Chapter 2

Saturday was our first anniversary.

A month earlier, he had promised to take me to our university’s graduate exhibition. We had gone together the previous year, the day he asked me to be his girlfriend.

I waited outside campus for forty minutes, only to receive Sienna’s location. Her studio had accepted a large mate-marking ceremony and needed six hundred roses. She wanted me to help.

I called Adrian and fought to keep the hurt out of my voice.

“Did you forget what today is?”

I could hear paper being cut and flower crates being moved behind him.

“Anniversaries happen every year. This is Sienna’s first independent pack ceremony. A mistake could damage her reputation.”

“So you called Mason and Caleb away, and now you want me to go too?”

Sienna quickly took the phone.

“Nora, I’m sorry. I can finish alone. Don’t argue with Adrian because of me. If you’re upset, I’ll send them away.” Her voice trembled.

Adrian immediately softened. “No one is blaming you.”

The gentleness he had never offered me made my nose sting.

I hung up.

The gift counter still sold the same star bookmarks. A year earlier, Adrian had waited two hours to buy me one, blushing as he promised we would come back on every anniversary.

I picked up an identical bookmark. A tear landed on its clear plastic wrapper.

In the end, I put it back.

That evening, floral foam, boxes, and wrapping supplies crowded my entrance. Cut stems covered the floor.

Sienna was bent over my dining table trimming roses. Adrian stood behind her, massaging her aching wrist.

When Mason saw me, he casually held out a pair of shears.

“Perfect timing. We still have six hundred roses left.”

They used my kitchen, table, and living room as though they had always belonged there. Sienna stood at the center while I looked like the intruder.

“Who gave you permission to turn my home into a workroom?”

Sienna immediately put down the shears. “I’m sorry. Adrian said your place was spacious and close to my studio.”

Adrian frowned and corrected her. “You don’t need to apologize.”

Then he looked at me. “We are registered as prospective mates. Once I become Alpha, we’ll exchange permanent marks. This will be our home too.”

I stared at him, my voice trembling despite how quietly I spoke.

“Only my name is on the deed.”

His expression darkened. “Nora, do you have to draw such a hard line between us?”

I did not answer. I only raised my hand and pointed toward the middle of the room.

Dirty water from the floral-foam buckets had spilled across the floor and soaked into the wool rug.

My mother had woven it by hand, stitching our family’s wolf emblem along the border. After she died, I never sent it away for cleaning, afraid her last trace would disappear.

“My mother left that to me.”

Sienna crouched to wipe it, spreading the stain farther. “I didn’t know it mattered. I’ll pay from the studio’s earnings.”

Mason pulled her to her feet at once.

“It’s an old rug. Why are you kneeling on the floor?”

Caleb tried to reason with me as well. “Nora, your mother left you more than one thing. Losing a rug doesn’t mean you’ll forget her.”

I slowly crouched and ran my fingers over the soaked wool.

My tears fell without warning.

Mason had once watched me sit all night in our mother’s empty room, clutching that rug. Yet now, none of them believed it mattered more than Sienna’s first order.

I lifted my tear-reddened eyes and shouted at them for the first time.

“Get out!”

The living room fell silent. My wolf released a low snarl inside my chest.

“Take everything with you. Leave my home now.”

Sienna flinched backward. Mason immediately stepped in front of her.

Adrian studied me for several seconds before replying coldly, “We’ll talk after you calm down.”

I watched him lift a flower crate, still hoping he might send the others away and stay until our anniversary ended.

But after the final crate had been carried out, he stood in the hall and promised Sienna they would finish the order at his apartment.

He never looked back.

I sat alone beside the ruined rug and opened the anniversary cake that had already gone cold. There was only one candle. I tried several times to light it, but my hand shook too badly to make the flame catch.

Near midnight, Adrian sent me a screenshot of the studio’s order page. Sienna had completed her first pack ceremony and received several glowing reviews.

Then another message arrived.

[Don’t pursue the matter of the rug. She has only recently returned to Cedar Ridge. Today was the first time she truly felt needed by the pack. Let her be happy for once, all right?]

I cried for a long time while staring at those final words.

Eventually, I sent a one-word reply.

[All right.]

Then I threw away the cake and its unlit candle. I called the security company and scheduled a complete replacement of the locks and all temporary access permissions.

This time, all right meant that I was done waiting for him to turn back.