Chapter 1When Hadrian learned I'd lost the pup, he flew back overnight from Frostborne territory.
He stopped blocking me through the pack link. Stopped throwing Evangeline's name around so casually. Even started checking in daily—something he used to hate doing.
But I could barely avoid him fast enough.
That night, I told him I was working late and went to dinner with a friend instead.
She caught me staring at a little girl at the next table.
"Aren't you planning to have another pup?"
I shook my head. "Forget it. Hadrian and I… we're breaking the bond soon anyway."
I turned my head.
Hadrian was standing in the doorway, his Alpha presence pressing down on the room like a storm rolling in.
His jaw was tight. "Storm's coming. I'm driving you home."
I stood awkwardly, grabbed my bag, and followed him out.
He kept his face cold and tight the whole drive.
Halfway back, he said suddenly, "I never wanted to break the bond. What I said that day—that was just anger talking."
---
It snowed heavily on the Winter Solstice.
Hadrian had a last-minute trip to the Frostborne Pack. I begged him over and over, and he finally agreed to stay for the Solstice feast before leaving.
He chose the place. I left work early and rushed over, only to run into Hadrian and Evangeline getting out of a car right at the entrance.
I froze.
Hadrian walked a few steps inside. When he saw I wasn't moving, he turned back and asked, "Why aren't you coming in?"
I fixed my gaze on Evangeline behind him. "Why is she here too?"
Evangeline stiffened at the question.
Hadrian furrowed his brow and explained, "Evangeline and I are heading to Frostborne territory together right after this. It's just easier to eat together."
I pressed my lips together. "I don't think it's convenient. Ask her to eat somewhere else by herself."
Hadrian's face grew colder.
"Nerys, don't make a scene. It's just one meal."
It was always "just". Always "it's just".
I'd been dying to see a certain performance at the pack's theater for ages. He pulled strings to get tickets, but only after we sat down did I see Evangeline sitting right next to him.
He said Evangeline happened to want to see it too, so he got an extra ticket.
I asked him back then, "Why does she have to sit with us? Can't she sit somewhere else?"
"The pack member who got us the tickets didn't think about it," he said. "Nerys, it's just one show."
I'd wanted a silver wolf pendant for ages. He had one custom-made as my birthday gift, but I saw an identical one around Evangeline's neck.
I pointed at her and asked Hadrian why.
Hadrian said, "You have such good taste, I had them make an extra one."
Evangeline lowered her head, smiled awkwardly, and said to me. "If you don't like wearing the same one as me, I'll just take it off."
She lifted her hand to unclasp it as she spoke.
Hadrian stopped her. "It's just a pendant. Nerys isn't that petty. Right?"
I went cold-faced, and I never wore that pendant again.
Two months ago, Hadrian and I had planned a run under the full moon to watch a meteor shower. I opened the passenger door, and there was Evangeline, already sitting inside.
For a split second, my breath almost stopped. I turned to Hadrian and asked, "Why is she here too?"
Hadrian didn't understand why I was upset. He acted like I was being unreasonable.
"Nerys, it's just watching a meteor shower."
We stood there in a standoff, and his face got colder and colder.
Finally he said, "If you don't want to go anymore, you can go home by yourself."
That day I suddenly understood what his almost-bond with Evangeline, which pack members had always been so vague about, meant to him.
They'd known each other for ten years, nearly completed the mate bond five years ago, and she'd fled three years earlier.
I finally understood what that meant to him.
It was the way he couldn't stop staring when he saw her again after she came back from Frostborne territory.
It was the way he always listened fully when Evangeline talked to him, the soft smile at the corner of his mouth that he didn't even notice himself.
My breathing shook.
I still said stubbornly to Hadrian, "The Winter Solstice, I just want to spend it alone with you.
"Ask her to leave, okay?"
Hadrian was silent for a moment, then said to me, "Nerys, it's just the Solstice. There's nothing special about it. Don't be so dramatic.
"And actually, I'm traveling to Frostborne with Evangeline anyway."
I froze completely.
I exhaled very slowly, then asked quietly.
"She loves inserting herself into our bond so much. Does that mean she's gonna sleep between us someday too?"
