Chapter 3
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Serena’s pov
I stood at the front desk, my heart hammering as the clerk slid a thick envelope across the counter. The golden plaque behind her read Mating & Marriage Administration – Records, Dissolutions & Addendums.
“Mrs. Thawthorne?” The clerk peered at me over her glasses. “Is everything alright?”
“Fine.”
I tore the seal open with my thumb and eased the papers out just far enough to read the header.
Request for Dissolution of Mating Contract Preliminary Draft
My heart sank. The form was blank, waiting for signatures and dates. I folded it back into the envelope, smoothing the crease with shaking fingers.
Thank you.” I tucked the envelope into my bag > 10:50
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< Chapter 3
I turned to leave and walked straight into a familiar chest.
“Serena?”
Mark. Kieran’s Beta and one of my oldest friends. We’d grown up together in the same circle of pack children, back when Blackthorn and Crimson were separate territories with their own politics.
His eyes dropped to the bag I was clutching against my
chest.
“What are you doing here?”
“Nothing.” The lie came too quickly. “Just… paperwork
for my mother’s medical expenses.”
Mark frowned. “How is your mother?”
“Better. She should be discharged in a few days.”
“Good.” He hesitated, then added, “I hope you are okay.”
My smile felt like cracked glass. “I am.”
Well.” Mark squeezed my shoulder, his touch warm and
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familiar. “It’s good to see you, Serena. Take care of yourself.”
I nodded and slipped past him. I had to get ready for dinner.
Kieran had surprised me with a make up dinner at his favorite restaurant for missing our anniversary dinner.
The restaurant was beautiful, it had crystal chandeliers, white tablecloths and a string quartet playing softly in the corner. Kieran had reserved the private room, the one with the view of the city skyline and the $500 bottles of
wine.
It was exactly the kind of place he always chose to show the world that the Alpha of Crimson Pack spared no expense for his Luna.
But it wasn’t my favorite restaurant. That was a tiny Italian place downtown. Kieran had taken me there once, years ago, and I’d told him it was the best meal I’d ever had.
He’d never taken me back.
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“I got vou something.” Kieran slid a velvet box across the
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< Chapter 3
table.
I already knew what was inside before I opened it. A Diamond and white gold bracelet, it was elegant and expensive, the same style he’d given me every anniversary for five years.
“It’s beautiful,” I said, because that was what I always
said.
Once, I’d meant it. I’d worn each bracelet with pride, showing them off to anyone who would look. My husband gave me this. My mate chose this for me. I’d convinced myself that the consistency meant something, that he knew what I liked.
Now I understood, he didn’t know me at all. He just had his assistant order the same thing every year because it was easier than learning my actual preferences.
I knew everything about him. His favorite color (navy blue). His favorite food (his mother’s venison stew, which I’d spent months learning to replicate). The way he liked his coffee (black).
He didn’t even know I was allergic to matcha.
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A server appeared with dessert, a delicate green dusted with powder.
cake
“Matcha torte,” she announced. “The chef prepared it specially for the occasion.”
My throat closed as I stared at the cake, remembering the Instagram photos. Kieran made a cake with his own hands for the people he actually loved.
“Is something wrong?” Kieran asked.
Everything was wrong.
“I can’t eat this.” I said lowly. “I’m allergic to matcha.”
“Since when?”
“Since always, Kieran.”
He gestured for the server to take the cake away, but the damage was done. Five years of marriage, and he didn’t know something so basic about me. Meanwhile, he’d personally baked a birthday cake for Sophie’s son.
couldn’t breathe.
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“I need to go.” I stood abruptly, my chair scraping against the floor.
He caught my arm. “Serena, wait-”
My bag slipped from my shoulder, hitting the floor. The contents scattered, lipstick, keys, wallet, and the thick envelope from the Pack Council.
Kieran bent to help me gather everything. His fingers brushed the envelope just as his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen. “I have to take this.” He was already moving toward the door. “Go home. I’ll meet you
there later.”
“Kieran-”
But he was gone, the phone pressed to his ear, his voice low and soothing as he disappeared around the corner.
The envelope lay forgotten on the floor.
I did the only rational thing, I followed him with a taxi.
Eknew it was pathetic but I wanted answers.
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The taxi dropped me at St. Michael’s Hospital, the same hospital where my mother was recovering. My stomach twisted as I walked through the familiar corridors, tracking Kieran’s scent like the lovesick fool I was.
I found him in the pediatric wing.
Through the window of a private room, I watched my husband hold another woman in his arms. Sophie was crying, her face buried against his chest. On the bed behind them, a small boy lay sleeping, an IV drip attached to his tiny hand.
“It’s just a fever,” he murmured, stroking her hair. “He’s going to be fine. I promise.”
“I was so scared.” Sophie’s voice trembled. “When he started burning up, I didn’t know what to do. I just-I needed you.”
“I’m here now.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll always be here.”
My wolf keened in agony.
remembered the night I’d told Kieran I wanted a baby:50
We’d been married for two years and I thought it was
< Chapter 3
time. I’d imagined a nursery painted yellow.
Kieran had been inside me when I brought it up.
The next morning, he’d handed me a box of emergency contraceptives and watched me swallow them.
“We’re not ready,” he’d said. And that was the end of the discussion.
I’d assumed he just didn’t want children but it turns out,
He didn’t want children with me.
He wanted children with her.
Sophie turned slightly, reaching for a tissue on the nightstand and the light drew me to her wrist. She had the exact design as the one sitting in my bag.
My vision went red and I ripped it off.
The clasp cut my skin, drawing blood, but I didn’t care. I hurled the bracelet at the floor, watching it skitter across the tiles like something worthless.
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Because that’s what I was to him. Worthless.
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Interchangeable. A placeholder Luna while he waited for the woman he actually loved.
I waited till I got back into the taxi before I let out the ugly sobs that shook my whole body.
My wolf curled into a ball inside me.
As soon as my mother gets discharged, I would serve the
papers.
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