Chapter 2

Damian, who hadn't flinched when I turned to leave, immediately panicked the moment Amber moved toward the door.

He rushed to block her path and shot me an accusing look. "Grace, what has Amber ever done to you for you to treat her like this?"

"I'm your mate, not your property. Am I not allowed to have my own friends and my own space? I buried my feelings for Amber and went through with our mating ceremony. What more do you want from me? For me to have eyes and a heart for no one but you?"

"If I still had feelings for Amber, do you think you'd still be my Luna?"

That one sentence made a joke of the seven years I had given him.

I stared at him, my eyes burning with fury and disappointment. "I should have realized it sooner. You only chose me because Amber had left the pack, and I happened to show up during the darkest time in your life, filling the void she left behind."

Everything I had held in for years burst out. "But I loved you, so I kept hoping. I thought that after sharing a life day after day, you might learn to love me, even a little."

"But even the warmest heart eventually goes cold. I'm tired, Damian. I'm done."

I walked around him and out the door, got into my car, and drove away without looking back.

I did not go home. I drove deep into the woods, to the witch's cottage.

I traded the engagement ring Damian had given me for a vial of bond-severing potion.

For once, the decision was mine.

If he had been willing to sit down and talk, I wouldn't have resorted to something this drastic.

The next morning, Damian yanked back my covers. I blinked awake to find his exhausted, bloodshot eyes fixed on me. The lipstick stain on his collar was impossible to miss.

"Look at the time. I've been out all night, and I'm exhausted. You're my mate, and you don't even care."

I laughed bitterly to myself. He had the nerve to sound offended. Anyone listening might have thought he had spent the night working.

He slumped onto the bed and waved me away. "Go make me some coffee and eggs."

We had just fought about dissolving our bond last night, yet this morning he was ordering me around as if nothing had happened.

I was about to speak when a knock came from downstairs.

Damian, who had barely been able to move a second ago, sprang to life and raced downstairs.

Amber stood at the front door in a pristine white sundress, looking picture-perfect, a shopping bag in her hand.

"I'm so sorry about last night. I had too much to drink and got sick all over your jacket. I bought you a new one."

Damian's face lit up and he hurried to invite her inside.

The moment Amber stepped through the door, our eyes met.

She paused for a beat before offering an explanation. "Grace, don't get the wrong idea. I'm just here to drop off Damian's jacket."

"I'll leave right after."

That was what she said, but her body told a different story. She settled onto the living room sofa as if she belonged there, plucked a grape from the bowl, and popped it into her mouth.

She looked more at home than I did.

Damian handed her a glass of warm water, all smiles. "Perfect timing. To celebrate your return to the pack, I'm throwing you a welcome-back party tonight. Let me get dressed, and I'll take you shopping for a gown."

Amber murmured that he didn't need to go to all that trouble, but the smug satisfaction on her face was impossible to hide.

Damian glanced at me briefly, his tone going cold. "You should come too."

I said nothing. I simply pushed the bond-dissolution papers across the table toward him again. "I'll pass. I have more important things to deal with."

Damian stared at the bond-dissolution papers on the table. His expression darkened, and irritation flooded his voice.

"Grace, are you ever going to let this go? It's one welcome-back party. Apparently nothing short of me dropping everything and spending every waking minute with you will satisfy you."

"Waving those bond-dissolution papers in my face won't scare me. That will never work."

Amber laid a gentle hand on Damian's chest, as if soothing him. Her eyes brimmed with concern. "Don't say that, Damian. You and Grace have been together for seven years. She looked after you for me all that time. You could stand to cut her some slack."

The tension left Damian's face beneath her touch, and he smiled. "If Grace were half as reasonable as you, my life would be so much easier."

"Let's go. If she wants to sulk, she can. I'll come back when she's ready to admit she was wrong."

The two of them left the house laughing. To them, I was just a hysterical woman whose words never had to be taken seriously.

Watching their figures grow smaller in the distance, I clenched my fists.

My original plan had been to drink the potion, sever the bond, and walk away clean.

But now I had changed my mind. I was going to destroy him. He would pay dearly for betraying me.