Two days.

That was how long I stayed locked inside my den, packing my things in silence and preparing to leave the Silverfang Pack for good.

I ate almost nothing. I barely slept. My chest didn’t ache anymore. I was simply numb, as if my wolf had curled into a cold corner inside me and refused to move.

A knock came.

“Freya?” Gwyneth’s sweet voice floated through the door, fake as always.

When I didn’t answer, the door opened anyway. Gwyneth stepped inside like the Alpha’s house belonged to her alone.

“Sister, I know you’ve been … going through things. But it’s my birthday, and all the pack members are asking where you are. You need to come greet everyone. Even if Father is angry with you… you’re still his daughter.”

I stayed silent and kept folding clothes.

“Freya, please? I’m just trying to keep our pack peaceful.”

Then another voice followed. Deeper. Colder. His.

“Where are you going? Why can’t you act normal for once—”

“You are my warrior, not my Alpha. Don’t forget your place.”

My words cut through the air like claws, and Gareth stopped, his expression empty and unreadable.

I hadn’t seen him since the night he sold my legacy, the night he humiliated me in front of the whole pack. The night the male who had once been my fated mate treated me worse than a rogue.

“Lady Freya, you have everything,” he finally said, tone formal.

“The Silverfang Pack has a tremendous legacy. You don’t need to fight with your sister or torment her. The least you can do is show up for one night. Just behave.”

I laughed, sharp, bitter, and painful.

Behave.

Gwyneth sniffed softly, pretending to be innocent.

“Gareth, you’re my sister’s warrior and friend. Please help me. I only want Freya to come downstairs. Everyone is talking…”

I turned away.

If I looked at either of them any longer, I would tear the whole room apart.

“Fine. Get out. I’ll be there.”

My voice sounded dull, hollow. Because the only thing worse than breaking… was letting them see it.

The ballroom glittered in soft pink and gold, the walls covered in roses and glowing candles. Pack members laughed and chatted, the air thick with sweet perfume and wolf scents. Then I heard him.

My father.

Laughing loudly among high‑ranking Alphas and Betas.

“So, the Grey Wind Pack’s Alpha himself chased after my Gwyneth!” he boasted.

“Gareth, of all wolves. I always knew my daughter was special!”

Someone asked about me.

He didn’t hesitate.

“Freya?” he scoffed.

“A troublesome pup. Not like Gwyneth. She brings honor to the pack. Freya only brings problems and wants attention.”

I froze behind a marble column, hidden but listening. His words sliced through me like claws. Then Gwyneth’s voice rang out through the hall.

“Everyone!” she called sweetly.

“Before we cut the cake, I want to say something!”

The crowd gathered like pups chasing a treat.

She smiled beautifully, her eyes sweeping the room until they landed on me. She lifted her hand, inviting me forward like I was part of her little show.

“I know things have been… tense,” she said softly.

“But I want you all to know that my sister and I have made peace.”

I blinked.

She turned to me with fake sadness.

“I’m sorry for making you angry and jealous, sister. I never tried to compete with you. No matter how much you hate me… I always looked up to you. We are pack.”

The crowd murmured in admiration.

She turned back to the giant cake and cut it gracefully.

“To my sister,” she said. “May she one day find peace and purpose.”

Then she stepped closer and held the first bite toward me.

I didn’t take it.

Her whisper hit me like poison.

“The last thing you’ll ever taste as a Silverfang Pack’s member, bitch. First your mother died, and now it’s your turn to follow her. Father isn’t yours. Your ex‑fiancé wants me. Even your fated mate, your precious warrior, chooses me over you.”

My vision burned red. I turned away, refusing to let her see me break. But then my dress jerked sharply.

Cold air hit my back. Gasps filled the hall. The silk slid down my body in a cruel wave, leaving my breasts exposed. I grabbed the fabric too late.

People shouted. Wolves whistled. Voices hissed in shock. My hands shook as I tried to pull the dress up, but the clasp had been cut. Clean. Deliberate.

I knelt on the ground, tears stinging my eyes.

Behind me, Gwyneth gasped dramatically.

“Oh no, sister!” she cried. “Why would you do that? Again? Freya… is this for attention?”

The crowd turned toward me with disgust, pity, and hunger.

And then … he moved.

Gareth. From across the room, his gaze locked on me—cold, distant, Alpha‑hard. He didn’t shield me.

Didn’t growl. Didn’t protect the wolf who once carried his mark.

He shrugged off his jacket and dropped it. At my feet. Not on my shoulders. Not around me. As if he wanted to say, ‘Cover yourself. You shame us.’

I grabbed it with shaking hands and pulled it around me as I stood on trembling legs.

Gareth guided me toward the exit, his grip firm on my elbow.

