Chapter 4

Four days passed before Eric finally came to see me.

By then, the world felt quieter… emptier.

I sat alone in the back garden behind our house, staring at the trees beyond the fence. The wind moved softly through the leaves, but I barely noticed it.

My thoughts kept circling the same conversation.

Dominic’s words.

The truth he had thrown into the open in front of everyone.

None of this had been about the pack.

It was about keeping me away from Eric.

Footsteps approached from the stone path.

“You look thinner.”

Eric’s  voice broke through my thoughts.

I turned slightly as he sat down beside me on the bench. His expression tightened when he saw my face properly.

“You haven’t been eating,” he said quietly.

I didn’t answer.

What was the point?

Eric ran a hand through his hair and stood up again, pacing across the grass. He looked restless, like something was weighing heavily on his mind.

“Why didn’t you tell me Dominic came here?” he asked after a moment.

I looked at him slowly.

“It didn’t seem important.”

His brows drew together.

“Of course it’s important,” he said. “We’re friends, Nyla. If something happens, I should know.”

The word friends landed heavily in my chest.

I lowered my gaze.

“Help me, Eric.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

He froze.

“If I were already Alpha, I’d stop this,” he said quickly. “I wouldn’t let them force you into something like this.”

“That won’t change anything.”

He frowned.

“What do you mean?”

I took a slow breath.

“Your mother arranged it.”

The surprise on his face was immediate.

“That’s impossible.”

“Dominic said it himself,” I replied. “In front of his father. And the Alpha didn’t deny it.”

Eric shook his head firmly.

“No. My mother wouldn’t do that.”

“She thinks I’m a problem.”

Eric stared at me.

“She believes you and I might end up together,” I continued. “So she decided to solve that problem.”

Silence settled between us.

“That’s ridiculous,” Eric muttered. “She knows we’re just friends.”

His words stung more than I expected.

“I know,” I said quietly.

“But she doesn’t.”

I forced myself to look at him.

“Please talk to her.”

Eric hesitated.

“She’s destroying two lives because she’s afraid of something that doesn’t even exist.”

My voice broke slightly.

“Dominic already loves someone else. And now he’s being pushed into a marriage he doesn’t want… with someone who doesn’t want him either.”

Eric  rubbed the back of his neck.

“I can try speaking to her,” he said carefully.

“But I can’t promise anything.”

My hands clenched in my lap.

“I just don’t want to marry him.”

The tears came before I could stop them.

Eric immediately sat beside me again and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

“It’ll be okay,” he murmured.

But even he didn’t sound convinced.

“Please,” I whispered.

He sighed.

“I’ll talk to her. That’s all I can promise.”

It wasn’t much.

But it was the only hope I had left.

Two days passed.

Eric  didn’t call.

He didn’t send a message.

Nothing.

I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling, feeling something inside me slowly break apart.

Maybe he had tried.

Maybe he hadn’t.

Either way, the result was the same.

Nothing changed.

A knock sounded on my door.

I didn’t bother answering.

My mother opened it anyway.

She walked inside carrying a tray with food on it.

“You need to eat something,” she said gently, placing the tray on the small table beside my bed.

I sat up slowly.

“How do you live with yourselves?” I asked coldly.

She looked confused.

“After selling your daughter.”

My words hit her like a slap.

“Nyla—”

“You took the Alpha’s money,” I continued bitterly. “Don’t deny it.”

My mother looked away.

“We didn’t have a choice.”

“You always had a choice.”

She shook her head weakly.

“You don’t understand how bad things were,” she whispered.

“What do you mean?”

Her voice trembled.

“We were about to lose the house.”

I blinked.

“The academy fees… the private tutors… the training equipment,” she continued. “Your father and I borrowed a lot of money to give you those opportunities.”

Guilt flickered briefly through my anger.

“But the debt kept growing.”

Her hands tightened around the edge of the table.

“The bank was preparing to take the house.”

I stared at her.

“So when the Alpha forced this marriage…”

“We used the money to clear everything.”

Silence filled the room.

“So you still sold me,” I said quietly.

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“We were desperate.”

I looked away.

Part of me understood.

Another part of me refused to forgive them.

“I told Eric the truth,” I said suddenly.

Her head snapped up.

“What truth?”

“About his mother.”

Shock filled her face.

“He said he would speak to her.”

My mother’s expression slowly changed.

“Nyla…”

“What?”

Her voice became softer.

“Eric left yesterday.”

My heart skipped.

“Left?”

“He and Derek traveled north. The Alpha wants him to gain experience before taking full leadership responsibilities.”

My stomach dropped.

“He’s gone?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Two years.”

The words felt like a knife in my chest.

Two years.

He left without telling me.

My eyes filled with tears again.

“I’m sorry,” my mother whispered.

But her apology didn’t fix anything.

Eric was gone.

The one person who might have helped me… wasn’t here anymore.

And soon…

I would belong to Dominic Varek.

Whether I wanted to or not.