Chapter 7; Kira’s POV

The Pack Hall was bustling with early-morning activity when I arrived. Council members, high-ranking warriors, and pack elders gathered in the main court, whispering among themselves. At the elevated podium stood Damon, looking immaculate in his dark Alpha uniform. Beside him, dressed in an elegant ivory dress, sat Seraphina, looking every bit like a Luna-in-waiting. She held a crystal glass of water, offering a triumphant, pitying smile to anyone who looked her way. As I stepped through the grand oak doors, the murmurs in the room died down instantly. Every eye turned toward me. Damon’s eyes locked onto mine. A momentary flicker of surprise crossed his sharp features—likely because I wasn't disheveled, weeping, or looking like a broken woman. I walked with my chin high, my posture erect, and my eyes completely devoid of the warmth I used to carry for him. “Kira,” Damon spoke, his deep voice carrying across the silent hall. “You received Jeremy’s message.” “I did,” I replied clearly, my voice echoing off the marble pillars. Damon leaned against his desk, crossing his broad arms over his chest. “I assume you came here to plead one last time before the council. But I have already briefed the elders. The pack treasury funds have been transferred to Seraphina’s daughter’s overseas medical care. There are no remaining funds for your... alleged emergency.” Seraphina took a delicate sip from her glass, her icy blue eyes gleefully watching my reaction. “I didn't come here to ask for money, Damon,” I said, stepping into the center of the hall. Damon frowned, his brows knitting together in suspicion. “Then why are you here?” I reached into my coat pocket, pulled out the folded document, and held it up for the entire room to see. “I came to deliver your dissolution contract,” I said calmly. “I signed it last night.” A sharp collective gasp echoed through the court. The elders exchanged stunned looks. Even Damon stiffened, his eyes widening in pure shock. For five years, I had fought every attempt he made to sever our bond. To hear me announce it publicly before the entire pack leadership left him momentarily speechless. “You... signed it?” Damon repeated, his voice dropping into a low, uncertain register. “Every page,” I replied smoothly. “I left your ring on the kitchen island. As far as the law and the Goddess are concerned, I am no longer your Luna, and you are no longer my mate.” Seraphina’s smile widened, but Damon’s face didn't look victorious. His jaw clenched tightly, a strange, dark storm brewing in his green eyes as he stared at me, searching my face for any sign of a trick. “And what about Nora?” Damon demanded, his voice suddenly hard. “Is this another stunt to make me feel guilty?” Before I could answer, the double doors of the hall burst open. Beta Jeremy rushed inside, holding a tablet in his hands, his face flushed and breathless. He looked frantically between Damon and me before hurrying up to the podium. “Alpha!” Jeremy stammered, his voice trembling over the pack microphone. “The clinic... the head physician just issued an urgent medical report to the council network!” Damon glared at Jeremy in irritation. “Not now, Jeremy—” “No, Alpha, you need to see this!” Jeremy insisted, handing the tablet directly to Damon. “Luna Kira wasn't lying! Nora was admitted last night in critical condition with Stage 4 werewolf cancer! Her organs were failing!” The hall went dead silent. Damon froze. He looked down at the official medical charts on the screen—the lab results, the blood work, the official diagnosis stamped by the pack’s highest medical authority, dated three weeks ago. His face drained of all color. “What... what is this?” Damon whispered, his voice cracking as his eyes scanned the dire numbers. “Cancer? She... she was actually dying?” “Yes, Alpha,” Jeremy said, his voice heavy with grim realization. “And the experimental treatment required the exact amount you reallocated yesterday. The clinic received a private third-party wire at midnight that saved her life. If that wire hadn't come through... the child wouldn't have survived the night.” Damon’s hands began to shake violently, the tablet rattling in his grip. He snapped his head toward me, his chest heaving, his dark eyes filled with a sudden, overwhelming wave of horror and realization. He looked at me. Then he looked at Seraphina, who had gone pale, her smug expression instantly collapsing into panic. “Kira...” Damon choked out, stepping down from the podium, his Alpha aura completely collapsing around him. “Nora... she was really...” I looked at the man I had loved for five years, watching the reality of what he had done shatter his world. But inside me, there was no satisfaction. No triumph. Only ice. “She is alive, Damon,” I said softly, my voice carrying a terrifying stillness. “No thanks to her father.” Damon took a frantic step toward me, reaching out a trembling hand. “Kira, wait—I didn't know—I thought you were—” “You chose not to know,” I cut him off, stepping back to avoid his touch. “You chose her. You signed away your daughter's life for another woman’s child.” I turned my back on him and began walking toward the grand exit. “Kira, stop! That’s an Alpha command!” Damon roared in desperation, his powerful voice shaking the walls of the hall as he surged forward to grab me. Before his hand could touch my shoulder, a sudden, deafening c***k of thunder shattered the sky outside. The heavy oak doors were blasted open, a freezing wind sweeping through the hall. Standing in the threshold was a tall figure shrouded in a pitch-black mantle, flanked by elite rogue enforcement warriors bearing the crest of the Neutral Territories. The figure stepped forward, his dark eyes locking onto me before shifting to Damon with absolute condescension. “Touch her again, Alpha Vance,” the intruder’s cold, authoritative voice echoed through the hall, “and you break a international treaty. Luna Kira belongs to the Sovereign Domain now.”