Chapter 3
The moon hung like a silver pendant in the night sky as I stood on our bedroom balcony, my fingers gripping the cold stone railing. Alexander's side of the bed remained untouched—another night of 'urgent pack business.' Another lie.
Selene paced restlessly within me. *We need to act now,* she urged. *Before we lose our resolve.*
'I know,' I whispered to my wolf. The celebration earlier today, the intercepted mind-link, the confirmation of Madison's pregnancy—it all swirled in my mind like a toxic potion.
I glanced at the clock: 2:17 AM. The pack house had fallen silent hours ago. Perfect timing.
Closing my eyes, I focused my energy on establishing a secure mind-link—not with Alexander or any pack member, but with someone I hadn't contacted in years.
*Elara Vance,* I projected, using the specialized frequency she had taught me during my academy days. *This is Victoria Sterling. I need your counsel. Urgently.*
For several minutes, there was nothing. Then, like a whisper through fog:
*Victoria. I've been expecting your call.*
My breath caught. *You have?*
*The Moon Goddess reveals patterns to those who listen,* came her cryptic response. *I'm in my study. Come at dawn.*
The connection faded, leaving me with a mixture of relief and trepidation. Elara had been more than my mentor at the Moonstone Academy—she was the most powerful female werewolf I knew, head of the prestigious Silvermoon Healing Institute, and answerable to no Alpha.
I moved silently through our bedroom, gathering only what I needed for the journey: a simple change of clothes, my personal healing journal, and the silver pendant my grandmother had given me before she died—the only family heirloom I possessed.
*What about the Luna ceremonial items?* Selene asked as my gaze fell on the ornate silver crown Alexander had commissioned for our third anniversary.
'They were never really mine,' I replied, leaving everything that tied me to the Morrison Pack untouched.
I slipped out of the pack house like a shadow, using the hidden paths I'd discovered during my five years as Luna. No one questioned me—even at this hour, a Luna's movements were her own business.
The journey to Elara's private residence took nearly three hours on foot. I could have taken a car, but that would have left a trace. By the time the first light of dawn painted the sky in pale gold, I stood before the imposing iron gates of her estate.
They opened without a sound, as if expecting me.
Elara waited in her study, a vast room lined with ancient texts on werewolf healing arts. She hadn't aged a day since I'd last seen her—her silver hair still pulled into a severe bun, her amber eyes still sharp as a hawk's.
'Victoria,' she said simply, gesturing to the chair across from her desk.
I remained standing. 'I need to disappear.'
She nodded, unsurprised. 'The mate bond?'
'Broken.' The word felt like glass in my throat. 'Not by my choice.'
'It rarely is.' She studied me with those penetrating eyes. 'The Silvermoon Institute has been waiting for you to return to your true calling.'
From my bag, I withdrew a sealed envelope and placed it on her desk. 'My formal application to the classified healer program. And a request for complete erasure from the Morrison Pack registry.'
Elara's eyebrows rose slightly—the most surprise she ever showed. 'Erasure is... extreme. It cannot be undone.'
'Neither can his betrayal.' My voice remained steady, though Selene howled in pain inside me.
She picked up the envelope, breaking the seal with one elegant finger. Her eyes scanned the contents, nodding occasionally. When she finished, she placed the papers in a drawer and locked it with a small silver key.
'It will be done,' she said. 'By sunset today, Victoria Sterling of the Morrison Pack will cease to exist in any werewolf registry.'
Relief washed over me, but with it came a wave of grief so powerful my knees nearly buckled. This was real. I was severing ties with the life I'd built, the mate I'd loved, the future I'd planned.
Elara rose and came around her desk, placing her hands on my shoulders. 'The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes, child. Sometimes what we perceive as our greatest loss becomes our true liberation.'
I looked into her eyes and saw not pity, but a fierce pride. 'What happens now?'
'Now,' she said, her voice binding as an oath, 'you become who you were always meant to be.'
As the sun rose fully over the horizon, casting long shadows across Elara's study, I felt the first fragile tendrils of something I hadn't experienced in months: hope.
But somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered how long it would take Alexander to notice I was gone—and what he would do when he realized I was never coming back.
You may also like
