004

DECLAN.

"Take them back to him."

I stopped at the entrance of the room, my hand resting on the doorframe.

Inside the small, herb-scented room, Alina was standing at her worktable, surrounded by glass vials, bundles of dried lavender.

Standing across from her was my personal steward, Thomas, looking pale and thoroughly uncomfortable as he held three thick leather-bound deeds out to her.

"Lady Alina, please," Thomas said, his voice trembling slightly. "The Alpha instructed me to deliver these to your hands directly. He has been working with the land registrars for over eight months to finalize the seals."

Alina didn't reach for them. She didn't even lift her green eyes from what she was doing.

"I have no need for land deeds, Thomas," she said softly.

"They aren't just any lands, my Lady," Thomas pressed, taking a hesitant step forward and placing the documents onto the wooden counter between them. "The first is the ownership to the old Westmere family manor. The second is the deed to the fertile valley territories your father surrendered to Rivenhall after the Siege of Oakhaven. The Alpha bought every acre back from the Council using his private treasury."

I leaned my shoulder against the wall of the corridor, staying out of sight in the shadows.

It had taken me a full year of negotiations to pull those valley lands back from Victor and the old Elders. The Council had fought me on every acre. They wanted to keep Westmere’s former soil as a trophy of our victory. But I hadn't bought those fields for the Council. I had bought them because I remembered the night two winter moons ago when Alina had laid against my chest, staring into the fireplace, whispering about how much she missed the quiet green hills of her childhood home.

She had given up her family's soil to keep her brother alive and stop a war. I wanted to give her world back to her, whole and untouched.

"And the third?" Alina asked. Her hands finally paused over the pestle.

"It is a royal land grant for a private healing center," Thomas said, his tone softening with genuine admiration. "Built right on the edge of the neutral valley. Three stories, stone foundation, with direct access to the natural hot springs. It was built according to the exact architectural sketches you drew in the study last spring."

I watched through the narrow crack of the open door and waited for her face to light up.

I waited to see that gentle, radiant smile that usually brightened her green eyes whenever she talked about building a haven for unawakened wolf pups and silver-poisoned soldiers.

I had hired fifty master builders from the western province to raise those walls in secret, making sure every window faced the morning sun just the way she liked it.

Instead, Alina’s shoulders slowly stiffened.

She reached out with pale, slender fingers and picked up the deed to the clinic. She unrolled it slowly, her eyes scanning the dark ink, the official wax seals, and my own bold signature at the bottom.

"A private healer's clinic," she whispered. Her voice sounded brittle, "On the outer lands. Away from Rivenhall. "

"The Alpha spent millions of gold coins securing these titles, Lady Alina," Thomas said proudly. "He ensured that no matter what happens with the pack treaties, you will answer to no one. You will be completely independent."

Alina let out a short, quiet breath.

"He planned it all out," she said. She wasn't talking to Thomas anymore; "Months ago. Before he even brought the petition to the Council."

"My Lady?" Thomas frowned, confused.

"He didn't just decide to end our marriage yesterday," Alina said, her "He spent an entire year building a plan for me to retire into. He made sure his ex-wife would be comfortable, rich, and far away enough not to cause trouble when the new Luna takes her seat."

My breath caught hard in my chest.

No.

The blood roared in my ears so loud I could barely hear the stone crushing under my leather boots as I took an instinctive step toward the door.

That was not why I built it.

I built it so she would never feel trapped. I built it so she would know that if she stayed with me, it was because she held all the power in her own hands not because she depended on my roof, my gold, or my pack's mercy.

"Take them, Thomas," Alina said, pushing the three scrolls back across the table.

"Lady Alina, please—"

"I said take them!" Her voice cracked "Tell Alpha Declan that the Westmere family does not accept blood-money for a failed marriage. If he wants to clear his conscience, he will have to find another way."

Thomas scrambled to gather them, bowing quickly before darting out of the room. He nearly collided with me in the hallway, his face pale with terror.

"Alpha!" Thomas gasped, dropping his head. "I... I tried to explain—"

"Give them to me," I commanded, my voice a low, dangerous growl.

I snatched the three deeds from his trembling hands and motioned for him to leave. Thomas hurried down the corridor without another word.

I stood alone outside the room, holding them so tightly the leather groaned under my grip and the gold seals dug into my palm.

I had spent twelve months organizing this.

I had spent endless nights going over property lines, securing rights to the mountain springs, and drafting land titles that ensured she would be the sole, undisputed master of her own life.

It was supposed to be her freedom. It was supposed to be my gift to her—a sign that I saw her sacrifices, that I valued her beyond a war treaty.

How had she turned it into a severance package?

"You really don't understand women at all, do you, Declan?"

I turned my head sharply.

Sabine was standing behind me, leaning against a pillar.

She had her leather riding gloves tucked into her belt, her eyes fixed on the thick stack of deeds in my hand.

