Chapter 4

As I left the auction center, a beautiful green diamond was just starting to be auctioned off.

But I didn't care anymore.

After all, my bonding ceremony had already been unilaterally canceled by Trey.

Whether the veil had the main diamond or not didn't matter anymore.

However, just as I left the auction center, Trey stopped me.

He grabbed my wrist with such force that it felt like he was going to crush my bones. "Serana's hurt. You need to apologize to her."

I jerked my arm free and met his cold gaze before speaking each word slowly. "I told you, I didn't push her. Why should I apologize?"

"I only believe what I see with my own eyes." Trey's voice was low and dark. "Leah, don't push me."

With that, he pulled a grayish bone whistle from his chest.

It was Dad's keepsake.

After the Gram pack was destroyed, this bone whistle had been the last thing he left me.

My heart sank. "You're going to use it to threaten me?"

"It's not a threat."

Trey stared at me, his voice cold and hard. "If you apologize to her, I'll give it back to you."

I stared at him, then suddenly laughed until tears welled up in my eyes.

I turned my face away, forcing the tears back. "Fine. I'll apologize, and you'll return it to me immediately after."

Trey was silent for a moment, then finally nodded.

Serana had been placed in the most expensive healing center in the neutral zone.

When she saw me, she immediately shrank into her blankets, looking like she had suffered the greatest injustice.

"I'm sorry," I said flatly, then extended my hand to Trey, signaling him to return the bone whistle.

But instead of handing it over, Trey pulled Serana closer and said coldly, "This isn't an apology. Get down on your knees."

My throat tightened, and a pain shot through my chest.

Trey's eyes locked onto me as he coldly added, "Lower your head and press your forehead to her feet."

For a moment, I thought I had heard him wrong.

Looking at him, I suddenly realized that all the reliance I had built over the years was nothing but a joke.

But seeing the bone whistle in his hand, I slowly bent my knee and kneeled on the cold stone floor.

Serana moved her foot back slightly as if to avoid me, but she deliberately slowed down her movements.

I lowered my eyes, and under their gaze, I bent forward, pressing my forehead against her bare foot. "Are you happy now?"

Finally, Trey tossed the bone whistle back into my arms.

I gripped it tightly, got up, and walked away without looking back, even as he called my name.

The next two days, Trey and I didn't meet again, until the day of the bonding ceremony.

The Sawyer pack had many old customs.

Once the mate got into the car, the bonding convoy was supposed to circle the pack's borders to let the Moon Goddess witness the union.

When Trey sent me off to the car, he whispered, "No matter what happens on the way, don't panic. Wait for me to pick you up."

I didn't respond, not even sparing him a glance.

As expected, the convoy first drove along the Sawyer pack's borders. When we reached the mouth of the canyon, the car suddenly stopped.

About ten minutes later, the convoy started again, but the direction had changed.

Instead of heading to the Sawyer pack's center, the car was now heading toward the Gronya pack.

When the door was pulled open, I immediately saw Danny standing in the night.

He was clad in a long black trench coat, his silver-white hair ruffled by the night wind. His eyes were cold and distant, like a winter blizzard in the North.

As the Alpha of the Gronya Pack, he was terrifyingly powerful.

Seeing me, he smirked. "Welcome."

I pushed down the turmoil of emotions rising in my chest and asked in a low voice, "You're not surprised to see me?"

Danny looked at me, as though he had already seen through my disguise, and chuckled softly. "You didn't look surprised either."

When he took my hand, I felt his burning palm.

"Do you want to go back? Back to Trey?" he asked.

Without hesitation, I shook my head. "No."

"Then you'll stay with me from now on."

When Danny lowered his head and kissed me, the first thing I smelled wasn't alcohol or blood. It was the cool yet intense scent of cedarwood. The scent hit me like fire in the snow, burning deep into my heart and making my legs go weak.

It wasn't until that moment that I understood that this was the scent of a fated mate—something I had never smelled on Trey.

That night, Danny carried me back to the room.

In the frantic gasps, the scent of cedar wrapped around me, like a mark placed by the Moon Goddess herself.

Trapped in his arms, I was forced to endure his presence again and again. I found myself realizing with growing clarity that this wolf in front of me was the one I was truly meant to be close to.

But just as I closed my eyes, the urgent sound of an alarm blared.

And then, Trey's furious shout followed. "What do you mean she's already been marked? That's absolute bullshit!"