Chapter 3: The Night I Became a Free Wolf

Keller stared at the oak moon wolf, his brow furrowed. "Evelyn, it's a piece of fabric. Why take this so far?"

Under old northern pack custom, returning a moon-wolf token ended a betrothal for good. I set it on the counter. "You know exactly why. Thirty-six full moons have passed. The oath is void by law. Here's your token. We're done."

He scoffed as if he had heard the funniest joke of his life. "Done? Every pack in the North knows about our betrothal. Everyone sees you as my intended mate. You're twenty-six, and I've kept you waiting for three years. Walk away now, and what respectable wolf would risk offending Blackwood to take you?"

This was the second time he had used such cruel words to condemn my future. He knew exactly what I had endured. He simply did not care.

I looked at him so long it felt as if I were seeing him for the first time. "My future is none of your concern, Mr. Blake. My family has already asked the matchmaker to find me someone else."

Keller's sneer deepened. Lydia laughed too, clutching the oak moon wolf as she leaned into his chest. "Evelyn, you're not even trying to make that lie convincing. Playing hard to get won't work on Keller. You haven't become his primary mate, and you're already threatening to end the oath. Imagine what you'd put him through once you moved into Blackwood territory."

Keller nodded as if she had made perfect sense and walked away with her on his arm. I watched him go. I felt no anger, no resentment. Only the quiet that comes when something is truly over.

When I returned home, my mother handed me an invitation embossed with a crescent seal. On the first weekend after the new moon, the Lunar Council would host a gathering for unmated wolves at Cold Spring Manor. It looked like a banquet, but it was where young wolves from the northern packs openly chose potential mates. I had not been eligible to attend since my betrothal three years earlier.

Now it was the perfect place to let everyone know that Evelyn Hall was no longer spoken for.

On the night of the gathering, I put on my new gown and entered the manor. I had barely crossed the corridor lined with pine lanterns when someone seized my wrist. Keller stood behind me, fury blazing in his eyes. "What the hell are you doing? This gathering is for unmated wolves. You don't belong here."

I tore my wrist free and met his gaze. "Don't touch me again. The contract is void, the token has been returned, and you have no claim on me."

Keller's chest heaved as he fought to keep his voice down. "I said those things because I lost my temper. Go home tonight. I'll come to the Hall estate in a few days and apologize in person. Isn't that what you want?"

Exhaustion rose from somewhere deep inside me. How could he be this arrogant? Every time I told him it was over, he heard nothing but a bid for his attention.

Lydia appeared again, right on cue, her eyes rimmed with their usual red. "Evelyn, no matter how angry you are, you shouldn't humiliate Keller at a public gathering. I'm the one who kept the oak moon wolf. It was all my fault. After tonight, please stop reading more into this. I begged Keller to bring me because I didn't want to keep coming between you."

With that, she burst into tears and ran toward the lake. Keller's expression turned cold. "Fine. If you're determined to go in there and make a fool of yourself, I won't stop you. But when the other wolves mock you, don't come crying to me."