Chapter 3

The room went still.

I set the signed petition on the table. "Let's go to the Elders first and have the ceremony done."

Kieran froze for a moment.

His gaze settled on my signature. He didn't move.

I knew what he was thinking.

In the past, I would have torn the parchment to shreds with red-rimmed eyes.

I would have wept and demanded, *"Kieran, how dare you decide this on your own?"*

Without a long, drawn-out struggle, the matter would never have been so simple.

Kieran lifted his eyes to mine.

That same lazy drawl. "What's the rush? I thought we agreed to wait until Vera's pregnancy was stable?"

"I can't wait." My voice was level. "Two o'clock. Don't be late."

His eyelid twitched.

"Leona." He pushed the petition back toward the center of the table and frowned. "Are you still half-asleep?"

"You wouldn't want to wait for me to wake up either," I said, rephrasing. "You'd rather not give yourself the chance to change your mind and tear it up, would you?"

The air between us froze for a few seconds.

Then Vera came down from upstairs.

"Leona, don't be in such a hurry. I only didn't want my pup born and called a bastard."

"The dissolution… you could wait until my pup is born."

Tears rimmed her eyes as she spoke.

She looked sorrier to lose this rotten bond than I did.

Kieran glanced at her.

That pitiful, fragile expression—paired with that *don't be in such a hurry*—was a needle straight into his fragile pride.

When had it become Kieran's place to be *urged* into a dissolution ceremony? Ridiculous.

"Leona, you think I don't dare?" He let out a sudden laugh. "Two o'clock. Council of Elders. I'll see you there."

Griffin shifted nervously at his side. "Alpha—"

"Shut it." Kieran cut him off, his trademark smile back in place. "I'll do what I said. Everyone here can bear witness."

"Once Vera's pup is born, Leona and I will re-bond."

He leaned in close to my ear, his voice intimate, certain.

"You're the Luna I dragged back from hell. None of these other women can compare to you."

"Once this pup is born, it's yours to raise. Only you have the right to raise it."

I let out a quiet laugh.

So this was how he "doted" on me.

I said nothing. I dragged the suitcase I'd already packed out of the castle.

Vera's voice drifted softly behind me.

"Alpha… Leona—will she really not come back?"

Kieran was toying with the ivory pendant again. He didn't answer.

In the original plan, even after the dissolution ceremony, I would have retained the right to live in the castle.

That I'd chosen to leave had genuinely caught him off guard.

"You sly little thing." He tipped his head and looked at Vera. "Leona's gone. You're pleased, aren't you?"

"Of course not!" Vera pouted. "You're teasing me again… my upbringing would never allow me to break up someone's Mate Bond…"

She bent her head and touched her belly. "Everything is for the pup."

That wronged, grieving look melted whatever temper Kieran had left.

"All right, all right. Don't cry. I won't tease you anymore."

Vera was cleverer than the rest.

She didn't goad me with rambling diatribes.

She didn't bombard my crystal stone with messages claiming her territory—no *he's with me right now!*

She wore the air of someone who'd come to *join* us. Naive. Sweet.

A single sharp word from me, and Kieran would feel she'd been deeply wronged.

I'd met younger, prettier, more interesting girls than her.

But they had all been too impatient.

Impatient for him to declare himself. Impatient for me to step aside.

Only Vera was patient—no fuss, no fight, no fight for position. She'd simply moved in with her belly out.

Every other word out of her mouth was *Leona*, spoken more intimately than any of the others ever had.

She'd done what none of the would-be usurpers had managed.

…

At one fifty in the afternoon, I stood outside the Council of Elders.

I tried Kieran on the crystal stone for the ninth time.

The first eight calls had gone nowhere. This one connected at last.

"Where are you?"

His voice came through, careless. "I'm with Vera at her prenatal checkup. Can't get away. Wait a bit—I'll come once I'm done."

"I told you, the dissolution is at two o'clock!"

"What's the rush?" he soothed, as though I were a fractious child. "We'll do it after Vera's seen the doctor."

The line cut off.

Wait. Wait again…

If this had been the old me, I might have been relieved to have won my mate back once more.

But today, that wasn't what I wanted.

Calmly, I sought out the elder in charge of dissolution ceremonies.

"I want to perform the dissolution unilaterally. The petition will be brought to you shortly."

The elder was visibly shocked. "Luna! A unilateral dissolution will cause you tremendous pain. Are you certain?"

He clearly knew about the troubles between Kieran and me.

"I'm certain." My voice didn't waver.