My wolf howled in anguish, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. My eyes fixed on the flames, a single, devastating truth sinking in:
Lilian was gone.
***
LILIAN
The plan was simple and I was going to die.
If Mason believed I was gone, I could finally be free. Faking my death was the only option. That was why I wanted the mating ceremony to happen here, where chaos and familiarity would be on my side, easy to manipulate. But Mason, ever unpredictable, decided to have it elsewhere, forcing me to rely on Alpha Dexter’s hastily concocted plan—a car accident.
Now, in Mason’s eyes, I was dead. That was the end of it.
All that remained was to burn the last thread binding me to him.
“Not all of us have all day, Lilian,” Alpha Dexter’s voice broke through my thoughts, pulling me from the flickering flames before me.
Slowly, I slid the wedding ring from my finger. The gold band caught the firelight, the engraved initials "M & L" mocking me one final time. My grip tightened. Without hesitation, I hurled it into the flames and watched as it disappeared, consumed by the fire, along with everything it represented.
It was done.
It was over.
Turning to face Dexter, I said firmly, “I’m done.”