Chapter 4

ZOE POV

I leaned back against the sofa, toying with my phone, my voice frighteningly calm.

"Ask her where she is. She'll say she's in the dressing room at the venue, waiting for you like a good little mate."

"That's impossible."

Almost on instinct, Asher dialed Sylvia's number.

He put it on speaker.

Sylvia's sweet, wounded voice came through right away. "Asher, are you here yet? The media's already arrived. When are you coming? I'm so nervous. My wolf has been pacing all day."

"It doesn't start for another hour..."

Asher paused. "Sylvia, where are you right now?"

His voice softened a little, but the look he gave me was full of warning and disbelief.

"I'm in the dressing room at the venue. I've been waiting for you this whole time. I can't wait to stand beside you as your mate."

Thud!

The heart Asher had been holding up in his throat dropped hard. The hand gripping the phone began to tremble uncontrollably.

This couldn't be.

How could I have predicted exactly what Sylvia would say?

"It must be a coincidence. It has to be..."

He muttered to himself, as if trying to reassure himself.

The words had barely left his mouth when Mabel Cruz sent the hotel surveillance footage she'd just received to my phone.

"See for yourself whether I'm wronging her."

I didn't waste words. I tossed the phone in front of Asher.

In the video, Sylvia, in a revealing micro-miniskirt and heavy makeup that no decent she-wolf would wear to a mate ceremony, raised her hand and knocked on a hotel room door.

The moment it opened, she deliberately swayed and fell, boneless, into the arms of a strange man, her arms winding around his neck in a glaringly intimate pose. The scent of betrayal practically radiated off the screen.

The timestamp in the upper right corner read five minutes ago.

The color drained from Asher's face. His lips went white, and his hand clenched the phone so hard his knuckles turned blue. I could feel his wolf surging, violent and wounded, rattling against his skin.

The she-wolf he'd chased for an entire year. His pure, untouchable ideal. The innocent actress who always said she only cared about her career, didn't want his money, and wouldn't even accept the little gifts he gave her—the Hale Alpha's courting gifts, traditions of the bloodline passed down for generations.

She'd been stringing him along to boost her popularity with a global livestream mate confession, while using the resources he gave her as bargaining chips and going into a hotel with another man.

A deathly silence fell over the villa.

Only Sylvia's voice from the phone kept up the act. "Asher? Why aren't you saying anything? Did something happen?"

Asher clenched his fists.

He slammed one down on the coffee table, and a glass shattered.

"Sylvia, why did you lie to me? You're at a hotel." His voice was hoarse, laced with barely suppressed rage, his wolf growling beneath every word.

On the other end, Sylvia's tone changed instantly. She began to sob, hurt.

"Asher, it's not what you think. Has someone been gossiping to you? I'm at the hotel because I ran into Director Grant here, and I came to discuss a script with him. Don't accuse me like this. Director Grant is married."

"Asher, how can you not trust your own mate? A she-wolf's reputation is so important, and you're accusing me."

The anger that had just flared up in Asher's heart was doused with a bucket of cold water.

The fury in his eyes faded fast, leaving only hesitation and guilt.

"Is that really true? Swear to me you're not lying."

"I swear on the Moon Goddess! I'm absolutely not lying to you!" Sylvia's voice was utterly firm.

Asher's tone softened completely, full of remorse. "Sylvia, I'm sorry. I got too worked up just now."

"It's okay. Just don't keep me waiting too long. The mate ceremony—"

"Okay."

The hotel's top floor.

Sylvia hung up and looked at Director Grant, who was sitting on the bed waiting for her to "service" him. A flicker of panic crossed her face.

"Director Grant, I have to go downstairs for a bit. Tonight I'll... mm."

Before she could finish, the fat, potbellied man pulled her down onto his lap, his tone contemptuous.

"Sylvia, you're the one who called me here, and now you want to ditch me? You think I'm a pushover like that Hale Alpha who'll spoil you just because your wolf purrs at him?"

