Chapter 2

The next day, after completing my discharge paperwork, I arrived just as the pack was holding its regular council meeting.

The moment I pushed open the door, I sensed that something was wrong.

The first seat on the left side of the council chamber belonged to Evan, and the one immediately beside it was reserved for me.

But the dark leather cushion that had always rested on my chair was gone.

Evan had sewn that cushion for me himself, even embroidering my personal crest along its edge.

Now, a light brown cushion had taken its place, with a few strands of fine, curly hair in the same shade clinging to it.

My hair was dark chestnut, while Harriet's was a mass of light brown curls.

I didn't need to guess what had happened. The answer was obvious.

I had missed the previous meeting because of another commitment.

Noticing that I was still standing there instead of taking my seat, Evan followed my gaze.

The instant he realized I was staring at the cushion, a flicker of panic crossed his eyes, but he quickly forced himself to look composed.

"Sophia, don't get the wrong idea," he said, turning toward me and deliberately lowering his voice. "Oliver was assigned to border patrol last time, so he asked me to look after Harriet during the meeting. She's still new to the pack, and she's timid around strangers, so I just... let her sit beside me to help her get familiar with everyone."

I smiled without warmth but said nothing.

He hurriedly added, "It was just a one-time thing. I promise it won't happen again..."

But he'd made a promise about that very chair in front of the entire pack.

"This seat belongs to Sophia and Sophia alone. No one else is allowed to sit here."

Once, someone had accidentally taken my seat, and Evan had made them move immediately, his expression icy and his tone leaving no room for argument.

Yet now, he'd not only let Harriet sit there without a second thought, but he'd even replaced the cushion for her.

His preference for Harriet could not have been more obvious.

I glanced around the chamber. Oliver was on duty at the border and couldn't attend, and Harriet hadn't arrived yet either.

After a moment's consideration, I decided to sit down, but I couldn't bear to touch the light brown cushion. I lifted it aside with my fingertips.

Beneath it lay a pendant identical to the one Evan had given me as a token of our mate bond.

I remembered perfectly well that mine was safely tucked away in a cabinet at home.

How could it have ended up here?

I picked it up and examined it more closely. Only then did I notice a line of delicate lettering engraved on the inside of the pendant.

It was Harriet's name.

He'd actually commissioned two pendants in exactly the same design.

I put it back as though nothing had happened.

In two more days, the severance of our mate bond would officially take effect.

Whatever was going on between Evan and Harriet would have nothing to do with me anymore.

Evan tried several times to strike up a quiet conversation, but I brushed him off with cold, perfunctory replies.

Before long, his phone began vibrating insistently.

He instinctively turned away, angling the screen out of my sight.

He had forgotten how sharp my eyesight was. One glance was enough to catch the sender's name: Harriet.

"Something happened on my way over, and I'm really scared. Can you come and stay with me?"

He hurriedly locked his phone and looked back at me, forcing a strained smile as he tried to hide his guilt.

"We've received reports of unusual activity at the border. It's a serious matter, so I need to investigate it personally. I hope the elders will excuse me."

He rose to his feet and bowed apologetically.

As he passed me, he lowered his voice.

"Could you head back home on your own when the meeting's over? I'll come home as soon as I've dealt with this."

Without waiting for my response, he hurried out.

I watched him disappear through the doorway and suddenly found myself thinking about the past.

Whenever I was sick, he would drive all the way to a distant human town by himself to buy medicine for me.

When my mother died, he stayed by my side and helped me through the hardest days of my life.

And when I told him I loved looking at the moon, he built a stone tower for me on a cliff with his own hands.

Back then, I'd genuinely believed that meeting Evan was the luckiest thing that had ever happened to me.

Looking back on it now, the irony was almost laughable.

After the meeting ended, I returned to our apartment and began packing.

Once I'd gathered the clothes I wanted to take with me, I started going through everything Evan had ever given me, pulling out each item one by one.

It took me more than two hours to sort through it all.

Then I lit the fireplace and threw every gift I'd once treasured into the flames.

I tossed in the handwritten letters he'd given me on each anniversary of our mate bond, too.

Every one of them was filled with promises that now rang hollow.

The flames leaped higher as the pages curled and blackened, slowly crumbling into ash.

Since I'd decided to leave for good, I intended to erase every trace of myself from this place.

Just then, the door swung open.

Evan was back.