00:00Damien Blackwood noticed I hadn't submitted an expense request in three days.
00:03He assumed I'd finally learned how to be a proper Luna, so he texted me like he was handing out
00:08charity.
00:08I reinstated your foster mother's treatment.
00:10Behave stop using emergencies as an excuse to beg for money.
00:14I know unmarked wolves have it rough, but my treasury isn't a charity.
00:18But he didn't know.
00:19By the time that message landed, I'd already drafted the paperwork to dissolve our mate bond.
00:23When I left, the only things I could take were the white t-shirt and old jeans I wore when
00:26I first married into this pack.
00:28No one would believe it. The Luna everyone thought lived in luxury couldn't even fill her closet with four decent
00:33dresses after three years of bonding.
00:34Every coin I spent had to go through pack approval. Every gown, every piece of jewelry was left in a
00:39safe.
00:40If I needed anything, I had to apply to Damien's chief pack secretary, Serene Voss.
00:44Because Damien despised where I came from.
00:46In his mind, people who climbed up from the bottom always lose control, waste money, embarrass the pack.
00:51But three days ago, my foster mother crashed.
00:53I requested $200,000 for her surgery and blood.
00:56Bond medicine. Serene deliberately held the approval until my foster mother died inside a human pod.
01:01Damien didn't know this. I'd endured him for years for one reason.
01:04His pack's medical access was the only thing keeping her alive.
01:07Now she was gone, and I had no reason to stay.
01:10I asked Damien to dissolve our mate bond.
01:12He didn't even look up. Just coldly replied with two words.
01:16Stop acting!
01:17When he talked to me, his eyes never left the war reports and financial turmoil on his desk.
01:21As if those cold numbers deserved more attention than I did.
01:23I'm not acting! I'm leaving! I'm ending the bond!
01:28Damien stood. Slow and irritated. His expression icy.
01:31Your foster mother's treatment was paused because I approved it.
01:35Not Serene. She followed my rules.
01:37And if you hadn't gone feral outside the council hall, I wouldn't have had to teach you a lesson.
01:42I already ordered the healer's circle to resume it yesterday.
01:44Then he checked his watch like I was wasting his life.
01:47My time is expensive. I'm not sitting here while you throw tantrums.
01:53He walked out before I could answer, because he was sure I'd do what I always did.
01:56Crawl back, lower my head, and then begged humbly.
02:02Don't look at me like that. You look like you're begging. It's disgusting.
02:06And I would smile anyway, stay quiet, and be his obedient shadow.
02:10But now, whether treatment resumed or not didn't matter anymore.
02:13If he'd answered three days ago, I might have stayed.
02:16But he never bothered to read my messages.
02:18That night, I knelt and prayed for his reply.
02:20It all meant nothing next to Serene's soft wine.
02:22Is the Luna mad I reminded her of rules?
02:24I don't want her poor girl habits in pack affairs.
02:27I'm strict for her own good.
02:29After that, Damien became even more impatient.
02:31He didn't even let me finish.
02:32He cut me off with one cold order.
02:34Do it Serene's way.
02:36I'm busy.
02:37Go through my pack, secretary.
02:40Listen to her.
02:41Whatever she tells you to do, do it.
02:45I was his mate, and I had no dignity in this pack.
02:48Even when I had to attend pack banquets as Luna, I couldn't just show up.
02:52I had to apply to Serene.
02:53She smiled while rejecting me, deliberately delaying until the last second.
02:57Watching me borrow clothes like a servant.
02:59Alara, can you manage time at all?
03:02Serene never makes mistakes.
03:03I never could, because his perfect pack secretary never allowed me to be on time.
03:08He knew my foster mother couldn't wait, but sent me to Serene, who delayed until it was too late.
03:13Hatred and suffocation stabbed my heart like needles.
03:15This mate bond was a cage.
03:17I had to get out, and once I decided what I was going to do, I felt lighter like shackles
03:21had finally fallen off my bones.
03:22So when I saw Serene's moonlit photo meant to provoke me, her standing beside Damien wearing his cloak like she
03:28was the real Luna, I didn't react.
03:30I calmly saved the screenshot, and liked it.
03:32Of course, the moment Serene was involved, Damien's messages came fast.
03:37Pack secretary Voss is truly devoted.
03:40She treats me, the Luna, and pack members equally, using approvals to put her authority on full display.
03:45Keep it up.
03:46Karma doesn't miss forever.
03:47Every coin you save for the pack today becomes shared property in your future promotion.
03:52I didn't want to respond, but the bitterness had been sitting in my chest for years.
03:57So I did it.
03:58Then I tossed my phone aside and started packing.
04:01It didn't take long, because nothing in this house was really mine.
04:04I lived here like a temporary guest.
04:06My existence barely left a trace.
04:08Now that I'd finally opened my eyes I understood the truth.
04:12I was never treated like a mate.
04:14Damien came home fast.
04:15I almost laughed.
04:16When it came to Serene he was never late.
04:18He acted like he didn't see my small suitcase by the door.
04:21However, his brows were tight with anger.
04:23I texted you.
04:24You didn't respond.
04:25I saw it.
04:26I didn't want to.
04:27Damien looked at me like I'd said something ridiculous.
04:30I told you why I had dinner with her.
04:32She earned it.
04:33You know half the pack already misunderstands her.
04:36You're common.
04:37How is she supposed to lead now?
04:38I couldn't help the cold laugh.
04:40So people aren't blind after all.
04:42Someone noticed what she's been doing.
04:44And I'm not her mother.
04:45Why should I care whether she's comfortable in the pack?
04:48His face darkened.
04:50Hilara, when did you become the type to believe gossip?
04:53You know how hard it is for a young beta woman to stand at the center of power in a
04:57wolf society.
