5

Alex’s body, pressed against mine, went completely stiff.

"What? How could it start early?" He scrambled off me, the tenderness and desire in his eyes gone, replaced by pure, undisguised worry.

I watched Alex fumbling to grab his scattered clothes, hastily pulling them on.

"Alex, we were just..." I choked back a sob, speaking carefully.

"Sorry, Sophia, Lily really needs me right now." He didn't even look at me, just mumbled something vague as he frantically buttoned his shirt, his voice full of impatience.

I struggled to get off the bed, wanting to grab him.

But my legs gave out, and I lost my balance, tumbling off the side of the bed. My head slammed hard against the nightstand.

Thud!

A sharp pain shot through me. Bright red blood quickly started running down through my hair, staining my hospital gown.

"Baby, don't be scared, I'm here." Alex's voice was already fading down the hall.

My vision started to blur.

A full twenty minutes. It felt like a century. No one found me.

Until the on-duty nurse, doing her rounds, pushed open the door to the sitting room.

"Oh my god! Miss Sophia! What happened to you?!" she gasped, rushing over. "Quick! Get Dr. Grey! The patient has a serious head injury! Prep an OR, now!"

I was rushed into the emergency operating room as fast as possible.

While the doctor was stitching up my head, he was frowning, his voice serious as he spoke to his assistant, "The wound is very deep. A few more millimeters and it could have hit her central nervous system. Where's Alpha Alex? Why isn't he with the patient?"

The nurse beside him hesitated, then whispered, "The Alpha… he went to be with Miss Lily. I heard Miss Lily's heat started unexpectedly, and it was pretty urgent."

The doctor’s hand, stitching my wound, suddenly froze. His face turned incredibly grim. "An Omega's heat is more important than his destined mate's life?!"

I closed my eyes, tears streaming down the sides of my face.

I was unconscious for three whole days and nights from blood loss and the head trauma.

During those three days, Alex Blackwood never once set foot in my hospital room, not even for a second.

On the morning of the fourth day, I’d just woken up from the coma when my personal cell phone on the nightstand buzzed with a new message.

It was from Alex.

My hand trembled as I reached for it, struggling to tap open the message. The screen showed just one line of cold, hard text:

"Tonight is the pack's centennial Moon Festival. I don't care what state you're in, you must be there on time. This is about the Blackwood family's honor. Don't disappoint me."

The timestamp showed it was sent an hour ago. Not a single word of greeting, not a single word of concern, just an order that couldn't be refused.

Dragging my still incredibly weak body, I struggled out of bed and changed into a formal gown.

My head was still wrapped in thick, blood-stained bandages.

In the mirror, I looked pale, my lips chapped, like a ghost that had just crawled out of a grave.

When I finally, painfully, made my way to the Blackwood family's festival grounds, the grand Moon Festival had already begun.

From a distance, I saw Alex standing in the center of the ritual platform.

And beside him, arm intimately linked with his, was Lily, radiant in a silver Moon Goddess gown.

"Fellow Blackwood pack members, and our honored guests from afar," Alex's booming voice echoed across the grounds. He looked lovingly at Lily beside him. "Tonight, on this sacred full moon, I want to formally introduce someone who is incredibly important to me."

He paused, his voice full of love. "She is the most precious treasure in my, Alex Blackwood's, life. She is the one and only soulmate I recognize, and the future hope of our Blackwood family – Miss Lily!"

My heart, in that moment, felt like it had plunged into a bottomless abyss.

What made it even more humiliating was that Alex, completely ignoring centuries of pack tradition, openly took Lily's hand and had her sit on the Moon Goddess throne – the symbol of the Luna's highest honor!

That seat should have been mine, his Elder-Council-recognized destined mate!

"Alex!" The Head Elder, standing at the foot of the platform, frowned deeply, his gaze flicking to me, standing in the corner of the crowd. "Sophia is your blood-bonded destined mate. The Moon Goddess throne rightfully belongs to…"

"Head Elder," Alex didn't even turn his head, cutting him off, his voice hard. "Sophia's presence was merely to follow old family customs. But Lily, she is the one I've chosen from my heart, the one who truly resonates with my soul. The Moon Goddess only blesses true love."

The entire place fell dead silent. Every wolf turned their head in unison, staring at me.

Pity, gloating, and outright ridicule.

I stood there all alone, the wound on my head throbbing from the intense emotional turmoil.

"How pathetic, publicly dumped by her own Alpha."

"I heard she was seriously injured at the medical center a few days ago, almost died. Looks like Alpha Alex didn't even bother to visit her."

"Hah, a so-called 'destined mate' who can't even hold onto her Alpha's heart. What right does she have to the Luna's position?"