Chapter 4

After that pack-wide announcement, I locked myself in the medical center for three whole days.

Aside from changing my own dressings, I spent my time organizing the documents I needed to take with me.

My left arm still ached, but I had learned to pack with one hand.

Bang.

The door was thrown open. A cloying scent of roses flooded the room, followed by the distinct, cold aura of an Alpha.

Slade walked in, with Rosalind clinging tightly to his arm.

She wore a pure white, high-end cashmere coat, and the black diamond ring on her finger glittered with a greedy light that nearly blinded me.

"Eloise," Slade frowned, his eyes landing on my sling with a hint of annoyance. "What happened to you? Did you fall down the stairs or something? You really are clumsy, always getting yourself hurt."

"Thanks to your Alpha," I said, my voice hoarse as I leaned against the bed. "The pack won't have to pay for my funeral expenses just yet."

Slade's brow furrowed, he clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Don't be morbid, it spoils your pretty face."

Rosalind let go of Slade and walked to my bedside.

"Oh, don't say that," she feigned concern, but her eyes were cold. "Humans are just so fragile. They break at the slightest touch. It really is a burden to have such weak creatures in a pack of warriors."

She always found a way to emphasize my human status, and always with such perfect, cutting timing.

"However," her gaze suddenly locked onto my collarbone, where a small moonstone charm glowed with a soft blue light.

He had given it to me ten years ago, not long after I first came to the pack. I was having nightmares every night after losing my mother and being thrown into a completely new world.

To soothe my nightmares, he had fastened it around my neck himself. "Wear this, Eloise," he'd said. "It carries my scent. No nightmare will dare come near you."

It was the first gift he ever gave me. A secret vow between us.

In ten years, I had never taken it off.

"Slade, this is so... cheap. This is the future Alpha's domain. Why is there a chipped stone reeking of low-level witchcraft here? Its energy feels like it will interfere with mine as the Luna."

Slade's body tensed for a moment, but he said nothing.

I instinctively raised a hand, my fingers closing around the warm stone. "This is my personal property."

"Eloise," Slade sighed, stepping forward, "Why are you so attached to that junk? I can buy you diamonds, pearls, whatever you want."

"Come on, let me see it," he murmured, reaching out.

That large, warm hand, which had caressed my cheek countless times, was now reaching for my neck.

He grabbed the moonstone and yanked.

A sharp pain shot through my neck as the leather cord bit into my flesh, leaving an instant red line.

The necklace broke.

"Slade!" I cried out, ignoring the pain, reaching for it.

But he stepped back, holding the stone up to the light and chuckling.

"It really is just a pebble. You're so sentimental, sweetheart."

Rosalind wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Destroy it, darling. It has a scent on it I don't like."

Slade looked at the stone in his hand. Then, right in front of me, his fingers closed.

I thought I heard the stone shatter.

An Alpha's strength could pulverize it in an instant.

When he opened his hand again, all that was left was a pile of shimmering white powder.

He let the white powder sift through his fingers, scattering onto the floor to mix with the dust.

"There," he smiled, dusting off his hands as if he had just done me a favor. "Now I can buy you something much nicer. A fair trade, don't you think?"

Just like our past, it could never be put back together.

Rosalind smiled with satisfaction. She walked over and stood on her toes to kiss his jaw.

"That's more like it. That's my Alpha."

Slade emotionlessly dusted the powder from his hands, his brow furrowed as he glanced at my empty, blood-streaked neck.

But he turned his head to speak to Rosalind. "Are you happy now, Rosalind?"

"Now, everything at my side belongs to you."

Watching them leave, I knelt and stared at the dust on the floor.

Two days left.

"Since you want such a clean break," I murmured, drawing a cross through the number, "then I'll grant your wish."