“I stood in the grand parlor and warned Zander that if he walked out to his mistress again, I would find another mate. He laughed in my face and called me a broken Omega whose ruined body no man would ever touch. Three days later a glowing parchment arrived. It showed two pups growing inside me, and a note from Alpha Silas promised he would come claim me as his Luna. Zander returned from patrol and mocked me for still sitting by the fire. I handed him the elders' dissolution papers and told him I was leaving with nothing but my old moon-dog. He sneered that I was throwing a tantrum and rode off to Daphne. In the tavern Sasha hurled wine at them. Daphne spat that I was filthy and barren from the rogues who had destroyed me. Zander threw me aside when I lunged at her. Later he let Daphne butcher my loyal dog in the courtyard and called it practice for dark magic. I gathered the pieces of my only companion and felt the last thread of our bond snap. I could not understand how the man who once claimed to have saved me had spent ten years guarding a lie he knew was stolen. I turned my back on the territory, walked through the snow to Wintermoon, and let Silas mark me under the full moon while Zander howled alone outside the gates.”