Chapter 23: I Was No Longer Waiting for Him

Three days passed after the council hearing.

For the first time in years, my mornings belonged entirely to me.

I woke up without checking my phone for Julian's messages.

I ate breakfast without wondering whether Stonebridge had announced another Luna candidate.

And when I walked through Red Mesa's main courtyard, nobody whispered about the wolfless wife who had failed to become a Luna.

I was simply Clara Calloway.

Wyatt found me near the training grounds that afternoon.

He was holding a folder in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

"The council finished the paperwork," he said.

"The Hawthorne alliance is officially dissolved."

I stared at the folder.

Five years.

All reduced to a few signatures and a stamp.

I should have felt devastated.

Instead, I felt strangely light.

"What about Julian?" I asked.

Wyatt hesitated.

"He resigned from the Stonebridge succession committee."

I looked up.

"He actually gave up the Alpha position?"

"Not yet. But he's refusing to accept the conditions his grandmother set."

I didn't answer.

That was Julian's choice now.

It wasn't my responsibility.

That evening, the Red Mesa council held a small dinner in my honor.

My father raised his glass.

"To Clara, who finally remembered that she has a home."

Everyone laughed.

I smiled too.

For once, the laughter didn't hurt.

Later that night, I stepped outside alone.

The desert air was warm against my skin, nothing like Grayhaven's freezing coastal winters.

I looked toward the distant red cliffs.

This was where I had grown up.

This was where I belonged.

A familiar voice came from behind me.

"You always hated Grayhaven's weather."

I turned.

Julian stood several feet away.

He looked exhausted.

But he wasn't wearing the black coat of the Stonebridge heir anymore.

There was no pack insignia on him at all.

"How did you get here?" I asked.

"Wyatt let me through."

I frowned.

"Why?"

"Because he knew I wouldn't leave until I said what I came to say."

I folded my arms.

"Then say it."

Julian took a breath.

"I'm not here to ask you to come back."

That surprised me.

He continued.

"I know I lost the right to ask that."

For several seconds, neither of us spoke.

"I came to tell you that Felicity left Stonebridge."

I raised an eyebrow.

"She did?"

"The moment she learned there would be no Luna position, she resigned from the archives and returned to her family."

I nodded.

It didn't matter to me anymore.

Julian looked down.

"I thought choosing someone else would make you fight harder for me."

His voice cracked slightly.

"I thought if I kept pushing you away, you would eventually prove that you loved me enough to stay."

I stared at him.

"You wanted me to compete for my own marriage."

"Yes."

He swallowed.

"And I was too arrogant to realize that you were slowly disappearing."

The words should have moved me.

Once, they would have.

But the woman who had waited for them was gone.

"Julian," I said quietly, "I did love you."

His eyes lifted.

"I know."

"But loving you taught me to hate myself."

His face tightened.

"I'm sorry."

"I know."

I looked toward the desert again.

"But an apology can't give me those five years back."

Julian nodded slowly.

"I know that too."

He reached into his coat and pulled out a small box.

He placed it on the stone ledge beside me.

I didn't touch it.

"What's that?"

"Your Hawthorne documents."

He opened the box.

Inside were the old marriage papers, the signet records, and every letter I had ever written to the Stonebridge elders asking for my Luna presentation.

I stared at the stack.

Julian looked ashamed.

"I kept them all."

I closed the box.

"Thank you."

He stepped back.

"That's all I came to do."

I watched him turn away.

For a moment, I almost called his name.

Then I realized I wasn't stopping him because I wanted him back.

I was simply saying goodbye to the last piece of my old life.

"Goodbye, Julian."

He stopped.

His shoulders rose with one slow breath.

"Goodbye, Clara."

He walked away into the darkness.

I stood there until I could no longer see him.

Then I turned toward the lights of my home.

Tomorrow, I would begin my new life.

And this time, I wouldn't build it around someone else's approval.