Chapter 4

I returned to my room and quietly began packing my things.

There was no reason to wait the remaining three days anymore.

That slap told me everything—I was no longer welcome in this den.

So why stay and wait to be thrown out, when I could leave with the last shred of dignity I had?

As I folded my clothes, I suddenly realized just how little I owned here.

After Sophia arrived, Dad and Alex had stopped buying me anything.

Gradually, this place stopped feeling like home, and I stopped coming back.

But it didn't matter anymore.

I didn't need to take much with me. I wasn't taking memories—I was leaving them behind.

Then, as I reached for a small bag, my eyes fell on the family photo sitting on the dusty shelf.

For a moment, my fingers froze.

So many memories surged through my mind like a flood I couldn't hold back.

I remembered when Mom left the pack, severing the bond with Dad.

Later came the news that she had been claimed by someone else in another territory.

Dad cried that night—cried like a child.

He held Alex and me tightly in his arms and whispered,

"I didn't know how to be a good mate. That's why I lost her... but I'll be a good father. I promise I'll protect you both."

And Alex...

He had looked me straight in the eye and said, with more conviction than I'd ever heard in his voice:

"I'll be a good brother. I'll protect you, always. I don't want to lose you like we lost Mom. If I ever ignored you... and you left..."

He hadn't finished the sentence. He didn't need since they had really taken good care of me.

When I was a pup, my wolf was weak. Every time my dad received news from the pack that I had a fever, he would rush back to the den immediately, no matter how busy he was. He stayed by my side without hesitation—especially if Alex was the one who told him.

When I was ten years old, I was bullied by my classmates. They locked me in the cellar, and it was Alex who charged in and fought off a group of wolves to rescue me.

Even though he was badly injured, he didn't back down. That group was so frightened by him that, from that day on, everyone in school knew I had a fifteen-year-old older brother—and no one dared to mess with me again.

John was kind to me as well, especially when Dad wasn't around. He often took Alex and me to his den for dinner.

I went along happily at first, but after crashing his dinner table too many times, I started feeling a little guilty and tried to say no politely.

He looked at me with flickering eyes and said,

"If you like it, just treat my den as your own home—come whenever you want, even if you keep bumping into the furniture!"

I was deeply touched. His eyes were filled with warmth—filled with me.

Back then, I truly believed him. So when my father later asked if I'd be willing to bond with John when I turned eighteen, I agreed without hesitation.

I even dreamed of the happy life we'd have after the bond. I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world—I wouldn't even need to move away from home, since John lived so close.

But everything changed when Dad brought home that orphaned she-wolf he had adopted from among his warriors.

She was always interrupting whenever I was alone with Alex or John.

She broke my things countless times, then raised her injured arms, slandering that I had hurt her.

She would pour the milk Alex gave her all over her body and pretend to sob.

"Zoe, it's not your fault because I know you didn't do it on purpose."

She shattered the dresses Dad bought for her and said,

"Zoe, please don't do that again. I won't compete with you. You are the only queen in this den."

She even dumped all the trash on herself and cut her own body in many places. Then she ran into John's arms, crying,

"John, please... please beg Zoe on my behalf not to treat me like this again. I will die one day. I will definitely leave here, so please ask her not to target me anymore."

I was tortured to death by her schemes and finally exploded with anger.

But my own family, who was supposed to back me up, stood in front of her to protect her instead.

"Zoe, I am so disappointed in you. How can I have a daughter like you?"

Alex slapped me hard across the face, roaring,

"You're shameless! Did you forget how you were bullied before? And now you're bullying Sophia the same way! Get out!"

John carefully held Sophia in his arms, but the eyes that once looked at me now only looked at her.

"Zoe, I never thought you were this kind of mate. I think I should reconsider our bond."

They didn't listen to my explanations or pleas, and took her to the infirmary like they always did.

After that, I had no place in this den anymore.

Those promises they once made—they're all gone now.

Broken, like the family photo frame that had gathered dust long before I even noticed.