No comfort. No warmth. Just the cold duty of a warrior escorting a disgraceful wolf.

In the bathroom, I shut the door fast and slid down the wall. The cold marble bit into my bare skin as I clutched his jacket to my chest. My breaths came in broken gasps. Shame crawled up my spine like fire. Tears fell hot and fast.

Outside, I heard Gwyneth’s fake cry.

“W‑Why would my sister do this?!”

Gareth’s voice followed, sharp and cold.

“The way she acts… like stripping in front of the whole pack means nothing. It’s something an innocent wolf like you will never understand, Lady Gwyneth.”

Then came the words that shattered me.

“I can’t believe a woman could act with so little respect for herself,” Gareth said. “Who undresses like that? For attention? Sympathy? A moment of praise?”

I stared at the floor.

“She’s always been an attention seeker,” he continued.

“Framing you. Acting like a… prostitute. Tonight proved it. No wolf with dignity would do something like that.”

The words were bullets.

One. After. Another.

He truly believed I wanted this. That I chose to be exposed like prey before a pack of hungry wolves. I once loved him more than the moon. I once believed the mate bond meant something. Now, I saw the truth.

Loving him had been the biggest mistake of my life.

Inside the small bathroom, my breaths came in short, shallow bursts. But with the last of my strength, I forced myself to stand, trembling.

In the cracked mirror, the reflection that stared back at me was hollow and broken. But my eyes… they burned.

I pushed the bathroom door open, wrapping my ruined dress tightly around me.

Gareth’s body stiffened. He was standing beside Gwyneth, arms crossed, jaw tight, watching. Waiting.

For a moment, I saw a flicker of doubt in his sharp wolfish eyes. What if she didn’t mean for the wardrobe accident to happen?

No. That couldn’t be true.

“Lady Freya.”

I walked past him without a word. Then, with deliberate motion, I pulled off his ink-black jacket and tossed it into the large trash bin at the side. Right in front of him.

Silence cracked. Gareth’s mouth opened slightly, a flash of something.

Was it confusion? Regret? Annoyance?

But it defintely crossed his face.

I didn’t care.

“Lady Freya,” Alwin, a Beta who had served the castle since my childhood, rushed forward, worry in his voice.

“What happens to insolent servants who gossip behind their masters?” I asked coldly.

“They… are punished, Lady Freya?”

I didn’t answer. My heart wasn’t calm. It was burning with hurt, rage, and sorrow.

I turned back to him. Without hesitation, my hand shot forward.

CRACK.

The sound of my palm meeting Gareth’s cheek cut through the hallway like a gunshot, louder than the music from the ballroom, louder than Gwyneth’s dramatic gasp.

Gareth didn’t flinch. He froze, the red mark blooming across his skin. His jaw clenched. I leaned closer, my voice low, shaking, venomous.

“Who the hell are you to decide my worth?” I hissed.

“Who gave you the right to judge me and then call me… that?”

My voice broke, but I didn’t.

“A whore? Really? After everything I gave you… after every time I protected you… you humiliate me like this?”

For a moment, his eyes shifted, a flicker of guilt passing across them. He wanted to speak, but I wasn’t done.

“Out of everyone who has ever hurt me… you?” I whispered bitterly, stepping closer, breath trembling.

“You are my greatest regret. Even a dog doesn’t bite the hand that feeds it. But you… you are worse than a dog.”

“This house was never safe. The woman you chase… you don’t even know her. Yet you follow her blindly, a fool who will never understand until she drags you into hell herself!”

Gareth’s cold, indifferent eyes widened slightly, shock flashing across them as he muttered.

“Freya…”

I turned away and left.

Inside my room, finally alone, I collapsed. Trembling, I relived every moment of humiliation. My mind spun like a storm.

With shaky fingers, I looked to see if there were terrible news about today’s event or about my exposed body. I braced myself to be mocked by everyone.

Then, something happened.

There was an anonymous letter.

[No pictures. No traces. No reports… Not a single word will leak. Those who wronged you today—remember their faces. They will pay their debt in blood.]

My tears paused. My eyes widened as I read it again. I hurriedly checked for more rumors. But the rumors I heard were that a farmhouse close to our pack went bankrupt, a healer got arrested for sexual assault, and the rumor about Gwyneth lost 10 millions golden coins.

Not a single mention of today’s incident. The people who had seen my incident were either imprisoned for serious crimes… or gone. I took a sharp breath.

The anonymous helper… it had to be someone from the Blackwing Pack.

Auron Blackwing.

But why?

The next morning arrived in heavy silence. Every servant in the Silverfang Pack house already knew what had happened last night. No one dared look at me, and no one knew how to speak to me.

