Chapter 2

There was music playing throughout the banquet hall.

I stood by the rearmost pillar as the pack's attention shifted back and forth between me and the stage.

Ryan stood onstage in the black suit I had personally helped him get custom-tailored, his shoulders squared and his back straight. Bella gathered her gown and climbed the stairs one step at a time.

Just then, someone stepped forward with an empty tray as the Elder of the pack announced, "Please exchange your tokens of commitment."

Ryan froze for a moment and looked toward me, as though he had just remembered something.

Bella's gaze swept across the crowd and locked onto me. She then said sweetly, "I was in such a rush earlier that I left my token in the dressing room. Do you mind lending me yours for a moment? I'll only need it for a while, Allie."

Everyone in the banquet hall instantly turned their attention toward me. Maya even gasped and gripped my arm tightly. "You worked through three nights without sleep at the forge to make those two Moonmark Rings, hammering them out one blow at a time, Allie!"

Under everyone's gaze, I walked up to the stage and handed over the velvet box.

Ryan opened the velvet box and saw the two Moonmark Rings inside, his expression instantly softening. He turned to me and said gently, "I know this has been unfair to you, so I'll definitely make it up to you once the ceremony is over, Allie."

"Hold on," Bella said, taking the microphone from the Elder with a gentle smile. "Why don't we have Allie help us put on the rings since she is already up here? It'll make the blessing feel so much more meaningful, after all."

Did Bella really expect me to slip the rings—the ones I had personally forged for Ryan and myself for the ceremony—onto her finger myself? Those Moonmark Rings were engraved with my name on the inside!

I spoke up softly, but my voice echoed clearly across the banquet hall. "I'm not doing it."

Ryan was visibly caught off guard. He had gotten so used to me giving in every time and probably thought I would do the same now. "A-Allie?"

Bella's smile grew even gentler, looking completely innocent. "Have you forgotten, Allie? Those Moonmark Rings are already part of the vow. Ryan will face the vow's backlash if you don't help us put them on, not to mention the calamity the witch foretold. You wouldn't want anything to happen to Ryan, would you, Allie?"

Ryan turned deathly pale. He knew perfectly well that those three Moonvow Stones could be fatal. He grabbed me by the shoulders, his grip so tight that I nearly fell, and leaned toward me, whispering, "Please don't act up right now and help us put on the Moonmark Rings, Allie—just this once."

I suddenly felt a sharp pang in my chest. I had thought I no longer cared about any of this, yet the pain in my chest felt as if something had stabbed straight through it, leaving me unable to breathe.

Ryan loosened his grip on my shoulders and grabbed my hand instead. He opened the velvet box, picked up one of the Moonmark Rings, and forcefully guided my hand, pushing the Moonmark Ring that belonged to me onto Bella's ring finger.

That ring hung loose on her finger and didn't glow at all.

Those below the stage immediately began to whisper among themselves. "Why isn't it glowing?"

"Isn't that the Moonmark Ring?"

"It should glow, no matter who wears it. If it doesn't glow, then it means it never acknowledged their relationship."

Bella's expression faltered, but she quickly put on a smile and held up her hand. "It's such a beautiful ring! Thank you, Allie!"

I took a tissue out of my handbag and slowly wiped my fingers down. "You can wear the Moonmark Ring all you want, but whether it actually acknowledges you isn't up to me."

Bella shuddered slightly while Ryan stiffened on the spot, though he still kept his hand resting intimately on her shoulder.

It wasn't long before the moonlight from the full moon poured through the glass dome of the banquet hall.

Under werewolf custom, tonight should have been the night Ryan marked me, with the Moon Goddess as witness. He would have bitten my nape before the whole pack and left his mark.

I had, however, handed the marking ceremony to someone else instead.

Ryan said the ceremony didn't count without a mark and that we could hold the actual ceremony later. He was right—nothing counted, not him and Bella, not him and me.

Every bit of what I had endured alone over the past three years counted, though.

I turned and walked off the stage. I held myself together all the way out of the banquet hall until the whispers could no longer reach me. It was only then that I noticed that the back of my clothes was soaked through.

Maya was indignant on my behalf. "I would've shifted on the spot if I had stayed there any longer! Why didn't you fight back, Allie? You love Ryan so much! They're clearly using the Moonvow Stones to get away with this!"

"It's not worth it anymore, Maya," I said calmly. I had considered making a scene because I believed Ryan was still worth fighting for, but the moment Bella wore the Moonmark Ring, I knew it was time to put an end to everything.

I scrolled through the contacts on my phone and stopped at Kai Lang. He was one of the few people I really clicked with. He never held back his words and had even mocked my taste in men the last time he caught me crying. He, however, was still the first person I thought of at this moment.

I lowered my gaze, opened his contact, and tapped the call button. He answered the instant the call went through. "I want to use the Moonvow Stone, Kai."