"This is private pack business, Sabine," I said coldly, tucking the documents

"Private business?" Sabine let out a smooth, bitter laugh, taking a few steps toward me. "Declan, half the estate servants saw Thomas carrying the Westmere family titles across the yard. I happened to be standing right near the registry office when he pulled the files."

She stopped three feet away from me, her eyes scanning my face with a mix of disbelief and pity.

"You bought back the entire Oakhaven Valley," Sabine said quietly, her confidence cracking just a fraction. "My father offered you three gold mines for those valley border rights last spring, and you told him the land was unavailable. He thought you were saving it for a military outpost. But you were buying it back for her."

"Alina's family lost those lands protecting our shared border," I said, keeping my tone clipped and cold. "It was a matter of honor."

"Honor?" Sabine stepped closer, looking straight into my eyes. "You built her a private clinic over the northern thermal springs. Do you know how much the Wycliff pack bid for those thermal spring rights five years ago? Your Council swore the territory was sacred ground that could never be developed." She shook her head, a dry, incredulous smile touching her lips. "You didn't just give her land, Declan. You gave her your personal reserves. You gave her the exact things she dreamed of in secret."

I didn't answer her. I didn't owe Sabine Wycliff an explanation for how I spent my personal wealth.

Sabine stared at me for a long moment. The proud, ambitious posture she always carried seemed to soften.

"I came here thinking you were a pragmatist," Sabine said softly, her voice losing its flirtatious edge. "I thought you ended your -marriage because you realized Rivenhall needed a stronger alliance. I thought you were sitting back, letting the Elders push us together because you saw the logic of merging our bloodlines."

She looked down at the bulge of the parchment deeds tucked inside my coat, then looked back up into my eyes.

"You don't want an alliance with Wycliff," Sabine said, the truth finally settling between us "You never did. You're completely bewitched byher. You've been quiet all week not because you're replacing her, but because you're too damn arrogant to tell her that you're throwing a fortune at her feet just to prove you love her."

"Watch your tongue, Sabine," I warned,

Sabine didn't flinch. She simply raised her chin, "I am not afraid of you, Declan. But I am an heir of a high line, and I will not be used as a ghost to test another woman's jealousy while you play your silent games." She turned on her heel, "You are going to lose her, Alpha. And when you do, it won't be because of Victor, or me, or the Council. It will be because you”

She walked away, her steps echoing down the long, empty corridor until the wooden doors at the end of the hall swung shut behind her.

I stood alone in the shadow of the stone archway.

My chest felt tight, a strange, suffocating heat burning behind my ribs. Arrogant. Miles had called me arrogant. Alina had called me stupid. Now Sabine was standing in my hall, telling me I was blind.

They were all wrong. They didn't see the full picture. They didn't understand that an Alpha could not simply beg. I could not keep her bound to a contract born of blood and death.

She had to see the deeds. She had to realize that she was free, rich, and independent and that even with the whole world opened up before her, the safest place in the pack was still beside me.

I pulled the deeds from my coat , staring down at the thick black ink of her name written beside mine.

I will show her tonight, I thought, turning toward the residential wing. I will bring the titles to our room myself. I will lay them on the table, and I will make her understand.

The doors to our private quarters were unlocked. I pushed them open, stepping into the warm, candlelit foyer. The smell of lavender, dried cedar, and her sweet, wild-clover scent filled the air, instantly settling the wild, restless edge of my wolf.

"Alina?" I called out,

There was no answer.

I set the three deeds down on the table near the entryway, smoothing the edges flat.

"Alina, we need to speak about the Oakhaven titles," I said, stepping past the doorway into the main bedchamber. "You misjudged my intentions with Thomas. The land was never meant as a compensation for—"

The words died in my throat.

The room was bathed in the soft, flickering light of the hearth fire and the wardrobe in the corner of the bedroom stood wide open.

Inside, half the wooden pegs were completely bare.

Her fine dresses—the deep green ones I liked, the bright ones she wore during the spring festivals were still hanging in neat rows on the right side. But the left side was completely empty. Her traveling dresses, her woolen cloaks, her sturdy leather riding boots, and her silver healing tools were gone.

Sitting on the center of the duvet was a plain wooden box.

I walked toward the bed, my heart hammering against my ribs. Every step felt heavy, the floorboards groaning under my weight.

I reached out and opened the lid of the wooden box.

Inside lay the silver-and-emerald Luna ring—the band of leadership that had belonged to the ruling women of Rivenhall for four generations. Sitting directly beneath the ring was a simple scrap of paper, bearing a single line written in her handwriting.

The suite is half-empty now. It will make it easier for Sabine to measure for her new dresses.

My hand clamped around the wooden edge of the bedpost, the wood splintering under the force of my grip.

My wolf let out a low, agonizing roar deep inside my chest.

She wasn't waiting for Friday.

Her bag was packed and her ring was gone.

And the woman I had spent three years protecting had just cut the last thread binding her to my home.