“No!” I said quickly. “Please don’t.”
He hesitated. “Brielle—”
“I don’t want war,” I said firmly, though my voice trembled. “Just give me until my birthday. After that… I’ll leave Stormvale. For good.”
“Brielle…” His voice softened, laced with pain. “You don’t deserve any of this. You should’ve told me sooner.”
“I know.” My voice broke again. “I kept hoping he’d change… that maybe the man I loved was still there.”
“Then let him live with his choices,” Benedict said quietly. “And when you leave, make sure he understands exactly what he lost.”
“Thank you, Ben,” I whispered. “I just need a few more days. I’ll be alright.”
After we ended the call, I sat there for a long time, holding the phone close to my chest.
Outside, the full moon glowed pale and distant, silently watching everything unfold.
That night, I finally accepted the truth I had been avoiding.
Alpha Xavier Raven of the Stormvale Pack was no longer mine.
Maybe he never truly had been.
And on my birthday—the day he forgot—I would reclaim what he had taken from me.
My freedom.
My pride.
And the shattered pieces of my heart.
Brielle’s POV
The dining hall carried the warm scent of roasted meat and freshly baked bread, but even that comforting aroma couldn’t soften the tension thickening the air. I sat quietly across from Alpha Xavier, my appetite long gone, while Victoria Blackwell spoon-fed her son like she belonged at the head of the table. Her laughter echoed brightly through the hall, light but edged with something mocking. When our eyes met, she didn’t even pretend to look away.
Instead, she tilted her head deliberately, exposing the smooth curve of her neck. My stomach twisted. Dark hickeys bloomed across her skin—fresh, unmistakable. That space should have held my mate’s mark someday, but instead, it bore evidence of her nights with him. She wasn’t even trying to hide them. Each bruise felt like a deliberate insult, a silent reminder of what she had taken.
Xavier didn’t appear bothered in the slightest.
He focused entirely on Liam, carefully slicing the boy’s meat into smaller pieces. When Liam thanked him, Xavier smiled gently, his expression soft in a way I hadn’t seen directed at me in weeks. I watched that quiet moment, the tenderness of a father, the scene I once imagined sharing with him when we had our own pup.
Foolish.