Chapter 1

“I agree, Your Honor. I relinquish all custody rights to my daughter, Mia. I will no longer serve as her guardian for her first shift.”

When the words left my mouth, the Grayhaven territorial arbitration court fell silent.

The look of triumph on my ex-partner Grant Caldwell’s face shattered.

His pack advocate’s jaw went slack.

They had all assumed I would do what I’d done for the past six years—cry, argue, and claw for every last scrap of my rights.

They didn’t understand.

Ten minutes earlier, my fourteen-year-old daughter, Mia, had personally submitted a sworn statement.

“I choose Sloane as my maternal guardian, and I choose her to stay with me through my first shift. I want the registry to recognize her as my mother.”

Mia’s inner wolf had awakened. Under pack law, a cub entering her awakening had the right to choose her primary guardian, and her statement was enough to decide the ruling.

Sloane Mercer had once been my best friend. Now, Grant had used his Alpha authority to register her as Mia’s temporary guardian and the Ironwood Pack’s family representative.

She sat beside him, looking every bit the lady of the Pack House she was so desperate to become.

The daughter I had fought for, for six long years, had long since decided she didn’t belong to me.

So what was left to fight for?

I was just so tired.

I looked at them calmly and handed them the victory they wanted most.

Their “perfect pack family” was finally complete.

And I had already booked my flight out of Grayhaven.

I hoped they enjoyed themselves.

…

The moment I stepped out of the arbitration hall, the Connecticut November wind hit me. My wolf gave me one clear signal: *get away from them.*

Grant came after me, Mia trailing in his wake. He shrugged off his cashmere coat and reached to drape it over my shoulders, but I sidestepped him.

His hand stopped in midair, but the familiar, patronizing gentleness remained on his face. It was the expression an Alpha used in front of elders and subordinates—steady, tolerant, as if any mistake was always someone else’s.

“Nora, you made the right decision today.” He lowered his voice, as if soothing a young wolf who didn’t understand the rules. “This is what’s best for the stability of Mia’s wolf. She’s just entered her awakening. She can’t be provoked by ongoing family conflict. This doesn’t mean it’s the end. In the future—”

I looked past him at Mia.

I had fought for her for six years. She stood half-hidden behind Grant in her Ashvale Academy uniform. I’d helped her pick out that plaid skirt last winter, but now it looked like it belonged to some other girl.

She stared at the toes of her shoes, refusing to meet my eyes.

“Mia,” I asked, “is this really what you want?”

She finally lifted her head. Her scent was sharp with irritation. Since her wolf had awakened, she hadn’t learned to rein in signals like that.

“Yes,” she said stiffly. “I want to have a normal Thanksgiving with Dad and Sloane. I don’t want to keep coming to this courthouse before every holiday, and I don’t want people asking me why I don’t have a real pack family.”

A normal Thanksgiving.

I thought of the photo Sloane had posted on the Pack Channel last night.

In a warm, cozy kitchen, Grant, Sloane, and Mia stood around the counter, prepping for Thanksgiving dinner. Flour dusted Sloane’s hands, and she was smiling as she dabbed a smudge of it on Mia’s nose. Grant stood beside them, watching with the fond expression of a man admiring a family portrait, one carefully designed for the Ironwood Pack.

The caption read: *Home is the people you choose.*

Mia had liked it. She’d even replied: *Love you, Sloane.*

I wanted to tell her that every custody hearing over the past six years had been scheduled by Grant’s advocate. They always used “the Alpha’s responsibilities” as an excuse to drag the hearings out until just before Thanksgiving, making it impossible for me to spend the holiday with her.

It wasn’t my choice to be absent.

But looking at her face—so eager to draw a line between us—I suddenly couldn’t find the energy to explain.

The six-year custody battle felt like a cruel joke. I had always believed that if I just held on long enough, I would bring my daughter home. But she had never planned on coming with me.

She didn’t even want me as her mother.

The part of me that always snapped awake at the first sign of danger to her went completely still.

“Fine,” I said, my voice so calm it surprised me. “I’m not choosing you anymore, either.”

The color drained from Mia’s face. She clearly hadn’t expected me to accept her choice, much less throw it back at her. Her eyes reddened, but anger quickly overtook the hurt.

The mask of gentle patience finally cracked on Grant’s face.

“Nora, do you know who you’re talking to?”

I ignored him and turned to the pack advocate who had stood by my side, David Holt.

“David, send written notice immediately to Ashvale Academy, the Grayhaven Healing Center, and Mia’s awakening counselor. Permanently remove me from her emergency mind-link, pickup authorizations, treatment decisions, and first-shift guardian list.”

Grant went still, then instinctively tried to seize control again.

“That will force the academy and the healing center to re-review all their paperwork.”

“That’s your problem.”

I looked at him, then at the girl who was about to get her “normal family.”

Grant and I had been together for nine years, and we’d spent the last six fighting over Sloane, over where Mia belonged. The only thing that had kept me going was the memory of Mia at two, clinging to my leg and sobbing in her tiny voice, “Mommy, don’t go.”

Six years was long enough to change a person, and long enough for a young wolf to learn to follow the strongest one in the room.

Now I was giving them the family they wanted.

“I hope you all enjoy yourselves.”