Chapter 2

I took a deep breath and walked to the door.

The moment I opened it, seven years melted away.

Roric stood there. Taller, broader, and more powerful than I remembered. Those golden eyes were still captivating.

But now, they were ice-cold.

A beautiful woman was on his arm.

Cressida. Perfect face, perfect body, and the blinding confidence that radiated from a powerful, healthy she-wolf.

"I can't believe you still live in a place like this," Roric said, his eyes scanning my shabby apartment with a mocking smirk.

"I'm doing just fine," I said flatly. "What do you want?"

"We were hoping you could help us with something," Cressida said, her voice sickly sweet, dripping with superiority. "Roric and I are having our Mating Ceremony soon, and we're not familiar with the latest gown styles from the South."

She paused, a flash of triumph in her eyes.

"I heard you sketched hundreds of designs for your ceremony with Roric. That you dreamed of being a designer?"

Her words were a blade twisting in my chest.

Those sketches.

The designs I had poured over, night after night. All my beautiful dreams for our future.

I thought I’d forgotten.

"You're coming with us to choose the dresses," Roric said, his voice cold as stone. "You put so much thought into it before. My perfect dress… my Luna’s perfect style. You know all about it, right?"

He spoke without a trace of feeling, but his gaze was locked on me, intense and unyielding.

It was pure humiliation.

But why this? Why did it have to be me?

Cressida's smile tightened for a split second. She recovered instantly.

"Of course. If you're okay with it." She looped her arm tighter through Roric’s, a clear show of possession. "I owe you so much, really. For giving him up. How else would I have ended up with a perfect Alpha like him?"

Her smile was as sweet as poison.

"I'm sure you don't mind. I trust your taste. After all, you were his… ex-fated mate."

Ex.

The word hit me like a physical blow. It shattered what little was left of me.

A sharp pain shot through my chest—the familiar agony of my decaying wolf.

Just then, my sister, Briony, stormed out of the kitchen.

"Enough!" she shrieked, her body trembling. "What do you want from her? Isn't humiliating her enough?"

Briony moved to block me, a mother wolf shielding her wounded cub.

"You're as selfish and rotten as your mother!" she snarled at Roric. "She only did it because you—"

"Briony." I grabbed her arm.

I couldn't let her tell him the truth.

"I can handle this," I told her.

Briony's eyes were red. She bit her lip and went back into my room, emerging with my coat.

"It's cold out," she whispered, her voice choked with tears as she draped it over my shoulders. "Take care of yourself."

I took her arm and walked out the door.

Roric saw us and sneered.

"Just a common cold, and you're so weak you need someone to look after you?"

Cressida immediately pretended to smooth things over.

"Roric is always so dominant. He's not very nice to anyone," she said to me with a wink. "Don't mind him."

My heart ached.

Dominant.

Seven years ago, Roric had only ever been dominant with me.

He would pull me into his arms, snarl at any male who got too close, and declare to the world that I was his.

Now, he gave that to someone else.

"You really want me to help you choose a Mating Ceremony gown?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. "If you do, I'll go."

Roric and Cressida exchanged a look.

"Of course," Roric said, his voice devoid of any warmth. "I'll pick you up tomorrow. Ten a.m."

With that, they turned and left.

I stood in the doorway, listening to Cressida's laughter echo down the hall. It was sharp and piercing.

That night, as I was about to fall asleep, my phone rang.

The number on the screen was the one I'd stared at for seven years.

"Ten a.m. tomorrow," Roric's voice came through the phone, deep and cold. "Be on time."

I gripped my phone, my knuckles turning white.

This was the first time he had called me in seven years.

The very first time.

And it was for his Mating Ceremony with someone else.

Stunned into silence, I heard a splash of water through the phone. Then Cressida’s voice, a sultry purr. “Roric, my Alpha… Don’t keep me waiting. The bath is getting cold…”

Her voice was thick with provocation and possession.

"See you tomorrow," Roric said coolly, and then he hung up without a second thought.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The dial tone buzzed in my ear like a death knell.

I closed my eyes, grinding the last embers of hope in my heart into dust.