I gave up my dream job because Alex said he needed me to help run Shadow Ridge Pack. For the next five years, he stripped my title, destroyed my projects, and humiliated me in front of everyone—all for an Omega named Madison. He called it "training me to be a proper Luna." The day I lay in bed burning with fever, and he left on "patrol" with her instead, something inside me finally broke. I submitted my Pack Severance application, and he signed it without looking, thinking it was just another approval form. A month later, he showed up at my door on his knees, begging me to come back. I gave him one condition—report Madison's betrayal to the pack council, or lose me forever. His hesitation told me everything I needed to know.

Madison Blackwood smiled and tossed a stack of files onto my desk. "Aria, Alpha Alex needs this border defense proposal tonight. Put it on his desk before you leave, okay?"

The pile was thick as a brick.

I grabbed them and nodded. "Got it."

But she wasn't done. "Oh, and I have a council meeting with Alpha tonight. After you finish, clean up his office while you're at it."

Her heels clicked against the floor as she turned and walked away.

The office went quiet, and my coworkers all looked at me with sympathy, but no one said anything.

This was Shadow Ridge Pack now. Everyone knew Alpha Alex was my intended mate, and I still had his temporary mark on my neck. Still, everyone also knew he only had eyes for Madison now.

Madison was an Omega who'd been poached from Riverside Pack.

Three months ago, Alex suddenly promoted her to Beta level and handed her the territory expansion project I'd been working on for two months. I'd pulled countless all-nighters on that project, and it was almost done.

I challenged it.

So Alex called for a pack vote. "Let democracy decide," he said.

The result? Of the fifteen pack members, fourteen voted for me, and only Alex voted for Madison.

I thought he'd respect everyone's choice, but I was wrong.

He exploded right there. He pointed at me and shouted, "You're forming cliques against me? This is MY pack!"

Then he used his Alpha Command, and it felt like someone was slicing through my nerves with a knife and forcing my wolf to submit. Everyone who voted for me was forced to the ground and couldn't move.

He stripped my position, demoted me three levels, and took away hunting privileges from everyone who supported me for a month.

No one dared to speak or fight back.

Afterwards, he came to me and said he wanted to "avoid favoritism," so Madison wouldn't "feel isolated."

I actually believed him then. Now it seems ridiculous.

Madison couldn't fight worth a damn, and even the newly initiated warriors could take her down. Whether he was covering his tracks or playing favorites, the whole pack could see it. Only he pretended to be blind.

I heard movement from the stairway.

I looked up and saw Alex. He'd changed into black casual clothes, and the scent of cedar cologne drifted over. Madison had given it to him. He never used to wear this stuff. Our natural wolf scent was enough.

But now he wore it every day.

He did it on purpose. I knew that.

He'd been doing this for five years.

It started when I found out he and Madison were saying goodnight to each other every night. I asked him about it, and he blew up. "Since you don't trust me anyway, I might as well give you a reason not to!" Then he made Madison his personal assistant.

The angrier I got, the worse he behaved.

He served her food at pack gatherings in front of everyone. He took her on full moon hunts but left me behind. He let her sit in Luna's seat during council meetings.

When I fought with him, he gave me the silent treatment. When I apologized, he'd call up his friends to "educate" me and tell me I was petty and didn't deserve to be Luna.

I used to think it was all my fault.

Until three days ago.

I was too sick to get out of bed that day. I had a fever, and my whole body ached, and my wolf was too weak to shift. He glanced at me, then turned around and started packing. "Madison and I are going on patrol up north," he said. "Take care of yourself."

Then they left.

An Alpha left his sick intended mate behind and took another woman on "patrol."

That moment woke me up.

He never saw me as his mate. All that "desensitization therapy" and "teaching you to be generous" was bullshit. He wanted Madison, but didn't want to admit he was a cheater.

After they returned from that patrol, their relationship grew closer. They still kept up the "work relationship" act on the surface, but my wolf could feel it. A bond was forming between them.

Not the half-dead temporary mark between him and me. A real mate bond.

But I didn't care anymore.

