Chapter 4

Without Stellan, the days passed quickly. By the time I looked up, only a few remained before I left the pack.

Although I had no contact with him, Sabine occasionally mentioned what was happening between him and Tamsin.

Apparently, they had gotten into a vicious argument. Stellan had walked out of a banquet in full view of everyone, without the slightest concern for how it would embarrass her.

Rumor had it the fight was about me.

I merely smiled when I heard.

I was no longer the hopeless romantic who refreshed social media countless times a day, searching for clues in every post from Stellan, Tamsin, or anyone in the pack who knew them.

Stellan did love me—but what good was that?

Whenever his childhood sweetheart Tamsin returned to the pack, he would leave me behind and rush to her side.

Tamsin would always have a place in his heart.

I didn’t want that kind of love anymore.

After that, Stellan began calling me more often each day. I either declined immediately or found some excuse not to see him.

The day before I was due to leave the pack, Stellan invited me to the concert.

“I already bought the tickets. Meet me there tonight?”

“Today is the anniversary of the day we first bonded. You won’t turn me down again, will you?”

He had never pleaded with me like this before.

In the past, all he had to do was take a single step toward me, and I would rush to close the rest of the distance.

Yet the moment Tamsin appeared, he would retreat even that one step.

I had no idea what to say. Today was not the anniversary of the day we first bonded. It marked the fourth time we had restored our bond.

After so many separations and reunions, I was still the only one who bothered to remember every date and every detail connected to him.

In the end, I agreed. I truly did want to see Taylor Swift.

That night, I waited outside the arena, but Stellan never came.

I opened the voice message he had just sent me. His apology played over the noise of the concert crowd, with Tamsin’s faint laughter audible in the background.

“I’m sorry, Elowen. Tamsin had another panic attack, so I took her to see the healer.”

“We’ll have countless anniversaries to celebrate in the future. Once Tamsin leaves tomorrow, I’ll do anything you want. All right?”

The concert finally began, and Taylor Swift’s voice drifted out of the arena.

“You’re on your own, kid.”

I closed our message thread and opened social media for the first time in a month.

The first thing I saw was a post Tamsin had uploaded only minutes earlier: a selfie of her and Stellan together inside the concert.

“You always have been.”

The song continued, mercilessly exposing the last ridiculous scrap of hope I had carried when I agreed to meet him and all the way to the arena.

Now, even that final scrap was gone.

Seven rejections. I should have known better by now.

At least this would be the last.

With nothing left to hold me there, I turned away from the arena and headed straight to the airport, where I spent the night.

At seven the next morning, I checked in for my flight.

Stellan messaged me to ask when we would bond again. I did not answer. Instead, I removed him from my social media.

At eight, I was standing in line to board.

Stellan called. I declined and blocked his number.

At nine, I took my seat on the plane.

The flight attendant asked everyone to switch their phones to airplane mode. Just then, Sabine called me.

When I answered, Stellan’s panicked voice came through the phone.

“Elowen, where are you?”