Chapter 5

"Gaia, are you alright? I was looking for you all last night, but you had locked your door," Lucien asked softly from outside.

I did not answer him. At that moment, I only wanted to leave.

Lucien paused at the door for a moment, then asked with concern, "Are you angry with me? Because I didn't come back to you immediately after seeing Irina to her room?"

He still thought me a fool.

Because after I lost my wolf, all my sensory abilities—my sight, hearing, and smell—had degraded, just like an ordinary human's. He believed I couldn't hear anything from the second floor, any sounds of them making love.

I covered my face with my hands, rubbing my eyes, wiping away the last trace of tears.

My Mate, Lucien, had died the very second we marked each other. The person standing outside my door now, I did not know him.

He was not worth my tears.

I went to the bathroom and washed my face, making myself appear calm and composed.

Lucien was still waiting outside. He apologized sincerely, "I promised you a wonderful night last night, but I had some urgent work to attend to... You know, pack affairs are always complicated. I'm truly sorry, Gaia."

His explanations always sounded so reasonable, but I would believe them no longer.

I simply opened the door calmly and told him I wasn't feeling well that day and needed to rest alone.

"Shall I call a healer for you?" He looked at my face with concern, wanting to embrace me.

I took a gentle step back, avoiding his touch. "Really, it's nothing. I just need a good sleep."

Lucien stroked my face lovingly, his deep eyes fixed on me as if trying to discern my true feelings. But in the end, he couldn't read me. He just gently ruffled my soft golden hair. "Alright then, you rest well. Just make sure you can come to the pack banquet hall by eight o'clock tonight."

I wanted to refuse.

But he said with eager anticipation, "I've prepared a grand banquet and a huge surprise for you. You'll love it."

I calculated the time in my mind. Ten hours. Eight o'clock tonight. Perfect.

So I nodded and agreed calmly.

"So good, so obedient," Lucien kissed my forehead. "Gaia, you know I love you most when you're sweet and obedient."

"Then at eight tonight, we'll meet."

I looked at his affectionate face for a long moment, then finally smiled, a peaceful, resigned smile.

Lucien said nothing more, only reminded me to be good, to be obedient, to eat and sleep well, and not to miss the evening's banquet. Then he left.

I watched him until he descended the stairs, walked out of the Alpha's villa, and his figure disappeared from my sight... Finally, I just sighed softly and turned to pack my belongings.

Then, my door was knocked.

I saw Irina standing at the door, smiling at me. "Luna, there are some matters I'd like to discuss with you privately."

I ignored her, focusing only on sorting the documents before me. Money, jewelry, and all the designer bags and clothes Lucien bought for me meant nothing. But my research findings, I had to take.

In the days to come, I had decided to devote myself entirely to the pursuit of Werewolf Sorcery.

Irina walked right in anyway, deliberately closing the door behind her.

Then she produced a pregnancy test report from the Gilded Moon Pack Hospital, showing she was twelve weeks pregnant.

"It's the Alpha's child," she stated bluntly. "The Alpha has permitted me to keep it, and he has promised he will make me the Luna of the Gilded Moon Pack. Tonight, we will hold the marking ceremony—half an hour before your bonding anniversary celebration—right in your celebration venue. A few of his friends will witness it for us."

The finger I had on a document twitched slightly, but I quickly regained my composure.

Irina continued, "Lucien has promised me that the marking ceremony is just the first step. It won't be long before he asks you for a divorce. So I think it would be better for you to leave proactively. It would save face for everyone, don't you think?"

Her attitude was so haughty, as if she already sat upon the Luna's throne.

I finally stopped what I was doing, looked at her quietly, and asked flatly, "Didn't he tell you to keep it a secret?"

Irina froze. Her face turned ugly. She seemed completely unprepared for me to expose her.

But soon, her pride returned. "So what? Even if the Alpha doesn't want to divorce you right now, once we mark each other, I believe it won't be long before he confronts you himself. By then, you'll still have nothing."

"Oh, is that so," I said faintly, no longer interested in looking at her beautiful, shrewish face. I just organized the last file. "You're right. Well then, I wish you a long and happy life together."

This time, Irina completely stiffened. She stared at me as if I were a monster, her lovely face pale with shock and defeat.

I paid her no more mind, simply pushed past her toward my wardrobe, treating her as nothing but air.

Irina gritted her teeth fiercely, unwilling to concede. "The day will come when you fall from your pedestal. You won't be this triumphant forever."

Then she stormed out.

I shook my head, unsure why she, as the other woman, had any right to feel wronged. I simply pressed the stop button on the voice recorder I had hidden beneath the files—every word Irina had said from entry to exit was recorded there.

It would stay here, along with my miscarriage paperwork, as my gift to Lucien for our fifth bonding anniversary.

I took only a few clothes I had bought myself, placed them in my suitcase along with my parents' photos and my academic research files, then wiped every corner of the room clean. I left the voice recorder and my miscarriage papers on my dressing table.

Finally, standing at the doorway with my suitcase, I took one last careful look around this bedroom I had lived in for five years—and in that moment, I found I felt no attachment to it whatsoever.

I turned and left, resolute.

High Sorceress Helena was waiting for me on the pack's back mountain, astride her golden lion mount.

The massive, gentle beast crouched down, inviting me to sit upon its back.

Just as I had placed my suitcase on the lion's back and was about to mount myself, I received a text message—from Lucien.

"Gaia, why are you blocking me from our mindlink again?" He sounded like he was complaining, but he didn't dwell on it. He quickly sent a photo—a picture of the setup for our fifth bonding anniversary celebration.

Several of his Alpha and Beta friends were helping. He himself was working too, personally arranging the Saints' Daisies—my favorite flowers.

"I love you, Gaia, so I'm doing these things myself."

"Tonight, we'll be the happiest couple in the world."

Reading his expectant words, I felt nothing but irony.

Lucien, tonight, you will lose your Mate. Forever.

I blocked his number, mounted the golden lion, and departed with Helena for the deepest, most remote and isolated reaches of the Blood Moon Forest.

Goodbye, Lucien.

Goodbye forever.