Freya’s POV
“Freya, emergency at the pack border. Cancel the marriage registration.”
I stared at my phone, feeling as if the floor had dropped out from under me. At the registry office, mocking looks came at me from every direction, each one like a slap across the face.
This was the seventh time Felix had canceled our marriage registration.
The first time, his adopted sister Sylvia cut her finger. She called Felix in tears, and he drove off without a second thought, leaving me to walk back to the Blood Moon estate along the highway in heels. When he came home that night and saw the blisters covering my feet, he mocked me for being an omega who could not even heal a few blisters. Then he made me scrub the floors all night because Sylvia was afraid of blood and, according to him, the estate could not smell even faintly of it.
The second time, Sylvia’s cat needed to be fixed. She said the surgery was too cruel and she needed someone there to support her, so Felix canceled again. What he did not know was that I had turned down an offer from a laboratory in the pack capital for that registration appointment—a position that could have made me wealthier than any pack in North America. Later, I learned the job had gone to Sylvia instead. Her name was sitting exactly where mine should have been.
The third time was even more ridiculous. Sylvia claimed her crystal ball had predicted that our registration day would bring her bad luck. Felix stopped the clerk just as he was about to stamp the papers, then turned on me and shouted that I was deliberately trying to hurt Sylvia.
Then came the fourth, fifth, and sixth times. To stop the registration, Sylvia drove a knife into my heart. My grandfather, the former Alpha of the Silver Creek Pack, swore he would go to war with Blood Moon. Felix had no choice but to send Sylvia overseas. Standing beside my hospital bed, he promised that on my twenty-second birthday, we would finally register our marriage and complete our bond.
That day was today. Felix had sent Sylvia away six months ago. This time, it could not be because of her.
No matter what had happened before, he had never completely given up on bonding with me. He had saved my life once. Our ancestors used to say everyone had seven lives. I'd given Felix six chances already, and I was willing to give him a seventh—one last chance to explain.
I would go straight to his office. If there really was an emergency in the pack, maybe I could help.
Twenty minutes later, I slammed on the brakes. The tires ground over the gravel outside the Blood Moon estate with a harsh screech. I threw open the door, got out, and strode up the steps. The guards did not stop me. Everyone here knew who I was—the longtime fiancée of Blood Moon’s Alpha, the she-wolf who was supposed to register her marriage to him today.
I ignored their pitying looks, crossed the main hall, and went straight to Felix’s study. The door was not fully closed.
Then I saw the scene that turned my blood to ice. Felix sat on the edge of the sofa with Sylvia practically draped over him. They looked like a pair of fated mates.
It felt as if my heart had taken a barrage of silver bullets. I gripped the doorknob until my fingers hurt.
“Sylvia, I’ve told you before. You’re the Luna I actually want. You’re smart, kind, strong.” Felix eased her away from him, his voice gentle. “I only agreed to mark Freya because her grandfather threatened to go to war with Blood Moon. But her uncle is Alpha now, and he doesn’t care who abandons her.”
“Then why don’t you just refuse to register with her?” Sylvia asked, sounding annoyed.
“I still need her. My brother, the Alpha King, still doesn’t have a Luna, and the Council is already unhappy about it. As long as I look loyal and devoted, they’ll push me forward for the throne again.”
So that was it.
He had promised my grandfather he would bond with me because he feared a war. He needed me as decoration, nothing more. This time was no different from the other six. He had never truly wanted me.
I bit my lip and shoved the door open. For the seventh time, I would not give in. The door struck the wall, and both of them turned.
“Freya?” Felix pulled away from Sylvia at once. His voice hardened. “You should have called first. And I told you there was an emergency today.”
“An emergency?” A bitter laugh slipped from my throat. “You mean pinning your adopted sister to the sofa and kissing her? I’m sure the rest of Blood Moon would love to hear all about that emergency.”
Felix’s expression darkened. “Watch your mouth, Freya.”
I forced down the pain tearing through my chest and answered calmly, “I don’t have to anymore, Felix. We’re done.”
