Haven POV:

The house was empty.

Connor had taken every warrior, every guard, every tracker to hunt for his "kidnapped" mistress. He left the Pack House undefended. He left me unguarded.

It was almost insulting how easy it was.

I stood in the center of the living room. This was the heart of the Apex Pack. The walls were covered in history—paintings of past Alphas, tapestries woven by Lunas centuries ago.

I held a lighter in my hand.

My phone buzzed. It was Sterling. The transfer is complete. The funds are in your offshore account. You are no longer a shareholder of Apex Dynamics. You are a free agent.

"Good," I whispered.

I walked over to the fireplace. On the mantle sat a crystal vase, a gift from the Alpha of the Northern territories on our wedding day. It was filled with dried lavender.

I smashed it on the floor. The sound of breaking glass was music.

I went to the kitchen and retrieved the bottles of high-proof alcohol I had set aside. Vodka. Whiskey. Brandy.

I poured them over the rug. I splashed them onto the velvet curtains. The smell of ethanol filled the air, sharp and stinging.

I walked to the small table by the door. I placed a black velvet box there. Inside was the positive pregnancy test and the ultrasound photo of the tiny, bean-sized life that was no more.

No. Not here. The fire would consume it, and he needed to see it.

"Martha," I Mind-Linked the head Omega. I need you. Come to the back garden. Discreetly.

I met her by the old stone greenhouse, a structure safe from the coming inferno. I handed her the box.

"Give this to him," I said, pressing it into her trembling hands. "Not now. When he stands in the ashes. Give it to him then."

Martha looked at the box, then at the house reeking of gasoline. She nodded, tears streaming down her face. "I will, Luna. Run. Run far."

I returned to the foyer.

I stood by the front door. I struck the lighter. The flame danced, small and yellow.

"I release you, Connor Jones," I said to the empty room. "I release the bond. I release the love. I release the pain."

I dropped the lighter onto the alcohol-soaked rug.

The fire didn't start slowly. It whooshed into existence, a hungry beast waking up. Blue and orange flames licked up the curtains, devouring the silk. The heat hit my face instantly.

I threw our wedding album into the center of the inferno. I watched the leather cover curl and blacken. I watched my own smiling face from three years ago melt away.

Smoke began to fill the high ceilings. The fire alarm started to wail, a shrill scream that matched the one inside my soul.

I picked up my suitcase.

I walked out the front door, leaving it wide open to feed the fire with oxygen.

I walked down the long driveway. I didn't look back. Behind me, the roar of the fire grew louder, consuming the lies, the betrayal, and the memories.

I felt a strange sensation in my chest. A flutter. Not a heart palpitation.

Good, Seraphina purred in my mind. Her voice was stronger than it had been in days. Let it burn. From the ashes, we rise.

My skin tingled. The dormant blood in my veins, the blood of the White Wolf, began to hum.

Connor POV:

I found her in an old motel on the edge of the territory. Gemma.

She wasn't tied up. She wasn't hurt. She was sitting on the bed, watching TV.

When I burst in, she jumped up. "Connor! You found me! I managed to escape while they were sleeping!"

It was a lie. Even I, in my panicked state, could smell the lie. There was no scent of other wolves on her. No scent of fear. Just pizza and cheap soap.

But I pushed the doubt down. I had to. If I admitted she was lying, then I had to admit what I had done to Haven. And that... that was a door I couldn't open.

"We need to leave," Gemma said, grabbing my hands. "We need to go to the City Hall. Now. My father's lawyers said if we don't marry immediately, the Council might separate us because of the investigation."

"Investigation?" I asked, dazed.

"Into the factory! Haven is trying to frame me! We need spousal privilege!"

She dragged me to the car. I felt like I was moving underwater. Everything was blurry.

We drove to the human City Hall. Wolves usually married under the Moon, in a Pack ceremony. But Gemma insisted on a civil union first.

"Sign here," the clerk said.

I looked at the paper. Dissolution of Marriage: Connor Jones and Haven McCullough.

