Chapter 4

Bennett POV:

The email didn't just arrive; it detonated within the Council.

My father's old advisors were already blowing up my phone, their messages a relentless stream of panic.

"She rejected you? Officially?"

"Infidelity?"

"Bennett, explain this!"

I sat in my office, staring at the screen, my jaw clenched tight enough to ache. The audacity.

"She's bluffing," I told Mark, forcing a scoff. "She's trying to humiliate me into begging her back."

"She copied the neighboring Alphas, Bennett," Mark said, his voice dangerously quiet. "This isn't a bluff. This is a declaration of war. She just destroyed your reputation in the region."

"My reputation is fine!" I bellowed, slamming my fist on the desk hard enough to crack the wood. "I am the Alpha!"

Just then, the air was split by the wail of sirens.

*ROGUES! AT THE NORTHERN BORDER!*

Again?

I shifted instantly, bones cracking and reshaping as my clothes shredded.

*Mark, secure the perimeter! Warriors, with me!*

I thundered toward the border. The smell of rot was overwhelming, choking the crisp forest air. This wasn't a small raiding party like last time. This was a siege.

I tore into the first rogue, my jaws clamping around its spine with a sickening crunch.

*Protect the Pack House!* I commanded, the Alpha voice booming in the mind-link. *Protect Aria!*

The thought was instinctual. Aria was the future. Aria was...

Suddenly, a phantom pain sliced through my chest. It wasn't a physical wound. It was deeper, searing through the very marrow of my being. It felt like a taut steel cord being snapped violently.

I stumbled, losing my footing as a rogue raked its claws down my flank. I snarled and ripped it apart, but the feeling remained. A cold, gaping void opened up in my soul.

It was the bond.

It was Kelsey.

She meant it. She had truly, fully severed it. The distance, combined with her absolute intent, had finally shattered the connection.

I shook my head, trying to clear the sudden vertigo. *Focus!*

We fought for hours. By the time the last rogue fled, the sun was setting, casting long, bloody shadows across the clearing. The ground was stained red.

I shifted back, my human form trembling with exhaustion.

"Bennett!"

Aria came running from the safe house. She had a small bandage on her arm-a scratch from a branch, mostly.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" She threw herself at me, burying her face in my neck.

I caught her, but my arms felt lead-heavy. I looked over her shoulder.

The last time this happened, Kelsey was standing there. Quiet. Uninjured but terrified. And I had ignored her to check on the perimeter.

"I'm fine," I said, my voice hollow, scraping against my throat.

Mark walked up, limping heavily on his left leg. "Alpha. We have six critical. We need the Luna to organize the healing shifts and food distribution."

I looked at Aria. "Aria, can you handle the logistics?"

Aria blinked, pulling back as if I had asked her to storm the front lines. "Me? Oh, Bennett, look at my arm! I'm injured. I'm in shock. I can't be handling spreadsheets and soup kitchens right now."

She pressed herself against my chest again. "I just need you to hold me."

Mark looked at me. His eyes were dark, filled with a silent judgment that screamed the truth: *Kelsey would have done it.*

I shoved the thought away, burying it deep. "Mark, handle it."

*

Kelsey POV:

I was arranging a display of modern sculptures in the gallery when I felt it.

It was like a tight wire snapping against my heart. Painful, sharp, but then... silence.

I gasped, the small pricing gun clattering to the floor.

"Kelsey?" Sophie, a fellow assistant I had befriended, looked over, concern etching her features. "You okay?"

I put a hand to my chest. My heart was beating steadily. The dull ache that had been there for three years-the constant, low-level hum of Bennett's existence in the back of my mind-was gone.

"I'm..." I took a deep breath, filling lungs that suddenly felt larger. "I'm free."

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was Mark.

*Luna, are you safe? We were attacked.*

I stared at the message. I remembered the last attack. I remembered the back of Bennett's head as he walked away from me.

I typed back, my fingers steady: *I am not your Luna. I am safe. Do not contact me again.*

I blocked the number.

Later that night, I lay in bed, scrolling through my feed.

Aria had posted again. A photo of her and Bennett. He looked exhausted, covered in grime and blood. She looked pristine, the tiny bandage on her arm prominently displayed like a badge of honor.

Caption: *My hero protects me. Thank god the toxicity is gone from our lives so we can focus on what matters. #TrueLove #Survivor*

I laughed. It was a dry, rasping sound in the quiet room.

"Toxicity," I whispered to the empty air.

I looked at the mirror. My reflection seemed sharper. Stronger. The haunted look in my eyes was fading.

"Bennett," I said softly. "You didn't lose the toxicity. You just lost your shield."

I closed my eyes and slept. For the first time in years, I didn't dream of him. I dreamt of a white wolf running through endless fields of snow, and a pair of stormy blue eyes watching silently from the trees.