He Signed My Freedom Now He Wants Me Back Chapter 01
The Moon Goddess sent me back to my twenty-seventh year. I was still the Luna of Highridge Pack, with two young pups and Alpha Lucian Vane—the man who controlled the northern trade routes—as my mate.
Everyone said fate had favored me.
But the first thing I did after waking was take the claim cancellation papers to Vivian Cross, the Luna candidate Lucian had once chosen.
I slid the documents across the table to her.
“Lucian is yours. The two children are yours, too. Once the seven-day witness period is over, I’ll relinquish my authority as Luna and leave Highridge.”
In my last life, I gave everything to this family. In the end, as my wolf deteriorated and my memory crumbled, they left me to die alone in the old house. The night flames swallowed the room, my husband and children were vacationing with Vivian on a neutral island.
This time, since they all wanted her so badly, I would give them exactly what they wished for.
…
Vivian’s fingertips stilled on the rim of her cup. She stared at the Registry papers for a long moment.
“Evelyn, what game are you playing now?”
“I’m not playing a game.” I met her gaze without flinching. “I’m just done.”
Six years ago, the Hart bloodline had formed an alliance with Highridge, and I entered Lucian’s pack as his political mate. The council of elders registered me as Luna, but he never completed the final mark.
We had children, a public title, and a claim ring that symbolized our alliance.
The only thing we didn’t have was a true bond.
Because of that, the Registry had always listed our relationship as an unfinished claim. As long as both parties signed and the seven-day witness period passed, the union could be fully dissolved.
“Do you have any idea how many women would kill for your position?” Vivian asked.
“I do,” I said. “That’s why I’m giving it to you.”
At last, she picked up the document, the corners of her lips lifting in a slow, deliberate smile.
“Fine. Since you’re being so generous, I won’t pretend to refuse. But once something is mine, I don’t give it back.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t be asking for it.”
I’d already wasted sixty-two years on regret in my last life.
Vivian moved to the other side of the café and called Lucian. Her voice softened instantly.
“Lucian, I’m at the Riverside Café in Grayhaven. Can you come pick me up?”
Less than twenty minutes later, Lucian appeared at the door.
He wore a dark coat, and the sheer pressure of his Alpha presence made several low-ranking wolves near the entrance instinctively shrink away. Our son, Noah, and our daughter, Iris, followed behind him. The moment they saw Vivian, they ran straight to her.
“Aunt Vivian!”
Iris buried her face in Vivian’s arms, while Noah scrambled to take her handbag.
Lucian set a cake box on the table in front of Vivian.
“Matcha, the way you like it. I had the kitchen cut back on the sugar.”
Vivian smiled. “You remembered.”
I sat a few tables away, my nails digging shallow crescents into my palm.
In six years, Lucian had never once remembered what I liked. In my last life, when I was recovering in the medical wing and craved strawberry cake, he’d had a Beta send one over without a second thought. It was filled with mango—the one fruit I was severely allergic to.
“What do you want for dinner tonight?” Lucian asked Vivian.
“Before that, there’s a document you need to sign.”
Vivian slipped the claim cancellation form into a stack of territorial housing papers and flipped directly to the signature page.
Lucian didn’t even glance at the contents.
“There’s no need for formalities between us.”
He took the pen and signed his name.
The moment the last stroke was complete, the Luna crest pinned to my chest warmed faintly. Deep in my mind, my wolf, Ember, jolted awake, then immediately stifled the instinct to move closer to him.
In seven days, I would be free.
“Is Aunt Vivian moving into a new house?” Noah asked. “Dad should move in, too. Iris and I want to live with her. We don’t want to see Mom every day.”
Lucian frowned but didn’t correct him.
Vivian immediately said, “No need to buy another house. I’ll make sure you have rooms there. You can come whenever you want.”
The two children cheered. Iris wrapped her arms around Vivian’s neck and kissed her on the cheek.
“You’re a thousand times better than Mom.”
The faintest hint of a smile touched Lucian’s mouth.
Ember didn’t cry out. She only sent a cold shiver down my spine.
I picked up my bag and walked out.
