Chapter 4

Late that night, I overheard Sarah whispering into her phone:

"Of course not. Moonstones get shattered in the hunting grounds all the time. Who would ever suspect me?"

*So it was true... My Moonstone didn't crack by accident...*

"Emily was delightfully pathetic," Sarah sneered softly into the receiver. "All I had to say was, 'I smell rogues nearby, I'm so terrified,' and she shoved both her Moonstone and her talisman into my hands. I paid Kevin a fortune to ambush her along that trail. Who knew she'd hand over her only lifelines beforehand? Without the Moonstone, she couldn't summon her wolf's strength. Without the Ancestral Fang, Kevin's rogues tore into her without fear. Every penny I spent on that contract was worth it."

Muffled chuckles sounded from the other end of the line.

Meanwhile, Michael called my phone over a dozen times. Every call went straight to voicemail.

Frustrated, he typed out a series of text messages.

[I picked five different suit styles for our mating ceremony. If you don't come home right now, I'm picking the ugliest one for you.]

Silence.

[Emily, I know everything you did to Sarah. That's why I ignored you lately. What you did went way too far. But... I thought about it for a long time. I do love you. I'm doing my best to make things right with Sarah on your behalf, but you're my only fated mate. Whatever mistakes you made were just childish jealousy. I'm willing to help you change. Text me back when you see this, Emily. I'm waiting for you to pick our mating clothes.]

He had no idea I was standing right beside him. A bitter, broken smile touched my lips.

*Michael. We knew each other for ten whole years. Weren't ten years enough for you to know who I really was? Why did it only take a few poisoned words from an outsider for you to completely write me off?*

Michael stayed awake past three in the morning, his eyes glued to our chat window. In the past, I had never taken longer than ten minutes to reply. Now, hours had passed with total silence.

"Michael?" Sarah's soft voice sounded as Michael threw on his heavy winter coat, ready to walk out into the night.

"Emily wouldn't leave me on read this long," he muttered, grabbing his keys. "I'm worried something really happened to her. I'm going to find Beta Wilson and Jessica."

"Wait!" Sarah grabbed his arm, her face twisting with troubled hesitation. "Actually..." She sighed and let her hand fall away. "Never mind. Just go."

"What is it?" Michael frowned.

"It's nothing..."

"Is it about Emily?"

"Really, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Sarah, tell me!"

After another breath of feigned reluctance, Sarah bit her lip and sighed softly.

"You're losing sleep worrying over her, while she's spending the night with her ex."

She unlocked her phone, revealing a photo of Kevin and me standing under pale moonlight. The angle was cleverly chosen—it looked like a secret lovers' rendezvous.

In reality, that was the night I dumped him. He had cornered me in an alley, threatening to butcher my family if I revealed his rogue identity, and I had nodded frantically in terror. But through this framing, it looked like a treasonous meeting between two conspirators.

The veins along Michael's neck bulged with sudden fury. Sarah pulled her phone back immediately.

"I wouldn't have shown you if you hadn't pushed... She's still a girl, after all. Even though she did terrible things to me, I didn't want to expose her..."

Michael walked back to his bedroom with white-knuckled fists, his eyes burning with hurt and rage.

He pulled up my chat window and typed out one final, freezing sentence:

[I reject you as my fated mate.]

Standing just inches away from him, I clenched my phantom fists and whispered, "Fine."