Chapter 2

"No! You can't do this!"

For the first time, Echo's voice was laced with pure terror.

"Aveline, are you insane? He's our fated mate! If the soul bond is broken, your own wolf will be destroyed by the backlash!"

I calmly hung up, ignoring Echo's roars.

"Are you listening to me?" Her voice grew more hysterical. "Seven years! Seven years of being bonded! You're going to throw it all away because you're angry?"

"It's not just anger," I whispered to myself, looking at my burned hand. "It's ninety-nine moments of despair, and one final heartbreak."

An hour later, an emissary from the Elders arrived with the ritual documents.

"Luna, you have thirty days to get your Alpha's seal on this document. Once it's signed, we can schedule the ceremony. If he refuses, the request is void," the young Beta said respectfully, handing me the parchment.

"Don't sign it! I'm begging you!" Echo howled. "He loves you! He just doesn't know how to show it! He'll change!"

I signed my name on the document.

For the next three days, I rested quietly in the medical wing.

Rylan never came.

But Morrigan did. Every day.

She never came in. She'd just linger by my door, pushing images into my mind through the pack-link: Rylan's hands on her waist on the training grounds...

They were so close, close enough to smell each other's scents.

"See! He's doing it on purpose!" Echo explained desperately. "He's imagining how happy you would be if he were touching you like that! He wants you to get jealous! He's letting her come here to provoke you into stopping them!"

I watched silently, my face a blank mask.

On the fourth day, I was discharged.

The Black Stone manor was as grand as ever, but it no longer felt like home.

I went straight upstairs to my workshop.

The walls were covered with the talismans, totems, and runes I had made for Rylan over the past seven years.

Each one was infused with my healing power, each one carried the love I once believed could melt glaciers.

A necklace woven from moon-grass for "protection."

An obsidian rune carved with his name for "strength."

A bracelet braided with my own hair for an "eternal bond."

"No!" Echo wailed. "He treasures these! He looks at them every night, like he's looking at you!"

Without a word, I began taking them down, one by one, and packing them into a large box.

"Aveline, he loves these things! More than his own life! You can't destroy them!"

I lifted the first heavy box and walked downstairs.

The fire in the hearth was roaring. Without hesitation, I dumped the entire box of talismans into the flames.

The fire devoured the beautiful crafts, crackling and popping like the sound of my heart breaking over seven years.

"What are you doing?!"

A cold, furious voice boomed from the doorway.

I turned to see Rylan standing there, the fire in his eyes hot enough to burn me to ash.

"Taking out the trash," I said, my voice flat as I turned for the next box.

"Who gave you permission to destroy these?" He strode to the fireplace, trying to snatch something from the flames, but only came away with a handful of hot ash.

"I made them. I have the right to do what I want with them."

He spun around, his wolf eyes filled with hurt and disbelief.

His throat worked, as if he was about to say something.

But a bright voice called from the doorway.

"Rylan, are you two ready? The Moon Spring Ritual is about to start."

Morrigan stepped inside, carefully holding a pristine white robe.

She stopped short, feigning surprise at the tension between us.

Rylan's gaze left my face. It flickered to the ashes in the fireplace.

Then, it settled on the robe in Morrigan's hands.

That's when I saw the Moon Blossoms in his own hand.

His knuckles were white around the stems.

He turned to Morrigan. His voice was pure ice. "Put it on."

Morrigan froze. Then, pure delight flashed in her eyes. "What? Me... Really?"

His eyes never left me, but he held the Moon Blossoms out to Morrigan.

"Of course," his voice was flat, dead. "Since our Luna is so busy with the 'trash,' she has no time for her duties. You'll take her place tonight."

Morrigan took the flowers and disappeared, re-emerging moments later in the robe, glowing.

I saw the smug victory on her face. But it was Rylan's indifference that cut the deepest.

The Moon-Spring Purification. It was our pack's most sacred ritual, a ceremony only the Alpha and his Luna were ever allowed to perform. Together.

And he just gave it away. To her.

"He's provoking you!" Echo's voice was sharp with anxiety. "This ritual is critical to him, he can't do it without you! He's letting you see this because he wants you to storm over there and take back your rightful place!"

But I just nodded. "Then you should go. Thank you for stepping in, Morrigan."

Rylan ignored me and led her out.

I watched them go.

The Alpha of the pack and his precious adopted sister.

Walking side-by-side toward the sacred grove behind the manor.

The place that, for seven years, only I had been allowed to enter with him.

I turned back to the fire and emptied the last box into the flames.

I watched until the final piece—the bracelet woven from my hair—turned to ash.

They returned at dusk, both of them carrying the fresh, clean scent of the purified Moon-Spring.

Morrigan's cheeks were flushed with a healthy glow from the energy.

"Aveline," she announced, walking up to me like a conqueror, "I'm a bit tired. Rylan said I could rest in the guest room."

She walked up the stairs without waiting for my reply.

A few minutes later, a dark premonition drove me to follow.

The door to our master bedroom was ajar. I saw Morrigan standing at my vanity, a piece of parchment in her hand.

It was the design I had personally drawn for Rylan's mate tattoo on his arm.

"What a beautiful design," she mused, her fingertip tracing the lines on the paper as if wiping away a speck of dirt.

"Put it down," my voice was ice.

She turned, a flash of vicious disdain in her eyes. "Your mate mark... it's looking a little faint, don't you think?" she said, her voice dripping with fake concern.

She caressed her own smooth, unmarked neck.

Her voice dropped to a poisonous whisper. "A mark that powerful... is wasted on someone as worthless as you."