Chapter 5

"What other reason?" Caleb glared at me. "Who else touched her but you?"

Watching this perfectly staged scene, a profound despair washed over me.

She had planned everything, including the allergen she'd hidden in her sleeve.

"Elena!" Caleb roared, lunging at me and clamping a hand around my throat. "I should have known how twisted you are!"

His grip tightened. I couldn't breathe, and my vision began to blur.

But the instant his fingers tightened, a searing agony erupted through the bond.

It wasn't my pain. It was his.

The mate bond was lashing out at him for harming his destined mate.

His face instantly turned pale, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

He instinctively let go.

I slammed against the wall, the dull thud echoing in the room as the taste of blood filled my mouth.

"Caleb!" Lydia cried out in alarm. "Are you okay? Why do you look so pale?"

He shook his head, fighting back the stabbing pain that shot up from the depths of his spirit, and looked at me again.

The fury in his eyes burned even hotter, as if he wanted to reduce me to ash.

"If I had known your spirit was this venomous, I would curse the Moon Goddess for binding us!"

"Get out! And don't ever let me see you again!"

I slumped to the floor, with nothing left to say.

Because I knew this was the last time.

I would never again feel the pain of their distrust.

Because my heart was already completely dead.

For a heartbeat, as she saw the blood trickling from my lips, something flickered in Sarah's eyes. Pity.

But the next second, Lydia's cries grew more pathetic, and Sarah quickly averted her eyes, turning to comfort the daughter who truly needed her care.

"Sweetheart, how are you feeling? Do you need to see a healer?"

I wiped the blood from my mouth with the back of my hand and slowly pushed myself up from the floor.

In the corner was a worn-out suitcase containing the few clothes I owned.

I had already packed.

They watched me with surprise, which was quickly followed by biting sarcasm.

"What, you think you can just run away from home now?"

"The pack disciplines you for your own good, Elena. Why can't you understand that this is for your own good?"

My father watched me, his face devoid of expression.

"You think running away will solve anything?" Sarah sneered. "Elena, you've been like this your whole life. The moment you face a problem, you try to escape."

"Just like your father said. We've raised a coward."

Caleb gently placed Lydia on the bed and turned to face me.

There was no warmth in his eyes, only cold disgust. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Away from Black Moon Pack territory."

"Elena!" his voice boomed like thunder. "Do you have any idea what you're saying?"

"The moment you step out of this territory, you will no longer be a member of the Black Moon Pack!"

Too much disappointment had accumulated, and my heart was too numb to feel any more pain.

Having heard this threat for the thousandth time, I was no longer afraid of losing this so-called home.

Because this pack had never truly given me a sense of belonging.

"Good," I said, my voice flat as I dragged the suitcase toward the door. "I was never worthy anyway."

"I will never look back. And whoever breaks this vow will lose their one true love for all eternity."

I dragged my suitcase and walked toward the main door without turning back.

The moment I stepped out of the villa, a night breeze rushed past me.

It carried the scent of freedom, but also the premonition of death.

Caleb stood at the floor-to-ceiling window, watching me leave.

My final words sent a shiver down his spine.

He knew I wasn't well. He worried that running out into the cold night would harm me further.

He wanted to say that his words about banishing me were spoken in anger, that he never meant for me to leave.

He took an instinctive step to follow, but Lydia's sweet voice stopped him. "She'll be back, Alpha. Once she realizes she has nowhere else to go, she'll come crawling back to you, begging."

"Then she'll understand that without your protection, she's nothing."

Hearing this, a strange irritation welled up inside Caleb.

He silently retracted his gaze.

No one saw the slight tremble in his clenched fists, or how his nails dug deep enough into his palms to draw blood.