He hesitated, eyes narrowing as if searching for something beneath my calm. “You’re not going to ask what really happened?”
A faint, tired smile touched my lips. “No. I won’t need protection where I’m headed.”
He looked puzzled—and that was good. He didn’t understand that I was already saying goodbye. He only gave a small nod and limped away toward his quarters, leaving a trail of dirt and silence in his wake.
The next morning dawned too still, the sky painfully clear—as if mocking me.
I met my closest friends at the VIP lounge, calling it a small celebration. None of them knew it was my farewell. The laughter, the music, the champagne—it all sounded hollow, like echoes from a dream I no longer lived in.
“To Alpha Thoren!” someone toasted, raising their glass high. “May his wedding with Lyra be smooth and scandal-free!”
Lindsay snorted. “Oh please, if that man wakes up and realizes he’s married to you, he’ll probably faint from disbelief.”
I laughed softly, the sound empty. “Maybe he already has.”
Her expression sobered. “Becca, this isn’t right. Elowen? After everything she’s done? And your father—he’s using you as a pawn in a feud that isn’t even his fight.”
“It won’t matter soon,” I murmured into my drink.
Lindsay’s brow furrowed. “We’ll still see you, won’t we?”
I lifted my glass with a smile that didn’t reach my eyes. “Of course.”
We both knew it was a lie.
That evening, I returned to the Solari Pack House. I planned to face my father—Alpha Mike—one final time. My heels echoed on the marble floors, the sound too sharp in a house that had never truly felt like home.
Before I reached his study, Elowen’s laughter drifted through a half-open door.
“…He actually let me bite him!” she was saying, her words blurred by wine. “Can you believe that? I practically own him now. Like a dog begging for a pat.”
More laughter followed.
“He must be head over heels,” someone teased.
Elowen scoffed. “Hardly. He’s convenient. Does what I say when I say it. When I’m bored, I call. When I’m not, he disappears.”
A pause. Then another voice asked, “And what about your engagement to the Solari heir?”
She laughed again, loud and shameless. “That corpse? Please. If I had the choice, I’d take the Alpha of Luminara instead. He’s richer, stronger—and stupidly easy to control. Did you know he sent me the Scarlet Dawn Crystal? Can you believe it?”