Chapter 4

Before I was set to leave, Damien's mother invited me to the full moon dinner.

Her voice was gentle. "Elena, even if you don't become our pack's Luna, does that mean we have to be enemies?"

I couldn't refuse her.

So I went.

Damien opened the door.

He looked at me, his golden eyes churning with unspoken emotions.

Facing him, my wolf still lost control.

That desperate longing for a fated mate.

I looked down. "Excuse me," I whispered.

Damien didn't move.

I had to squeeze past him.

Lilith immediately came forward, playing the part of the hostess. "Elena's here! You came! You didn't have to bring a gift."

I ignored her, sidestepping the hand she reached out.

Lilith immediately shot a hurt look at Damien. "See, Damien? She's still mad."

Before Damien could speak, I turned, my voice dripping ice. "I'm not mad. This is a gift for an Elder, not a... guest."

Lilith let out a cold laugh. "Says she's not mad, but now she's calling me a guest. Damien, your little mate has claws."

Damien's face was a thundercloud. "Elena, do you know what you're saying? Apologize!"

Lilith waved a hand. "It's fine, Damien, don't be so serious. I'm not a pup. I won't hold it against her."

I finally snapped.

All the pain I had suppressed finally burst forth.

I looked at him, tears blurring my vision, but my voice came out with chilling clarity.

“You know the truth in your own heart—do you see her as your brother's grieving widow, or as your future Luna.”

The room fell silent.

Everyone stared.

All the blood drained from Damien's face.

For once, the ever-composed Alpha's body trembled.

He instinctively glanced at Lilith, then forced out a few tight words. "Lilith, she's just... she's not thinking straight."

Lilith looked wounded. "Elena, there's nothing between Damien and me. How could you think that? How am I supposed to lead my warriors now?"

Damien's gaze snapped back to me, like a cornered, wounded animal.

"Take it back, Elena." He gritted his teeth, his voice a suppressed roar. "Right now."

"Was I wrong?"

Damien lunged forward and grabbed my wrist, his grip so tight I thought my bones would shatter.

His eyes were bloodshot with pain, his voice raw with desperation.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing? Are you so determined to destroy everything between us?"

Damien's mother rushed over to pull us apart.

She shot Damien an angry look, then turned to me gently. "Elena, let's eat first. We can talk about this later."

My tears started falling again, betraying me. "Auntie, I'm not staying for dinner. Damien and I... we're rejecting the bond."

"You what?"

The pressure on my wrist vanished. The rage in Damien's eyes was instantly replaced by a huge, naked fear.

"Reject... the bond?"

I gave a bitter laugh. "We're not right for each other. Shouldn't we?"

Damien asked, "You're serious?"

"Yes."

"Elena, you're saying this in front of all the elders. Don't regret this."

I took a deep breath, looked one last time at Lilith, then back at him. "Don't worry. No one will bother you two anymore."

I thought it was all over.

But the night before I was to leave, Damien showed up at my house.

He didn't use the mind-link or alert anyone.

He just appeared under my window like a tired shadow.

My parents told me to talk to him.

I led him to my room. "What is it?"

"Don't go," he finally said, his voice as rough as sandpaper. "Elena, don't reject our bond... please."

"Please?" I almost laughed. "Did your mother send you?"

"No." He shook his head and took a step forward, his strong Alpha scent, mixed with alcohol, surrounding me. "I came on my own. Elena, I... I can't lose you."

I went completely still.

Those words… they had come far, far too late.

There was a time when hearing them would have made me throw myself into his arms, delirious with happiness.

But now?

Now there was only a quiet stillness in my heart.

An unnerving calm.

It was a terrifying thought: maybe I just didn't care anymore.

I opened my mouth to answer, but another voice sliced through the moment—a frantic, desperate mind-link.

Lilith, of course.

“Damien… I am so, so sorry to disturb you, especially so late.” Her voice was a perfect performance of guilt and vulnerability.

“It's my spirit wolf… disappeared again.”

“I know I shouldn't be a burden, I really do, but… he's been so willful ever since your brother… left us.”

“He gets so agitated without your Alpha presence… Damien, please forgive me… I'm so sorry…”

I watched the anxiety and guilt instantly flood Damien's eyes.

Clinging to a final shred of hope, I stepped closer to him.

I gathered all my courage and looked up into his face.

My voice was a raw whisper. "Damien. Stay."

I rose onto my toes, my lips brushing his. "Soothe me. Anchor me. Mark me, right here, right now. Prove to me, to the Goddess, to your brother's ghost, that I am the only one."

I could feel his body tense, his breath catching in his throat.

His Alpha instincts were roaring at my invitation.

"Stay," I whispered. "And I'll take back everything I said."

If he stayed, I could convince myself to forgive everything else.

Damien's hands gripped my arms, the force terrifying.

His golden eyes were filled with a hellish torment and pain.

He stared at me, as if trying to carve my image into his soul.

Lilith's mind-link was still screaming in his head.

His throat worked. Finally, he squeezed his eyes shut in agony.

A single, hot tear escaped and fell onto the back of my hand.

"Elena..." his voice broke. "I promised my brother. I swore on his hand... that I would protect her with my life."

His voice broke. "I can't... I can't betray the dead."

And the string that had been pulled so taut, finally snapped.

I suddenly felt a sense of relief and took a calm step back.

"Go."

He turned, his body stiff, and walked to the door.

He paused there.

He didn't look back, his voice a hollow, desperate lie.

"Wait for me, Elena... Just... wait for me. Once I fix this... The Luna's suite is ready. It's yours. You can move in whenever you want."

His voice sounded so lonely in the moonlight, and then he was gone.

But I didn't need it anymore.

Before I left for Another land, I asked Damien's mother to keep it a secret.

And so, I disappeared without a sound.

I deleted every way he could contact me.

I erased my identity from the North American Pack Alliance registry.

I severed every mind-link to the wolves of my homeland.

I made myself a ghost, vanishing completely from his world.