The room tilted. I could see the pity in some faces, recognition in others. The older Lunas didn't look confused. They looked sorry. That frightened me more than the pain.

The Luna running the meeting, Dana, raced to the door and flung it open as if it weighed nothing. "Someone call a doctor!" she yelled down the hallway.

"I'm fine," I lied, trying to get to my feet. "I just need to find Warren."

The pressure climbed up my throat, molten and choking. My instincts screamed louder than the pain. Something was wrong. Something had happened.

"Honey, you should sit," one of the older women said gently, pity softening her tone. "We'll find him."

"I'm fine, really," I said again, though my vision was already swimming. "I'll be right back."

"Allison, wait—"

But I was already moving, half-running, half-stumbling toward the side door. Cool air hit me like water. I inhaled sharply, searching the hall. The scent that was distinctly Warren was faint at first, then stronger. Familiar. Home. Sun-warmed citrus and salt, the same scent as that summer when we'd carved our initials into an orange tree in the little grove behind the pack house .

Each breath brought more of him. And more pain.

By the time I reached the guest wing, my pulse thundered in my ears. My vision wavered. The scent was strongest outside one door, tangled with something new. Something floral. Female.

I pushed the door open.

"Warren?"

The word came out more breath than sound.

He was there. Shirt untucked, hair mussed, lipstick smeared across his jaw. His hands on a younger woman. Her dress was askew, her mouth swollen from kisses. There were red stains along his neck, over his mark.

My breath stopped entirely.

I growled angrily at the sight and was shocked when Warren shoved the woman behind him. Protective. Snarling.

"The fuck is wrong with you, Allison?" he snapped, his stance making it clear he would tear me limb from limb to keep this new woman safe from any perceived threats.

The disbelief hit harder than the pain. "The fuck is wrong with me? The fuck is wrong with you Warren? Here I am nearly having a heart attack and I find you making out and all but dry humping someone else like a horny teenager?"

"Allison-"

"No, go on," I hissed. "Explain this. Explain her."

His eyes darted between us. Then he looked at her again, and something in his face settled. Acceptance.

"Tiffany is my fated mate," he said calmly, as if explaining what a nose was to me.

It felt like the floor had dropped out beneath me. "What?"

"I'm as surprised as you are," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I never thought... Allie, I'm sorry I hurt you, I just couldn't...."

"I didn't expect this either," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I never thought— Allie, I'm sorry, I just couldn't—"

I nodded once, the sound in my ears a dull roar. "You couldn't keep it in your pants and do things the right way. I get it."

"Allie—"

"I, Luna Allison Stella Stevens, reject you, Alpha Warren Mark Stevens, before witness and the Goddess."

The words came out steady, deliberate, sharp enough to cut the world in half. Pain lanced through my chest again, white-hot but cleaner this time. Familiar. Final.

Warren gasped and staggered. The other woman whimpered.

"I, Warren Mark Stevens, accept your rejection," he choked out.

I straightened as best I could. "There. Our deal is done. I'll move my items from our suite before tonight."

"Allison, I didn't want it to be like this—"

"I know," I said, voice cracking. "But we both knew the risks when we tied our bond. I'll have the divorce papers ready when we're home."

Finally, I looked at Tiffany. She looked too young, too startled. "Congratulations," I said quietly. "May he make you as happy as he made me for the last seventeen years."

When I turned, the hallway was full — faces everywhere. Shock. Pity. A few smirks. It felt like being flayed open in public.

"Excuse me," I muttered, shouldering through.

I kept it together until the elevator doors shut. Then the dam cracked.

"Seventeen years married," I whispered, staring at my reflection in the brass panel. "And just like that, gone."

Tears blurred everything. "Now what the hell am I supposed to do?"