Chapter 5

ASHER POV 

"What could possibly be more important than our mate announcement? If you push this back and don't show up, what am I supposed to do?"

Sylvia's voice suddenly shot up, shrill and grating.

Asher frowned.

Sylvia was usually so soft-spoken. Why was she so sharp today?

"Sylvia, I'll give you whatever compensation you want. Please don't be angry."

At first Sylvia hadn't taken it seriously.

A doormat like the Hale Alpha should be grateful she was even giving him a chance to announce her as his mate. How could he possibly not show up?

But the more she listened, the more something felt off. She asked in disbelief, "Asher Hale, what are you saying?"

"I'm sorry."

"I give you a chance to claim me before the whole world and you don't want it? Fine. Don't come looking for me ever again."

"Sylvia, I..."

"There's only one chance. Figure it out yourself."

Asher tried to explain, but she'd already hung up impatiently.

Asher weakly pinched his temples.

Maybe it was some kind of blood-is-thicker-than-water intuition. Or maybe it was his wolf, pacing restlessly inside him, sensing something his rational mind refused to accept.

He actually half believed what I'd said.

If his sister got hurt because of him, dying a hundred times over wouldn't be enough.

Seeing how torn he was, I curled my lips in a cold smile.

"Go on. Why aren't you going? Aren't you afraid you'll regret it?"

Asher choked. "..."

You didn't exactly give me a chance to regret it!

Asher was trapped.

He'd finally gotten the chance to announce his fated mate before the entire world, and he'd just stood her up like that.

He gritted his teeth.

No matter how you looked at it, this was Kai Sterling's fault!

It was all that rival Alpha's fault for ruining his big moment.

At the confession venue, in the dressing room.

Sylvia hung up in a fury, momentarily rattled.

Beside her sat a plump middle-aged woman, a shrewd light flashing in her eyes.

"Sylvia, what did the Alpha heir say?"

Sylvia was clearly displeased. "He said something urgent came up and he's bailing on the mate announcement."

At that, her agent, Janet Cross, paused, then laughed scornfully, as if she'd just heard a hilarious joke.

"He's not coming? Is that even possible? The future Alpha of the Hale bloodline follows you around like a pup. He's not showing up for a moment this important? You're messing with me. Is it April Fools' Day?"

That put Sylvia's mind somewhat at ease, and she arched a haughty eyebrow.

"You're right. He wouldn't dare not show up. He must be planning a surprise for me. He scared me just now. Hmph. Even if it's a surprise, I'm not forgiving him so easily this time."

"Right, right, don't forgive him too easily. Come on, let's go wait. And remember, when the time comes, play the victim. Ride this wave of traffic and you'll be guaranteed to blow up. The whole werewolf community will know your name."

"Of course."

The two of them headed to the livestream set, chatting and laughing along the way, without the slightest concern for what this would do to Asher or the Hale pack.

But half an hour later, Sylvia had waited and waited, and Asher still hadn't arrived.

The reporters around them were getting restless.

"Why isn't the Alpha heir here yet?"

"What's going on? The Hale pack announced this themselves."

"Look, everyone, Mr. Hale had someone send a text."

"What? The mate confession event is canceled, they'll notify us of the next one, and he's paying us ten times our rate as compensation."

"Mr. Hale's pretty generous. Doesn't he love being Sylvia's doormat? And he stood her up at his own mate announcement?"

"You read it right. Whatever. As long as we get paid. What do these celebrity-and-Alpha-heir love affairs have to do with us worker bees?"

"Good point. Let's go, let's go. We'll get paid again next time. Heh."

Seeing the reporters actually packing up to leave, Sylvia completely panicked.

Gone was her calm, lofty composure. She shot up from her chair and shouted, "Stop! Who said you could leave?"

A reporter looked at her, baffled. "Miss Sylvia, the Alpha heir can't make it. What are we supposed to wait here for?"

"Who said he's not coming? He's just planning a surprise for me."

"A surprise? We all got the text. Didn't he tell you?"

"I..."

Sylvia's voice tightened.

Asher had meant it. He really wasn't coming.

Meanwhile, the internet had completely exploded.

#AlphaHaleGlobalLivestreamNoShow#

#HaleAlphaHeirMateConfessionMassiveFail#

Both hashtags shot straight to the top of the trending list. The livestream had over ten million viewers online, all waiting to watch the trainwreck.

Sylvia's fans had started fighting among themselves, and casual onlookers were all mocking her "shattered Luna dream."

Sylvia's face flushed white, then red.

Her agent, Janet Cross, was frantic. "Sylvia, what do we do now? If the Alpha heir doesn't come, what about the viewership? The contracts with the brands are already signed. If we can't stream, how are we going to sell their products? If we don't hit the sales targets, we'll have to pay them damages."

Janet Cross never passed up a chance to make money. Back when Asher was planning his grand mate confession, she'd quietly reached out to an e-commerce company and signed a sales contract with them.

If the confession was canceled, viewership would drop fast.

No. Absolutely not.

Sylvia gritted her teeth, her eyes instantly turning red, and walked up to the livestream camera. She spoke to the entire internet, voice catching.

"Everyone, please stop attacking Alpha Hale. Something urgent must have happened at the pack estate for him to be unable to get away at the last minute. I'm fine, really... As long as he's safe, that's all that matters."

Beneath her flawless makeup, a flash of venom crossed her eyes.

Even if Asher wasn't coming, she'd still cement her image as the gentle, understanding, independent she-wolf who wouldn't bow to the Hale bloodline's power.

At the villa.

I'd been watching the online buzz the whole time.

I knew Sylvia. Sylvia would never pass up a chance to drag my brother down to lift herself up.

With my brother standing her up, she'd definitely stir up trouble.

Sure enough, watching the woman weeping like a rain-soaked pear blossom on the livestream, steering all the gossip and rumors onto my brother, I laughed coldly in fury.

"See that? That's Sylvia."

Asher had clearly seen the trending topics on his phone too.

"She's just protecting herself."

"Protecting herself? Do you know what the consequences of what she just said will be? Tomorrow every pack in Aurora City will be writing articles tearing you apart. Hale Enterprises' stock will hit the daily limit down for days, the pack's alliances will crumble, and we'll lose tens of billions."

"I-it's not that serious, is it?" Asher actually sounded a little guilty.

I gave a cold laugh that didn't reach my eyes.

"Brother, don't worry about anything. I'll handle this."

Seeing her viewership drop instead of climb, Sylvia threw herself even harder into her performance.

"I believe in Alpha Hale. There must be a reason he stood me up today. He's not like other pack heirs. He would never play with someone's mate bond on purpose."

Sis, you're just too kind. All wolves under the moon are equally black.

Exactly. Asher Hale's a powerful Alpha heir too. He was messing with you on purpose, wasn't he?

So having the Hale name makes you special? Means you can toy with a she-wolf's heart however you like? He doesn't even see us ordinary wolves as equals!

And I used to be a loyal customer of Hale Enterprises products. I'll lead the way. I'm the first to boycott the Hale pack!

Count me in...

I couldn't stop laughing coldly.

The same low-down tricks as in my last life.

Suddenly an account with the ID "Zoe Hale" entered the livestream.

Sister Sylvia, my brother really did have an emergency. After all, he just found out that while you had him doing a global livestream to boost your popularity as his fated mate, you were up on the top floor of a hotel cutting deals with Director Grant of Floating City. Any wolf would be upset about that, right?

What?!

With a single comment, the lively livestream fell dead silent.