Chapter 2
After hanging up, Willa packed her things and left Blackstone territory that very night, checking into a hotel in the human city.
She didn't head back to Frostpeak either, keeping her location a total secret.
She wanted nothing more than to quietly carve this love out of her bones, once and for all.
But late that night, Cedric tracked her down, barging in with his warriors.
He slammed a document onto the table, his voice cold and commanding.
"You abandoned your post without permission," he said. "I'm taking the fall for you with the council. In exchange, you're going back to the border for another three years. Sign it."
Willa looked down at the paperwork.
She knew this script by heart.
Three years ago, a similar "border assignment" had banished her to the frozen wastes.
Back then, she had been foolishly hopeful, believing that if she held the line for him, he might actually care.
Willa grabbed the assignment and, right in his face, ripped it in half.
"I'm not going," she said.
Cedric's expression darkened. "Willa, stop throwing a tantrum. Like it or not, you're heading back."
Two warriors stepped forward, closing in on her like brick walls.
Willa bolted to her feet. From the deepest corners of her soul, where her dormant wolf had slept for years, a sudden rush of power flared to life.
She slipped past the first warrior, then swept her hand across the table, sending the metal cutlery flying at the second to force him back.
"Don't touch me," Willa snapped.
Her voice wasn't loud, but it made both warriors freeze in their tracks.
That was the kind of lethal edge she brought back after surviving three years on a hostile frontier.
This wasn't some pampered princess whining; this was the raw, dangerous grit of a soldier who had survived the worst.
Cedric stared at her, a hint of surprise flickering in his eyes.
He had never expected the girl who was always at his heels to look at him with such cold defiance.
Right then, his phone rang.
He answered, his voice instantly softening, his hard gaze melting away.
"It's handled," he said. "Don't worry. I'm on my way back to you right now."
It was Claire.
Willa stood there, a bitter, quiet laugh escaping her.
So he did know how to be gentle.
But not a single second of it was ever meant for her.
She thought of everything she had sacrificed for him over the years.
Her father had been ready to sign a lucrative trade deal with the Silvermoon Pack, but she had begged him to hand Frostpeak's supply routes to Blackstone instead.
When Cedric had clashed with a rival pack, she had thrown herself into the fray in the dead of night, dropping the Frostpeak name to shut down the threat before it blew up in his face.
Whatever he needed, she gave him, no questions asked.
Yet he had never bothered to look her way.
Cedric ended the call. When he looked back up and saw her standing there, his brow furrowed. "Tomorrow, you're going back to the border with my men."
Willa met his gaze, her voice sharp and clear, as if she were seeing him for who he truly was, at last.
"Alpha Cedric, I'm taking this to the council. I'm breaking off our engagement for good," she said.
Cedric paused, convinced this was nothing but a cheap tactic to dodge her deployment.
He let out a mocking laugh and turned toward the door. "Sure. The council meets in three months. Let's see what kind of stunt you try to pull then."
The door closed behind him.
In her mind, Willa was already counting down the days.
*****
Three months later, a brilliant full moon hung high in the sky.
The entire Blackstone pack had gathered before the altar of the Moon Goddess for the Moonlight Festival.
Willa thought tonight was supposed to be the night she'd finally call off the engagement for good.
She never expected Cedric to beat her to the punch, catching her completely off guard.
Wearing his ceremonial black Alpha robes, Cedric walked to the center of the altar and took Claire's hand.
"With the Moon Goddess and the pack as my witnesses," his voice echoed across the place, "I, Cedric Kane, reject Willa Olson as my mate."
The crowd erupted in gasps and whispers.
Pack legend said when a true mating bond snapped, the rejected party would cough up blood right then and there, the agony so intense it made them crave death.
Willa braced herself, closing her eyes as she waited for the crushing pain to rip through her.
But nothing happened.
Instead, she felt nothing but a hollow draft in her chest, like stepping into a room that had been packed up and abandoned long ago.
It caught her off guard.
Inhaling slowly to steady herself, she lifted her chin. When she spoke, her voice was eerily calm. "I, Willa Olson, accept your rejection, Cedric Kane."
Instantly, the crowd erupted into murmurs.
The pack elders traded a bewildered look, sensing something was off.
Willa missed their silent exchange.
Her focus was entirely on the heavy chain she had dragged around for years, which had finally dissolved.
She turned to leave.
But Claire suddenly threw herself into Cedric's arms, her eyes red and her voice trembling.
She whimpered, "Cedric, she cornered me earlier. She said she'd make sure I died a miserable death, and she bared her claws at me. I'm terrified."
Willa spun back around. "When did I ever say that?"
"Enough," Cedric barked, his face hardening. "Willa, you won't even let Claire enjoy tonight in peace?"
"Alpha," a warrior standing near Claire chimed in right on cue, "I saw Willa sneaking around suspiciously earlier."
It was a setup, a flawlessly orchestrated trap where every piece clicked perfectly into place.
Willa looked into Cedric's eyes, finding only a cold, rigid wall. Suddenly, the energy to defend herself drained away.
He never trusted her.
Not then, not now, not ever.
"Willa Olson," Cedric declared. "For abandoning your post and threatening our future Luna, you are stripped of Blackstone's protection and exiled from our lands.
"From this moment on, you are a rogue."
The whole place went dead silent.
A rogue was an outcast, a lone wolf, hunted by every pack. No territory, no shelter, nothing but the brutal wilderness.
The warriors stepped forward and grabbed Willa by the arms.
She didn't fight them.
As they dragged her away from the altar, she cast one final look back at Cedric.
Her eyes held no hatred, no lingering longing.
There was only a foreign, hollow peace, a cold serenity she had never felt before.