Chapter 8

Darius wipes his mouth and straightens up.

No.

This isn't over.

He turns back toward the house just as Lucien and Elena emerge from the garden path.

"You're still here?" Lucien's voice is dangerous now. "I told you to leave."

"Not without my mate." Darius's Alpha command bleeds into his words.

Elena doesn't even flinch.

She's completely immune to me now.

"Your mate?" Lucien laughs, cold and sharp. "You mean your ex-wife? The woman you abused, neglected, and tried to kill?"

"I never tried to—"

"You forced a blood transfusion from a woman with cardiac damage!" Lucien steps forward. "That's attempted murder where I come from, Blackwood."

"It was to save Serena—"

"I don't give a damn about your whore." Lucien's eyes flash gold. "Elena nearly died. Twice. Because of you."

Darius turns to Elena, desperate.

"I didn't know about your heart. I didn't know about the baby. If I had known—"

"You would have what?" Elena's voice is ice. "Cared? You had nine years to care, Darius. Nine years to ask how I was. To notice I was dying right in front of you."

"I was busy with pack duties—"

"You were busy with Serena!" She's shaking now. "In our bed. In our office. At Moonlight Lake while I bled out our child!"

Our child.

God, our child.

"Come back with me," Darius pleads. "Let me make it right. I'll spend the rest of my life—"

"I don't want your life." Elena pulls a document from her pocket. "I want you to look at this."

He takes it with trembling hands.

It's the divorce decree, signed and sealed.

With one addition at the bottom:

FINAL DECREE: All bonds, ties, and obligations between the parties are hereby PERMANENTLY SEVERED. No reconciliation permitted under Northern Territory law.

"Permanently severed," Elena says. "That means even if I wanted to—which I don't—I legally cannot return to you. Ever."

No.

"I'll challenge the decree. I'll take it to the High Council—"

"Try it." Lucien's smile is predatory. "I have four Council members on speed dial. Good luck."

"This is illegal!" Darius's voice cracks. "You can't just steal another Alpha's Luna—"

"She was never your Luna." Lucien wraps an arm around Elena's shoulders. "She was your prisoner. There's a difference."

"Elena, tell him." Darius ignores Lucien entirely. "Tell him what we had. The early years. The way we—"

"The way you loved me?" Elena finishes. "For two years, maybe. Before the pack politics. Before your father died and you decided being Alpha meant being cruel."

"I was never cruel—"

"You let them mock me!" She's crying now, angry tears. "You let Serena humiliate me in front of the pack. You let the elders call me barren. You stood there and watched!"

"I was trying to keep the peace—"

"You were a COWARD!" Elena's voice echoes across the vineyard. "You chose the easy path. Every. Single. Time."

Darius's legs give out, and he drops to his knees.

"Please." The word is broken. "Please, Elena. I'll do anything."

"Then leave." She looks down at him, and there's nothing in her eyes. No love, no hate. Just exhaustion. "Leave and never come back."

"I can't." He grabs her hand. "I can't lose you—"

"You already did." She pulls free. "You lost me the night I bled in the snow. You just didn't notice until now."

"I'm sorry." Tears stream down his face. "I'm so, so sorry—"

"Sorry doesn't resurrect dead children." Elena turns away. "Lucien, please remove him from the property."

"With pleasure." Lucien snaps his fingers, and four pack guards appear. "Escort Alpha Blackwood to the border. If he returns, arrest him."

"You can't arrest an Alpha—" Darius starts.

"This is Northern Territory," Lucien says softly. "We don't recognize your old-world pack laws here. You're just another man who hurt a woman under my protection. And that makes you fair game."

The guards haul Darius to his feet.

"Elena!" He's fighting now, desperate. "ELENA, PLEASE!"

She doesn't turn around.

Doesn't even pause.

Just keeps walking toward the house, Lucien's hand on the small of her back.

"NO!" Darius breaks free from one guard, stumbles forward. "You can't do this! You're MINE!"

Elena stops at the door.

Turns.

And for one moment, Darius thinks he sees it—a flicker of the woman who loved him.

"I was never yours, Darius." Her voice is soft now, almost gentle. "I was my own. You just never bothered to notice."

The door closes.

The guards drag him to his car.

"Drive, or we'll break your legs and drive for you," one of them says conversationally.

Darius drives.

Twenty miles down the road, he has to pull over to vomit again.

His phone buzzes—Marcus.

Marcus: Serena is causing chaos at the fortress. Elders are demanding your return. What do I tell them?

Darius: Tell them I'm not coming back yet.

Marcus: Alpha, you need to handle this—

Darius: I need to handle ELENA.

He throws the phone on the passenger seat and keeps driving.

Not toward home.

Toward the nearest Northern Territory hotel.

If she thinks I'm giving up, she's wrong.

I'll camp outside her door every day if I have to.

I'll prove I've changed.

I'll prove I'm worthy.

The hotel clerk gives him a room key and a pitying look.

"Trouble with your mate?" she asks.

"Ex-mate," Darius corrects automatically.

Then the word hits him.

Ex.

She's really my ex.

He makes it to his room before he falls apart completely.

The tattoo on his chest burns like acid.

Day. Moon. Star.

A family that never was.

A love he destroyed.

A woman he'll never hold again.

Unless—

His phone buzzes.

Unknown Number: Stop harassing her, or you'll regret it. This is your only warning. - LD

Lucien Drake.

Darius stares at the message.

Then types back: She's my wife.

The response is immediate: Check the date on your decree. As of yesterday, she's my fiancée. Stay away from what's mine.

What's mine.

MINE.

Darius hurls the phone across the room.

It shatters against the wall.

Fine.

If words won't work—

If pleading won't work—

Then I'll find another way.

He opens his laptop and starts searching.

Northern Territory law.

Luna bond dissolution.

Legal loopholes.

Anything.

There has to be a way.

There has to be—

His computer pings with an email.

From: Eldric Blackwood

Subject: Come home immediately

Darius, whatever you're doing, stop. The pack needs its Alpha. Your personal life can wait. Return within 48 hours or I'm calling a Council vote on your leadership.

Darius deletes the email.

The pack can wait.

Elena can't.

He books the hotel room for thirty days.

And settles in for a siege.

I'm not leaving, Elena.

I'm not leaving until you remember.

Until you remember that you loved me once.

And maybe—just maybe—you can love me again.

Outside, the Northern Territory moon rises.

Different from Blood Moon's crimson glow.

Softer. Gentler.

The kind of moon Elena deserves.

And Darius realizes, for the first time, that maybe that's the problem.

Maybe he was never the moon she needed.

Maybe I was always the eclipse.

Blocking out her light.

The thought should comfort him.

It doesn't.

It just makes him more determined.

I'll become the moon she needs.

Even if it kills me.