a's

divorce agreem

ty d

rty-day cooling-off period. First, I needed Damon to sign the divorce agreement. Once the petition was filed with the court

make Damon think ev

estrict my freedom anymore or make me do chores, but that didn't mean I could wander around all da

manor gates. But I kept my face composed, the pi

just wrapped up work, exhaustion in his eyes. But the mom

e wer

hed. But I did

o find something to kill the time. I'd lose my mind stuck

rying to read me. After all these years, I knew eve

st and began to slide upward-tracing my for

" he said. "Give you s

mach t

on my shoulder. "We'd have three pups. They'd grow up and

n I thought he was my salvation, when I thought the Moon Goddess had finally

face and felt noth

lashed through my mind wasn't of our past happin

body loose, relaxed, even k

e been walking all day. My legs

s slid from my shoulder to my

ve you a

on end. My body rejected him on instinct. I wanted t

tled on my waist. His fingers ti

ser. I could tell h

one on the coff

nd. He looked down at me, somethin

said. "It migh

and walked over to

shrank. His lips pressed into a thin l

t me, hesitated

el

am

od wen

t sugary lilt she only used whe

is

ill in touch

that she'd never set foot i

had

He turned his back to me and said som

into my palm. M

i

st

out having pups, there'd been a flash in his eyes that hadn't looked lik

ed to dust by that sugary voic

i

second

t for a better moment, wait until he w

ged my

ni

he divorce agreement from my bag, flipped to the

up behi

her holding the phone to his ear. His attention was entirely elsewhere. For the first time i

. Pe

iderate Luna would sound when she didn't want to dist

his attention clearly somewhere else.

t's an annual thing. You signed

he'd have noticed-insurance renewals aren't one page. A Luna doesn't hand them directly to an Alpha.

he d

entirely on t

cument. He took the pen and scrawl

on

the ones he'd signed on our bonding c

t I held it together. I sli

you, da

, didn't even

sofa, folded it, and tucked it i

hard it felt like it wou

done

absolute ruler of the Blackmoon Pack, had just signed away

His expression had already reset-a carefu

eed to head out. I'm the Al

you und

ng that line f

come home, I told myself to be understanding. Every time Do

e," I sai

his hands, and pressed his lips to my forehead-hard, lingering, with a force that seemed

or me,"

, playin

rom the sofa and headed fo

g to the manor doors close, listening to the engine star

ise my hand and wipe the

at the thin piece

or with cold eyes. This place

have nothing

me pick the curtains-four years ago, the first time I'd tried to offer an o

Omega. You have no right to dec

d back then. I wou

ed upstairs to the bedroom

rought from Silvermoon four years ago, holding what few personal things I had

art packing

e of the bed and

e he

my ankle, then leaped into my lap and curled up. She looked up a

Silvermoon Pack. She'd been a kitten back then, barely weaned, so fil

sisting a werewolf manor was no place fo

up for me. "Let her keep it, Mother

tears streaming down my face, thinkin

y nose stinging,

m fur and breathed in that

" I whi

il curling slowly

can't take care of you for a while. So forgive

ked my

r. Mama's going to work hard and make money. I'll buy you the best cat food-not the cheap stuff from the bottom shelf at the supermarket, but the organic, freeze-dried kind t

purred

n lie in the sun. The light's always blocked by the curtains here.

oat ti

et you. And then we're never c

aring her belly, her four littl

mil

on the bed and pulled

s could wait u

y cat. She was one of the few thing

ured through

earl's warm breathing. Tomorrow, I

er set foot in this bedroom. It had been a long, long time since he'd sl

Maybe by the time he did, I'd al

rning, my p

Alpha

I'm o