Chapter 630
“State your business,” the Scribe droned, pulling a heavy stack of blank parchment forward.
Adella opened her mouth to speak, but the suffocating pressure in my chest finally snapped. I couldn’t let her say the words. I couldn’t bear to hear my Mate reject me out loud. If this was the end, I would use the last shred of my Alpha pride to deliver the verdict myself.
“We’re here to file a Decree of Severance,” I rasped, the words tasting like ash and blood on my tongue.
Adella froze. Her beautiful eyes widened in absolute shock as she stared down at me.
For one agonizing second, the world stopped spinning. Then a bright, irrepressible laugh escaped her lips — not a cruel sound, but a melody of pure, affectionate disbelief.
I stared at her, completely bewildered. The Elder Scribe frowned, her pen hovering over the paper.
“Cancel that,” Adella told the Scribe, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye. She reached into her leather satchel and slid a heavy, faintly glowing parchment across the glass counter, placing it directly in front of me.
I looked down. The bold, runic script at the top of the page didn’t say Severance.
It read: The Pact of Unsevered Bond.
The blood in my veins instantly unfroze. The crushing weight on my chest evaporated into thin air. It was a blood-oath contract — an ancient, legally binding magic that would make our mate-bond indestructible, incapable of being broken by Elders, distance, or even death.
“You thought I was leaving you?” Adella whispered, leaning down so only I could hear. Her eyes shone with a fierce, unwavering love. “Consider this a little punishment for your stubbornness, my King. I am never letting you go.”
Ragnar’s agonizing howl detonated instantly into a deafening, earth-shattering roar of pure, possessive ecstasy. MINE!
My hands shook as the Scribe handed me a silver needle. I didn’t hesitate. I pricked my thumb and pressed a drop of my Lycan blood onto the parchment. Adella did the same. The ancient magic flared a brilliant, warm gold, wrapping around our wrists like an invisible, unbreakable chain before sinking into our skin.
As we left the cold marble building and returned to the SUV, I pulled Adella into my lap and buried my face in her neck. The fear was entirely gone, replaced by a profound, terrifying trust. She had anchored my soul. Now I needed to prove that I trusted her just as absolutely.
“You play a dangerous game, little moon,” I murmured against her skin, pressing a kiss to her pulse point. “But since we are exchanging gifts before the airport — I have a surprise for you, too.”
I looked up and met Cole’s eyes in the rearview mirror.
“Change of plans, Cole,” I commanded, the authority of the Alpha King fully restored in my chest. “Take us to the Aerie.”