“No! Freya, I’m sorry!” Sylvia shot to her feet, instantly putting on a wounded expression. “I wasn’t trying to stop your registration. I had a nightmare that Felix was leaving me. I just needed to make sure it wasn’t true…”
I looked at her. “So when you’re scared, your solution is to put your tongue in someone else’s fiancé’s mouth?”
Her face went pale. The next second, she stumbled backward and collapsed. For a moment, I just stared. I had not touched her at all.
Felix was already rushing over to catch her. Then he turned and shoved me hard. My back slammed into the wall, and pain exploded through my head.
“Are you insane?” he snapped. “I told you she hasn’t been well lately, and you still hit her?”
I fought through the pain. “Felix, I didn’t lay a fucking finger on her. Cancel the wedding.”
“Enough.” Irritation sharpened his voice. “You’re being dramatic.”
He settled Sylvia back onto the sofa, then turned to me. For the first time, there was no false tenderness in his eyes.
“You’re nothing, Freya,” he said. “I'm offering to make you my Luna. You should be grateful. So keep quiet. Swallow the hurt and betrayal, and pretend it all tastes sweet.”
I stared at him in disbelief. The walls seemed to close in around me, and I could barely breathe. “And if I don’t?”
He smiled with open contempt. “You will. Your uncle’s pack doesn’t want you, and your grandfather won’t dare challenge your uncle. He’s just a former Alpha whose time is over. Trust me, Freya. You’ll keep quiet, do nothing, and wait until I summon you for the next registration.”
Slap. This time, I did not hesitate. I struck him across the face so hard the sound seemed to echo through the entire study.
“One last time.” I straightened and lifted my chin. “We’re over. From this second on, you have no right to call yourself my mate.”
As the words left my mouth, I was grateful for the first time in my life that I did not have a wolf. Felix and I were not fated mates, and he had never marked me, so my body did not suffer the soul-rending agony people described when a fated mate bond broke.
My heart still felt as though it had taken a crushing blow. My head spun. I needed to get out of there.
“Freya!” Felix roared behind me. “If you walk out that door, the registration is canceled for good!”
I did not stop.
Sylvia’s voice came from behind me. “Don’t worry about what she says. She has nowhere to go. A weakling without a wolf like her? No one would want her unless she clung to an Alpha like you.”
I tightened my hand around the door handle and swallowed the metallic taste in my mouth. Even if rogues tore me apart, I would never go back to Felix.
Not in this lifetime.
I walked all the way out of the Blood Moon estate. Only when the cold wind hit me did I realize my entire body was shaking. My fingers were almost numb, but my heart was pounding so hard that every beat reminded me everything I had just seen was real.
I kept walking on autopilot until my phone screen lit up. The page was still open to the one-of-a-kind wedding dress I had once imagined wearing when I married Felix.
I looked at it for a few seconds, closed the page, opened Felix’s contact, blocked his number, and deleted everything connected to him.
Then my phone rang. My grandfather, Howard, was calling. I stared at his name for a long moment before finally answering.
“My dear Freya!” Grandfather sounded delighted. “I just tried on my suit. I’m telling you, I’m going to be the best-looking old man at that wedding! I sent you pictures.”
My nose stung, and my throat tightened until it felt as though a stone was lodged there. The wedding is canceled.
I could not make myself say it.
“Great,” I said quietly. “I’ll help you choose.”
“Perfect!” He laughed. “My little pumpkin finally found her happiness. Your parents would be so happy for you.”
The call ended.
I stood on the sidewalk with the wind whipping my hair across my face. The invitations had gone out. The venue was booked. The flowers, the band, the guests… everything was ready. Grandfather had not even chosen his tie yet.
Everything was prepared except for one thing. The groom.
I stared at the traffic across the street, and a ridiculous thought slipped into my head. I had put so much into this wedding. My custom gown had never even been worn. Why did the groom have to be Felix?
I could replace him. With someone like… the Alpha King. My heart gave one heavy thud. Before I could even laugh at myself, my phone vibrated again. Unknown number.
I hesitated, then answered.
“Freya.” A deep voice came through the line, calm and heavy with authority. “This is Adrian. I know what happened at the Blood Moon estate today.”
My breath caught.
“I need a Luna,” he said.
