CONNOR POV
Connor sits alone in his office and tells himself he did the right thing.
The rejection papers sit on his desk like they're waiting to bite him. Official documents with all the legal language. All the formal words that end a marriage in one signature. He stares at them and feels relief flood through his body so strong it makes him dizzy.
She's gone. It's over. No more guilt. No more watching her face fall when he comes home at midnight. No more pretending he's a good mate when he's clearly failing her.
This is mercy. He's being merciful.
That's what he keeps telling himself.
His wolf disagrees. The animal inside him is going absolutely insane. It's clawing at his insides, screaming that he just made the biggest mistake of his life. It wants him to run after her. Drag her back. Force her to listen.
Connor pushes the wolf down hard.
"Shut up," he says out loud to the empty room.
The wolf doesn't shut up. It howls like something is dying.
Connor picks up the pen. His hand shakes. Actually shakes. He's the Alpha of Blackwood Pack. He's negotiated treaties with hostile alphas. He's stood in front of his entire pack and made decisions that changed hundreds of lives. But his hand is shaking like he's seventeen years old again.
He signs his name.
Something inside his chest cracks. Not emotionally. Physically. He feels it like a blade cutting through bone. His wolf screams louder.
He signs again. And again. Each signature feels like he's sealing something shut that should stay open.
By the last signature, he's numb. Better. Numbness is easier than feeling.
The papers are done. The marriage is officially over.
Connor tells himself this is what Maya wanted. She asked for it. She walked to his office in the middle of the night and demanded a rejection. He's giving her what she asked for. He's being the good guy by letting her go.
She deserves better than him anyway. She deserves someone who can focus on her. Someone who isn't drowning in pack politics and territorial disputes. She deserves a partner who actually shows up instead of a ghost of a husband.
So he let her go. And that's the end of it.
Except his wolf won't stop screaming.
Connor pours a drink. Then another. The whiskey burns but it's not enough to drown out the sound. Nothing is going to be enough.
A knock interrupts the silence. Derek crashes through the office door like something's on fire.
Derek Stone is his Gamma. His childhood friend. The one person Connor actually listens to. And right now, Derek looks furious.
"Tell me you didn't sign those papers," Derek says.
Connor doesn't look up. "I signed them."
Derek moves so fast he's in front of Connor before the glass leaves his lips. He grabs it and throws it across the room. It shatters against the wall and whiskey drips down like blood.
"Are you insane?" Derek's voice is low and dangerous. "You love her."
"No, I don't," Connor says flatly. It's a lie and they both know it.
"I watched you for five years," Derek says. He's standing in front of Connor now, forcing eye contact. "I watched you bury yourself in work because you couldn't handle being around her. I watched you pretend you didn't care while she died slowly from being invisible. So don't sit there and tell me you don't love her."
Connor's jaw tightens. "What do you want me to do, Derek? Drag her back? Force her to stay in a marriage where I'm clearly failing her?"
"I want you to go after her," Derek says. "I want you to be the man she actually deserves instead of the coward you're being right now."
"I'm not a coward. I'm being realistic," Connor snaps. "I don't have time for a marriage. I don't have the emotional energy to be what she needs. Letting her go is the kindest thing I can do."
Derek stares at him like he's looking at a stranger. Like Connor has become something he doesn't recognize.
"You're scared," Derek says quietly.
"I'm not scared of anything."
"You're terrified," Derek continues. "You're scared that if you actually tried, you might fail. You're scared that being a good mate would mean giving up control. You're scared that caring about something other than this pack might make you weak. So you're hiding behind logic and pretending you're doing her a favor when really you're just protecting yourself."
Connor stands up. His voice goes ice cold. "You're done here. Get out of my office."
Derek doesn't move. "She was running when she left. She was terrified. And you signed away your marriage without even asking what was wrong. Without even trying to fight for her."
Connor's wolf goes silent. Suddenly. Completely.
"What do you mean she was running?" Connor asks slowly.
Derek's expression shifts. He looks uncertain now. Like he wasn't supposed to say that.
"I mean exactly that," Derek says carefully. "She was scared. Of you. Of the marriage. Of her life. She didn't just want to leave. She needed to escape. And instead of asking why, you just let her go."
Connor walks to his window. Outside, Blackwood territory stretches dark and endless. Mountains. Forest. Power that he built from nothing. But all he can think about is Maya's face when she asked for the rejection. How hollow her eyes were. How broken.
He wasn't thinking about her pain. He was thinking about himself. About the relief of not having to try anymore.
"Where did she go?" Connor asks.
"I don't know," Derek says. "She left three days ago. No one's seen her since."
Connor's wolf comes roaring back to life. Suddenly it's not screaming. It's focused. Intense. It knows what it wants.
He wants his mate. He wants to find her. He wants to understand what he missed while he was so busy building his empire that he didn't notice his marriage was falling apart.
"We'll track her scent," Connor says. He's already moving toward the door.
"The pack covered it," Derek says. "Your father. He sent people out to erase her scent trail. Connor, he doesn't want her found."
Connor stops. "What?"
"Your father," Derek says slowly. "He sent pack members to make sure there's no way to follow her. I don't know why but he's making sure you can't find her."
Before Connor can respond, his father appears in the doorway. Richard Blackwood is sixty-four years old and built like a fortress. He's the alpha before Connor. The man who taught him that the pack always comes first.
"I did what was necessary," Richard says. "Maya Grant is gone. The rejection is complete. This pack is stronger without complications."
Connor looks at his father and something shifts inside him. Something breaks.
"Why would you do that?" Connor asks.
"Because you needed to move forward," Richard says. "Not linger on a failed marriage. Not waste energy on a mate who wasn't going to work out. This is better for everyone."
Connor realizes in that moment that he doesn't actually know his father. He doesn't recognize him. This man who raised him to believe pack comes first. This man who's apparently been making decisions about Connor's life without his permission.
"You had no right," Connor says quietly.
"I had every right," Richard says. "I'm still responsible for this pack. That includes protecting you from your own mistakes."
Connor walks past his father without another word. He goes to his desk and pulls out his phone. He calls the airline. He starts making arrangements to search for Maya.
She's gone. Three days gone. But she can't have gotten that far. She doesn't have much money. She doesn't have anywhere to go.
He's going to find her. And when he does, he's going to fix this. He's going to undo the biggest mistake of his life.
Derek watches from the doorway.
"What are you going to do?" Derek asks.
Connor looks at the rejection papers on his desk. Signed and official and supposedly final.
"Everything," Connor says quietly. "I'm going to do everything to get her back."
Then his phone buzzes with a message from one of his investigators.
"Found something. Maya Grant withdrew cash from a bank account three hundred miles away. She's heading south. Moving fast. Want us to pursue?"
Connor reads the message and realizes something. Maya's not just running away from him. She's running from something. Or to something.
And he has no idea why.
He needs to find her before he loses her completely.