against the desk and inhaled deeply, like he was trying to take in his mistress's scent still lingering. "A pack cannot thrive under a Luna who prioritizes emotion over execution. You don't have the stomach for what's coming, Sera. You never did."

"And Lyra does?" I let out a sharp, mocking laugh that cut through the heavy silence of the room. "A low-ranking wolf who crawled into her Alpha's bed the moment his back was turned? That's your standard for leadership now?"

"Lyra knows how to obey," Caden snapped, his voice dropping an octave as his eyes flashed amber. "She understands the chain of command. She doesn't question my decrees in front of the elders, and she certainly doesn't hesitate when I command a border threat to be neutralized. You softened this pack, Sera. You made them think mercy was an option. I am correcting my mistake."

Was he really trying to look for an excuse right now? That doesn't explain why he's been cheating, inviting another woman into our home.

"Mercy wasn't a mistake, Caden. It was the only thing keeping this pack from turning on you," I said, stepping right into his space. The silver pen felt heavy beneath my fingers as I finally took it from him.

"You think you're discarding me. You think you're throwing away a broken toy because you're bored."

"I am doing what an Alpha does. Cutting out the weak link," he replied coldly. "You have no family left to back you. You have no true power of your own. If you sign quietly, I'll ensure you have a small apartment in the human city outside our borders. If you fight this, I will throw you into the dungeons as a rogue threat to the pack's stability. Choose wisely."

I looked down at the paper. My hands weren't shaking anymore. Why should I keep crying over someone who is ready to give up our future and our son? He still had that smugness on his face. I didn't want his human apartment. I didn't want his pity.

"I don't need to fight a ghost, Caden," I said softly.

With a swift, fluid motion, I pressed the pen to the paper and dragged it across the line. *Sera Connor.* The ink smeared slightly, a dark stain marking the official death of our marriage. I dropped the pen onto the desk with a loud clatter.

Caden smirked, reaching out to grab the folder. "Smart girl. I knew you'd see reason eventually. Come here." He reached out his hand to grab my face.

"Don't touch me," I barked. The sheer venom in my tone actually made his hand pause mid-air — a flicker of something crossing his face, gone almost before I registered it, like a man catching himself before he said something he shouldn't. "We are done. But you forgot one thing, Alpha."

"And what is that?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as he sensed the sudden shift in the room's energy.

"You think this piece of paper frees you," I whispered, staring directly into his face. "But as long as the mate bond exists, your wolf will always know what you did. You will feel my absence like a sickness in your gut. Every time you touch her, you'll taste my rejection."

Caden let out a harsh, arrogant chuckle. "The mate bond is an instinct, Sera. It can be ignored. Besides, a female cannot break a bond alone. It requires the Alpha's consent, or it requires you to die. You won't die for me, and I certainly won't waste the energy on a rejection ritual. You're stuck with the ache, love. Not me."

"Then I guess I'll just have to do the impossible. I will break it myself," I said.

I didn't wait for his reply. I turned on my heel and walked out of the bedroom, leaving the folder, the mistress, and the husband behind. I didn't go to my closet. I didn't pack a bag. I walked down the grand staircase in nothing but my mud-stained boots. The guards tried to step in front of the exit, but I glared at them, and they instinctively stepped back, lowering their heads. Stupid bastards. Why were they trying to stop me when they knew this was going to be the outcome at the end of the day? I knew Caden wouldn't let me see my son, and I didn't even know where he was or where that bitch had taken him.

I walked out into the freezing night air, the forest whispering around me. The mate bond pulled at my chest, a tight, suffocating rope trying to drag me back to Caden's side. It hurt so badly I could taste copper in the back of my throat.

I am going to cut it, I told my wolf. We are going to rip him out of us.

My wolf whined in terror, but she didn't fight me. She was as furious as I was.

I walked until I reached the outer boundary marker, completely crossing over into the neutral territory of the mountains. I pulled my cell phone from my pocket — the only object I had taken from the house. My fingers flicked through the contacts until I reached the very bottom. It was an encrypted number, left to me in an old, yellowed letter my mother had hidden in her jewelry box before she died.

The letter had read: If you feel like you need someone, call her.

The contact was saved under a single name:

"Dr. Maren Cross."

I pressed dial. The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. The wind howled through the pines, threatening to swallow the sound. On the fourth ring, the line clicked open. There was no background noise. Just a heavy, expectant silence.

"Hello?" I whispered, my voice trembling as the cold finally began to seep into my bones. "Is this Dr. Cross?"

The voice that came through the receiver wasn't surprised. It was deep, authoritative, and carried the weight of a woman who had been waiting patiently.

"I've been tracking your coordinates since you crossed the Crescent border, Sera," the woman said smoothly. "Get to the ridge. My drivers are already on their way to pick you up."