<h4>Chapter 73: Chapter 73 You Didn’t Fight For Her</h4>


    Xavier’s pov


    My chest tightened painfully as I watched Cecilia’s face. My wolf, Kael, whined pitifully inside me, sensing our mate slipping away forever.


    "I won’t marry again," I said, the words rasping out of my throat like broken ss.


    "I won’t be with anyone else..."


    Cecilia didn’t even blink. She cut in smoothly, her voice calm and steady—way too steady, considering everything we’d been through.


    "Whether you decide to stay single forever, Xavier, that’s not my business anymore. You’re free now. And so am I. I honestly hope we both find peace."


    "Peace?" I repeated, the word catching like a splinter in my chest. It tasted off—dry and bitter.


    "With who, Cecilia? Who’s supposed to give you that peace?"


    And then, like some cruel reflex, his face came to mind—Alpha Sebastian ck.


    The Alpha of Silver Peak Pack.


    Always around her. Always watching.


    Cecilia exhaled softly. Not annoyed. Not angry. Just... tired.


    And somehow, that one quiet sound broke something in me more than if she’d screamed.


    "Can’t I just be happy on my own?" she said, her voice gentle but firm.


    "Do I really need a man to prove my worth?"


    I looked at her,pletely silent.


    Because deep down, I already knew—She didn’t need anyone.


    And whatever happiness she found next, it wouldn’t have anything to do with me.


    The painful tension in my heart eased slightly at her words. Though she wasn’t bound to me by the mate bond we neverpleted, the idea of her mated to another wolf—especially Alpha Sebastian—made my blood boil.


    "Really?" I searched her face desperately. "You n to be alone? Not to find another mate?"


    I stared at her, hope flooding my eyes, silently begging for confirmation that she wouldn’t form a bond with another Alpha.


    Cecilia didn’t answer.


    Instead, she smiled gently—that smile that had first captured my heart eight years ago—and said with surprising calm, "I should go. Goodbye, Alpha Xavier."


    She turned away, her movements graceful and decisive.


    I instinctively stepped forward to follow, then froze in ce.


    I watched her retreating figure until she got into her car and drove away. I knew she wouldn’t look back, yet I foolishly hoped she might turn her head just once, showing some small sign that a fragment of her heart still belonged to me. But until her car disappeared in the distance, she never once nced back.


    My chest felt hollowed out.


    I tore the divorce certificate into pieces and threw them into a nearby trash can, a symbolic end to what once had been the center of my existence.


    [She’s gone,] Kael mourned, his grief intertwining with mine. [Our Luna...]


    [She was never truly our Luna,] I reminded him bitterly. [We neverpleted the mate bond. Blood Moon Pack never fully epted her.]


    [Because you didn’t fight for her,] Kael used. [Because you strayed.]


    I had no answer for that truth.


    Cecilia’s pov


    I drove home with strange lightness in my chest, as if I’d shed a weight I’d been carrying for years.


    My feelings were aplicated tangle—like finishing a long journey, slightly disoriented and mncholic.


    My heart ached a little, with an undercurrent of tears threatening to surface, but mostly I felt... relieved.


    Finally... it was over.


    As a human in a wolf’s world, I’d always been an outsider in the Blood Moon Pack.


    No matter how hard I worked, how much I contributed, I was never truly seen as Xavier’s equal—never fully his Luna in their eyes because we neverpleted the bonding ritual.


    Not that it mattered anymore.


    In the afternoon, I received news from the police department.


    They informed me that Cici had suddenly fallen ill—allegedly suffering an epileptic seizure—and herwyers had filed for medical release.


    Fallen ill? Right.


    Iughed bitterly. She would go to any length to escape justice, wouldn’t she?


    Iter learned Alpha Sebastian had received the same information. But he hadn’t interfered, apparently content to watch whatever scheme the Shadow Pack was concocting unfold like some theater performance.