Five years was enough.

This drama needed to end.

I got home, and my phone rang.

Madison chirped, "Aria! Thanks so much for the project thing. I'll buy you lunch sometime!"

It was Madison's voice, and she was using Alex's phone.

Before I could say anything, I heard Alex in the background. "Thank her for what? That's literally her job."

I heard Alex laugh softly.

That laugh. He had never laughed like that for me. Not once.

My wolf clawed at my chest from the inside, ripping at my ribs until everything hurt. I forced it down and kept my face blank. I couldn't let them see.

It used to be that if I got within three steps of Alex, he'd lose it. His eyes would flash that warning gold, and a growl would rumble in his throat. "Stay away from me, Aria."

But now Madison was pressed right up against him, using his phone to call me, and he didn't even flinch.

Wasn't that obvious enough?

But I felt strangely calm.

Things that used to feel like they'd kill me didn't seem like a big deal anymore.

They flirted for a few more seconds and then seemed to remember I was still on the line.

Alex said dismissively, "I'll be home soon. Just go to bed."

Then he hung up.

His "soon" meant at least four or five hours. I used to wait up for him and get so anxious I couldn't sleep, and my wolf would whimper inside me.

Tonight I went straight to the study.

I glanced at the calendar.

Three days ago, while Alex was off on "northern patrol" with Madison, I had submitted my Pack Severance application.

It was the official document for leaving the pack, and it needed the Alpha's signature.

Alex had been too busy flirting with Madison to even look at it when I handed it over. He just signed it, probably thinking it was another project approval.

Now I had three days left.

After the handover ceremony in three days, I'd be free.

I picked up my phone and dialed a number I hadn't called in a long time.

Elder Robert answered quickly. "Aria?"

I said, "Elder Robert, it's me."

Five years ago, I graduated from Wolf Academy, and the International Wolf Council recruited me immediately. They assigned me to handle bloodline disputes and territory negotiations between the major packs. It was the position every wolf dreamed of getting. Council enforcer meant standing at the center of power, accessing the oldest pack secrets, and earning a salary that made other wolves jealous. But the position came with a price. I had to leave my birth pack and walk away from the place where I'd grown up.

But Alex said he needed me to help run the pack, so I turned Robert down without a second thought.

Elder Robert had begged me not to do it. He said, "Don't throw away your career for some Alpha. The mate bond can wait, but your talent can't."

I didn't listen.

Looking back, I was such an idiot.

I said directly, "Elder, I want to come back. The Severance was approved and it takes effect in three days."

The other end went quiet for a few seconds.

He sighed. "I know. I've been waiting for this call."

I asked, "You knew?"

The voice on the other end carried a hint of amusement. "Aria, did you really think we weren't keeping tabs on our best negotiator?"

I tightened my grip on the phone, and my voice came out cold and flat. "We know what's going on with Shadow Ridge Pack. We know how that Alpha's been treating you."

My eyes stung with tears.

I asked, "Then why didn't you contact me sooner?"

He looked at me steadily and said, "You have to make this decision yourself. You need to wake up on your own, because even if you come back, your heart will still be with someone who doesn't deserve you if you don't truly understand."

"So what about now?" he asked. "Have you figured it out?"

"I've made up my mind," I said. My fingers went numb around the phone. "Completely made up my mind."

"Made up your mind about what?"

Alex's voice cut through from the study doorway.

I turned my head and froze. Alex stood in the study doorway, and his face had gone completely pale with anger.

I glanced down at my phone. Elder's call had already disconnected.

I darkened the screen and was trying to figure out what to say to him when Alex's phone buzzed.

A message from Madison. I caught sight of an orange tabby in the photo on his screen.

Her voice message played. "Look at this stray I found on my way home. I stopped at the convenience store and grabbed some deli turkey for him."

Alex stared at his phone, and his lips curved up. "Cute."

Madison's reply came instantly. "The cat or me?"

She'd attached a selfie. She was pouting and throwing up a peace sign with the kitten pressed against her chest. The angle gave a clear view down her shirt.

