Chapter 4

Over the next seven days I started packing.

I did not take the jewelry Damian had given me or any of the property the Blackwood pack had provided for the Luna.

I packed only a few clothes and an old medicine case.

It was the one I used before I married him.

Five years ago I was Moonspring's youngest healer.

Damian first came to Moonspring to deal with a silver poisoning incident on the border.

His shoulder was poisoned and everyone said the arm could not be saved.

I performed purification treatments on him for three nights.

Afterward he followed me all the way to the foot of the snow mountain and said I was the only mate he would ever take.

I left my pack for him.

Then I lost my eyes for him.

Now I only wanted to take away the part of my life that was still mine.

Leaving required two documents.

One was an ordinary dissolution of marriage.

The other was a mate release, the kind recognized between packs.

We were not fated mates bound by the Moon Goddess. We had exchanged mate oath blood by choice when we married. A bond like that can be dissolved, but it requires both signatures and confirmation before a neutral Elder.

I had already arranged a Moonspring Elder.

All that was missing was Damian's name.

I left the folder in the study.

It also held several of the keep's annual asset authorizations.

Nothing was forged.

Every page was clearly titled.

I simply did not point out what the second document was.

On the last morning, Damian sat at the desk going through papers.

Kelsey's call came in.

He did not want to take it.

When it rang a third time, he frowned and swiped it open.

Whatever she said, he stood up immediately.

"I have to go to the medical station."

I held the folder out.

"Sign these first."

"Is it urgent?"

"Yes."

He opened the first page, a routine asset authorization.

After signing it he clearly had no patience to keep reading.

"Which other pages?"

I fumbled at the paper, pretending I could not find the place.

He took the folder and turned straight to the page whose corner I had folded down.

The mate release title was right at the top of the page.

One glance down and he would have seen it.

But the phone rang again.

Kelsey was crying his name.

Damian flipped straight to the signature line.

He signed.

"We'll do the rest when I get back."

He pushed the pen back into my hand and kissed my forehead.

"Wait for me."

I did not answer.

After the door closed, I took off the blindfold.

Through the window I watched Damian run all the way to the garage.

It was the last time I would look at him as his wife.

At noon the Moonspring Elder arrived outside the city.

I let a drop of blood fall during the release ceremony.

The old oath mark slowly faded.

The change did not hurt.

It only left me empty.

I had thought I would not be able to let go.

When it actually ended, all I felt was relief.

I left a signed copy of the documents on the bedroom table.

Then I took my luggage and left.