As I left the café, memories from my last life rushed back.
Back then, I’d believed our alliance would one day become a true bond. Lucian was noble and powerful—the youngest Alpha in the Northlands. Vivian had been the Luna candidate he’d chosen in his youth, but she left Highridge for neutral territory.
After she was gone, he accepted the alliance with my family, the Harts. I’d idolized him since I was a girl.
I thought I had finally gotten my dream.
After the ceremony, I managed the pack’s main residence, cared for the pups, hosted the elders, and kept every tedious part of his daily life in perfect order. But after Vivian returned, Lucian never revoked my Luna registration—he just gave all his tenderness to her.
Little by little, our children learned to avoid my touch and run into her arms instead.
In my last life, in my old age, a Healer diagnosed me with wolf deterioration syndrome. My memory faded day by day, and Ember grew quieter and quieter inside me. Lucian said I needed peace and quiet, so he sent me to the old house on the edge of Highridge territory.
On my birthday, I called my husband and children, only to learn they were wintering with Vivian on a neutral island.
Noah just said he was busy with training and told me not to bother him over something so trivial. Iris didn’t even answer. She had her mate pass along a mindlink message saying she didn’t want to hear my voice while she was traveling.
Lucian answered last. He didn’t ask if I’d eaten or if I remembered what day it was. He only asked if the staff at the old house had been reporting my condition on schedule.
That same year, Highridge redid the portrait gallery of its past Lunas. My portrait was replaced by a decorative mirror, while Vivian’s was hung between Lucian and our two grown children, her title listed as “lifelong ally to the Alpha family.”
The famine I had helped the territory survive, the medicinal supply routes I had negotiated, the orphaned pups I had sheltered—all of it was recorded as an achievement of the Vane family. No one mentioned Evelyn Hart.
At last, I understood. A title held together by endurance alone could never prove I had been loved. It couldn’t even prove I had ever truly existed in their lives.
I’d tried to make myself a bowl of soup, but I forgot to turn off the stove.
As the flames climbed the curtains, the last thing I remembered was the look in Lucian’s eyes when he put the claim ring on my finger—utterly devoid of warmth.
As the smoke closed in, I made a wish. If there was a next time, I would never again throw my life away for them.
And now, the Moon Goddess had sent me back.
That night, I returned to the Highridge pack manor and began to sort through my belongings.
First, I packed the alliance documents from the Hart family, my maternal crest, and six years of Luna duty ledgers. Those thick volumes listed every bereaved family in the territory, every winter supply distribution, every pup who needed special medicine.
In the past, all Lucian had to do was sign the final order at the council meeting, and everyone would praise the Alpha’s wisdom. No one saw me double-checking inventories weeks in advance, consoling families, or coordinating with Healers and guards. No one knew how much resentment I had absorbed for him.
Every record that belonged to Highridge, I left for the Registry. Everything that belonged to the Hart family—along with my private letters—I took with me, down to the last page.
Lucian’s clothes, the children’s toys, the family photo on the mantelpiece—I packed them into boxes one by one. Not to throw them away, but to purge their presence from my room.
“What are you doing?”
Lucian stood in the doorway, a child’s hand in each of his.
The moment Iris saw her teddy bear in a box, she screamed, “Why is Mom throwing away my things?”
Noah glared at me. “We only spent a little time with Aunt Vivian. Do you have to act like this?”
The scent of cedar rolling off Lucian was as cold as a command.
“The children like her. That’s not worth making a scene over.”
“I’m not angry.”
“Liar!” Iris shrieked. “You’re just jealous of her. You’re a bad mom!”
Noah pulled his sister closer. “When we grow up, we’re moving in with Aunt Vivian and never coming back.”
Lucian didn’t stop him.
He only glanced at me and said flatly, “The territorial council still has a meeting. If you’re going to keep packing, do it quietly.”
Only after the door clicked shut did my tears finally fall.
A sharp pain lanced through my chest, a final cry from Ember before she fell silent again.
I wiped my face dry. Looking at the boxes scattered across the floor, I let out a sudden, bitter laugh.
Don’t worry. I won’t disturb him.
Not ever again.