Daniel's breath hitched.
Bond dissolution?
When had he and Emily completed the final ceremony? Why didn't he know anything about it?

No, that's impossible.
This must be a fake document Emily had made somewhere to trick him.
Yes, that had to be it.
Daniel desperately tried to reassure himself as he shakily opened the certificate.
But when he saw the contents, all his hopes were shattered.
The names on the document were clearly his and Emily's.

And the Elder Council's magical seal was impossible to fake.
This certificate was real.
The normally composed Alpha's face was a mask of utter confusion.
He couldn't remember, for the life of him, when they had ever completed the final bond-severing ceremony.

His Beta swallowed hard and cautiously handed him a small piece of paper from the cabinet.
"Alpha, the Luna also left you a note."
Daniel snatched the note, only to find a single, short line written on it.
[Daniel, the movie about us has officially wrapped. From now on, let's never see each other again.]
Never see each other again?
How could Emily be so heartless?
An uncontrollable rage surged within him.
They had been together for seven years, and she could just walk away, even completing the bond-severing ceremony behind his back!
He crushed the note in his fist, an icy aura radiating from him.
He grabbed his phone and fired off a dozen messages to Emily.
[When did you complete the ceremony behind my back? I never agreed to this! I don't recognize this certificate!]
[Where are you? Are you really throwing away seven years of our lives just because of Sophia?]
[If you really hate her that much, I promise I'll cut all ties with her.]
...
Daniel stared at his phone, his face grim.
But half an hour passed, and still, there was no reply.
He commanded his Beta in a chilling voice.
"Find out when she completed the ceremony. And find out where she is now."
The Beta gave him a strange look.
"Alpha, I will find her location. As for the ceremony..."
He hesitated for a moment before deciding to speak.
"If I recall, a month ago, you orchestrated a 'fake rejection' for Ms. Summers, didn't you? You and the Luna both signed the rejection agreement. It's likely the Luna used that agreement, after the cooling-off period ended, to complete the final ceremony at the Elder Council by herself."
Daniel froze.
He had almost forgotten about that rejection agreement.
In his mind, it had always been fake.
It was just an act, a show he put on to get Sophia to agree to be with him.
But he never imagined that Emily would use that agreement to actually sever their bond.
All of her strange behavior over the past month suddenly made sense.
The lack of messages, the way she had cleared out all her belongings from the house...
She had been planning to leave a month ago, just waiting for the final ceremony to be completed.
But he had taken lovers before in the past two years, and Emily had known about all of them.
She had been able to tolerate it then.
Why was it, with Sophia, that she had decided to end things completely?
Why had she left so decisively, with only a certificate and a single, curt sentence?
After seven years together, Daniel knew Emily.
For her to do this, she must have been completely and utterly disappointed in their mating, in him.
Was it really going to be as she wrote?
That they would never see each other again?
No, he wouldn't accept that!
The thought of a future without Emily by his side felt like a gaping wound in his chest, bleeding from the final, complete severing of their mate bond.
Emily had left because of Sophia. If he cut ties with Sophia completely, banished her from the pack, would Emily reconsider?
Seven years of history... she couldn't be that cruel.
A sliver of hope ignited in Daniel's heart.
He immediately drove back to the hospital.
All the tenderness he once felt for Sophia had evaporated.
Now, all he wanted was to draw a clear line between them and win Emily back.
He parked the car and rushed toward Sophia's room.
Just as he was about to push the door open, he heard a voice from inside—a sharp, vicious tone that was nothing like the Sophia he knew.
"I sacrificed the baby in my womb to frame that old hag, and Daniel still has her on his mind."
"I should have told those idiot fans to slash her face. Let's see how she tries to seduce Daniel then!"