Chapter 4

That evening, after the old Alpha pressed me several times, I did go to his home.

The whole way there I kept thinking: how should I explain this to him?

Tell him that the Alpha had gotten another woman pregnant?

That he was forcing me into a dissolution?

Or that I'd already prepared to undergo it unilaterally?

When I arrived, I was alone.

The old Alpha paused. "Where's Kieran?"

"He's busy," I said.

"Busy?" He set his wine cup down on the stone table with a thump, his tone darkening. "What could be more important than his own mate?"

I said nothing.

The old Alpha and my father had been brothers-in-arms who crossed the Silverfire Forest together in their youth. My father had once saved his life.

He had been determined to see Kieran and me bonded, but the old Luna had not approved.

She thought my family beneath them.

Especially after I fell gravely ill—she decided I'd been forsaken by the Moon Goddess, that I would bring misfortune to Kieran.

It was Kieran who refused to let go.

Alone, he crossed the Bonepass and knelt for nine days and nine nights at the altar of the Moon Goddess, his knees raw to the bone.

He had knelt there and said, *"I can give up being with Leona, if only she lives."*

When I learned of it, I wept.

Between us, it had always been him charging ahead, while I shrank back, weighed down by my own self-doubt.

After that, I took his hand and said, *"I won't run anymore. If you'll have me, I'll be your mate. Your Luna."*

And then I truly did recover.

I went home with him of my own will.

The old Alpha was overjoyed. He carved off a third of the family's territorial holdings into my name and sealed it with a Moon Oath.

He said it was for all the pack to see—he wanted every wolf to remember that, on these lands, my word, Leona's word, carried the same weight as Kieran's.

In those days I thought the biggest obstacle between Kieran and me was the old Luna.

Now I understand: outsiders were never the barrier to a Mate Bond.

I was still searching for how to begin when the door opened.

Kieran came in with Vera tucked under his arm. When he saw me, he stilled.

The old Alpha's face darkened. "You wretch—dragging just anyone into our home!"

Kieran settled into a chair with Vera, his tone as easy as ever. "Father, it's only dinner. What's the harm?"

Then he glanced at me. "Leona, head home first."

As though he felt obliged to soften it, he leaned closer and murmured, "I didn't think you'd come, so I brought her. Tonight's her night, understand?"

I laughed once, short.

I had once thought he was merely amusing himself with Vera.

That when the novelty wore off, he'd move on to the next.

It seemed I'd been mistaken.

The old Luna came downstairs, her gaze grazing me before settling on Vera. "So this is the woman from outside who's carrying a pup? It's a wonder what gutter trash this house keeps inviting in."

One sentence, two insults.

In years past, Kieran would have stepped in front of me and said, *"Leona is the one I chose."*

Today, he frowned and pulled Vera closer. "Mother, she is the one I chose. You've no right to interfere."

His voice was harder than when he'd once shielded me.

Vera leaned into him, eyes rimmed red.

She always wore the look of a woman trampled by the world.

Unlike me, who could take a beating and still look as though I could carry the sky on my own back.

I rose without interest. "I'm leaving."

The old Alpha couldn't keep me.

Kieran had no time for me.

The moment I stepped out the door, I thought again of those nine days and nights he'd knelt at the Moon Goddess's altar.

He had knelt and said, *"I can give up being with Leona, if only she lives."*

Well. He had what he asked for.

…

The dissolution went more smoothly than I'd expected.

There was no pain—because once the Council of Elders had notified him, Kieran finally rushed over.

In the end, he did not let me bear the wound of a unilateral dissolution alone.

Kieran, I imagine, believed that once Vera's pup was born and our Mate Bond was renewed, everything would simply slot back into place.

"Under the witness of the Moon Goddess, I, Leona of the Blood Moon Pack, formally reject you, Kieran of the Blood Moon Pack, as my mate henceforth."

"Under the witness of the Moon Goddess, I, Kieran of the Blood Moon Pack, formally reject you, Leona of the Blood Moon Pack, as my mate henceforth."

When it was over—

I felt the mark that had wound between us for years dissipate.

He leaned in, his tone unusually coaxing.

"You always wanted a grand bonding ceremony, didn't you?"

"When we re-bond, I'll throw one for you myself. The cedar grove you love. The silver-white Moon Oath robes, the lilies of the valley, everything you've ever wanted—all of it, yours."

I lifted my eyes to him. "Kieran, there's no need."