Chapter 4

Sarah seemed disappointed by my cold expression.

"Aren't you going to ask me what I mean?" She tilted her head like an innocent child.

"Is there a point?" I closed my suitcase. "The packs are merging tomorrow anyway."

"Oh, no, no, no," Sarah said, waving her hand as she walked to the window. "Elara, you don't really think there's going to be a merger ceremony, do you?"

Thunder rumbled outside.

"We don't need your broken pack," she said, turning back to me, her eyes filled with malice. "We just need your blood, your healing gift, and..."

She pointed in the direction of Moon Lake. "That sacred land."

"Sarah, what are you trying to say?"

"What I'm saying is—" She took a deep breath, a cruel smile spreading across her face. "Gavin and I got together a month after Damien’s funeral."

My heart stopped.

"Seven years ago, while you were here living out your little Luna fantasy, we were in the North, enjoying a real love. A real partnership."

"He said his wolf craved me. That only I could give him true comfort." Sarah's voice was disgustingly sweet. "Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you—"

She placed a hand on her flat stomach. "I'm pregnant. With a powerful Alpha heir."

A flash of lightning lit up her triumphant face.

"Impossible," I shook my head. "If you were really together that time, my mate bond would have..."

"Weakened?" Sarah burst out laughing. "Oh, you naive little thing. Who do you think I am?"

She pulled a small, delicate bottle from her purse. Inside was a dark purple liquid.

"Recognize this? It's a witch's glamour," she said, shaking the bottle. "It masks a true bond and fakes another. As long as I took it, the bond felt real to you. You never felt a thing."

My world shattered in that instant.

Seven years.

For seven long years, all the "love," all the "longing," all the connection through our bond that kept me going...

It was all a lie. A sick joke.

"Look at your face," Sarah clapped and laughed. "This is priceless! I should take a picture."

"Why?" my voice was a raw whisper. "Why would you do this?"

"Why?" Sarah's eyes turned to ice. "Because everything you have should have been mine."

"The healing gift, the Luna title, the pack's wealth..." She stalked toward me. "Why did you get to have all that after I was left with nothing?"

"When Damien died, I had nothing."

Thunder cracked again, and her voice grew wild. "But now it's different. I'm taking back what's mine. Including this—"

She lunged, grabbing for the pendant around my neck.

The Spring of Life.

My mother's legacy, a sacred artifact that amplified healing energy.

"Let go!" I shielded the pendant.

"This belongs to the new Luna!" Sarah shrieked, yanking on it. "It belongs to me!"

"Never!"

We struggled, the storm raging around us.

Sarah's nails dug into my neck.

"Let go, you bitch!" she screamed, shoving me hard.

I lost my balance and fell backward.

CRACK!

My head hit the corner of the desk. Pain exploded behind my eyes as blood gushed from the wound.

The agony almost made me black out.

"What's going on?"

The door burst open and Gavin rushed in.

He saw me on the floor, and Sarah clutching the pendant's chain in her hand.

"Gavin..." Tears instantly filled Sarah's eyes. "I was just trying to talk to Elara, and she just..."

"Enough!" Gavin roared. "Elara, have you lost your mind? Sarah is pregnant! How could you do this to her?"

"I didn't..." I struggled to get up.

"Shut up!" He went to Sarah, checking her for injuries. "Jealousy has made you vicious!"

Gavin turned to me, his eyes filled with disappointment. "Give it to me."

"What?"

"The Spring of Life pendant," he said coldly. "Give it to Sarah as an apology."

"It was my mother's!"

"It belongs to the Luna now."

He pried my fingers from the chain and handed the blood-smeared pendant to Sarah.

She took it, a victorious glint in her eyes.

I stared up at Gavin, blood streaming down my forehead. The silver poisoning from earlier was slowing my healing.

His eyes flickered, as if he wanted to say something.

"Ah!" Sarah suddenly cried out, clutching her stomach. "It hurts... Gavin, my stomach..."

"Sarah!" Gavin instantly swept her into his arms. "Hang on, I'm taking you to the medical center!"

He rushed out the door with her, into the heart of the storm.

He never looked back.

I was alone in the room.

Blood dripped onto the floor.

My hands trembling, I used the table to pull myself up.

Enough.

This was more than enough.

I stumbled to the pack's altar, where the supplies for the severance ritual were kept.

I’d already told the elders I was leaving last night, after Gavin returned. They had already agreed.

I lit the sacred flame and picked up the silver ritual knife.

"By the name of the Moon Goddess, I, Elara Silverstone, hereby sever my mate bond with Gavin Blackwood."

I sliced the ritual blade across my palm. My blood hit the sacred flame.

It erupted in a flash of brilliant silver.

A violent pain tore through my chest, as if something was being ripped out of me.

But as the pain faded, an incredible sense of relief washed over me. The rotten tether was finally broken.

I picked up my suitcase and walked out the main door without a backward glance.

Behind me, the pack house was a ruin.

Ahead, a train waited to take me to the Healers' Guild. To my new life.