Sylvia went pale. Not daring to resist in the slightest, she softened her voice and pleaded.

"Director Grant, you're a renowned director. Every lead in your films becomes a huge star. Asher Hale's just an Alpha who stinks of money. Other than being born into a powerful bloodline, he's good for nothing. Why would you lower yourself by comparing yourself to him?"

That made Director Grant roar with laughter.

"What a sweet little mouth. Remember, tonight you'll use it to take care of me."

"You're so bad. Director Grant is the manliest wolf."

Sylvia gave the corner of his mouth a fawning kiss, then hurried out of the room and headed to the confession venue.

Listening to my brother's soft, sweet-talking voice, I felt the veins at my temple throb, so angry my chest hurt.

I never imagined that even with ironclad proof right in front of him, my brother could still be talked around by Sylvia in a few sentences!

"Discussing a script with a director in a hotel room? You actually believe that garbage?"

I frowned and pointed at the door. "Don't tell me you're still going to rush over there and confess to her? Announce her as your mate before the whole world?"

"Zoe, I..."

Faced with my questioning, Asher felt guilty for the first time. His eyes darted away.

"This livestream really matters to me. The mate announcement if I don't go, she'll be angry. She might reject the bond."

"Then go."

I jumped up and shoved Asher out the front door.

I pushed so hard that he stumbled and landed heavily on the ground.

Asher was stunned. When he came to his senses, the veins on his forehead bulged and he roared, "ZOE! I'm your brother! Your Alpha!"

But the next second, I threw myself at him and hugged him tightly, my voice choked with tears. "Brother, she's going to get you killed! I don't want to lose you!"

"Brother, please don't go, okay? Stay with Zoe!"

"She's lying to you! She'll never accept you as her mate. She just wants to use your mate confession livestream to get more famous. Once she's climbed on the Hale bloodline's fame and your resources and become a top star, she'll kick you to the curb!"

"And then she'll get her fans to falsely accuse you of forcing yourself on her—of trying to force a mate bond on an unwilling she-wolf! She'll drive you to suicide and drive the Hales into ruin! And me, to avenge you, I'll end up jumping from the thirty-second floor and dying right along with you!"

"W-what are you saying?"

Sitting on the cold ground, Asher stared at me in disbelief.

His whole body went cold, as if he'd been thrown into an ice cellar. His wolf whined, a wounded sound I'd never heard from him before.

After a long while, he forced a smile onto his pale face. "What's all this about dying? Zoe, if you don't want me to go see Sylvia, I won't go. Don't scare me like this."

He was smiling, but the fingers at his side dug into his palms so hard they went numb.

The despair and pain in my eyes didn't look fake.

It didn't matter if he died. But he couldn't let anything happen to his sister.

The thought that his sister might die horribly because of him filled Asher with uncontrollable panic. His wolf howled inside him, tormented.

Seeing him waver, I thought: my idiot brother can still be saved.

I spread my hands. "If you don't believe me, go find her! I was going to go see Brother Kai anyway."

"You're not going! You're not going anywhere!"

Asher scrambled up off the ground, dusted off the seat of his pants, and sat down on the sofa across from me.

"I'm not going out tonight either. I'm staying home with you!"

Look at him, completely bewitched.

If he dared step out the door today, I'd really go to that hotel to see Kai Sterling.

We sat face to face, neither willing to give in.

The room was eerily quiet.

A total stalemate.

About half an hour passed.

Sylvia called again.

Her voice on the line was as pitiful as ever.

"Asher, why aren't you here yet? The media keeps pushing. The pack elders are asking questions. I can't hold out much longer."

Asher lifted his eyes and glanced, without thinking, at me sitting across from him.

He actually felt a little guilty.

"Sylvia, something urgent came up and I can't make it. Next time... next time I'll make it up to you with an even grander mate confession."

"What?! Next time?!"