As soon as he slumped into the armchair in his study, the tension in his shoulders refused to
ease
The shadows in the room stretched long across the floor, wrapping around the space like chains
he couldn’t break
His phone lit up on the polished oak desk, vibrating with an urgent energy as if the device itself sensed the unrest clawing at his insides.
The pack group chat with his old warriors and beta brothers was blowing up.
One notification stood out.
[@Marcus – Alpha, did you and Brianna get into it? I just saw her at the airport, boarding a flight out. It looked like she was heading back to her hometown. She had, like… her whole damn life her luggage.]
Attached was a grainy photo of Brianna at the airport gate. Hood up.
Luggage stacked.
Alone
Alpha Marcus’s jaw clenched.
His wolf snarled inside him, pacing in the back of his mind. She hadn’t just walked out of the estate. She’d crossed the territory line, abandoned the Shadow Walker Pack, abandoned him
Straight from their home to the human world.
No hesitation.
No message.
Not even a whisper of goodbye.
Another message pinged.
[Yo… this isn’t like her. You two have been mated for years. Even when you stayed at the northern ridge outpost for patrol, she still brought you food. She treated you like the Alpha you are. Something feels off.]
[Yeah, remember how she was? She wouldn’t leave your side. Even when you ignored her, and snapped at her during shift moons, she stuck around like a bonded mate should. Loyal. Like a
true Luna.]
Marcus’s lip curled, not in anger, but in confusion.
A strange pressure was building in his chest, an ache he hadn’t expected.
He stared at the screen, his heart pounding like a war drum, the bond between him and Brianna still faintly pulsing like a distant, flickering heartbeat under layers of frost.
He typed with deliberate restraint.
[She wants a divorce.]
The silence in the chat was deafening.
4:56 pm
Then… chaos.
[What?! Brianna? Divorce you? Alpha, that she–wolf worshipped the moon you howled at. What about Lucas? She raised that pup like her own. You think she’d abandon him just like that?]
[Come on, man. This isn’t funny. She’s your Luna. Your mate. She’s more loyal than half this pack. Remember her birthday last week? She was still buying gifts for Lucas. I saw her getting you that custom suit too, remember?]
Marcus blinked.
Suit?
She’d remembered?
He’d mentioned in passing last week that he needed something formal for the Alpha summit
next full moon.
He hadn’t thought she’d been listening.
She hadn’t said a word. She just nodded, quiet, like always
His fingers hovered over the screen before typing again.
[Which boutique?]
[Your usual. The luxury one near the southern border.]
Marcus stood abruptly.
The chair scraped behind him with a screech. He shifted partway, his eyes glowing faintly gold, his senses sharpening, and stormed out of the house, following his instincts.
The boutique confirmed everything.
“She came in two days ago,” the attendant said with a professional smile.
“Ordered a tailored suit to your exact measurements. Midnight charcoal, enchanted for shift protection. She even left a note with it.”
Alpha Marcus’s breath hitched.
“What note?”
The woman handed it over.
Simple.
Folded.
Written in Brianna’s quiet, elegant script.
I know you hate fuss. But I still wanted you to look your best. You always lead better when you feel like one.
That was it.
No grand confession. No last plea.
Just… care. Steady, unshakable care.
Alpha Marcus left the shop with the note in his fist, barely resisting the urge to shift into his wolf form and tear through the forest. Instead, he walked. Fast. Focused. The scent of her–lavender and pine–still clung to his senses like a drug.
4:56 pm
To anyone else, this would look like a goodbye.
But not to Marcus.
No, this wasn’t a farewell. This was a statement. A challenge.
She wasn’t just leaving.
She was proving something.
She was showing them all what they’d failed to see. What they’d taken for granted. Him included.
Punishment.
His wolf growled in agreement, restless beneath his skin. She wasn’t done. She was wounded, but not gone.
She wanted him to feel her absence.
And he did.
Gods, he did.
By the time he returned to the pack house, dusk had settled over the land like a mourning veil.
The scent of her still clung to the walls of her now empty room.
Earthy. Warm. Home.
He prowled through her closet, his heart pounding, until he found it, tucked behind her sweaters.
A sealed package.
He opened it with hands that trembled more than he liked to admit.
Inside was the rare, imported Transformer figure Lucas had been begging for for months.
Brianna had gone to five different vendors and used favors from both witches and merchants to find this exact model.
Marcus walked into Lucas’s room and handed it to the boy without a word.
Lucas’s eyes widened.
“Whoa! Where’d you get this?!”
Marcus’s voice came out low. Guttural. His wolf near the surface.
“Your mother got it for you.
Lucas blinked.
“But… she’s gone.”
Alpha Marcus knelt until they were at eye level.
The weight of what he’d lost–or maybe what he was about to lose–pressed heavily against his spine.
“She’ll come back.”
He didn’t say it with hope.
He said it like a vow
A promise.
Chapter 6
4:56 pm G、
