Chapter 1

Holding my breath, I stared at the massive moonstone on the newspaper’s front-page headline.

It was public information that Justin Blackwood bought the moonstone at a hefty price tag for another she-wolf.

I contacted Justin through mind link, my voice soft as a feather.

“Justin, we should sever the mate bond between us.”

His laughter, rich, light-hearted, and dismissive, rippled through the mind link.

“There you go again. Is my sweetheart throwing another fit?

“Be a good girl. I’m in the middle of an obligation. I’ll come and mark you once I’m done here.”

It was the same old line.

I had heard that story more times than I could count in the past three years.

My heart, once so full, had long since grown weary.

For once, I didn’t argue.

I simply cut off the mind link.

Turning on my heel, I walked out of the venue without looking back.

I knew that, like clockwork, there’d be a shinier and more expensive moonstone from Justin waiting for me back at the home.

He thought that he could buy my love back.

Little did he know, the door to being with me had closed for good.

Back at the home, I reached out to Charles Everett, my father and the pack’s Beta.

“Dad, I accept the mating alliance with the Northwind Pack, just as you have suggested.”

The link went silent for a moment. Then, his raspy voice, thick with disbelief, rang through.

“So you’re going through with it? I thought you’d rather die than give up on Justin. Did you two have a fight?”

I clutched the edge of the table, the pointed corner cutting into my palms. Still, the pain brought me a moment of calm.

“I was ignorant before. It will cost us huge tributes to keep the peace unless we ally with the Northwind Pack. You were right. It’s time I start acting for the pack.”

Following a heavy silence, my father murmured, “Oh, you’ve grown.”

By the time I ended the mind link, tears streamed down my face.

Had I grown, though?

No, my heart was gone, taking every shred of feeling along with it.

I wiped away my feelings roughly and started to clear out every memory of Justin in the room.

There was this wooden sculpture of a wolf he carved for me when we were sixteen.

Our kiss was caught on camera at the Shifting Academy graduation.

Justin had once drawn up the blueprint for our mating ceremony.

Since Marissa Creek came into the picture, Justin swapped his attention to me with a parade of impersonal luxury gifts.

These possessions once held my dreams for the future.

Now, I packed them up, along with memories of two decades, sealed away in cardboard.

I held the wolf fang necklace, a token of promise we had made to each other for life, before driving to the home we had bought together.

The spare key remained under the mat by the door, attached to my favorite pup key chain.

As the door opened with a click, Justin was taken aback to see me.

“Fay?” Justin curled his lips into a familiar smirk. “I knew you’d come around. How do you find the moonstone I sent you? I can get you a better one if you’re not keen on it. Oh, that reminds me… The moon phase wasn’t favorable yesterday, so I’ve asked the pack elders to pick out a new date for our mating ceremony.”

I quietly let him finish, then pointed at the boxes behind me.

“You got the wrong idea. I’m here to return your things.”

The smile on Justin’s face froze, his brows furrowed.

Before he could say anything, Marissa came running down the stairs barefoot.

Her soft curves clung to Justin’s back, and she rested her chin on his shoulder.

In that moment, my gaze locked in place.

Marissa was unclothed under a cloak.

I spent months stitching the silver-embroidered cloak for Justin.

He gave his word to wear the cloak on the day of our mating ceremony.

Yet, there it was, draped across the shoulders of another she-wolf.

Acting as if she’d just noticed me, Marissa said bashfully, “Huh? Why didn’t you tell me that we have a visitor? It’s rude of me to show up looking like this.”

With a frown, Justin tried to pull Marissa’s hands from his waist.

As Marissa tightened her grip on Justin, he simply let her be.

When our eyes met, I could see a flicker of smugness in her gaze.

It took a lot in me to keep my voice steady. “These are yours. Please give my things back when you can.”

I presented the wolf-fang necklace.

Justin paused.

With my determination getting to him, Justin held Marissa’s hand tight and sneered, “Do I look like I have the time?”

A sharp ache shot across my chest, and my wolf whimpered in agony in my mind.

Despite my decision to end things, I could not stop my heart from breaking.

Drawing a deep breath, I placed the necklace on the table. “When you can, please have my things delivered to me.”

I had intended to keep my cool while breaking things off with dignity.

However, something inside me broke when Marissa slid her hand beneath his shirt, tracing the lines of his chest.

Even when tension gripped Justin, he didn’t push Marissa away.

Something inside me broke completely.

Feeling sick to my stomach, I turned around to get out of there.

“Hold it right there!”

His voice struck me like a crack of whip. “Are you sure you want to break our mate bond?”

I didn’t even look back. “Yes.”

Then came his scoff.

Justin took strides toward me and violently kicked the stacked cardboard boxes.

“Since you’re going to reject me, what’s the point of keeping this trash?”

He stared intently at me, waiting for a response.

Justin could already see my tears, pleas, and breakdown coming exactly like before.

Instead, I nodded flatly. “You have a point. There’s no reason to keep them.

“If my stuff bothers you that much, feel free to chuck them all out.”

Justin gritted his teeth, the veins in his hands bulging.

It seemed to take every fiber of his being to push out a reply through his clenched teeth.

“Who cares about your things? Clear them out yourself. The last thing I need is for you to use this as an excuse to harass me.”