LOGINThe night Adrian was forced back to Frostpine, the old Alpha was already waiting in the main house.The moment Adrian entered, the old Alpha threw a repaired patrol record in front of him.“Watch it.”Adrian looked down, and his face changed piece by piece.It was the record from the winter hunt. The footage was incomplete, but clear enough. After the rogue scent appeared, I had been following the rear line toward the safe route. Celia was the one who came toward me, blocked my way, and shoved me toward the snow-covered crack in the ice.The wound on her arm had not come from me either. She had pressed it against the frozen rocks herself, making the blood look worse.The last thing the record caught before I fell was her voice.“A weak Omega like you has no right to take Adrian’s fated mate bond.”The room fell silent except for Adrian’s uneven breathing.Then the old Alpha had Caleb brought in.Caleb tried to defend himself at first, until Elder Harlan placed the infirmary’s medicine
Adrian reached Moonvale’s border town during the full moon market.Silver lanterns hung over the streets, and stalls selling herbs, roasted meat, and handmade charms lined the road. Young wolves darted through the crowd while the air carried the scent of pine, wet earth, and warm cider.He saw me almost at once.I stood outside the herb shop with several bundles of moonmoss flowers in my arms, speaking to the man beside me. The man shielded me from the crowd with casual ease, one hand holding a gray-white pup by the collar as if he had stood beside me like this many times before.Adrian stopped walking.For months, he had imagined this moment. He had thought I might cry, hate him, curse him, or refuse to look at him. He had never imagined I would stand calmly on another pack’s street, looking as if I had truly stepped out of his world.“Elena,” he called, his voice rough.I turned.For one breath, he waited for recognition, for pain, for even the faintest pull of the broken mate bond.
When I woke, rain was falling outside.The room was old, with worn wooden floors and a faded wind chime by the window. I sat up slowly. My body was weak, and the old pain in my leg still lingered, but my chest felt strangely light, as if something heavy had finally been taken from me.I remembered my name.Elena Hart.I remembered that my parents had died in a rogue ambush. I remembered being an Omega with a weak wolf. But I did not remember how I had been hurt so badly, or who had taken me in afterward. There was a clean, silent gap in my mind. Whenever I tried to touch it, all I saw was moonlight.On the bedside table was an envelope. Inside were new identity papers, enough money to live on for a while, and a short note.This is a border town under Moonvale Pack.This cottage once belonged to your mother.From now on, you are free.There was no signature, but I knew who had left it.The Moon Goddess.I sat there for a long time before calling softly to my wolf. She did not answer cle
Adrian returned to the main house at dawn.Frostpine’s main house was usually quiet, but every guard could sense something wrong in his scent that morning. It was not ordinary anger. It was the raw instability left by a severed mate bond, barely contained beneath his skin.He went straight to the room I had once used.The bedding had been changed, the wardrobe was empty, and the snowbell flowers I used to keep by the window were gone. The training badges, winter hunt tokens, and the future Luna insignia the old Alpha had once given me had vanished as well.The room looked as if no Omega named Elena had ever lived there.Adrian stood in the doorway for a long moment before the guard behind him said carefully, “Alpha, I asked around. The main house said the bonding ceremony had been suspended and Miss Elena was being sent to the western woods to recover. They thought her things should no longer remain in the Alpha wing.”Adrian’s voice was quiet. “Who ordered it?”The guard lowered his h
“Elena!”When Adrian rushed in, I had already collapsed in the moonlight beside the window.He lifted me into his arms, but the moment his fingers touched my skin, his whole body went rigid. My temperature was too low to feel alive, my breathing was so faint it was almost impossible to catch, and worse than any wound, he could no longer feel the mate bond between us.All color drained from Adrian’s face.“Call a healer.” His voice was low, but the panic underneath it was impossible to hide. “Bring Harlan here. Now.”The hall outside fell into chaos.Celia ran in after him. When she saw me lying motionless in Adrian’s arms, a flash of satisfaction crossed her eyes before she quickly covered it with concern.“Adrian, what happened to Elena?” she asked softly. “Is it because she didn’t want to go to the western woods to recover, so she—”“Be quiet.”Adrian looked up at her.The coldness in his eyes trapped the rest of her words in her throat.Elder Harlan soon arrived with someone support
During my days in the infirmary, Adrian came several times to ask about my condition.Caleb always made it sound simple.“Her injuries are bad, but not beyond saving.”“She is recovering slowly because she refuses to cooperate. When an Omega’s emotions are unstable, her wolf becomes harder to steady.”“In two days, I’ll send her to the western healing lodge in Frostpine’s own territory. It’s quieter there. She can recover and reflect.”Adrian’s face darkened every time.He was angry that I would not give in, yet restless because I was not getting better. To him, my weakness looked like another way of forcing him to lower his head.He stood beside my bed for a long while before speaking.“Elena, is it really that hard to accept treatment?”I said nothing.His voice cooled.“You would rather let your wolf keep sinking than admit you got Celia hurt?”I almost smiled.It was not that I refused treatment. Someone had never wanted me to heal in the first place.But I knew better than to say







