Michael spent the night with Aliyah at the cabin.

I knew before breakfast. The pack knew before breakfast. News traveled through wolf packs the way fire travels through dry grass — fast, hungry, and impossible to contain.

A young Delta named Sara found me in the pack house library. She knocked twice, then pushed the door open without waiting for an answer. Her face was carefully arranged into an expression of concern that didn't quite hide the satisfaction underneath.

"Luna," she said softly. "I thought you should know. The Alpha and Miss Lane... they were seen returning from the lake cabin this morning. Together."

She watched me. Waiting.

I looked up from the book I'd been pretending to read. "Thank you for telling me," I said.

She blinked. "I'm so sorry. This must be—"

"It's fine." I closed the book and stood. "I appreciate you keeping me informed."

I walked past her, down the hall, into the kitchen. I poured myself coffee. My hand was steady.

Behind me, I could hear Sara whispering to someone. The words didn't matter. The tone did — confusion, disappointment. They'd expected devastation. Tears. A scene.

I took my coffee to Michael's office and sat at his desk. Then I pulled out my notebook.

Every contingency branch was now active. The plan was complete.

I opened a fresh page and began drafting the formal request.

---

The Mate Ceremony petition went through official pack channels. I wrote it myself, in careful, formal language:

*I, Eliza Collins, Luna of Ironveil Pack, respectfully request a Mate Ceremony to reaffirm the sacred bond between myself and Alpha Michael Shaw. I believe this ceremony will strengthen our connection and demonstrate our commitment to the pack's unity and future.*

I signed it. Dated it. Submitted it to the Council of Elders before lunch.

By dinner, I had their approval.

Three elders came to my quarters personally to deliver the news. The oldest one, Cecelia Park, actually smiled at me. "We're pleased to see you taking this step, Luna," she said. "It shows real maturity."

I smiled back. "Thank you. I want what's best for the pack."

They left looking relieved. No one wanted a messy rejection. No one wanted drama. A Mate Ceremony was clean, traditional, and public. It would put the gossip to rest.

Michael agreed the next day. He had no choice. Refusing would mean admitting what everyone already knew — that he'd rather be with Aliyah, that the bond was already broken in every way that mattered except the legal one.

I set the date for the following Saturday. Seven days.

Seven days to prepare.

---

I oversaw every detail of the ceremony personally.

I chose the location — the main ceremonial clearing at the center of pack territory, where the ancient stones formed a natural altar. I arranged the witness positions, ensuring that every elder, every ranked wolf, and every Omega would be present. I even selected the flowers — white roses, traditional and appropriate.

I chose white for my dress too. Simple, elegant. The kind of dress a Luna would wear if she truly believed in what was about to happen.

The night before the ceremony, I sat alone in my quarters. The moonstone collar lay on my nightstand. I picked it up and held it in my hands, feeling the weight of the silver, the cool smoothness of the stones.

Michael had given me this to remind me of my place.

I set it down carefully. I wouldn't be wearing it tomorrow.

I pressed my hand against my chest, just below my sternum. For the first time in years — since I was fifteen and my wolf had failed to emerge — I felt something stir. Not a shift. Not even close. Just a faint flutter, like a heartbeat that wasn't quite mine.

"Almost," I whispered to the empty room.

Then I went to bed and slept better than I had in months.

---

The ceremony convened at noon.

The clearing was full. Every member of Ironveil Pack stood in concentric circles around the altar stones. The elders formed the inner ring, ranked wolves behind them, Omegas and younger pack members at the edges. The sun was bright and cold. The air smelled like pine and wolf musk.

I stood at the altar in my white dress. My hair was pulled back. I wore no jewelry except the thin silver chain Michael had given me at our original mating ceremony — the one I'd worn every day because it was expected.

Michael took his place opposite me. He looked tired. His jaw was tight. His wolf was close to the surface — I could see it in the darkness of his eyes, the tension in his shoulders.

Elder Cecelia stepped forward to begin the invocation. Her voice carried across the clearing, formal and practiced.

"We gather today to witness the reaffirmation of the sacred mate bond between Alpha Michael Shaw and Luna Eliza Collins. This bond, blessed by the Moon Goddess, is the foundation of our pack's strength and unity."

She continued, reciting the traditional words. I barely heard them. I was watching Michael.

His wolf was straining. I could feel it even without the bond — the way his aura pulsed and shifted, reaching toward something it couldn't quite grasp. Toward a connection that no longer existed in any real sense.

Cecelia finished the invocation. The clearing went silent.

"Alpha Michael Shaw," she said, "do you reaffirm your bond with Luna Eliza Collins, to honor and protect her as your mate, to stand with her as the Moon Goddess has decreed?"

Michael looked at me.

Three seconds passed. They felt like years.

Then he spoke.

"I, Michael Shaw, Alpha of Ironveil Pack, reject you, Eliza Collins, as my mate and Luna."

The words hit the air like a physical force.

The mark on my neck — the one that had been cold and dormant for months — split open. I felt it crack, a clean line through the scar tissue, and then it went ice-cold. The bond snapped.

Pain dropped through my body like a column of frozen fire. It started at my neck and spread downward, locking my muscles, stealing my breath. I felt the severed connection rip through my chest, through my wolf, through every part of me that had been tied to him.

Every wolf in the clearing felt it too. The shockwave rippled outward through the pack link — a collective gasp, a stumble, a shared flinch as the bond broke in front of them.

I didn't fall.

I stood perfectly still, hands at my sides, and let the pain burn through me.

And beneath it — beneath the agony, beneath the severed bond, beneath everything — something else stirred.

My wolf.

For the first time since I was fifteen years old, I felt her rise.