Chapter 3
The Starlight Corporation call ended with a promise to review their contract within forty-eight hours. Forty-eight hours to find a solution that didn't exist—because I was the solution, and I was done.
I left Tristan's office without another word, my bare feet silent on the marble floors as I made my way to the quarters I'd called home for ten years. The pack house felt different now, like a museum of my own foolishness. Every corner held memories of the life I'd built around a man who saw me as replaceable.
My room looked exactly as I'd left it before the ceremony—ceremonial dress laid out, makeup perfectly arranged, dreams intact. Now it felt like a crime scene. I pulled out my suitcase, the same one I'd brought here as an eighteen-year-old girl full of hope and devotion.
*We're really leaving?* Sage asked, her voice smaller than usual. The rejection had wounded her deeply, but underneath the pain, I felt something else growing—strength.
*We're really leaving,* I confirmed, folding clothes with mechanical precision. Ten years of memories went into that suitcase. Ten years of believing I belonged here.
A soft knock interrupted my packing. "Come in."
Beta Marcus stepped inside, his expression carefully neutral. "The Alpha has called an emergency pack meeting. He wants to discuss... recent developments."
"You mean he wants to do damage control." I didn't look up from my packing. "Tell me, Marcus, how long have you known about Aleena?"
His silence was answer enough.
"That's what I thought." I folded the last of my clothes and zipped the suitcase shut. "I'll be at the meeting. I have some things to say."
The main hall buzzed with nervous energy when I arrived, still wearing my torn ceremonial dress. Pack members whispered among themselves, their faces reflecting confusion and concern. At the front of the room, Tristan stood behind the podium like the Alpha he was supposed to be, but his usual commanding presence felt hollow.
Aleena sat in the front row, Tristan's ring catching the light every time she moved her hand. She looked pleased with herself, completely oblivious to the storm brewing around her.
"Pack members of Silvermoon," Tristan began, his Alpha voice trying to project confidence. "Recent events have created some... misunderstandings. I want to clarify the situation."
"Misunderstandings?" I stood up from my seat in the back, and every head turned toward me. "Is that what we're calling betrayal now?"
Tristan's jaw tightened. "Lyra, please—"
"No, Alpha." The title dripped with sarcasm. "You wanted a pack meeting, so let's have one. Let's discuss how our fearless leader marked his assistant while his promised mate waited at the altar. Let's talk about how he just lost our biggest contract because he chose sentiment over strategy."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. I could see pack members exchanging worried glances, especially the older ones who remembered the lean years before I'd negotiated our prosperity.
"The Starlight contract can be renegotiated," Tristan said, but his voice lacked conviction.
"By whom?" I laughed bitterly. "Aleena? She can't even handle scheduling your meetings, let alone designing security systems for a multi-million-dollar corporation."
Aleena's face flushed red, but she remained silent. Smart of her.
"That's enough," Tristan's Alpha aura pressed against the room, making several pack members bow their heads instinctively. "You will show respect for your Luna."
"My Luna?" I stepped into the aisle, and something inside me shifted. Sage rose to the surface, lending me her strength, her fury, her absolute refusal to submit. "She's not my Luna. And you're not my Alpha anymore."
I felt it then—the moment when his Alpha command tried to take hold, the invisible pressure that should have forced me to my knees in submission. But instead of crushing me, it met something harder. Something that had been forged in ten years of loyalty and tempered by betrayal.
The command shattered against my will like glass against stone.
Tristan's eyes widened in shock. A collective gasp echoed through the hall. Pack members stared at me with a mixture of awe and fear—no one resisted an Alpha command. No one except...
"That's impossible," someone whispered.
But it wasn't impossible. It was liberation.
"I formally request release from Silvermoon Pack," I announced, my voice carrying to every corner of the silent hall. "I'm accepting a position as head designer with the Moonstone Pack in London, under Alpha Bradley Torres."
The silence that followed was deafening. Then Tristan found his voice.
"Wait." He stepped down from the podium, desperation creeping into his tone. "Lyra, we can work this out. I'll make you Beta. Twenty percent ownership of pack territory. You'll have real power here."
"Real power?" I shook my head. "I had real power, Tristan. I built this pack's prosperity with my own hands, and you threw it away for a pretty face and childhood nostalgia."
I turned toward the exit, but his voice stopped me.
"You can't do this. The pack needs you."
"The pack needed me ten years ago. It needed me yesterday. It needed me an hour ago when Starlight Corporation called." I looked back at him one last time. "But you chose Aleena. So now she can save your pack."
As I walked toward the door, I heard the whispers starting—pack members questioning their Alpha's judgment, wondering what would happen to their security, their prosperity, their future. But that wasn't my problem anymore.
Sage stretched within me, stronger than she'd ever been. *We're free,* she said with wonder.
*Yes,* I replied, stepping out into the night air. *We're finally free.*
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