But he didn’t even glance at the header.He flipped to the final page and,without hesitation,scratched his powerful,sprawling signature above the line marked‘Alpha’s Mark’.
“Another deal sealed?Elara,your human capability continues to impress the council,”he said in a relaxed,almost dismissive tone.
Watching his mark commit him to their legal separation,Elara felt a crippling pain—a phantom ache where their bond should have thrummed with life.
In five years of this hollow claiming,the only reason Ryder kept her close was because she was a useful,clever shield for his Pack business—never because she was his fated,cherished mate.
Just then,his comm-link pulsed.He glanced at the screen,and his granite features softened.His voice dropped to a gentle,almost tender whisper—a tone Elara hadn't heard directed at herself in years.
“Are you hungry,Lyra?I’m stuck at the keep right now.I’ll send a Beta to get you something to eat from the village,okay?”
Anyone listening would assume he was talking to the woman who carried his future children.
But Elara knew the truth.
She had loved Ryder for countless seasons.They were pups together,growing up side-by-side in the sprawling Thorne Territory.