Chapter 4

Before the words had even left his lips, he slammed the brakes, the tires screeching against the desolate road.

Using his pheromones to suppress me, he dragged me out of the car at the edge of the dark forest, just two kilometers from home.

“Reflect on your attitude,” his golden eyes glinted coldly under the moonlight. “An Omega shouldn’t talk back to her Alpha.”

He went home first, gently coaxed Emily to sleep, and then waited with confidence—waiting for me to come back and admit my fault, as I always had.

The mate bond convinced him I would eventually surrender to instinct and return to his side.

But that night, he sat alone in the living room until dawn, tense at every sound outside the door. I never appeared.

The next day, right after finishing my patrol, I received a message sent from Jeff’s number, asking me to deliver painkillers to Emily. The location: the most prestigious hunting restaurant in the werewolf district.

I hadn’t wanted to go. But when I remembered how he had once helped my family during its darkest hour, I told myself it was a debt to repay—after that, we’d be even.

When I arrived at the private room with the medicine, laughter and chatter drifted through the door.

“Emily, are you moving back to the Eastern Pack for Jeff? When’s the mate ceremony?”

Emily giggled sweetly. “Depends on Jeff. I’ll do whatever he wants.” She deliberately released her pheromones, jasmine-scented temptation filling the air.

Jeff sat in silence, neither denying nor correcting her.

When I pushed open the door, I saw him tenderly feeding her a dish. The entire table of wolves jeered and teased them like a perfect couple.

Our eyes met. His face darkened instantly. “Tess, are you following me?!”

That single sentence revealed everything. The message had never been from him—it was Emily. But none of that mattered anymore.

I tossed the box of medicine onto the table without a word. “Didn’t you want these? Forgot already?” Then I turned and left.

Jeff froze. In the past, I would have stormed in, staking my claim, releasing my pheromones to prove my ownership. Now I neither fought nor argued. That, somehow, unsettled him more.

As I waited for the elevator, my phone rang. It was an elder.

“Tess, your transfer to the Western Pack has been approved. You can book your flight now.”

“Got it. I’ll book today,” I replied.

The moment I hung up, Jeff’s voice sounded behind me, hesitant. “Book what?” He’d clearly overheard.

Without turning, I lied casually, “Dinner with a client. Booking a private room.”

He followed me into the elevator in silence, insisting on driving me home. But as soon as we arrived downstairs, his phone rang.

Emily’s tearful voice spilled from the speaker. “Jeff, my pheromones are out of control again… Can you come back and stay with me?”

Without sparing me a glance, he turned back toward the elevator, speaking softly to her in reassurance.

When I got home, I began quietly packing my things, gathering the keepsakes of our so-called bond.

My fingers brushed over the cold silver wolf-head badge, the pair of deer-bone hairpins he had carved for me himself. My heart was calm, utterly free of waves.

The sharp ring of my phone split the silence. Jeff’s name flashed across the screen—his rare, unprecedented “concern.”

“Weren’t we supposed to take wedding photos today?” His voice dripped with displeasure, as though I had wronged him. “Why didn’t you remind me?”

From engagement to wedding, I had handled every single detail. He’d never cared. Now somehow, I was the one at fault.

Folding my clothes absentmindedly, I answered, “Since you’re busy taking care of Emily, we can postpone until after the honeymoon.”

That single sentence ignited his fury. “Tess!” he roared over the phone. “Do you know how valuable my time is? Who gave you the right to decide without me?!”

“If this continues—the mate ceremony will just be canceled!” he snapped before slamming the call down.

Pain stabbed through my chest. The boy who once stood beneath the full moon, vowing in his still-awkward voice to make me the happiest Luna in the pack—was gone forever.

I stood, took down every photo of us from the shelf, and tossed them into the trash without hesitation. In those pictures, our wolf forms leaned close, affectionate and tender. Now they felt only glaring, bitterly ironic.

Late that night, the sound of stumbling steps echoed at the entrance. Jeff half-carried a drunken Emily inside, her body draped over his as she giggled foolishly.

He immediately noticed the unnatural emptiness of the house. Already irritable from tending to Emily, his pheromones turned heavy, oppressive, brimming with aggression.

“Tess!” he barked, eyes sharp as blades as they swept the room. “What game are you playing this time?”

I looked up from folding the last piece of clothing, meeting his furious gaze with utter calm.

“The house was too messy. I’m cleaning it up.”