Breaking the Mate Bond

I sat in the leather chair across from Theo's mahogany desk, my hands folded in my lap to hide their trembling. The calendar on his wall seemed to mock me—circled in red ink was tomorrow's date: *Elianna's Return*. Seven years, and I still felt that familiar twist in my stomach whenever I saw those words.

*She's coming back,* Lyra whimpered in my mind, her voice barely a whisper now. My wolf had grown quieter with each rejection, her silver coat dulling like tarnished jewelry. *We know what happens next.*

The office door clicked open, and Theo strode in with that confident Alpha swagger that had once made my heart race. Now it just made me tired. His pine and smoke scent filled the room, suffocating in its familiarity. He didn't even look surprised to see me there.

"Jordan." His voice carried that casual tone he used when discussing pack business. "I was wondering when you'd come by."

I lifted my chin, surprised by the steadiness in my own voice. "I, Jordan Palmer, daughter of Alpha Palmer of the Silverfang Pack, request to sever the mate bond with you, Alpha Theo Hudson of the Moonveil Pack."

The words rolled off my tongue like a rehearsed prayer. Seven times I'd spoken them. Seven times I'd watched him sign the certificate with that same Mont Blanc pen.

Theo's eyebrows rose slightly—the only sign of surprise he allowed himself. "Getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we?" He moved to his desk, already reaching for the familiar manila folder in the bottom drawer. "Elianna doesn't arrive until tomorrow."

"Does it matter?" The question slipped out before I could stop it. "We both know how this goes."

He paused, pen hovering over the rejection certificate. For a moment, something flickered in his dark eyes—guilt, maybe? But it vanished as quickly as it appeared.

"It's just for a month, Jordan. You know that." His tone was almost gentle, the way someone might speak to a wounded animal. "She needs stability right now. The European packs have been... difficult."

I touched the bare spot on my neck where his mark should have been, a nervous habit I'd developed over the years. The skin there felt cold, empty. "Of course they have."

Theo signed his name with practiced efficiency, the pen scratching against paper like claws on stone. He slid the document across the desk, and I signed my own name beneath his, my handwriting smaller and more careful than his bold scrawl.

"Same arrangement as always," he said, filing the certificate away. "You can stay in the guest quarters. Once Elianna leaves—"

"We'll renew the bond." I finished the sentence for him. "I know."

As I stood to leave, he called my name. "Jordan?" I turned back, and for a split second, his mask slipped. "This doesn't change anything between us. You know that, right?"

I stared at him—this man who held my heart and crushed it like clockwork, who spoke of our sacred bond like it was a