He Faked Muteness, I Broke Our Bond

Chapter 3

I didn’t go to Caelum’s cabin that night.

I sat alone in the Healing House with every single note he had ever written me spread out on the table in front of me.

“Mm.”

“Got it.”

“Up to you.”

“Stop bothering me.”

I read them, one by one. The corners of my mouth pulled into something that wasn’t a smile.

So all those scrawled notes weren’t because he was bad with words.

They were because he couldn’t be bothered to say anything more to me.

He’d rather waste time scrawling those throwaway syllables than spare me one real look.

Angel whimpered low in my head. “Elara… I’m sorry… I did this to you…”

“No,” I said. My voice was unnaturally calm. “The Moon Goddess made a mistake.”

“But...”

“He wants me gone. Then I’ll go.”

I stood up and threw every last note into the fire.

I watched the flames swallow them. Then I turned and walked to the Council Hall.

The Elder in charge of mate affairs was still working by lamplight. He looked up when I walked in, surprised to see me at this hour.

“Elara? It’s late. What is it?”

I drew a slow breath.

“I’m here to file a petition.”

“To dissolve the mate bond.”

His face changed instantly. “Dissolve? You and Alpha Caelum?”

“Yes.”

“But...” He frowned. “Werewolf law requires both mates to consent to a dissolution. Or...”

“Or what?”

“Or proof of severe deception or harm within the bond.” He sighed. “Elara, a bond witnessed by the Moon Goddess is not something we break lightly. Will you tell me what happened?”

I was silent for a long moment.

Then I said it.

“He’s faking it.”

“What?”

“Alpha Caelum can speak.” My voice was quiet, but every word landed like stone. “He has been lying to the entire pack. And he has been lying to me for an entire year.”

The Elder’s face went white.

The next morning, the air in the Council Hall was heavy enough to drown in.

Every Elder was there. Lyra was there too, standing at Caelum’s shoulder, a barely-hidden smugness on her face.

Caelum sat in the high seat, his expression flat as stone.

I stood in the center of the hall and repeated what I’d said the night before.

“He’s faking it.”

The room exploded.

“Elara!” Beta Marcus was on his feet first. “You cannot say something like that about the Alpha! Everyone in the pack saw what happened to him!”

“Right!” Gamma Jesen jumped in. “Five years ago,we all watched the wolfsbane burn him with our own eyes!”

Lyra let out a small, mocking laugh. “Elara, I know things between you and Alpha Caelum are bad, but you don’t get to invent lies just to hurt him.”

I let them talk. My eyes never left Caelum.

“Alpha Caelum. One question.”

“Will you speak?”

The Hall went terribly quiet.

Everyone was waiting for him.

Caelum was silent for a long time.

Then he picked up a pen, wrote a few words, and passed the paper to the Elder.

The Elder’s face went grey.

“Alpha Caelum says.” He drew in a hard breath. “He says, ‘She’s lost her mind.’”

Lyra’s smile sharpened. “Did you hear that, Elara? Listen to yourself.”

I closed my eyes.

“Fine.” I opened them. My voice didn’t shake. “If he won’t prove it himself, the Elders can verify it for him.”

“Healer Lyanna is the best healer in the pack.” I turned to the Elders. “Have her examine the Alpha’s throat. If wolfsbane truly burned his vocal cords, traces of the toxin would still be there. They can be detected.”

The Elders exchanged a glance. Eventually the head Elder nodded. “That is the most direct way.”

That was when Caelum, who had not moved or made a sound the entire time, suddenly stood up.

His face was bone-white.

Lyra felt something shift. She turned quickly. “Caelum, don’t engage with her, she’s just throwing a tantrum.”

“Enough.”

Low. Hoarse. The word forced itself out of his throat.

It sounded like a rusted blade dragged across metal.

Every head in the room snapped toward him.

“You...you spoke?” Gamma Jesen stuttered.

Caelum didn’t even glance at him. His eyes were nailed to mine.

There was rage in them. Disbelief. And something else,something I couldn’t read.

He opened his mouth to say more. Only a ragged, breathless rasp came out.

So he could speak.

But five years of forced silence had left his vocal cords stiff and dry.

“Elara…” He fought to push my name out. The sound was ugly. Like a wounded animal trying to weep.

I turned away from him.

“Elder. I am formally requesting the dissolution of the mate bond.”

“On the grounds of...”

“Deception of one’s mate.”

“And cold abuse.”

My voice carried through the empty hall. Every wolf in the room heard it.

Caelum’s face went whiter than bone.