Chapter 4

When it was time to break the mate bond, Garrett didn’t show up.

I searched all over the pack grounds and finally found him on the hill out back.

I demanded coldly, “Why didn’t you show up?”

Garrett looked at me, his lips pressed together and his expression apologetic.

It was a long time before he spoke.

“Elise, we’re fated mates. If we break the bond, Lena’s going to have a really hard time in the pack.

“And people will curse my name and laugh at me.”

He took a step toward me.

“Elise, I’m begging you. Let’s just keep things the way they are. Whatever you want from now on, I’ll...”

Keep things the way they are?

So I’m supposed to suffer through all of this just to spare him the ridicule and make life easier for Lena in the pack?

I cut him off, furious. “Why should I? What gives you the right to do this to me?”

Garrett’s lips moved. His brow furrowed, as though he were struggling to hide his anguish.

“Elise...”

I didn’t want to hear his excuses. I turned and hurried away.

Whether he agreed or not, I had to end this bond.

If he wouldn’t cooperate, I’d have to go to a witch named Mara Quinn and buy a potion that would let me break the bond on my own.

The next night, as soon as I had Mara’s potion, I headed straight back to the pack.

But the whole way, I felt like a wolf was following me.

I whipped around, and a dark shape lunged at me.

It was Lena’s ex-mate, Soren Vance!

With a silver dagger in one hand, he pinned me to the ground.

“Elise, you deserve to die!

“If it hadn’t been for you, Lena never would’ve broken our mate bond, and I never would’ve been kicked out of the pack and become a rogue.”

He glared down at me, his face twisted, and laughed mockingly.

“You rescued Lena, but she stole Garrett from you. Tell me that’s not karma!”

Karma?

I’d never believed in karma. Only in what was in people’s hearts.

When I didn’t answer, he raised the silver dagger and aimed it at my heart.

“Breaking a mate bond hurts more than you can imagine, especially since you and Garrett are fated mates. Why don’t I do you a favor and end it with one stab?”

I stared at the silver dagger in his hand and forced myself to stay calm.

Without looking, I tapped my emergency contact’s number on my phone and tried to stall.

“Soren, whatever you want, I can help you get it. If you want to come back to the pack, I can help figure something out. As long as you...”

Soren’s expression changed at that.

“I don’t want anything. I just want you dead!”

With that, he drove the silver dagger toward my heart.

I stared at him in terror, then rolled to the side, but the silver dagger plunged straight through my stomach.

The pain was too intense to come from silver alone. The blade was probably coated in wolfsbane, a poison deadly to werewolves.

I whimpered in pain, and everything went black.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on pack grounds.

Lena was looking at me with red, swollen eyes, sobbing too hard to talk.

“I’m sorry, Elise. It’s all my fault. I didn’t know Soren would come after you.

“I’ll go find herbs to heal you right now.”

Garrett looked terrible too. His eyes were red, like he’d been crying.

He gripped my hand.

“Whatever it takes, I’m going to save you.

“Elise, I-I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I weakly pulled my hand away. There was so much I wanted to say, but in the end, I just told them to leave. “Go. I don’t want to see either of you.”

Garrett pressed his lips together and stared at me, refusing to go. Still crying, Lena dragged him away.

“Come on. We have to find a way to save Elise.”

The door closed softly, and I curled up in pain.

Find a way to save me?

Is there even a way?

I don’t know.

But before I die, I’m breaking my mate bond with Garrett!

With shaking hands, I pulled out the bloodstained vial I’d kept on me and tipped the potion into my mouth.