The 30-Day Severance, Revenge Before I Leave Chapter 09

The 30-Day Severance, Revenge Before I Leave Chapter 09

The New Moon came without stars.

North Ridge was empty except for Mia and me.

The servants had fled that morning. The guards left before sunset when the northern howls moved too close to the gates.

I did not stop them.

Mia slept in my arms while the silver mark on my wrist counted down its final hour.

Carl arrived with ten minutes left.

I heard his car skid across the gravel.

Then shouting.

Then the nursery door slammed open.

Carl dragged Selina inside by the arm.

She was barefoot, shaking, her dress torn at the hem. Dr. Vance followed them, carrying a medical cooler like it might save his life.

Selina fell to the floor.

“Elena,” she sobbed. “Please. Tell him to stop.”

Carl threw the cooler onto the table.

“She changed the sedative that night,” he said. “She pushed the doctors. She lied about how sick the boy was.”

Selina crawled toward me.

“I was jealous,” she cried. “I wanted my son to matter. I wanted what you had.”

I looked down at her.

“You wanted my life.”

She covered her mouth.

Carl opened the cooler.

Inside was a vial filled with pale light.

“I got it back,” he said.

His hands shook as he lifted it.

For a moment, I did not understand.

Then Dr. Vance looked away.

I did.

“You took it out of Leo.”

Carl’s face twisted.

“It was killing him anyway. It never belonged to him. I brought it back for Mia.”

Selina screamed.

Carl ignored her.

He stepped toward me, holding out the vial like an offering.

“See? I chose you. I chose Mia.”

Mia stirred against my shoulder.

I held her closer.

“You chose yourself.”

His eyes reddened.

“No. No, you don’t get to leave after I fixed it.”

“You didn’t fix anything.”

The mark on my wrist read:

2 minutes.

Carl saw me glance down.

Fear moved through him.

“Elena.”

“No.”

He lunged.

His hands closed around my shoulders. Too hard. Desperate.

His Alpha voice filled the room.

“By Silvermoon blood, I command you. Renew the bond. Stay with me.”

The room went cold before his command could settle.

A pressure heavier than his Alpha power descended from above.

Carl’s voice died in the air.

The ceiling split with white light.

He was thrown back against the hearth so hard the stone cracked.
Selina and Dr. Vance dropped flat to the floor, unable to move.

I stayed standing.

Mia opened her eyes.

A white wolf stepped out of the light.

The Moon Goddess looked at Carl.

He tried to rise, but he could not.

“You used command where there should have been love,” she said.
“You used blood where there should have been protection.”

Carl coughed blood onto the floor.

“Save the pack,” he whispered.

The Goddess did not move.

“The pack was never yours to save.”

The mark on my wrist reached zero.

The bond broke, and I felt it leave me.

Carl screamed.

The mate mark on his neck split open, silver light burning through the skin. His Alpha scent vanished in one sharp breath.

Selina sobbed into the floor.

Dr. Vance did not make a sound.

The Goddess turned to me.

“Elena of Rosehaven,” she said. “Take your daughter home.”

The light widened.

I looked once at Carl.

He was on his knees now, one hand pressed to the empty place in his chest.

For the first time since I had known him, he looked small.

Then the room disappeared.