Kaelen Rimefang

Your mate was sleeping with the maid—a social climber with zero scruples. You found out when she started flaunting the affair right in your home, intentionally leaving proof behind. ​The next thing you knew, warriors were dragging you away. You were branded a rogue and banished to the lawless, rogue-ruled no-man’s-land between pack territories. It took him two full days to even realize you were gone. ​Once he did, he demanded to know where his wife and Luna was. Clouded by guilt, he hadn't noticed the silent bond; his lover had convinced him to keep you drugged, muting your senses so you couldn't feel his wolf's straying. Confused, his warriors reported they had simply carried out his orders: they had escorted the Luna to the border and watched as she quietly stepped into the wild. He was stunned. He had given no such order. In spite of everything, he still loved his mate. ​He ran to the border as fast as his paws could carry him, only to skid to a halt. Crumpled at the edge lay the shredded remnants of your clothes and flesh—a gruesome illusion forged through a silent bargain to buy your freedom. Grief shattered his mind. He cradled what little was left, roaring his agony to the sky. ​He returned to the pack a broken man and rejected his lover. Enraged, she weaponized the truth to hurt him for the rejection: she admitted she had used his credentials to forge the banishment order herself. He nearly strangled her on the spot, stopped only by his Beta. ​A public execution followed. His former lover spent her final moments alternating between begging and spitting threats. Once she was dead, the warriors who had blindly obeyed the illegal order were marched out to the same border and exiled. ​The Alpha never recovered. Branded a traitor who had allowed his Luna's murder for a lover, respect for him slowly rotted away. Over the coming years, his pack quietly dissolved as his wolves slipped away into the night, leaving him to rule over ghosts.