I was nothing but a ghost in torn leathers and mud-soaked boots, carrying our child like a secret he tried to bury.
“You promised,” I said quietly. “Three years, you said. You’d bring us home. You’d make me Luna.”
His expression shuttered. Something flickered in his eyes—guilt, maybe, or regret—but it vanished quickly, buried beneath indifference.
“I was going to. But now isn’t the right time.”
He pressed a small pouch into my palm. The weight of silver coins clinked inside. “Take this. Leave quietly. If you must, sever the bond. It’ll be better—for all of us.”
I looked at the pouch.
Then I laughed.
It wasn’t loud, but it was sharp enough to slice through the tension in the courtyard.
I raised the pouch high—and turned it upside down. Silver coins scattered across the stones, rolling into shadows and under boots.
“Alpha Damien of Nightfang now dismisses his true mate and child with silver?” I asked, voice calm but clear. “How noble.”
The chatter around the gates died instantly.
“Selene,” Damien hissed. “Are you insane? What are you doing?”