04:58Why would you humiliate another capable woman like this?
05:01His gaze was tired judging like I disappointed him.
05:04You want to live like a caged bird who contributes nothing.
05:07Fine.
05:07I've been willing to feed you.
05:09But not every woman is as short-sighted and useless as you.
05:12Then he paused, like pulling out the sharpest weapon in his pocket.
05:15If you keep targeting Serene, think about your foster mother.
05:19I actually laughed.
05:20It wasn't humor.
05:21It was pain.
05:22Luxury.
05:23Look at the luxury life you gave me.
05:25I can't even find four decent dresses in this house.
05:28A haircut.
05:29A bottle of medicine.
05:30I have to submit paperwork to your pack secretary.
05:33A kitchen servant earns more in a month than your Luna.
05:36You know how this opens.
05:38Code first.
05:39Fingerprint.
05:40Then a mind mark scan.
05:41You don't even lock the armory this tight.
05:44What kind of Luna lives like this?
05:46Like a mistress begging permission from an pack secretary.
05:50Damien looked genuinely confused.
05:51This is why.
05:52This is why you're jealous of Serene and went to the council hall to ruin her reputation.
05:57My heart sank.
05:59Everything I'd said was meaningless to him.
06:01If he'd ever believed this was humiliation, he never would have allowed it to exist for three years.
06:06Whatever.
06:06Believe what you want.
06:08I'm dissolving the bond.
06:09We're done.
06:10But Damien laughed, like he finally understood the game.
06:13Enough.
06:14I'm not here to entertain you.
06:16You're just jealous.
06:17Fighting for attention with my pack secretary.
06:20Don't assume every woman is as small and bitter as you.
06:23He smoothed the wrinkle I'd pulled into his sleeve, like he was generously compromising.
06:27Tomorrow, I'll have the healer's circle send the best treatment pod.
06:31I'll tell Serene to give you the lock codes to the wardrobe and safe.
06:34I'll switch the fingerprints to yours.
06:36I'll authorize a monthly allowance 100,000.
06:38No approvals needed.
06:40To him, that was the maximum concession.
06:43But I was tired of this three-person bond.
06:45Now, maybe I'd never truly been in it.
06:47He offered a pile of promises and didn't mention Serene's sabotage once.
06:51Because he didn't care.
06:52Which meant if I stayed, Serene would keep crushing me under the word procedure.
06:55I don't want anything.
06:57I want the bond dissolved.
06:59Damien finally realized I wasn't playing.
07:01His anger snapped loose.
07:03Alara, don't forget our bonding agreement.
07:05If you leave, you don't get a single coin.
07:08And your foster mother's treatment without me.
07:12Do you think your foster father will give a damn about her?
07:15Of course he wouldn't.
07:16That was why I'd signed the bond in the first place.
07:18They were never meant to intersect.
07:20This was just life returning to its original path.
07:25Do whatever you want!
07:26Damien froze.
07:27He didn't understand why his threats weren't working anymore.
07:30But his pride wouldn't let him soften.
07:32So he watched me walk to the door in silence.
07:34When I opened it, he almost called my name.
07:36But he remembered what Serene had said.
07:38The Luna is bored.
07:40She's copying romance dramas.
07:42I've seen women like this.
07:44Don't respond.
07:45Leave her alone a few days.
07:46She'll crawl back and apologize on her knees.
07:49He shoved a hand into his pocket, irritated, and found only a piece of herbal throat candy.
07:53Something I'd mix myself because he kept coughing in the dry season.
07:56She's not completely useless when she comes back.
07:59I'll make her admit she was wrong.
08:01And just like that, he believed his own lie.
08:03After I left Damien, I hesitated.
08:05Then I went to my mentor.
08:06Dr. Maren Holt lived in the oldest stone wall building in the North District.
08:10Dried herbs sat on her windowsill beside dusty old books.
08:13When she opened the door and saw my thin suitcase, she didn't ask anything.
08:17She stepped aside, just like she always had.
08:20The moment I walked in, I broke.
08:21Years ago, when I quit school and accepted the mate bond, she'd fought me harder than anyone.
08:26Alara, hardship is temporary.
08:27Don't gamble your life on a bond.
08:29He looks down on you.
08:30Your efforts will be invisible.
08:31You'll live with your head bowed.
08:33Time proved her right.
08:34In the beginning, Damien admired my competence.
08:37He liked that I could calculate, organize, stay quiet.
08:40Then Serene Voss arrived.
08:41She said I was unmarked trash.
08:43That education wouldn't erase my low habits.
08:45She said I needed to learn the rules of the upper pack.
08:48That I needed proper spending discipline.
08:50That I needed to be trained by procedure.
08:52So I became the woman who had to submit forms to exist.
08:55Damien could approve, deny, or approve in a way that humiliated me.
08:58I cried uncontrollably.
08:59Dr. Hulk poured me hot water and spoke like assigning homework.
09:03I hope you haven't lost your skills.
09:05I have a border project.
09:07Collect Moonstone and Spring Data.
09:09It's hard work.
09:10Are you in, or not?
09:12I froze.
09:13I didn't expect her to offer me a way back to myself.
09:15What?
09:16Been a lunar too long.
09:17Can't handle worker life anymore.
09:19I can, Professor.
09:20For myself, I can handle anything.
09:22Then contact the team.
09:24This isn't a love story.
09:25No time for heartbreak.
09:26So I joined the field team.
09:28At first, I struggled.
09:29No heating in the camp.
09:31Wind cutting through rock cracks at night.
09:32Carrying equipment over mountains.
09:34Mud and water in my boots every day.
09:36Woke up at 3 a.m. to record the spring as magic flow.
09:39Gradually, my skills and tenacity came back.
09:41I became faster and better.
09:43I thought you'd be fragile.
09:44You're not.
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