Chapter 5

（Dominic's POV）

A week later, at the Silver Moon Pack's council of elders.

Dominic sat at the head of the table, his face a thundercloud. All the elders were present, but the seat beside him—the one that was supposed to be occupied—was empty.

"Alpha, Evelyn still isn't here. The mating ceremony is tomorrow..." an elder reminded him cautiously.

Dominic's fingers drummed on the tabletop, radiating irritation.

He’d thought a week of confinement would be enough to break her stubbornness, to make her see reason.

"The ceremony will proceed as planned," he said coldly, his eyes sweeping over the room. "She will be here."

Beside him, Chloe's lips curved into a smug smile. She suggested softly, "Dominic, perhaps Evelyn is still throwing a tantrum. If she doesn't show up tomorrow, I think, for the stability of the pack, I could..."

She didn't finish, but her meaning was obvious.

A muscle in Dominic's jaw jumped. A cold dread he'd never known seized him. He snapped back, his voice too loud, "Impossible! Evelyn will be here!"

Evelyn cared about him so much. How could she give up being with him?

Chloe flinched, barely concealing the jealousy on her face.

Dominic closed his eyes, sinking into his own mind, trying to use their mate bond to command Evelyn to appear.

But on the other end of the link, there was nothing.

Not resistance, not defiance. Just… nothing. A dead, hollow void.

That feeling could only mean one of two things.

Either his mate was dead.

Or she had severed their sacred bond herself.

Dominic shot up from his seat, his face ashen.

For the first time, he felt a terror that clawed at him from the depths of his soul. Ignoring the room full of elders, he bolted from the council chambers.

He raced back to the mansion and threw open the bedroom door.

The room was filled with Chloe's luggage. Almost every trace of Evelyn was gone.

He realized then, just how much Evelyn had already withdrawn from his life without him even noticing.

Like her things in this room.

All that was left was a dried pool of blood on the floor, and the shattered moonstone brooch.

Dominic felt the blood drain from his body.

He collapsed to the floor, his hand brushing against a piece of paper under the bed.

He looked closer. It was a photograph.

In the photo, Evelyn was smiling, her arm linked with her grandmother's. Around her neck was the very same amulet that had been burned in the fire.

Dominic's breathing grew ragged.

Evelyn had been telling the truth. He had wronged her.

The liar was Chloe.

Could it be that the poisoning was also...

Dominic didn't dare think any further.

All he wanted now was to find Evelyn, to make sure she was safe, and then to beg for her forgiveness.

He searched the pack lands frantically, but there was no trace of her.

It was as if she had vanished from the face of the earth. Finally, in desperation, he stormed into the medical center and grabbed the pack doctor who used to work with Evelyn.

"Where is she?! Where did Evelyn go?!" he roared, a feral, unhinged sound.

The doctor flinched at his tone. "I... I don't know, Alpha," he stammered. "I only know... her grandmother passed away a few days ago. From complications while she was in the cells. Evelyn… she handled the funeral all by herself."

And the one who had ordered her grandmother to be locked in the cells... was him.

A roar of pure agony tore through Dominic's head.

He remembered Evelyn's desperate cries through their mind-link that night.

Seeing his shattered expression, the doctor hesitated, then pulled a paper from his drawer and handed it to him.

It was a cremation certificate.

"Alpha, you didn't know?" the doctor's voice was a whisper, but each word was a sledgehammer to his chest. "Her grandmother died the night of your party for Miss Chloe."