Chapter 1

I shoved the urn into Ethan Langley's hands and slid into the driver's seat myself. During the entire drive, neither of us spoke a word because I had already shut him out of the mind link.

Ethan pressed a hand to his temple and finally apologized, "Elena, I'm sorry. I spent the night studying the territory map…"

The memory of the map he had been staring at the night before suddenly flashed through my mind. The location marked at its center had been Lylia Jeffries' residence.

He had not lost his way at all.

Ethan had gotten lost countless times while we were growing up, and every time it happened, the pack had to send its members out to search for him.

Before we completed the marking ceremony, the pack used to joke about it. "Elena has basically become Ethan's personal GPS."

Only now did I finally understand the truth.

He had never been bad with directions. He simply couldn't remember the road that led to me.

Those winding trails along the territory borders had never been a challenge for him. For Lylia, he could stay up an entire night studying a map, not sparing a thought for me, who had just lost our pup and had my wolf severely weakened.

When we arrived at the cemetery, I carefully placed the urn into the ground, my tears falling onto the cold stone.

Then, right in the middle of the most important goodbye of all, Ethan suddenly stood up to leave.

"Elena, something happened to Lylia. I have to go."

I went still.

Lylia was his Beta, yet for her, he'd abandoned me over and over again.

He'd agreed to go to my prenatal checkup, then turned around and left the second he got a link from her. On our anniversary, he'd canceled without a moment's hesitation.

And now, even at our pup's funeral, he was still leaving?

I finally couldn't hold it in anymore, and I screamed at the top of my lungs, "If you dare walk out on me now, I'm dissolving our mate bond!"

Ethan stopped, then turned back to look at me, his eyes filled with impatience. "It's urgent. Stop making a scene."

A bitter smile curled at the edges of my mouth. "I'm making a scene? Our pup is gone, and you don't even have time to say a few words of goodbye?"

"Lylia was kicked out by her family. I can't just leave her alone—"

I cut off our mind link. "Even if you go, it won't do any good, because you won't be able to find the place."

But he still turned and left without even the slightest bit of reluctance.

I stood there alone in black mourning clothes and said goodbye to our pup alone. It was just like the pregnancy, when I'd talked to my stomach alone and felt every kick alone.

From beginning to end, I was the only one who had ever been part of our pup's arrival and departure.

After the funeral, I activated the mate tracker, a natural ability bound to us after the marking ceremony. The tracker sensed it and showed that Ethan had driven straight to Lylia's front door.

He hadn't wanted to waste even a second.

It seemed that, for Lylia's sake, he'd put a lot of effort into learning how to use a navigation system.

That night, I tried everything to reach him, but the mind link was blocked, and the communication device went unanswered.

The situation was as clear as day.

The next day, I went to the Elders' Council and submitted my application to dissolve our mate bond.

When I got home, I was surprised to see Ethan bringing Lylia back into the pack with him. Lylia had bandages wrapped around her arm and looked like she'd been badly hurt.

The pack members all looked at me differently, yet not one of them blamed Ethan.

"You couldn't even keep a pup alive. The whole pack got excited for nothing. Hurry up and get pregnant again. After all, Ethan's our Alpha."

No one noticed the damp stains under the hem of my dress, which came from the cold sweat I couldn't control after the miscarriage.

No one cared how weak my wolf had become, so weak that I didn't even have the strength to shift. Moreover, the stretch marks on my stomach hadn't faded, and the wound in my heart was still fresh.

"I'm not having another one," I said firmly.

Ethan's grandmother, the oldest she-wolf in the pack, froze, and the smile on her face instantly stiffened.

Ethan hurried over to calm her down, using his body to block me from her. "Elena just isn't ready yet, Grandma. We'll try for another pup after some time."

With that, he pulled me aside and said, "You know how much Grandma is looking forward to a pup. That's the future of the pack."

I took out the mate bond dissolution papers the Elders' Council had prepared for me.

What exactly did his family take me for? Was I a breeding tool or a helper who managed the pack?

I held the dissolution papers out in front of him. "Sign it. If you want a pup, you can have one with someone else."

Ethan was rendered speechless and reached for the papers, trying to read them.