By day five, Nora was ready to lose her mind.
Damien had pulled out all the stops. Romantic dinners. Long walks under the moon. Gifts. Flowers. Poetry he'd written himself (it was terrible). He'd even organized a pack celebration in her honor, complete with speeches about how much everyone missed her.
It was exhausting.
Worse, some of it was working. Not on her—she was immune to his manipulation now. But on the pack. Pack members kept stopping her to tell her how happy Damien seemed, how good they were together, how she should give him another chance.
Only Emma stayed firmly on her side.
"Two more days," Emma said as they sat by the creek on the fifth evening. "You can do this."
"Can I?" Nora asked. "Because I'm starting to forget why I'm even here."
"Because the Council ordered it," Emma reminded her. "But that doesn't mean you have to give in. Stay strong."
Nora nodded. But inside, doubts were creeping in.
Not about Damien—she knew she didn't want him back. But about everything else.
What was she going back to in Blackwood? Kael had made it clear he was her Alpha and mentor. Nothing more. Yes, there were moments when she thought she saw something else in his eyes. But he'd never acted on it.
Maybe Claire was right. Maybe Nora was just replacing one unattainable man with another.
"You're thinking about him," Emma observed.
"Who?"
"Kael Blackwood. You get this look when you think about him."
"I do not."
"Nora, I've known you since we were kids," Emma said. "I know all your looks. That's your 'I'm in love but trying not to be' look."
"I'm not in love with Kael," Nora protested.
"Maybe not yet," Emma said. "But you're getting there."
Before Nora could argue, she caught a familiar scent on the wind.
Speak of the devil.
Kael emerged from the tree line, looking entirely out of place in Silver Moon territory. He was dressed in all black as usual, his dark eyes scanning the area until they found her.
"What are you doing here?" Nora asked, standing up.
"I came to check on you," Kael said. He nodded to Emma. "Can we talk? Alone?"
Emma squeezed Nora's hand and left them.
Kael walked closer. "How are you really?"
"Surviving," Nora said. "What are you doing here, Kael? If Damien finds out—"
"I don't care about Damien," Kael said. "I care about you. These past five days have been hell, Nora. Not knowing if you're okay. If he's pressuring you. If you're—" He stopped himself.
"If I'm what?" Nora pressed.
Kael looked away. "If you're reconsidering."
"Reconsidering what?"
"Him. The rejection. Everything."
Nora's heart ached at the vulnerability in his voice.
"I'm not reconsidering anything," she said firmly. "Damien can throw a thousand romantic gestures at me. It won't change what he did or how I feel."
Relief flooded Kael's face.
"Good," he said. "Because I couldn't stand the thought of—" He stopped again.
"Kael, what's going on?" Nora asked. "You're acting strange."
Kael ran a hand through his hair. He looked frustrated, conflicted.
"Nora, I need to tell you something," he said finally. "Something I should have told you weeks ago."
Nora's pulse quickened. "What?"
"When I saw you that night at Silver Moon, broken and hurting, I told myself I was helping you to make up for my mistakes with Lyra. And that was true. At first." He stepped closer. "But somewhere along the way, it became about more than that."
"More how?"
"You," Kael said. "It became about you. About how strong you are. How brave. How you take every challenge I throw at you and come back stronger. About how you make me laugh when I forget I can. About how you look at sunrise after a hard training session like it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen."
Nora's breath caught.
"Kael—"
"I know the timing is terrible," he continued. "I know you just got out of one complicated situation and I have no right to pull you into another. But Nora, these past five days without you have made me realize something. I don't want to be just your Alpha. I don't want to be just your mentor."
"What do you want to be?" Nora whispered.
Kael cupped her face gently. His dark eyes burned into hers.
"Everything," he said. "I want to be everything to you."
Then he kissed her.
It was nothing like kissing Damien had been. This was fire and lightning and coming home all at once. Nora melted into it, into him, feeling like every piece of her that had been broken was suddenly whole again.
When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Nora whispered, "Kael, I—"
"Nora!"
They sprang apart.
Damien stood twenty feet away, his face a mask of rage.
"What the hell is this?" he demanded.
"This," Nora said, stepping away from Kael and standing tall, "is me making my choice."
"Your choice?" Damien laughed bitterly. "You still have two days—"
"I don't need two days," Nora interrupted. "I don't need two minutes. Damien, I tried to be polite about this. I tried to get through this week without hurting you. But you need to hear the truth."
"Nora—"
"I don't love you anymore," she said clearly. "I don't want you. I don't want this pack. I don't want any of it. You broke my heart, yes. But you also set me free. And I'm grateful for that."
"You're making a mistake," Damien said.
"Maybe," Nora agreed. "But it's my mistake to make. That's what you never understood, Damien. I'm not yours to control. I never was."
She turned to Kael. "Can we go home?"
Kael smiled—really smiled. "Absolutely."
As they walked away together, Damien called out one last time.
"You'll regret this, Nora! When Blackwood breaks your heart too, don't come crying back to me!"
Nora looked back over her shoulder.
"I won't," she promised.
Then she took Kael's hand, and they disappeared into the forest together.
The Council hearing two days later was brief.
Elder Moira asked Nora one question: "Have you made your choice?"
"I have," Nora said.
"And what is it?"
"I choose to uphold the rejection," Nora said firmly. "The bond between Damien Cross and myself is permanently broken."
"So ruled," Elder Moira said. "The matter is closed."
Damien looked devastated. But he didn't argue.
Outside the Council building, Kael was waiting.
"Ready to go home?" he asked.
"More than ready," Nora said.
As they drove back to Blackwood territory, Nora felt lighter than she had in months. The weight of Damien, of Silver Moon, of her past, all fell away.
"Nora," Kael said as they crossed into Blackwood land.
"Yeah?"
"I meant what I said at the creek," he said. "About wanting to be everything to you."
Nora smiled. "Good. Because I want that too."
"But we should take things slow," Kael continued. "You've been through a lot. I don't want to rush you into—"
Nora leaned over and kissed him.
When she pulled back, she said, "I've spent my whole life being told what I should want, what I should do, how I should feel. For once, I know exactly what I want. And that's you."
Kael's eyes darkened with desire and something deeper. Love.
"Then you have me," he said. "For as long as you want me."
"Forever, then," Nora said.
"Forever," Kael agreed.
They drove home together, both knowing this was just the beginning of their story.
Nora had been rejected, broken, and rebuilt.
Now she was exactly where she was meant to be.
And Damien Cross would spend the rest of his life regretting the day he let her go.