Chapter 7

Allison came across as a kind-hearted she-wolf who couldn't hurt a fly. However, in reality, her favorite pastime was bullying Johanna for entertainment.

After bullying Johanna for eight years, she ran out of ideas to make it more fun. Moreover, Johanna had grown so accustomed to the abuse that she no longer reacted to it. Therefore, one day, she told Johanna she wanted to play a new game.

It was simple.

Allison would hurt herself. Then, she would tearfully twist the truth around to their parents and claim that Johanna bullied her. Johanna was free to defend herself before their parents decided who was in the right.

Their parents had always doted on the gorgeous Allison more, so it went without saying that Allison won all the time.

Johanna had no choice but to put up with the false accusations without protest. Her suffering only ended when she became Carlin's mate.

At the time, she thought she would have the protection of a mate who loved her. Moreover, since both hers and Allison's mates were twin brothers, she figured that Allison would at least hold back a bit more out of consideration for Uriel.

It never occurred to her that things would turn out as they did today. It wasn't just her parents who declared Allison victorious today. All the elders of the Silverplume pack, and even Carlin, who had liked Allison from the start, took Allison's side.

When marking Johanna, Carlin had sworn to the Moon Goddess that he would love and cherish Johanna forever.

But alas, Johanna couldn't forget the indifference in his eyes when he stood by and watched while she was brutally assaulted.

From that moment onward, her tears finally ran dry. Although her heart continued to ache, she was determined to leave the Silverplume pack and Carlin for good.

Johanna and Elspeth came to an agreement. At midnight tomorrow, Elspeth would use a teleportation spell to whisk Johanna out of the Northern Wolflands and to a place where it would be hard for the pack to find her.

In the remaining time, Johanna would put an end to everything.

Carlin had said he marked her and treated her well solely because she was Allison's younger sister, right?

Carlin didn't think this counted as him being disloyal to his mate. After all, prior to Uriel's death, all he did was look at Allison. He didn't do anything that counted as betrayal.

In fact, just like others, Carlin genuinely believed that the ordinary and unremarkable Johanna had no right to expect anything more. It was already a huge honor for her that she could become his mate because of Allison.

Well, Johanna was going to personally inform Carlin that she was the one who broke their mate bond first. She was the one who discarded him. She didn't need the tainted so-called love he gave her.

Upon returning to the Silverplume pack, Johanna headed straight for her room.

"Oh, you little temptress. I can't keep my hands off you."

"Are you saying that pitiful mate of yours can't satisfy you anymore?"

Chuckling, Carlin replied brazenly, "She's like a block of ice, but you're the hottest flames."

"You're terrible! You know full well I'm your brother's widow, but here you are lusting after me."

"You should've been mine in the first place! You're driving me crazy, Allison."

"Then ruin me, Alpha," Allison said in a sweet, coy voice. "Make me forget he ever existed."

Carlin hastened his thrusts. The sounds of their moans mingled with the sounds of their bodies slamming against each other.

"Shit—"

"Don't stop! Harder—"

Their blissful cries and grunts rang on and on like an unstoppable farce. For Johanna, listening to them while standing next to the myrtle tree outside, a symbol of steadfast love, was a mockery. It also crushed the last of her dignity.

She heard it all clearly, but she didn't cry. Her gaze was still. She simply murmured, "All of you will regret this."

Johanna had made up her mind, and there was no turning back. She destroyed every gift Carlin had ever given her. In the past, they were like treasure to her, but now, they were as worthless as the one who had given them to her.

Once she was done with that, she looked out the window and stared at the myrtle tree. It symbolized steadfast love, and she and Carlin had planted it together.

At the time, Johanna looked forward to the future. She hoped that their love would grow strong and flourish like the tree.

After staring in silence for a while, she stoically retrieved an ax from the room and headed toward the myrtle tree.

She struck the tree once, and then again, using more force with each strike. Eventually, the trunk was chopped into two, and the top half fell to the ground.

Using the ax, Johanna stuck the letter she had prepared into the remaining stump.

The letter read, "It all ends now, Carlin. After seeing what you did with Allison, I asked a sorceress to break our mate bond. But you've been too busy to even notice. I can't accept my mate betraying me. In any case, you've never loved me anyway, so I've made my own decision.

"I've decided to end it all myself and leave for a place where I won't have to see you again. Uriel's dead, and I won't ever come back. You and Allison are free to do whatever you want now."