Chapter 4

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying in a hospital room.

Clara sat by my bed, quietly crying.

"I'm sorry, Zoey. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have come back into your lives.

"When you get better, I'll leave for good. You will never see me again."

The moment she said that, Marcus and the two kids all looked at me with open resentment.

Clara pulled Marcus aside and whispered something to him. He glanced at me with a complicated expression, then walked out of the room.

The kids lowered their heads and muttered an apology.

I was just about to speak when they grinned maliciously.

"If it wasn't because we want Aunt Clara to be our mom, we wouldn't be apologizing to you at all."

"Yeah. You don't deserve to be our mom."

After that, they made faces at me and ran over to Clara's side.

My heart went completely cold.

Just then, my parents and in-laws pushed the door open and came in.

My parents didn't show a shred of concern for my injuries. Their eyes were full of flattery toward Marcus's parents.

They kept blaming me for being immature, for failing as a Luna, for embarrassing the pack, and shaming Marcus's family.

The moment Marcus's parents left, my father's expression changed completely. Ignoring the fact that my head was still bleeding, he turned around and slapped me hard.

"What have you been doing as Luna all these years? You manage to upset Marcus every chance you get. Don't forget, you wouldn't still have this comfortable life if it weren't for him."

I didn't know what kind of "comfortable life" he was talking about.

Was it staying up day and night to take care of Marcus and the kids, enduring his sarcasm, or being humiliated by my own children?

My mother was just as furious. She pointed at my nose and snapped, "I'm telling you right now, if you sever your mate bond with Marcus, we'll cut ties with you completely. Don't ever say you're my daughter again. You're such a disappointment!"

After tearing into me, the two of them stormed out.

Only Marcus remained, standing quietly by the door, watching me.

He wrapped his warm palm around my hand. His voice was calm, but there was no emotion in it at all.

"Haven't I treated you well enough? Everything you have now, your status, your wealth, all of it came from me.

"No matter who's in my heart, you'll always be the legitimate Luna."

"I'm not," I said as I pulled my hand out of his grasp.

I was nothing more than a tool for stabilizing the pack, a machine to bear his children.

I was an unpaid nanny, a bargaining chip my family used to trade for benefits.

I had never truly lived as myself.

I was sick of this life.

I looked Marcus straight in the eyes, my voice steady. "You said you'd sever our mate bond. Does that still stand?"

His face darkened, the familiar coldness settling back in.

"I've thought about it. We can't sever our bond. As an Alpha, severing ties with my mate would reflect badly on me and throw the pack into public turmoil.

"The kids are still young. They need a mother."

I had expected his refusal.

He said it was for the pack, for his reputation, for the children.

But never because he loved me.

Luckily, I had prepared for this.

After Marcus left, I took out the vial I had been hiding in my clothes the entire time.

Without hesitation, I finished it in one go.

The bitterness flooded my mouth, but it was nothing compared to the pain Marcus had given me.

I endured the agony as it tore through my body. Even as the pain made me convulse, I welcomed the feeling of my soul being stripped free and reborn.

When it was finally over, I let out a long breath. My body felt unbelievably light.

Far away, Marcus was shopping with Clara and the kids, laughing together. Suddenly, his chest tightened, and the suffocating sensation nearly made him collapse.

But it passed in an instant. Confused, he brushed it off when Clara called his name, and he soon forgot about it altogether.

They went to Firefly Woods.

They took family photos and walked along the beach together.

They had no idea that somewhere in the city, I had already left the pack behind, dragging my suitcase into an airport terminal.

I swapped out my SIM card and boarded a flight to a southern pack.

This time, I chose myself.

Marcus no longer mattered to me.