“There’s nothing between me and Ava,”
Alpha Marcus growled, his voice cracking–not from the shift, but from desperation.
“You’ve got it all wrong, Brianna.”
He took a step closer, his eyes flickering beneath the surface.
“And about the separation, I never marked those papers. I was waiting hoping you’d come
back.”
I nearly laughed.
The audacity of a male who once paraded his bond with another, now clinging to hope like a pup left out in the cold.
“I was a fool,”
he said, his breath uneven.
“For years, I lied to myself. Told myself I was loyal to Kaela. That the bond meant everything. But the truth is, I felt the pull toward you a long time ago, I just didn’t want to admit it. So I buried it. Pushed you away. Kept you in the shadows… to convince myself that Kaela was the only one I’d ever love.”
His expression twisted like he thought baring his soul now would somehow undo years of silence, of isolation, of letting the entire pack turn on me while he stood by.
I laughed out loud.
“You never loved Kaela the way you pretend you did, Alpha…
I said, my voice sharp as a blade.
“Because if you had, you wouldn’t have touched me.”
Marcus winced.
His wolf stirred under his skin, restless, sensing the shift in the air. But I didn’t stop.
“You don’t love anyone, Marcus. Not Kaela. Not me. You loved control. You loved the convenience of a mate who took care of everything–Lucas, the packhouse, your reputation. You loved having someone to stand beside you in council meetings while you played grieving Alpha and silent martyr. But love?”
stepped forward, my wolf pressing forward beneath my skin.
“You never even scratched the surface of it.”
in five long years, not once had he shielded me from the rumors. Not once had he defended me when the elders whispered that I’d lured him in with dark magic. Not once had he asked me what I needed.
“You drained me dry..
I whispered.
‘But I’m done letting you feed off what’s left of me. Sign the annulment. Seal the bond’s severance. Let me be free.”
Chapter 21
5:02 pm G
I turned to leave, but before I could shift a foot, a small body crashed into me, arms like steel around my waist, sobbing.
“Mom, don’t go! Please, stay! We–we need you!”
Lucas’s voice was hoarse, choked, filled with a desperation that cracked the silence like thunder I looked down at him, at the boy I’d once carried on my back during moon runs, the one I’d tucked in every full moon, despite knowing I’d never be his real mother.
But all I felt… was nothing.
No heat. No pain. No guilt.
But the rest of Nightshade had looked down on me from the start. To them, I was a nobody, someone who could never be good enough for Marcus or worthy of being Lucas’s mother.
Lucas wasn’t to blame.
He was young, raised by a pack that taught him I was a threat, a usurper.
He grew up believing the lies, painting me as some social climber who latched onto Alpha Marcus the moment my sister, Kaela, passed away.
They said Kaela didn’t die in a rogue attack–no, they claimed I had something to do with it, that I schemed her death just to take her place.
They said I faked being nurturing, and plotted to have Marcus’s child so I could one day fight Lucas for inheritance.
That I was a wolf without honor, desperate to climb the ranks through seduction and manipulation.
The pack had always hated how human I seemed. How quiet my wolf was. How I didn’t shift. easily or bow low like a proper Luna.
Marcus let them.
He let them tear me apart piece by piece until I didn’t recognize myself.
Lucas, born into that poison, started looking at me the same way they did.
And yet… I was the one who raised him.
He clung to me now, sobbing like his soul was being torn in two. But not even that shattered cry could pull emotion from the hollow pit inside my chest.
I bent down, peeled his arms gently from my waist, and whispered.
“Lucas, I’m not your mother. Kaela is. That hasn’t changed.”
He flinched like I’d hit him, but I kept my voice steady.
“I promised Elder Saska I’d come to wake you. That’s what I did. But I won’t step paw back into. that territory. I meant what I said. The bond between me and your father–it’s severed. It’s done. So let me go.”
I turned toward Elder Saska, who had followed quietly behind us. Her hands were clasped tightly in front of her chest, her old eyes shiny with unshed tears.
I nodded once.
“I’ve done what you asked of me, Elder Saska. But staying… that’s the one thing I cannot do. Please… take Lucas.”
