Chapter 4

I ignored Courtney's provocation and went back to my own place to change into clean clothes.

The moment I stepped outside, a cloud of dust flew straight at my face. My freshly changed clothes were instantly coated in dirt.

Russ stood in the backyard garden with a group of friends, throwing mud at me.

"You witch! Serves you right for bullying my mom!"

Sand got into my eyes, making it hard to see. Taking advantage of that, they started throwing rocks at me, cursing as they did.

I forced my eyes open and saw the bare garden. There was nothing left but gravel and dust.

My chest tightened.

This had once been a beautiful field of blue roses.

Joey planted them after we became mates because he knew how much I loved them. He said blue roses symbolized love that never changed, and he promised he would protect this garden forever.

But just because Courtney was allergic to roses, he burned every single one we planted together. From then on, not a blade of grass grew in this backyard.

I could no longer suppress the rage inside me. I slapped Russ hard across the face.

"Since you refuse to acknowledge me as your mother, I don't have to be kind to you anymore. I'm disowning you! From now on, Courtney will be your mother. I have nothing to do with you."

His friends were terrified by my reaction and scattered in every direction.

Russ felt humiliated in front of them. Furious and embarrassed, he started punching and kicking me, even biting my hand.

"How dare you hit me! I'm the future Alpha. Once I inherit the position, the first thing I'll do is exile you to the wastelands and make you wish you were dead!"

Hearing such vicious words from a pup made my heart go cold. I honestly didn't know how Joey had raised him during the three years I was gone.

Courtney rushed over when she heard the noise and pulled Russ into her arms. She shot me a reproachful look.

"Russ is still young. He just says whatever comes to mind. How could you hit him? But I guess you wouldn't feel sorry for him since you didn't raise him yourself!"

Her words felt almost ridiculous as they reached my ears.

With that single sentence, the pain of childbirth and five years of raising him were erased.

Joey was about to step forward and scold me, but when he saw how miserable I looked, he swallowed his words.

He didn't check on my injuries at all. Instead, he helped Courtney up from the ground.

"Is this your way of educating, with violence? How could I ever trust you to take care of Russ?" he rebuked me.

I no longer expected Joey to believe me. My heart was already dead, and I didn't have the energy to argue.

Even my mother blamed me, saying I was immature and unfit to be a Luna.

Overwhelmed and exhausted, I returned to my room.

Every trace of me had been completely cleared out. It was as if I had never lived there at all.

Luckily, I was leaving tomorrow. There was no need to care about such trivial things anymore.

Just as I finished tidying up and was about to sleep, the bedroom door was kicked open violently. Joey stormed into the room, fury written all over his face.

"Rosalind, what did you say to Courtney? You pushed her so far, she tried to kill herself!"

He dragged me off the bed and glared at me.

I wasn't surprised at all. In my past life, no matter what happened, Joey always blamed me.

Now, I no longer wanted to stay entangled with him. All I wanted was to end the mate bond.

My heart felt empty as ashes as I stared at him coldly. "I didn't do anything."

Joey didn't believe me. "You're the only one who argued with Courtney! If it wasn't you, then who was it?"

His eyes were red with rage.

He grabbed my throat tightly and snarled, "I know you're jealous that Courtney is pregnant with my pup, but you can't try to kill her. You never should've been Luna. You're too jealous. One day, it'll bring disaster to the entire pack."

His grip tightened until it felt like my neck was about to snap. I refused to back down and slashed his face with my sharp wolf claws.

The screams alerted everyone. My mother rushed in and saw Joey clutching his eye in pain, blood all over the floor.

She checked his injuries, then looked at me in horror. "Joey already let you stay. How could you be so cruel? If anything happens to Joey or Courtney, I'll disown you!"

Just then, a voice came from outside the door.

"Rosalind, the witch's potion has arrived."

I rushed forward and raised the vial in my hand.

"Joey, from this moment on, I'm ending our mate bond. We have nothing to do with each other anymore!"