Chapter 1
Selene’s POV
The scroll was still warm when I took it into my hands, the wax seal of the Council glinting under the faint morning light.
“Miss Hartwell,” Elder Lee said, bowing his head with deference, “the mate–severance scroll has been delivered to Alpha Blake’s
estate. The seal is intact. It’s ready.”
I tightened my grip, feeling the stiff parchment bite into my trembling fingers.
“Thank you, Elder Lee,” I murmured, forcing steadiness into my voice.
“That’ll be all‘
He bowed once more and disappeared into the woods, leaving me standing alone on the threshold of that had trapped me for the past three years.
the Blake manor–the gilded cage
The mark on my neck pulsed faintly under my scarf, the last echo of a bond that once felt sacred. Now it only felt heavy, suffocating.
Cruel.
-Inside me, my wolf stirred uneasily.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Too sure,” I answered.
“Even if it breaks the pack laws?”
“The laws broke me first”
I didn’t have time to argue with my own soul.
Not today.
I stepped back inside the manor, my boots echoing hollowly against the polished stone floors. Every surface gleamed, immaculate and
cold, untouched by warmth.
Just as 1 reached the main hall, the front door swung open.
His scent hit me first
woodsmoker, leather, and that familiar spice of power.
My body tensed involuntarily, instinct trying to betray me, to pull me toward what it thought was safe.
But I stayed rooted to the spot
Julian Blake stood there, tall and commanding, filling the doorway y with his presence. His silver eyes softened when they met mine.
“Selene,” he said, his voice a blend of velvet and command. “I’m sorry. The Alpha Summit in Black Hollow dragged on longer than
expected. I didn’t mean to vanish on you.”
He stepped closer.
His hand, calloused and warm, reached out toward my płotuach
toward the place where a heartbeat used to dance beneath my skin.
“How’s the pup been tre
His voice was tender.
Almost enough to make me serraj
“Julian,” I said, my tone flat.
He trace
mother?”
I never called him that
It was always “Alpha” when I was angry, or “old wolf” when I teased him, or nothing at all when I wanted him most.
He didn’t move.
Good
Before he could say anything else, I withdrew the scroll from my coat and flipped to the last page, covering the text with my palm.
I held it out to him.
“you once promised that when our pup was born, you’d give r
“The decided what I want.
“Sign this for me.”
me a gift,” I said.
He frowned but di
ut didn’t question me.
Didn’t even glance at the parchment.
Without hesitation, he drew the ceremonial dagger from his belt, sliced a clean line across his palm, and pressed his bleeding hand to the scroll, sealing ft by blood.
Blood for blood.
Bond for bond.
My stomach twisted painfully.
“You’re not even going to read it?” I whispered.
“For all you know, I could be naming myself Alpha and sending you into exile.”
He laughed-
a soft, rueful sound.
He cupped my cheek with his uninjured hand, the touch featherlight.
“If you did,” he said, “it’d be well–earned.
What’s mine is yours.
You and the pup, you’re everything to me.”
Everything.
The word tasted like ash.
“He lies so beautifully,” my wolf growled, low and bitter.
“Let him,” I replied, hollow inside. “It’ll be the last time.!!
Before I could speak, his phone buzzed sharply between us
He grimaced, silencing it quickly
but not before I caught the name that Dashed across the screen.
My last wed tipd.
Breathless
une Claire who had returned
