Chapter 6

I turned around to see Chloe, decked out in designer outdoor gear but teetering on a pair of ridiculously inappropriate high-heeled hiking boots.

She pinched her nose, her eyes sweeping over me and my colleagues with disgust.

"The Alpha told me you'd run off. I was wondering where you'd disappeared to. Turns out you're back to slumming it with these filthy, lowly Omegas."

With Logan not around, she quickly dropped her pretense. The sliver of respect she once showed me was now completely gone.

My face hardened.

We had just returned from the swamp and were covered in mud, but this mud felt nobler than her perfumed vulgarity.

"What rock did you crawl out from under, Chloe? You reek of something rotten."

Chloe's face flushed red. Just as she was about to lash out, a tall, imposing figure stepped out of the SUV behind her.

"What's going on?"

Hearing that familiar voice, Chloe's eyes immediately welled up. Her body went limp as she leaned against the man, her voice was so pitiful, thick with false sorrow.

"Alpha, it's nothing... I was just worried about the Luna, being gone so long. I didn't expect her to prefer hanging out with... these types... instead of coming home. I couldn't help but say something to persuade her."

"Who knew the Luna would misunderstand and start cursing at me..."

Logan turned his head. Seeing me covered in mud, his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

"Sienna."

He sighed and strode closer. "How did you let yourself get this filthy? I know you're mad at me, but you don't have to punish me by degrading yourself like this."

He reached out, trying to smooth my messy bangs, his touch as gentle as ever.

"Look at your hands, they're all rough. Chloe was just looking out for you. How could you be so ungrateful and curse at her?"

"Hurry up and apologize to Chloe, then come home with me. I've prepared a new bath oil for you. Stop this nonsense, be good."

I turned my head, avoiding his touch, and turned to call my colleagues. "Let's go."

A young female researcher from another pack leaned in and whispered, "Sienna, who is this super hot guy? He seems really into you."

I let out a cold laugh, my voice just loud enough for him to hear. "Just a lying ex, that's all."

The colleagues who knew Logan didn't dare to speak or move. The air grew heavy and grim.

Logan's Alpha dominance was about to erupt. He took a few steps forward, blocking my path. "Sienna, how could you say something so hurtful?"

"You followed me out to the reserve and put on this whole dramatic act just to get a reaction from me, didn't you? Fine. You got what you wanted. Are you satisfied now?"

"If you keep neglecting your health, are you trying to force my hand into cutting off your medical funds?"

He stared at me, certain that I would panic at the thought of losing my treatment and come crying back to him, just as I always had.

However, I just looked at him with weariness, as if watching a clown.

"Go ahead and stop them," I said coolly. "Logan, isn't your so-called 'deep love' and 'doing what's best for me' just a cycle of taking things away from me?"

"If you want to stop them, then stop them. You don't need to find an excuse."

My look of disgust and indifference must have stung him.

The panic of losing control made him flustered.

He didn't even notice the color draining from Chloe's face behind him, her expression one of utter terror.

"Fine, Sienna. If you insist on forcing my hand."

"If I don't teach you a lesson, you'll never learn how to be an obedient Luna."

He made a snap decision, his voice echoing over the mind-link to the pack's chief healer.

"Dr. Green, suspend all of Sienna's wolf-spirit intervention treatments."

"She's been too willful this time. She must understand that without my protection, she is nothing."

"Cut off her medication for now. When she finally comes to her senses and returns home, we'll resume it."

He kept his eyes on me as he spoke, waiting for my repentance.

However, no meek agreement came from the other end of the link.

Only silence answered him.

A few seconds later, the healer's trembling voice blasted through the mind-link, exploding in Logan's head and draining the color from his face:

"Alpha... what are you talking about?"

"The Luna's treatment... it failed last month. Her wolf has been completely extinguished."

"Alpha, there's no medicine in this world that can save a dead wolf. Didn't... didn't you know?"

The expression on Logan's face instantly froze.

He opened his mouth, muttering in disbelief, "How is that possible?"