    The Shadow Pack had been in damage control mode since the moment they learned Cici had stabbed Alpha Sebastian. They’d rushed to the hospital, but Alpha Sebastian had refused to see them or ept their apologies.


    The Shadow Pack had effectively burned their bridge with the Silver Peak Pack—one of the most powerful packs in the region.


    Cici’s pov


    Iy in the hospital bed with my eyes closed, listening to my family discuss damage control in the hallway.


    Suddenly, I heard Gavin answer his phone. "Xavier and Cecilia got divorced?"


    Wild joy surged through me at my brother’s words. I snapped my eyes open, unable to contain my excitement.


    This was perfect! Finally, my Xavier could officially marry me!


    I scrambled out of bed, yanking out my IV line. But the medications they’d given me to induce seizure-like symptoms had weakened me, and I copsed to the floor as soon as my feet touched the ground.


    The noise brought everyone rushing into the room.


    Gavin lifted me from the floor and ced me back on the bed, his face tight with frustration and exhaustion. "Can you please settle down for one minute?"


    "Gavin, is it true?" I clutched his arm, my eyes sparkling with hope. "Has Xavier really gotten divorced?"


    "Even if he has, he’s not going to marry you," Gavin said bluntly. "Give it up, Cici."


    "No!" I shouted, my voice rising with desperation. "He’s mine! He has to be mine!"


    "Cici, stop this madness," Gavin took a deep breath, visibly restraining his anger. "If Xavier wanted to marry you, he would have agreed thest time. After what you just did to Cecilia, do you really think he’d even look at you?"


    "He will marry me!" I insisted with absolute confidence. "I have a n! Really, I do! Trust me!"


    My certainty made it sound as though Xavier had already agreed to be my mate.


    Gavin and the other family members exchanged worried nces, clearly wondering if I had truly developed a mental illness.


    But I knew better. Xavier was meant to be mine, and now that Cecilia was gone, I would im what belonged to me by right.


    Cecilia’s pov


    I spent the entire afternoon stewing over the possibility that Cici might escape justice yet again.


    It was particrly infuriating to learn that the man in ck was insisting he had acted alone. Police investigation confirmed he was indeed friends with Cici, possibly harboring romantic feelings for her.


    Their chat records showed no direct instigation from her, no money transfers—just Ciciining to him and dropping subtle hints.


    Even though I knew with absolute certainty that Cici was the mastermind, it had been just the two of us in that bathroom. Without a recording, there was no proof.


    I skipped dinner that evening, having no appetite.


    Thinking of Sebastian, who had likely been discharged from the hospital, I decided I should visit him. I picked up my phone to call him, but hesitated and called Liam instead.


    Liam confirmed that Alpha Sebastian had been discharged that afternoon and was now at his penthouse apartment.


    "I’lle up then," I said, feeling a flutter of happiness, then noticed it was almost seven o’clock. "If that’s convenient?"


    "Perfectly convenient," Liam assured me. "Come right up."


    He gave me permanent ess to the penthouse floor—a detail I noted with surprise.


    Twenty minutester, I arrived at the penthouse carrying arge bag of fresh fruit I’d purchased on the way. It seemed wrong to visit empty-handed.


    Liam had been waiting and smiled when he saw me. "Why did you bring fruit? You’re not a stranger here."


    I smiled back. "Where’s the Alpha Sebastian?"


    Liam pointed down the left corridor. "In his bedroom. It’s the middle door straight ahead. Go on in—I’ll put the fruit in the refrigerator."


    "Thank you," I said, handing him the bag before heading toward Alpha Sebastian’s room.


    Only after knocking and entering—seeing Alpha Sebastian propped against the headboard in a deep blue robe, the entire room saturated with his distinctive scent of sandalwood—did I realize how inappropriate this might seem. I started to leave the door wide open.


    "Close it," came his cool voice from the bed.


    I froze for a moment, then quickly closed the door as instructed, my heart suddenly beating faster than it had any right to.


    ?