I sat at the long breakfast table, flipping through a simple magazine, eating slowly. The air felt cold.

“The Blackwing Pack said they will not wait anymore. In three hours, they will send someone to collect you.”

Just like that, a letter slid across the table toward me. My father had been sitting there for almost half an hour without saying a word, his food untouched.

[The Announcement of Dowries

Lady Freya Silverfang of the Silverfang Pack will be given the following:

50 million golden coins

The Silverfang Pack’s heirlooms

Half of the pack’s castle]

“I—I didn’t know you were going to mate Auron Blackwing,” my father said softly. “Your grandmother made everything official this morning. I found out only today.” He swallowed. “Freya… I don’t hate you. If you could just be a little more obedient—”

“I won’t be here anymore to stop you from bringing your mistress into this house,” I cut in coldly. “So go ahead. Bring Gwyneth’s mother home and give her my mother’s place.”

My father flinched. My mother’s death was the one subject no one touched, as if she never existed.

“With this, we are no longer father and daughter, Alpha Atlas,” I said quietly.

“I am cutting off all ties. Live well with your mistress and your other pup.”

My voice sliced through the room. His mouth opened, then shut again. His shoulders tightened, but he didn’t try to argue.

At the hallway outside my room, Gareth stood like a shadow. He was watching, waiting. Normally, a slap to the Alpha of the Grey Wind Pack would make him furious. But after what I said yesterday, even he knew he had crossed a line. He took that slap without a word.

His eyes narrowed as he took in the boxes, the folded clothes, the empty perfume stands. When he noticed my old painted portraits thrown into the trash beside torn journals, his voice dropped into low frustration.

“Lady Freya, you could have at least told me you were leaving. Now I have to pack everything in a rush.”

I didn’t respond.

“You always do this,” he muttered under his breath. “No warning, no plan. Just running away like the sky is falling. What’s going on, Freya?”

I folded my last scarf and placed it inside the trunk. Then I turned to face him fully.

“I am leaving for a vacation,” I said in a flat voice.

“You don’t have to follow me anymore.”

His brows pulled together, disbelief sharp in his tone.

“What are you talking about?”

He knew about my weak body, my panic attacks, the health issues the healers always warned him about. He knew I was never left alone.

“We have a contract, Freya. It is my duty to stay with you day and night and protect you-”

“And yet you failed,” I said.

“I don’t trust you to protect me anymore. The least you can do is obey my orders.”

Then I handed him a small velvet box tied with a navy ribbon.

“Bring this to Gwyneth,” I said.

He opened the box. His whole body froze like I had struck him again. Inside was the key to the Silverfang Luna’s jewelry chest, the one given to the heiress when she was a pup.

“This chest?” Gareth’s voice cracked with disbelief.

“I remember when we were kids—you said you’d rather die than give it up. You cried when Lady Gwyneth tried to touch it… and now you’re handing it away?”

“I was foolish to think it held any value,” I whispered.

“If Gwyneth likes it so much, she can have it.”

Gareth stared at my bare face, my simple black dress that covered every inch of my skin. No jewels. No red lipstick. Nothing like the confident, fiery woman I used to be.

For a second, just a second, his mask broke. Something uneasy flickered in his eyes, like a warning he didn’t understand.

His gaze dragged over me as if he were staring at a ghost… or watching someone slip out of his hands while standing right in front of him.

“You can send me the location where I have to join you,” he said stiffly.

“I’ll give this to Gwyneth first… then come find you.”

He waited for a response that wasn’t coming.

“Go,” I said quietly.

And he did.

An hour later, I stood in front of the pack cemetery. Behind me, the private carriage that belonged to the Blackwing Pack. It had waited with quiet readiness.

My mother’s picture shone softly on the carved stone. I placed a bunch of blooming red roses on her grave, the color she loved most.

“Mom,” I whispered, tears rolling down my cheeks, “I’m getting mated to the man they call the Dark Alpha and somehow it doesn’t feel as bad as it should.”

I wiped my face.

“I used to think love looked like Gareth. But that was an illusion… and now I’ve thrown it away. From today on, I will choose my own happiness.”

My grandmother tried to contact me through mind-link for five times. As for my father, he tried to contact me seven times. And more than a hundred mind-link from my twin brothers, who always chose Gwyneth over me because I was ‘too strict’.

‘Lady Freya, when are you leaving?’

‘My lady, answer me.’

‘Send me the address.’

A small smile touched my lips. I closed my eyes, breaking off my mind link with them. FInally, I cutting myself free from everything tied to the Silverfang Pack.

The coachman bowed, “Lady, we’re ready for our journey.”

I stepped onto the carriage without hesitation.

Farewell.

I no longer needed Gareth to follow me. I was leaving forever.