I get down from the bus on my way to the small apartment I have rented online.Guards tail me from a distance but I'm not afraid because they’re mine. I asked them to tail me.They can keep the reporters away, since that’s the only thing Ulric seems to care about. I feel my anger rise now at the mere thought of it.How dare he!How dare he take the fragments of my heart and dash it into even more miserable pieces by raising his batshit voice at me! I could have ruined him today!I…. I could have told the whole world that my husband is a horrible man, and he’s a bastard who hit a woman for taking a picture of him, a woman who was hired by his betrayal of a mistress by the way.I open the door to the rundown complex of apartments and take the stairs up. I only have my duffel bag with me, I changed into jeans and a shirt on my way here, and I got myself a face cap from an elderly woman selling some by the roadside.The thoughts I try to keep at the surface, those thoughts tell me that fo

Caelum’s pov.I tug on my tie as I pick up my phone and ask,“What’s she been up to lately?”Ragnar growls lowly in my mind from the irritation of knowing our mate is the one being spoken of but the annoyance in me makes him calm down soon enough.The darned wolf has been nagging at me all day.“There’s still no sign of her Master Maximoff. My sources say she left the Highrise mansion before noon two days ago.”Right as they arrived from the conference then.I feel something hot running through my blood at the thought of her, and the need to do something with my hands, anything at all with them, overcomes me.I imagine digging them into her hair again and a low husk of a sound leaves my lips.“Mr Maxim?”I cut the call and groan because what the hell!What, the actual hell?~It’s the mate bond dummy.~I snarl back a response at my wolf, “Of course I know it’s the mate bond.”~Then go find your mate.~I can hear the impatience in Ragnar’s tone and in my mind’s eye he gives me a look he

“I was only messing with her.”Alora’s voice is low and meek, but maybe that’s just because I'm outside the room and plastering my ear to the door. Regardless of that, I should be able to hear what’s going on inside the room. I am a werewolf.Alora and Caelum’s voices die out almost immediately after that and I let out a low groan because, why? Why did I let him in there to speak with her alone?I mean it was obvious they knew each other, or rather he knew who she was, and if he knew who she was then she probably knew who he was too.Otsana chuckles in my head and I shoot her a glare because I'm rambling now, and I'm overreacting, and she’s finding it funny.Caelum could know Alora for any number of reasons. Maybe she was secretly working for him too and she didn’t tell me that.I feel a swear word line my lips at the thought of that but I push it down. This is all paranoia, and I can't be paranoid, not now.They’re just in there, two adults, having a normal conversation.I walk back

“Excuse me?”The bartender dude gives me a look, trailing his eyes slowly from my waist before stopping at my face with a hard, unwelcoming expression. His reply is cold and frigid, “I said no drinks for you here. If you want to get drunk, go somewhere else.”A dull flame of self-righteous anger lights up in my chest because that’s not even what I’m here for! How dare he assume I'm here to drink?“Do you even know who I am? Why the hell would you think I'm here to drink?”The bartender chuckles and the side of his lips go up in a smile that has no humor showing on his face, “Maybe it’s because the last time you were here you were rude and you got so drunk I had to call the owner of the bar on you.”My retort hangs in my throat because he’s right about that, but still.“I am a woman who knows how to handle herself, it was your choice to call him, not mine. I still had time left, you could have just sold me the drinks y’know.”He nods to that, the sides of his mouth curving downwards

~Well…~I scoff.Otsana makes a sound in my head that translates into a whiny complaint and I retort back.“We’d be falling for his trap!I’m sure Caelum ordered him to tell us that. They just want to make fun of me.”I can hear myself and I know it is the paranoid me speaking but I can't help it.I am not just any woman. I am a Luna. Luna Sophia.I am strong. I am disciplined. I am not some wimp who’ll go chasing after a man because he’s her mate and he’s in a club. He can spend the night there for all I care.That itch comes again and this time I scratch it.Mercilessly, almost screaming even as I let out low animalistic grunts but the itch doesn’t dissipate.It feels like something’s on my insides.Something’s in my heart that’s itching and yelling at me furiously to scratch it.Otsana is silent.I’m left to my own devices and for the whole of thirty minutes, I do the most spontaneous things I have done in a while now.I take a walk to a closed-off park. Opening hours are from 7