The Last Wolf of Frostfang

Chapter Five: Ulrik's POV

I returned to Bloodmoon in silence. Velda was waiting at the packhouse.

"What happened?" she asked immediately, reading my face.

"Adelaide asked the Lycan King to let her reject our bond," I said. My voice sounded hollow. "He agreed."

Velda's eyes widened. Then, surprisingly, she smiled a little.

"Good for her."

"Good?" I stared at her. "How is this good?"

"Ulrik, what did you expect? You told her she'd be sharing you, sharing her position, and that she should just accept it because the Lycan King ordered it. Did you think she'd smile and thank you?"

I ran my hands through my hair.

"I thought... I thought she'd understand. Adelaide's always been practical. She knows how important pack alliances are, how important status is—"

"So you thought she'd sacrifice her pride and happiness for politics?" Velda shook her head. "That's not practical. That's just sad."

I slumped into a chair.

"My mother will be furious. The pack elders too. Adelaide manages everything—the finances, the daily operations, the disputes. Without her..."

"You'll have to learn to do it yourselves," Velda said bluntly. "Like every other pack."

"We're not every other pack. We're struggling. We need her resources—"

"Then you should have treated her better."

I looked up at Velda. Really looked at her.

"Do you even want to be here?" I asked quietly. "Be honest."

Velda was quiet for a long moment.

"I wanted to be with you," she said finally. "When we fought together in the north, I felt something I'd never felt before. You respected me as a warrior. You didn't try to protect me or keep me safe—you fought beside me as an equal."

"And now?"

"Now I'm wondering if that respect only existed on the battlefield. Because how you've treated Adelaide—a she-wolf who's done nothing but serve your pack faithfully—that doesn't show respect. That shows you see females as tools."

Her words cut deep because they were true.

I thought about Adelaide differently than I thought about Velda. With Velda, I saw a partner, a fellow warrior. With Adelaide, I saw... a Luna. Someone to manage things while I focused on important matters.

I never asked Adelaide about her dreams. Her wants. Whether she was happy.

I just assumed she was fine because she never complained.

"What should I do?" I asked.

Velda sat down across from me.

"You can't do anything," she said. "The Lycan King granted her request. Adelaide will reject the bond and leave. That's her right."

"She has nowhere to go. Frostfang's destroyed—"

"She'll figure it out. Adelaide's smart and resourceful. Maybe for the first time in her life, she'll get to live for herself instead of for everyone else's expectations."

I felt sick. The weight of what I'd lost was starting to sink in.

"I made a mistake," I whispered.

"Yes," Velda agreed. "You did."

The door burst open. My mother, Luna Rosemary, stormed in. Her face was furious.

"Is it true?" she demanded. "Did Adelaide really go to the Lycan King?"

"Yes," I said tiredly.

"How dare she! After everything we've done for her—"

"Everything you've done for her?" Velda interrupted. Her voice was dangerous. "You mean taking her money? Using her skills? Treating her like a servant while calling her Luna?"

My mother's eyes narrowed.

"Who do you think you are to speak to me that way?"

"I'm the she-wolf who's going to tell you the truth," Velda said, standing. "Adelaide had every right to leave. You all treated her terribly. And now you're paying the price."

"We gave her status! Protection! A place in one of the most respected packs—"

"Bloodmoon isn't respected anymore," Velda said coldly. "Your territory's shrinking. Your numbers are down. Your finances are a disaster. The only thing keeping you afloat was Adelaide's Frostfang inheritance. And now that's gone."

My mother turned to me.

"Ulrik, tell her—"

"She's right, Mother," I said. The words felt like stones in my mouth. "Velda's right. We treated Adelaide badly. And now she's leaving. That's on us."

My mother's face went pale. Then red. Then she turned and left without another word.

Velda and I sat in silence.

"What will you do now?" I asked her.

Velda looked at me with those sharp green eyes.

"I'm going back to the northern front," she said. "That's where I belong. Not here, playing house and pretending to be something I'm not."

"But the Lycan King's decree—"

"The decree said I could join Bloodmoon as your mate. It didn't say I had to stay. I'm a warrior, Ulrik. That's who I am. If you want me, it'll be on those terms. Not as some second Luna competing with Adelaide's ghost."

She was right. Of course she was right.

I'd been trying to have everything—the respect of a warrior mate, the stability of a managing Luna, the approval of my pack. But I couldn't build happiness on Adelaide's unhappiness.

"I'm sorry," I said. "For putting you in this position."

Velda's expression softened slightly.

"I'm sorry too. But maybe this is better. You and I—we work well in battle. But running a pack together? I don't think that was ever going to work."

She moved toward the door, then paused.

"For what it's worth, Ulrik, I do care about you. But I respect Adelaide more. What she did today—standing up to the Lycan King, demanding her freedom—that took real courage. More courage than I've seen in most Alphas."

After she left, I sat alone in the empty council hall.

The same hall where I'd told Adelaide about Velda just yesterday. The hall where I'd been so confident, so sure of myself.

Now it felt cold and hollow.

My wolf whimpered inside me. For the first time since returning from war, I let myself really think about Adelaide.

Her golden hair catching the moonlight. Her quiet competence. The way she never demanded attention but somehow kept everything running smoothly.

The way her eyes used to light up when I came home from patrol, before the war.

When had that stopped? When had she stopped looking at me with warmth?

I realized with a sinking feeling—it had been gradual. Over the months before I left for war. As I became more focused on gaining status, on impressing the Lycan King, on building my reputation as a warrior.

I'd stopped seeing Adelaide as a person. She became a role. A position.

And now she was leaving.

Tomorrow, the decree would be announced. Adelaide would formally reject our bond. And I would have to live with the fact that I'd driven away the best thing that ever happened to me.

My mother returned with the pack elders. They were all furious, all demanding I do something.

But what could I do?

Force Adelaide to stay? That would only make her hate me more.

Beg the Lycan King to reverse his decision? He'd made his position clear.

Try to win her back? With what? More empty promises?

No. The truth was simple and painful.

I'd lost Adelaide. Through my own arrogance, my own blindness, my own cruelty.

And unlike in battle, where I could fight and claw my way to victory, there was no fighting this.

Some losses you just had to live with.

As the pack elders argued around me, I thought about Adelaide standing in this very room yesterday. Head high. Voice steady.

Asking if she'd be able to meet Velda.

I'd thought she was being petty. Jealous.

But maybe she'd already been planning her escape. Testing me. Seeing if there was any chance I'd change my mind.

And I'd failed that test completely.

The bitter taste of regret filled my mouth.

By tomorrow, Adelaide would be free. And I would be left with a pack in chaos, a departing warrior mate, and the crushing knowledge that I'd destroyed the one genuine bond I'd ever had.

My father always said that being Alpha meant making hard choices.

But he never mentioned that sometimes the hardest part was living with the consequences of your worst ones.