Chapter 4

When I returned to the pack house that evening, my phone buzzed again. I glanced at it—it was still the same private message interface.

I knew that the she-wolf on the other end was Ivy, since she wasn't even trying to hide it.

"I had a close call today when I ran into his mate."

Suppressing my disgust, I asked, "Did she figure out your relationship?"

"How could she possibly notice? She's blind and clueless, with nothing but the title of a healer. She only knows how to fuss over herbs all day long. Even if she did figure it out, what could she do?"

She was gloating, as if showing off her spoils.

"I'm the one he loves. Not to mention, he's wanted to reject his mate for a long time."

I hesitated, my fingers hovering over the screen for a long time.

"He loves you that much?"

"Of course. I'll let you in on a secret—I've already given myself to him. Do you know why they have been mates for many years without pups? It's because he adds wolfsbane extract to the nutrient drink she takes every time."

I shuddered violently, and I almost dropped my phone. My eyes widened, fixed unblinkingly on the words on the screen.

No wonder I had never been able to conceive all these years. Not to mention, Selene had grown weaker, sometimes even falling into prolonged slumber.

Heaven knows how much I wanted a pup of our own.

My father was an Alpha and I was his sole heiress. I thought if I ever had pups, the pack Dad left me would have successors. Alpha Ethan made that promise, too, yet he was also the one who snuffed it all out.

"He always holds me by the waist and complains that I'm too young. He said that if he'd known he would meet me, he never would've marked his mate just to use her healing abilities and her family's status."

Feeling a violent churning in my stomach, I turned off my phone and gazed quietly at the cold moonlight outside the window. A chill, colder than any I had ever known, sank into my bones.

Alpha Ethan used to lament about his own shortcomings, blaming himself for not managing the pack well enough to give me a peaceful life sooner. Yet now, all that so-called affection seemed like nothing but a complete and utter joke.

I invited Ivy to meet me at Moonlit Cafe, which was beside the academy.

She sat across from me, still wearing that aloof, innocent smile.

"Maya, how is it that you have time to meet me for coffee today? If you want to talk about Alpha Ethan, I can speak on his behalf. After all, I'm practically his assistant."

A flush of victory colored Ivy's cheeks.

"No, that's not it." Stirring my drink, I looked at her and asked, smiling, "I remember when we rescued you, you were only 15 years old, right?"

Ivy clearly hadn't expected me to bring this up. She was briefly taken, then said, "Yes, but why bring that up all of a sudden?"

"I recall back then, Alpha Ethan and I risked being surrounded by a group of Rogues to pull you out of a pile of corpses. You were just skin and bones, kneeling on the ground and begging us not to abandon you."

Ivy's expression changed. It was a humiliating past she never wanted to recall.

But I ignored her reaction and continued, "We raised you all the way to this point. When that group of Rogues who were hunting you showed up at our doorstep, I was the one who stood in front of you and took a poisoned claw strike for you.

"Even till now, I still have the scar on my back from it."

Ivy's expression grew increasingly darker, and her coffee cup trembled slightly in her hand.

"Maya, what are you trying to say by bringing all this up today?"

"I don't mean anything by it. I just wanted to say that we werewolves, value loyalty and gratitude above all. Otherwise, we're no different from those mindless Rogues. Without your conscience, all you have will be repaid in full by the Moon Goddess' retribution.

"And your end will be as wretched as the fate you were originally destined for."

With that, I stood up and left without even bothering to settle the bill. Behind me, I could hear Ivy sobbing with her face buried in her hands at the table.

As expected, Alpha Ethan stormed home that very night. A gust of biting cold air clung to him as he confronted me head-on.

"Ivy cried today. She said you brought up those painful memories from her past."

"I simply reminisced with her and reminded her not to forget her roots. Why are you so worked up?"

Trying to cleanse the wolfsbane from my system, I calmly took a sip of the herbal antidote tea.

Alpha Ethan snatched the teacup from my hands and slammed it onto the ground with a sharp crack, sending shards flying everywhere.

"Maya, I've never lost my temper with you before. Don't you know those are her deepest wounds? What if I brought up how your mother was brutally assaulted and murdered by a Rogue in retaliation against your father? Would you be happy to hear it?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the air seemed to freeze.

Both of us stiffened. Alpha Ethan looked at me, seeming to realize that he had said something unforgivable.

"I'm sorry, Maya. I—"

"Get out," I said flatly, my voice as cold as ice. I stayed seated in my chair, not even glancing his way.

"I didn't mean it just now. I was just too angry. Ivy's still young and doesn't know any better," Alpha Ethan kept explaining, trying to salvage something.

But my heart had already sealed itself off completely.

In the end, he let out a heavy sigh, seeming utterly resigned. "Let's both cool off for a while."

He turned and left the pack house, probably to comfort that "wounded" Ivy again.

I didn't cry at all that night. But inside me, Selene roared with rage, craving revenge.

The next day, I headed straight to the pack's central plaza with a stack of flyers.

"Shocking News! Alpha Ethan Warner Has Betrayed His Mate Vow and Has an Affair With the Rescued Young She-Wolf Ivy Keller!"

The content of the flyers was straightforward.

There was the photo I secretly took of their retreating figures, the years of transaction records showing the money I had transferred to Ivy, and that boastful post Ivy had published on social media. Then there was also my blood test report, which clearly showed evidence of long-term wolfsbane ingestion.

Ivy was walking arm-in-arm with Alpha Ethan, the two of them seemingly still basking in the sweetness of the early morning.

The moment he saw me, Alpha Ethan's smile stiffened, then his face drained completely of color.