Gone Before “I Do”

Behind the sheer curtains on the second floor, two overlapping silhouettes moved in intimate rhythm. I knew it was Aiden and Seraphina.

I tore the moonstone necklace from my neck. Aiden had given it to me as a token of his promise to become my mate.

I used to treasure it. Now it felt suffocating, like a collar tightening around my throat, choking off my breath. I didn’t want to wear it anymore.

I dialed the familiar number that would reach my mother, far away in another pack.

"Mom," I said. "I’m not going through with the mating ceremony. I want to come to you."

There was a long silence on the other end, followed by a quiet sigh.

"Master Elias, your old healer mentor, misses you. He said your talent shouldn’t go to waste. When you come back, pick up your work with him again.

"I thought Aiden was different," she added. "Turns out, he’s just like your father, crushing a bond the Moon Goddess blessed with his own hands.

"Don’t cry, Clara. You’re still young. Your life shouldn’t revolve around Alphas and pups. You deserve a future that belongs to you. Think it through. I’ll be waiting."

Before tonight, I’d thought Aiden was different. He was strong and restrained, an Alpha who saved his gentleness for me alone. He never touched other women. Among all the wolves, he was the most self-disciplined leader.

Alas, at the end of the Spring Hunt Festival, he saw Seraphina, who hadn’t even been invited.

For the first time, he lost control and shattered a wine glass in his hand. Unprecedented, he unleashed Alpha force on me over a trivial matter and cast me out into the forest alone.

If it had been anyone else, such as a random she-wolf drawn to his power, I would’ve told myself it was just a misunderstanding. I might have given him another chance. I would've spent the next ten to twenty years warming his cold heart.

But that woman… was Seraphina, the same girl who spent her childhood tormenting and bullying me, taking everything I had, branding fear into the very core of my wolf.

When Aiden brought her into our home—the one meant only for the two of us—my heart shattered into a million pieces, each one stabbing deeper than my breath could reach.

And yet, I couldn’t stop myself.

I reached for the recording tablet in my hand, the one that showed what was happening inside the house.

A small flicker of hope still clung to my heart. Maybe… just maybe, I misunderstood.

In the projection, Seraphina lounged lazily on our bed, wearing the robe that was meant for me.

Meanwhile, Aiden, the man who once swore he’d never touch another woman, knelt at her feet, massaging her ankles to soothe her fatigue.

Seraphina laughed softly. "The pack doesn’t even recognize her as Luna, and you’re really going to have a mating ceremony with her?"

Aiden didn’t reply. He just kept rubbing her feet gently.

"You don’t have to answer. I know. This whole thing is a ploy to provoke me. This mating ceremony is just your way of forcing me to show up. You’ve never gotten over me. You decorated this whole house to match my tastes.

"That wolf totem on her Luna token? You designed it based on what I looked like in wolf form.

"And the moonstone necklace around her neck? That was a reject. I thought the design was old-fashioned and tossed it."

Then, she pressed her toes against Aiden’s shoulder and nudged him playfully. "Admit it. I've always been the one you truly want."

Aiden stayed silent. He didn’t deny a word.

The image in the stone hit like a sledgehammer to my chest. Even my wolf whimpered in pain.

I thought of our ten years together.

Every time I wanted to kiss him, he’d gently turn his head away. I thought he was just reserved and not the kind to show affection with kisses.

I was wrong. He had saved all the most primal, burning parts of himself for Seraphina.

His body had tangled with mine every night for ten years. We’d spoken our hunger in sweat and shadows, awoken the heat hidden deep in our souls. Nevertheless, he kept a sacred place in his heart untouched for his first love.

A single tear slid down my cheek.

Dragging my empty shell of a body with me, I just wanted to get as far from this suffocating place as I could.

I hadn’t noticed Aiden had come downstairs.

He called my name, "Clara?"