Chapter 458
His movements were strangely stiff as he reached into his heavy coat. He pulled out a small, rectangular velvet box and pushed it across the wrought-iron table, stopping it directly in front of me.
I stared at the small velvet box resting on the wrought-iron table. A pathetic, treacherous spark of hope flared in my chest. An apology? An explanation?
My trembling fingers reached out and popped the lid open.
My breath hitched. Resting on a bed of black satin was the Everett Moonpetal — a legendary necklace of moonstones and diamonds I had only ever seen in my late mother’s portraits. The sheer magnitude of the gift sent a wave of overwhelming emotion crashing over me.
“A parting gift,” Dallas’s voice sliced through the heavy air, as cold and hollow as a tomb. “I acquired it at an auction. Yara tried it on, but she found it too cumbersome for a Warrior. She suggested I give it to you. A severance package for your time.”
The spark of hope in my chest was instantly snuffed out, replaced by suffocating ash. He wasn’t returning a sacred piece of my White Wolf bloodline — he was tossing me his mistress’s discarded scraps. The ultimate humiliation.
My wolfless pride, battered but unbroken, roared to life. I grabbed the pen Duncan Whitaker had placed beside the thick Rejection Agreement. With sharp, violent strokes, I crossed out every single clause detailing the transfer of land, estates, and wealth.
Duncan let out a choked gasp. “Luna, you can’t —”
“I came into this bond with nothing,” I interrupted, my voice eerily calm as I met Dallas’s dead, storm-gray eyes. “And I will leave with nothing. I won’t let you buy your peace of mind, Dallas.”
I signed my name at the bottom: Adella Everett. The Marshall name was stripped from my soul, severing the legal and financial ties of our mate-bond forever.
“Was any of it real?” I whispered, the question tearing at my throat. “What were we?”
Dallas didn’t flinch. His face remained a terrifying mask of steel. “A mistake made by the Moon Goddess,” he stated evenly. “I am tired of carrying the burden of a wolfless mate. I want to be the Alpha King again. I want to be the Ghost.”
The finality of his words shattered whatever remained of my heart. I turned on my heel and walked toward Anson Fowler’s waiting sedan, Azalea close behind me.
Halfway down the path, I stopped. I pulled the Everett Moonpetal from the box.
“Since your Warrior Yara doesn’t want it,” I called over my shoulder, my voice echoing through the dead garden, “this wolfless burden certainly won’t accept her charity.”
I draped the priceless necklace over a cluster of dead, gray Moonpetal thorns. I didn’t look back as I climbed into Anson’s car. The heavy door slammed shut, sealing my fate.