Chapter 29 ALPHA DISMISSED
The Council chamber was cold.
Stone walls. No windows. One long table where the Elders sat, faces like carved masks. The room smelled of old paper, metal, and barely contained power.
Mia stood in the center of it.
Alone.
Alex stood to her left. Not touching. Not speaking. He’d said he wouldn’t interfere. That this was her choice. But his presence was there in the bond, quiet and steady, like he was bracing for impact.
Across from them stood Ivan.
Smiling.
The hearing had started an hour ago.
First, the charges.
Abuse of Alpha authority.
Concealment of evidence in a death investigation.
Manipulation of a Luna candidate through the 28 Day Curse.
All of them pointed at Alex.
Then came the witnesses.
The medics from the crash. Older now, nervous, but clear.
They testified that Ivan had ordered them to stand down.
They testified that Alex had been there.
They testified that he had pulled Mia’s father from the car.
Then they testified that he had let him go when Ivan arrived.
The room murmured.
Mia felt it all through the bond.
Alex’s guilt.
His shame.
His fear that this was the end.
And underneath it, his love for her. Still there. Still steady.
Ivan spoke last.
“Luna,” Ivan said, turning to her. Voice smooth. Sympathetic.
“You have heard the truth. Your mate is a murderer. He let your father die. He used the curse to bind you to him before you could choose. The Council asks you now. Will you stand with him?”
Mia looked at Ivan.
Then at the Elders.
Then at Alex.
Alex didn’t beg. He didn’t speak. He just waited.
Mia opened her mouth.
“I…” Mia said.
The word stuck.
Her head was pounding. The bond was loud. The room was too bright. Too many eyes. Too many voices in her head that weren’t hers.
Wolf.
Luna.
Mate.
Justice.
Revenge.
It was too much.
Mia’s hands started to shake.
“I can’t,” Mia said.
Ivan’s smile widened.
“Can’t what, Luna?” Ivan asked.
Mia shook her head.
“I can’t do this,” Mia said. “I can’t be Luna. I can’t be his mate. I can’t sit here and decide if the man I love deserves to lose everything because of something I didn’t know about years ago.”
The room went silent.
“What are you saying?” one of the Elders asked.
Mia looked down at her hands.
“I want out,” Mia said. “I want to go back to being human. No bond. No curse. No pack. No Council. Just me.”
The murmurs started again. Louder this time.
“Luna, you cannot simply walk away,” another Elder said.
Mia looked up.
“Watch me,” Mia said.
She turned and walked out.
No one stopped her.
\---
The pack house was quiet when she got back.
Too quiet.
Mia went straight to the room she and Alex had shared.
Her things were still there.
She packed fast.
Jeans. Shirts. The hoodie she’d worn. The small locket with her father’s picture inside. Nothing from the pack. Nothing from Alex.
She didn’t cry.
She didn’t scream.
She just moved. Like if she stopped, the weight would crush her.
Halfway through packing, Alex appeared in the doorway.
He didn’t come in.
“Mia,” Alex said.
Mia didn’t look up.
“Don’t,” Mia said.
“Mia, talk to me,” Alex said.
Mia zipped the bag shut.
“What is there to talk about?” Mia asked. “You lied. You let my father die. You used me. And now you want me to stand up in front of the entire Council and say it’s okay because you love me?”
“I never wanted you to choose me because of the bond,” Alex said.
“But you let it happen,” Mia said. “You let me fall for you knowing I didn’t have all the facts.”
Alex was quiet for a long time.
“I know,” Alex said.
Mia picked up the bag.
“I’m leaving,” Mia said.
Alex stepped forward.
“Where will you go?” Alex asked.
“Back to Manhattan,” Mia said. “Back to my apartment. Back to my life. The one I had before you.”
Alex looked like she’d hit him.
“And the bond?” Alex asked.
Mia paused.
“I don’t know,” Mia said. “I don’t know if it breaks. I don’t know if it hurts. I don’t care right now.”
Mia walked past him.
Alex didn’t stop her.
\---
Mia made it to the front gates before he caught up.
“Wait,” Alex said.
Mia stopped. Didn’t turn around.
“Please,” Alex said.
Mia closed her eyes.
“You said you’d give me a choice,” Mia said. “This is my choice.”
Alex was quiet for a long time.
Then he said, “If you go, I won’t stop you.”
Mia turned around.
“Good,” Mia said.
She walked out.
The gates closed behind her with a heavy clang.
\---
Mia made it to the airport in three hours.
She bought a one way ticket to Manhattan with cash. No pack accounts. No trace.
On the plane, she sat by the window and stared at her hands.
They were shaking again.
The bond was quiet now. Too quiet. Like someone had turned the volume down to zero.
It hurt.
Not like pain. Like absence.
Mia pressed her forehead to the cold glass.
She was free.
So why did it feel like she’d lost everything?
\---
Meanwhile, Council chamber
Ivan stood in the center of the room, smiling.
“Luna has abandoned her post,” Ivan said. “Alpha has concealed a death. The bond is incomplete. The curse is void.”
The Elders looked at each other.
“Then it is decided,” the head Elder said. “Alex is stripped of his title temporarily until he can claim it back with his Luna beside him.. Effective immediately. Ivan will assume interim Alpha status until then”
Ivan bowed.
“As you command,” Ivan said.
Alex stood in the center of the room.
Alone.
He didn’t argue. He didn’t fight.
He just looked at the empty door where Mia had walked out.
“Take it,” Alex said.
Ivan stepped forward.
“And the Luna?” Ivan asked.
“If she wants to be human, let her be human,” the Elder said. “The bond will break on its own. It will take time. It will be painful. But it will break.”
Alex nodded once.
Then he walked out.
Two days later.
Mia’s apartment was exactly as she left it.
Small. Quiet. Human.
No pack. No bond. No curse.
She unpacked her bag slowly. Put the locket on the nightstand. Made coffee in the same chipped mug she’d had for three years.
It felt right.
It felt empty.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Mia almost didn’t answer.
She did.
“Mia,” a voice said.
Alex.
Mia closed her eyes.
“What do you want?” Mia asked.
“I just wanted to hear your voice,” Alex said.
Mia was quiet.
“I’m human now,” Mia said. “Remember? You don’t get to call me anymore.”
“I know,” Alex said. “I just needed to say I’m sorry. For everything.”
Mia swallowed.
“Okay,” Mia said.
“Okay?” Alex asked.
“Okay, I heard you,” Mia said. “Now don’t call again.”
She hung up.
Her hands were shaking.
The bond was quiet.
But it wasn’t gone.
Not yet.
Pack territory. Same night.
Alex sat in the old study. Alone.
The Alpha title was gone. The office was gone. The power was gone.
All he had left was the bond.
Faint now. Frayed at the edges.
He could still feel her.
Human. Safe. Alone.
Alex closed his eyes.
“I let you go,” Alex said to the empty room.
“I’m not going to chase you,” Alex said.
“But if you ever want to come back,” Alex said, “I’ll be here.”
The bond didn’t answer.
It didn’t need to.