第2章

Everyone in the pack assumed I stayed with Andy to leech off his status as Pack Leader and of course, his wealth.

The truth was, he held the key to my personal vault. He claimed his own funds were needed to expand the pack’s armaments. So, for years, pack expenses and high-tier mana crystal purchases were funded by my earnings as an administrator in the pack and a secret top-tier bounty hunter and also support from my parents.

I used to believe a partnership required joint effort, without bean-counting who contributed more.

It wasn’t until recently that I noticed something wrong: despite my high income from the pack and being a top bounty hunter, I had zero savings and barely enough to buy high-grade healing potions.

When I audited my ledger, I discovered the truth.

Andy frequently used my funds to buy lavish gifts for Scarlett.

He gifted her limited-edition pelts worth thousands of gold, pure mana crystals worth tens of thousands, and even rented out the entire Moonlight Temple for hundreds of thousands of gold just to celebrate her birthday. No werewolf in the pack had known he paid for them. Nor did I. Until later.

Yet over all these years, he was unwilling to buy me a new set of leather armor to replace my two-year-old gear. Anything over a hundred gold was “too expensive,” and he would hand me a plucked wild flower instead, preaching that we needed to save for our pack’s future.

When I confronted him back then, Andy got mad and accused me of lacking trust, and declared he would never touch another coin of mine.

Recalling this, I dialed his phone again.

I tried a dozen times, but he refused to pick up.

Seeing this, I stopped hesitating. I walked straight into the Spirit-Gold Bank in the central citadel and permanently cancelled his access to my vault.

Less than a minute later, Andy called back.

“I was sorting through prey earlier and missed your call. What’s wrong?” he asked, acting innocent.

My tone was flat. “It’s nothing now.”

“Oh.” He paused. Then, he continued.

“My vault access just got blocked by the bank. Something’s wrong with the ledger.”

“I know,” I stated directly. “I canceled it.”

“Why did you cancel it out of nowhere? Are you out of your mind?”

“Call it what you want. Didn’t you say you’d never use my gold again?”

Andy choked on his words.

I had never tallied finances with him before.

When Andy became the new pack leader, I suffered a critical injury that required 100,000 gold for a High Shaman to heal. Coincidentally, he had secretly taken all my savings to fund a dangerous hunting expedition that failed miserably.

Expecting me to be furious, he apologized with reddened eyes.

I comforted him instead, telling him gold didn’t matter as long as he could use it to build his dream.

I had thought my sincerity would strengthen our bond, but it turned out eventually that it only nurtured his sense of selfishness and entitlement.

Andy didn’t dwell on it for long. After a brief silence, he sighed, his tone defensive yet arrogant.

“Fine, I get it. You’re still mad that I didn’t take you on the pack bonding patrol, so you’re throwing a tantrum.”

“Lynda, I thought you had grown mature, but you’re still so petty.”

“I promise you, once this patrol is over, we’ll hold Moon Blessing. I’ll set aside all pack duties and take you to the Snow Mountains for a Pack Seclusion. Satisfied?”

“I didn’t bring the pack’s treasury tokens on this trip. Go unfreeze the vault right now and stop acting up. The Silvermoon banquet tonight is crucial—I need to buy that high-tier mana core as a protective amulet for Scarlett.”

“I’m giving you ten minutes, or I’m going to enforce pack discipline.”

Fearing I wouldn’t obey him, he threw in a threat before hanging up.

In the past, whenever he threatened punishment, I would yield. But he failed to realize that I gave up not because I wasn’t afraid of his status. It was only I loved him. I simply considered how exhausting managing a pack was and I didn’t want to add to his stress.

Now I realized that I was a joke. While I tried to lighten his load, his troubles were entirely self-inflicted.

If that was the case, why bother?

I sent him a brief message via phone:

“If you lack funds, ask the elders or ask Scarlett. Since this trip was to secure her promotion anyway, it’s only fitting that she covers the costs.”

After sending it, I shut down the phone. I didn’t want to run wild, so I mounted my Mountain Horse, and rode back to our private estate in the valley to pack my things.

I had bought that valley castle entirely with my own money. It had the layout and view Andy favored. I had even considered adding his name to the deed back then, but a sudden gut feeling stopped me, and I kept it solely under my name.

Looking back, I was relieved I had left myself an exit strategy.

Once packed, I listed the castle with a territory broker.

The next day, I visited the Wolf Council and handed the signed?Pack Withdrawal Application and the documents showing I had no administrative duty within the pack to the presiding Elder.

When I signed it days ago, I was worried about how to explain it to Andy. But he had been in a rush to catch a riding-falcon, grabbing his gear without looking and signing his wolf mark on the last page.

“Take a look at it,” I had urged him back then.

“No need. You’re my future mate—do you think I don’t trust you?”

I smiled bitterly.

That so-called trust was merely his eagerness to brush me aside so he could hurry onto his flight to escort Scarlett.

The Elder told me that the Alpha himself needed to verbally confirm my withdrawal from the pack.

“The Pack Leader must confirm it in person.”

Resigned, I powered up my phone again.

The moment it turned on, a flood of missed calls and angry messages from Andy appeared on the screen.

Because I hadn’t granted his access to the vault, he had tried sweet-talking at first, but his final message was a toxic rant threatening to strip me of my fiancé status and banish me from the pack.

I showed the messages to the Elder.

The Elder sighed, pity evident in his eyes. He filed the paperwork and told me that I was allowed to leave the pack and join the other pack freely.

I knew Andy’s threats to strip me of my fiancé status were bluffing tactics.

Whenever I displeased him in the past, he used that threat repeatedly. It was always my fear of losing him that drove me to apologize, submit to his demands, and beg him to keep the bond intact.

He was convinced I loved him enough and also I couldn’t survive without his protection, making it his ultimate trump card to control me.

But he forgot that affection was like a pack’s food reserve.

If you kept consuming without replenishing, it eventually ran out.

Because I set the castle’s price well below market value, it was sold within a week to a wealthy high-tier wolf merchant.

I finalized the contract at the broker’s office, set a handover date with the buyer, and returned to the valley castle for the last time.

As I pushed the heavy doors open, the sound of laughter echoed from inside.