Chapter 9
Two days before her departure, Winter received confirmation that her name–change ritual was complete. The pack registry had accepted her petition to alter her magical signature a rare and irreversible ceremony.
She collected her new identity markers and pack documents, each inscribed with her new magical signature that would mask her from tracking spells.
Evening shadows stretched long when she returned to her den. The air carried winter’s bite, and as she stepped from her car, she found Reed waiting at her door, his alpha presence restless.
“Where have you been?” His wolf stirred uneasily beneath his human facade.
Winter unlocked her door, her voice carefully neutral. “Did you need something?”
Reed shoved his hands in his pockets, feigning casualness. “Storm’s coming tomorrow. Best stay home.”
A weak excuse to keep her within his territory for tomorrow’s performance. Winter almost laughed at his transparency but merely nodded.
“Noted.”
Her indifference unsettled his wolf. Something felt wrong about her scent lately, but he couldn’t identify what had changed.
The day of her departure, Winter rose with the moon. Her afternoon flight to Lunaris awaited. She purged her den of everything she couldn’t carry, her life reduced to two enchanted traveling cases.
At eleven, her wards hummed with visitors Reed’s pack brothers.
“Luna Winter, we know these moons have been difficult with Alpha Reed’s condition. But the healers say his treatments are working. His wolf stirs with old memories.”
“Yes, today marks seven years since your wolves first recognized each other. We’ve prepared a
surprise.”
Winter listened to their rehearsed lines, playing along. “What surprise?”
Before they could answer, a crystal pendant chimed. Minutes later, they changed tactics.
The Feriaken Luu’s Awakening: Breaking Free from My Alpha’s Seven Year Betrayal
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“Something’s come up. We’ll return at moonrise to escort you.”
Winter watched their vehicles disappear into the rain before moving her cases to the entrance.
Ten minutes later, her transport arrived. As she walked to the car, sheltered by a spelled umbrella, sounds drifted from Reed’s vehicle parked next door.
Through
the rain. Scarlett’s voice carried clearly. “Weren’t you supposed to recover your memories. today, my Alpha? Time grows short…”
“How can I leave when you tempt my wolf so? We have until moonrise…
Winter froze, her heart constricting. Watching the vehicle rock with their passion, a single tear
aced down her cheek.
The driver called out, “Miss Frost?”
She wiped away the tear- her last for Reed Sullivan.
As she closed the car door, the tinted window of Reed’s vehicle lowered. She missed his confused expression, Scarlett’s dismissive “You must have misheard.”
Winter took out her old pack identification marker, snapping it in half.
“You’re destroying your pack marker?” the driver asked, surprised.
She nodded serenely. “It’s expired. Like everything else.”
From this moon forward, everything would be new. Winter Frost – and all connected to her – would cease to exist.
A
apto
Chapter 10
