He Signed My Freedom Now He Wants Me Back Chapter 02
After Lucian signed the claim cancellation, I stopped running the pack manor.
I no longer rose before dawn to prepare breakfast for Noah’s training classes—meals specifically designed to stabilize a young pup’s wolf aura. I no longer checked Iris’s medication and allergy lists. I no longer stayed up late, waiting for Lucian to return from alliance banquets so I could make the soup that soothed the agitation in his wolf after he’d been drinking.
Those things had always been the responsibility of the manor staff, after all.
I handed the keys to the Luna’s office to the house steward and withdrew my standing instructions from the kitchen, training grounds, and nursery. He stared at the keys in his hand for a long time, then asked who everyone should listen to when orders clashed.
“Follow Registry protocol and staff duties,” I said. “Don’t wait for me to fill in every gap.”
The reason for his unease was simple: for the past six years, whenever two sets of instructions collided, I was always the one who bore the consequences. If Lucian changed a banquet at the last minute, if the children refused training, if elders decided to stay overnight unexpectedly, if Vivian wanted access to Luna resources—every problem landed on my desk.
At first, no one noticed a thing.
Not until Noah missed morning training at the pack academy, Iris couldn’t find her homework records, and Lucian’s family pocket watch—the one he wore most often—stopped ticking.
The kitchen dishes didn’t get cleared away in time. The children’s training uniforms weren’t washed separately according to their skin sensitivities. The territorial files Lucian needed the next day were missing witness seals.
The pack manor did not stop functioning.
It was only that the seamless, silent order everyone had taken for granted was gone.
After Noah was late, his heir-sparring privileges were suspended for a week. When he got home, he threw his training bag on the floor and demanded that I get his qualification reinstated.
“That’s academy discipline,” I said. “You can explain it to them yourself.”
Iris shoved her unfinished record book at me, demanding I imitate her handwriting to complete it for her. I pushed it back. She burst into tears, wailing that Aunt Vivian would never force her to do something so boring.
When Lucian discovered his territorial files were missing their witness seals, he had to return to the council chamber himself for the first time. He didn’t get back until late that night, his expression dark—as if what had delayed him wasn’t his own oversight, but my failure to anticipate his every need.
When he pushed open the bedroom door, I was sitting by the window, reading.
“How long are you going to keep this up?”
I closed my book. “I’m not doing anything.”
“Then why aren’t you taking care of things at home?”
As he approached, the scent of cedar pressed down on me. In the past, Ember would always go taut with anticipation when he came near. Now she offered only one clear judgment: stay away.
“I’m tired,” I said. “There’s staff in the manor. If I don’t do it, nothing will fall apart.”
“Evelyn.” His voice turned cold. “Stop acting like a spoiled pup.”
“I just want to rest.”
The door was shoved open.
Noah and Iris stormed in, their faces masks of fury.
“Mom is so lazy!” Iris shouted. “We want Aunt Vivian to take care of us!”
“She’s gentler than you—ten thousand times better!” Noah added.
Lucian stared at me, as if waiting for me to back down like I always had.
Instead, I nodded.
“If all of you think she’s better, then bring her here.”
The room fell silent.
A line of gold flashed in Lucian’s eyes, a flicker of his Alpha emotions.
“Are you sure?”
“Completely.”
Iris instantly grabbed his sleeve. “Dad, let’s go get her right now!”
Noah made a face at me. “If we have Aunt Vivian, we won’t need you anymore. Leave Highridge!”
This time, Lucian still didn’t correct him.
After the car pulled away from the manor, I stood alone in the empty hallway and slowly closed my eyes.
Soon, I would give them exactly what they wanted.
I would hand back my Luna authority, cancel the unfinished claim, and leave this family for good.