Chapter 4

Life in Westwood pack was calm and fulfilling.

Aiden built me a private herbarium, a sanctuary filled with every tool and rare herb I could ever need.

For the first time, I lived in peace, in purpose.

Aiden treated me with quiet devotion, no grand speeches and no demands, just steady presence.

He’d drop by each day, sometimes with rare roots from deep in the forest, sometimes with honeycomb still warm from a hive.

He never forced closeness, but somehow, he was always there when I needed him most.

And slowly, the bond between us took root, not fragile and forced, like with Felix, where one lie had shattered everything.

With Aiden, it was different. It was like a tree, its roots entwined with mine, steady, strong and unshakable.

For the first time in my life, I felt safe and loved.

But just as I began to believe I’d left my past behind, he returned.

Felix.

Like a ghost clinging to the last scraps of power.

I saw him the moment I opened the door to my herb cottage standing there with hollow-eyed, bloodshot, unshaven and haunted.

“Riley.”

He stepped forward and grabbed my arm.

“Why haven’t you answered my calls? My texts?”

“Because I didn’t want to,” I said, voice like ice.

His composure cracked.

“You’ve made me a laughingstock!” he growled.

“You dared to reject me. You dared to leave with another Alpha!”

“No,” I said calmly. “I finally saw your true face. That’s all.”

His anger surged.

“You’ve ruined me! Even my mother’s fallen ill!”

“Not my concern.”

I yanked my arm from his grip.

“That’s between you and your conscience, if you still have one.”

His face twisted.

“You think that Northern Alpha really wants you? You’re just a pawn and an Omega. He’ll never see you as equal!”

I stared at him, not with fear, not with pain, but with pure and unfiltered disgust.

“You thought I’d come back?” I said, voice low and steady.

“That if you showed up and barked loud enough, I’d kneel again?”

I raised my hand, and with a sharp crack, the slap echoed through the trees.

Felix stumbled back, clutching his cheek.

Shock and disbelief warred on his face as he stared at me, as if he didn’t recognize the person standing before him.

Good.

Because I wasn’t the same Omega, he once broke and I never would be again.

One afternoon, I received a letter from Silver Lake, sent by an old classmate I hadn’t heard from in years.

Inside, she wrote about Felix and Bianca, who had just announced their engagement in grand fashion.

The entire pack was buzzing with excitement.

There’d even been a lavish ceremony

Tucked between the pages were glossy photographs: Felix grinning smugly as he held Bianca close, and Bianca beaming in a designer gown, draped in jewels and false joy.

Then came the words:

“Riley, are you alright?

Everyone’s talking. Felix and Bianca flaunt their love daily.

They say you’re ungrateful.

That you’re just a lowly Omega who turned down your fated mate.

That you never deserved him.”

I stared at the letter in silence.

Once, those words would have shattered me.

Now, they felt... weightless.

I fed the letter and photos to the fire.

Watched the flames curl around Felix’s perfect smile.

Watched it all burn.

At the end, she’d written:

“We’re organizing a class reunion soon. You should come. Everyone would love to see you.”

I smiled.

I had no interest in returning to a place where I was once buried alive in silence.

Let Silver Lake pack gossip.

Let them believe whatever made them feel better.

I had no intention of going back, not as their scapegoat, and never as their victim.

A few days later, that same classmate messaged me again.

“Riley, aren’t you even a little curious? Don’t you want to show them you’re doing better now?”

There was a taunting edge to her words, as if my silence made me weak.

I hesitated, just then, Aiden walked into my herb lab.
He saw the phone in my hand, the tightness on my face.

“What’s wrong?” he asked gently.

I handed him the screen, and he read the messages in silence, his brow furrowing.

“Do you want to go?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No. I don’t want to see them again.”

“Then don’t,” he said simply. “You don’t owe anyone anything.”

His voice was firm, quiet and grounding, like always.

I set the phone aside and returned to my work, but the messages kept coming.

Each message was more manipulative than the last, calling me a coward, accusing me of being too afraid to face the truth, and insisting that I’d never truly moved on.

I didn’t feel anger, only a deep, final disgust.

I saw it clearly now, she’d never been a real friend.
Just another voice in a pack that thrived on hierarchy and cruelty, so, I blocked her and erased her number.
I cut the last fraying thread between me and Silver Lake pack.

I didn’t need their reunions or their approval or their noise.

I had my work.
I had peace.
And I had Aiden.

That was more than enough.