Chapter 2

After hanging up the phone, I dragged my suitcase out from the deepest corner of the closet. The ship was scheduled to berth first thing tomorrow morning, leaving me with only one night to pack.

Yet, when I finished sorting through my belongings, I found myself in a dilemma. The room was filled to the brim, and almost every single item was tethered to Dorian.

Resting on the top of the pile was a laurel brooch. It was from the first year we made our relationship official; Dorian had personally gone to the market to buy it for me.

Back then, he had just become the Alpha of the Sable pack and was up to his ears in work. Still, he had traveled for three days straight through the night just to give it to me, all because I had mentioned in passing that I liked it.

Next to it sat a wolf fang pendant, which Dorian had carved for me himself using his juvenile tooth on the day of my coming-of-age ceremony. He had told me that the finest things in the entire pack should belong to me. Everything in this room—the cloaks in the closet, the jewelry, the gowns, and even that small wooden wolf figurine on the shelf—came from Dorian's own hands.

Before Vanya came into the picture, he would save the best prey from the full moon hunt for me, and he would take a detour across half the pack's territory after work just to bring me my favorite dessert. Back then, he would proudly declare before the entire pack, "Tiana's my one and only mate!"

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I crouched on the floor and placed the items into the suitcase one by one. However, there was simply too much; a single suitcase couldn't possibly hold them all.

"What's all this?" Dorian walked into my bedroom and froze, visibly taken aback by the mess on the floor.

I instinctively stepped in front of my suitcase. "I just own too many things, so I wanted to sort through it and clear out the ones I don't use anymore."

His brows drew together. "Aren't these all your favorites?"

All of a sudden, my chest felt stuffy. He had actually remembered. Perhaps it was because our mating ritual was tomorrow, or perhaps because it was such a rare occasion for him to seek me out on his own, my heart, which had already gone numb, traitorously softened for a brief moment.

Yet, the very next second, Dorian picked up a silver-white tiara from a gift box at the corner of my bed. "This is nice. It matches the color of Vanya's new jewelry set perfectly. Why don't you let your sister have this tiara?"

My entire body went rigid. "Do you even remember where this tiara came from?" I inquired hoarsely.

It was a headpiece that had been personally blessed by a High Priestess of the Moon Goddess. Dorian had paid an exorbitant price to win it for me at an auction for my birthday last year. It was the only one of its kind in the entire Sable pack.

At the time, he had smiled and wrapped his arms tightly around me. "My mate deserves nothing but the absolute best."

But now, he answered without a second thought, "Isn't it just a tiara? What else could there be to it? Vanya was neglected as a child; she's never worn a tiara. Tiana, you ought to show some sympathy for your sister instead of being jealous of her!"

My heart felt as though it had been violently struck by something, and my vision blurred.

Realizing his tone had been too harsh, he softened his voice. "Don't read too much into it, Tiana. I'm just letting her borrow it this one time. I'll buy you a better one in the future."

I had heard that sentence repeatedly for a whole month. It was the same for the hairpin, the roses, and the snow fox pelt. All of a sudden, I felt drained. "Fine… What else does she like? You can take them all."

He instinctively argued, "What are you on about? These are all your prized possessions. Vanya would never snatch away what's yours!"

He was right. Vanya hadn't snatched them. It was Dorian who had given them to her entirely of his own free will.

Before he left, he pocketed the laurel brooch from my vanity table. "Let's give this to Vanya too. It matches the tiara perfectly. Besides, it's not like it's anything important. I'm sure you won't mind."

Before I could respond, he took it and hurried off.

After a long, heavy silence, I slowly rose to my feet. One by one, I pulled out every single item I had just packed into my suitcase.

The moonstone ornament, the little wooden wolf, the cloaks, the jewelry… the gifts, the vows, and the five years of love I had cherished like sacred treasures—I left them all behind in the room. Since I had decided to leave, I wouldn't take a single thing with me. Not even the love Dorian had once given me.