My wolf snarled in my head.

Alex's fingers flew across the keyboard. "The cat's cute, but you're cuter."

He smiled like an idiot.

Then he looked up and saw me still standing in the study doorway. The smile vanished.

He frowned, and his voice went cold. "Didn't I tell you to go to bed early? What are you doing standing there?"

Less than five seconds. He switched from tender with Madison to cold with me without missing a beat.

He'd already forgotten what did I say.

I kept my voice flat. "I still have things to finish."

Alex checked his watch, and his tone turned sharp with irritation. "Do you know what time it is? You didn't finish your chores? Can't you plan your time better? Aria, I don't want to keep saying this, but your procrastination is getting out of hand."

I didn't respond.

I didn't explain that my so-called procrastination came from his last-minute orders. I didn't remind him that at six this morning, he'd suddenly demanded I clean Madison's office at the pack house, and at three this afternoon, he'd made me redo an entire month of financial reports because Madison said the formatting "looked off."

I stayed silent.

Alex waited a few seconds. When I didn't answer, he scoffed and turned toward the bedroom.

His laughter drifted out soon after.

I hadn't heard that laugh in a long time. Five years, to be exact. Only Madison could make him laugh like that now.

I closed the study door and sat back down at my desk.

The Werewolf Council's latest bloodline verification protocol was spread across the table. The pages were packed with technical terminology, analyzing ancient bloodlines and disputes over pack hierarchy. Five years had passed, and the entire field's standards had completely changed. If I wanted to work with Elder Robert again, connections alone wouldn't cut it—I needed to prove I was actually up to speed.

At least my foundation was solid. Picking this material back up wouldn't be that hard.

"Whatcha reading?" I jerked my head up. Alex was standing in the doorway—I hadn't even heard him come in.

He walked straight over and snatched the report from my hands. He flipped through a couple of pages, then let out a dismissive laugh and tossed it back on the desk.

"Council research?" The condescension in his eyes was unmistakable. "You can actually make sense of this stuff?"

I slipped the report back into my bag. "I'm just browsing. Did you need something?" I asked.

There was a time when Alex seeking me out would have made my whole day. Now it just annoyed me.

He seemed caught off guard by how cold I sounded. He hesitated for a second, and his expression shifted slightly.

"Actually, yeah." He cleared his throat, and smugness flickered across his face. "Madison just wrapped up the Northern border territory negotiation. That disputed land is officially ours now. I'm gonna bump up her ranking and give the rest of the pack something to aim for."

He looked at me like he wanted my opinion, but I knew better. This was just a courtesy call. He'd already made up his mind.

"Sounds fine," I said.

"But here's the thing," Alex continued. "If there's rewards, there has to be consequences too. Otherwise no one takes it seriously.

"You haven't completed a single task in months, so I'm moving you down to the lower ranks for now. We'll bring you back up later. It won't be long," he said, like he was talking to a child. "I have to think about what's best for the pack. You're my intended mate, so you understand, right?"

I wanted to laugh.

He still had no idea I'd already signed the Severance Agreement.

He could tell Madison's mood from her scent and remembered what color flowers she liked, but he'd signed and stamped the paperwork for me to leave the pack and didn't even notice.

The difference between caring and not caring couldn't be clearer.

I stayed quiet, and Alex must have thought I was gearing up for another fight like before. His face darkened immediately.

"It doesn't matter if you disagree. The paperwork's already been filed and I gave your old room to Madison."

His tone turned threatening. "You can either accept the demotion or leave the pack. But think carefully because Shadow Ridge is the strongest pack in the region. You really want to walk away from that?"

He sounded so sure of himself.

This had happened too many times before. Over the past year, Madison's casual comments had dragged my ranking from Beta to the bottom.

I'd put up with it every time, and Alex was convinced I'd fall in line again.

I forced a smile. "I didn't say I disagreed."

"Good, then it's settled." Alex looked relieved and turned to leave.

Halfway to the door, he stopped and looked back at my desk.

"Where's that photo? The one of us together, why isn't it there anymore?"