"She already signed?" I asked, staring at Haven's elegant signature. It was steady. Unshaken.

"Yes, yes, she wants it," Gemma said, practically bouncing. "Sign it, Connor. Be free."

I put the pen to the paper.

As soon as the ink touched the page, a sharp pain shot through my chest. It felt like a rib snapping.

"Argh!" I dropped the pen, clutching my heart.

"Connor?" Gemma asked.

"It's... nothing," I wheezed. "Just stress."

It wasn't stress. It was the bond. The golden thread that had connected me to Haven for years... it didn't just break. It vanished. It was like stepping off a cliff into the dark.

"Now the marriage license!" Gemma shoved another paper in front of me.

I signed it. I felt nothing. No spark. No warmth. No approval from my wolf. My wolf was pacing in my head, growling low and deep, refusing to acknowledge the woman standing next to me.

"We're married!" Gemma squealed. She kissed me.

Her lips were soft, but they felt wrong. They didn't fit.

"Let's go," she said. "The plane is waiting. My honeymoon surprise. A private island. No phones, no Pack, just us."

"I can't leave the Pack," I said. "Haven... I need to talk to Haven."

"Haven doesn't want to talk to you!" Gemma snapped. Then she softened her voice. "She hates you, Connor. Give her time to cool off. Three days. Just give me three days."

I looked at the signature on the divorce papers. She had signed it so quickly. She really wanted to be rid of me.

"Okay," I whispered. "Three days."

I didn't know I was walking into a cage.

Connor POV:

The island was beautiful. White sand, turquoise water. It was paradise.

It was hell.

For three days, Gemma clung to me. She wanted sex constantly, but every time I touched her, my skin crawled. My wolf refused to surface. I couldn't perform. I blamed it on exhaustion, on the alcohol she kept pouring me.

She had taken my phone. "Digital detox," she called it.

On the fourth morning, I woke up with a headache that split my skull. Gemma was asleep next to me, snoring softly.

I needed to check in. The Pack couldn't run itself for four days without the Alpha.

I found my phone hidden in her purse. I turned it on.

The device vibrated so hard it almost fell out of my hand. Hundreds of notifications. Missed calls from my Beta. Texts from the Council.

And the news alerts.

APEX MANOR DESTROYED IN SUSPICIOUS FIRE.

LUNA HAVEN JONES MISSING, PRESUMED DEAD.

POLICE FIND HUMAN REMAINS IN THE RUINS.

The air left my lungs.

"No," I choked out. "No, no, no."

I dialed my Beta, Josh.

"Alpha!" Josh picked up on the first ring. He sounded frantic. "Where the hell have you been? The Pack is in chaos!"

"Haven," I gasped. "Is she..."

"The house is gone, Connor. It's just ash. We found... we found the safe box melted. We haven't found a body yet, but the scent of death is everywhere."

"I'm coming back," I said. I was shaking. My vision tunneled.

"Connor?" Gemma stirred in the bed. "Put the phone away."

I turned on her. A growl ripped from my throat, so loud and primal that she scrambled back against the headboard, terrified.

"You knew," I snarled. "You took my phone so I wouldn't know."

"I just wanted us to be happy!" she cried.

"Happy?" I roared. "My mate might be dead!"

"I am your wife now!"

"YOU ARE NOTHING!"

I grabbed my clothes. I didn't button my shirt. I ran out of the bungalow, barefoot, sprinting toward the airstrip where the private jet was parked.

Haven, I screamed through the Mind-Link. Haven, answer me!

Silence.

Not the silence of someone ignoring you. The silence of an empty room. The silence of a grave.

Please, I begged the Moon Goddess as I ran, tears streaming down my face. Take anything. Take the company. Take my rank. Just don't take her.

I boarded the plane, screaming at the pilot to take off. As the island shrank beneath us, panic consumed me.

I had chosen the girl who needed saving.

And in doing so, I had killed the woman who was my soul.