"Nerys Blackthorn!" Hadrian cut me off sharply.
Evangeline's face went dead white in an instant.
Hadrian frowned hard, his face turning completely cold. "How did you get so petty and sharp-tongued now?
"I won't hold what you said today against you, but if there's a next time…."
"Nerys, maybe we should just sever the bond."
Chapter 2
After he said that, he pulled Evangeline into the car and left.
He never stayed for the Solstice feast, and never looked back at me.
The last thing he left me with was—
"Eat if you want. If not, go home and cool off."
I stood frozen at the entrance for a long time. Only when the restaurant owner came over to ask if I needed help did I snap back to myself and say, "No, thank you."
Then I turned around.
I didn't notice the icy pavement under my feet, and I fell hard.
A sharp, searing pain bloomed in my lower abdomen instantly.
By the time restaurant staff got me to the pack healer's clinic, I was already barely conscious.
Hadrian was listed as my emergency contact.
The healer tried reaching him through the pack link over and over, but he'd blocked me out. The last time, the connection cut off straight away.
The healer looked at me with complicated expressions and asked if I had any other pack family. I was covered in cold sweat, lying on the exam table, and shook my head slowly.
At noon the next day, Hadrian called back.
"Did you try to reach me yesterday for something?"
I stared out the window at the clouds.
First thing that morning, I'd seen Evangeline's post saying she'd made it to Frostborne territory.
She said the landscape was still the same, the Alpha was still the same, like nothing had ever changed.
I'd lost so much blood in surgery, even that old anger and resentment had drained right out with it.
I dragged my gaze back from the window and said, "Nothing. Wrong number."
Then I hung up.
A few days later, the restaurant owner called Sullivan Cross to check on me, asking how I was doing.
Sullivan told Hadrian what had happened. He said Hadrian didn't say anything for a long time, just stood there like a broken statue.
After almost a minute or two, he said in a gravelly voice, "Get me on the next flight home."
He showed up at our door in the middle of that same night.
He rushed inside, but froze the second he saw me.
He opened his mouth.
"Nerys… I'm sorry. I didn't know…"
I only glanced at him once before looking away, smiled easily, and said, "It's fine."
But his face only tensed up more.
Chapter 3
Hadrian stood in front of me now, his jaw tight.
His brow furrowed, and he repeated, staring at me. "I never meant for us to break the bond."
I looked out the window and said nothing.
He furrowed his brow.
The drive back to pack territory was silent the whole way.
After we got inside, Hadrian pulled off his jacket, and I suddenly froze.
He followed my gaze to his shirt collar.
A streak of lipstick.
He froze too.
"This was an accident…"
I looked away quickly and turned to walk further inside.
He grabbed me, his grip on my arm tight.
"I really didn't notice this mark. Someone must've brushed against me at the Frostborne meeting."
I paused, nodded, and pulled away from him. "I believe you."
His hand hung in midair, then slowly curled into a fist.
I went upstairs to wash up, then crawled into bed and scrolled through my phone.
A moment later, Hadrian walked over and sat down on his side of the bed. He looked down at me.
He reached out and touched the ends of my hair.
I flinched away the second his hand made contact.
His hand stopped there, awkwardly.
I shifted to cover it up. "It tickled."
After a long silence, he hummed and pulled his hand back.
A moment later, he added, "I'm staying on pack grounds these days. No evening runs."
I kept scrolling my phone and nodded absently.
After Evangeline came back, I was overly sensitive for a while. I always asked him where he was running and who he was with.
Once he snapped back at me, fed up. "If I really wanted something with Evangeline, what good would it do you to know where I go and what I do every day!"
I froze in place, like someone had slapped me across the face. My cheeks burned hot, and my mind went completely blank.
I never asked again after that.
When he didn't get a response from me, Hadrian sat motionless staring at me for a long time.
Only when I looked up, raised an eyebrow at him, and gave him a "what?" expression did he move his heavy gaze away and turn off the light.
"Go to sleep."
The room went dark, but I could feel his eyes still fixed on my back.
I shrank further under the covers and squeezed my eyes shut.
