Chapter 1

The doctor pushed the door open and entered the room. "Ms. Ziegler, Alpha Kieran has already completed your discharge paperwork. You're free to leave."

I nodded numbly.

As I walked out of the care facility, I could still hear several nurses whispering behind me.

"Poor thing. She used to be a perfectly normal she-wolf. I can't believe that she had been driven to this state."

"What's there to pity? He's the Alpha of the Silvermoon pack. Instead of abandoning her, he even spent a great deal of resources on her treatment. She's too greedy. She's been given more than enough, yet she still doesn't know when to back down."

A year ago, their comments would've driven me into a hysterical rage. But now, I simply walked up to Kieran Gray without a flicker of emotion.

He curled his finger inward and reached for my face. "You've lost weight."

I turned my head away from him and avoided his touch.

His hand froze in midair. A brief second later, he withdrew it and opened the passenger door.

"Get in."

A semi-full bottle of jasmine-scented perfume sat on the passenger seat.

Kieran glanced at it casually, then took it from my hands. "My assistant left it here by accident. Don't take it the wrong way."

I didn't call him out like I used to do.

My sister, Hannah Ziegler, loved the smell of jasmine flowers. But I had stopped caring a long time ago, so none of that mattered to me anymore.

Kieran gently tapped his fingers against the steering wheel before declaring, "I cut things off with your sister a long time ago. You detest jasmine flowers, so I had them all removed and replaced with moonflowers."

I gave him a soft hum of acknowledgment.

He continued, "I told the maids to clean your things regularly. Everything's exactly the way you left it."

"Thank you," I replied with a faint smile.

Kieran glanced at me, his expression unreadable. Then, he pulled out a blue velvet box.

Inside the box lay a pair of pearl bracelets.

"You kept mentioning how much you loved these, so I bought them for you. Here—see if you like them."

I didn't reach for the box. Instead, I said calmly, "I think we should forget about the mating ceremony."

He didn't seem to take my words seriously. Tossing the box into my lap, he said, "Quit throwing a fit. I slept with your sister, and you slept with three of my right-hand men. Technically speaking, your body count is higher than mine.

"We're even. You're the only one who can be my Luna. I won't forget about my promise to you. I need you to stop making such a huge fuss."

I stared at the pearl bracelets and didn't argue back. All I could do was smile bitterly.

I wasn't throwing a fit. When I was discharged, I had already accepted a job offer from a medical research team in Yurich.

This time, I was truly going to leave Kieran. Once I did, I'd be able to leave my pain behind too.

As his car pulled into his private estate, I realized that nothing there had changed.

I didn't enter the master bedroom he had set aside exclusively for me as his Luna. Instead, I dragged my suitcase toward a secluded guest room.

Kieran blocked my path. "What are you doing?"

"I've gotten used to living alone at the care facility," I replied.

Glancing back at the master bedroom we used to stay in, I added, "Besides, I don't want to sleep in that bed."

The day I discovered he was having an affair with Hannah, I checked the estate's security footage.

They didn't just leave their mark on the couch. They had used the bed Kieran and I had picked out together, too. When I found out, my wolf howled in agony, and my heart shattered into a million pieces.

Kieran stared at me for several seconds before letting out a cold laugh.

"Enough. If you're done throwing a tantrum, stop messing around and just behave. I don't want you to end up in a psychiatric care facility again."

As I watched him walk away, I felt completely unfazed. The gut-wrenching pain I had once experienced was completely gone.

It seemed like the treatment at the care facility had worked. His words and actions no longer stirred my emotions, and my heart was no longer in pain.

Later that night, I couldn't fall asleep. I was so used to the cold, stiff bed at the care facility that the softness of my current mattress kept me awake.