Chapter 4

"Answer me!" He grabbed my shoulders, his grip bruising. Ember snarled in my mind, urging me to rip away from him.

"Did you ever actually love me? Or do you only care about my bloodline? As long as he's an Alpha, would any man do?!"

I looked at the unhinged man standing before me.

Something inside me crumbled into dust.

I stopped struggling. I just let the tears fall freely.

"Ethan," I whispered, my voice completely cracked. "You never trusted me. Not once."

I shoved him off me with every ounce of Ember's strength. He stumbled back a step, staring at me in shock.

I took a deep, steady breath, invoking the sacred words of our kind:

"I, Sophia Miller, of the Timber Ridge Pack, reject you, Alpha Ethan Hayes, as my Fated Mate."

The second the words left my lips, the mate bond inside me snapped.

Agony ripped through every fiber of my being. It felt like ten thousand silver needles piercing my flesh, like invisible claws tearing open my chest. My knees buckled, but I refused to hit the floor.

Ethan froze.

The backlash of the severed bond hit him like a freight train, ripping through his chest. As a high-ranking Alpha, the rejection hit him twice as hard. His face went ghastly pale in an instant. But he gritted his teeth, refusing to make a sound.

I turned on my heel and walked out of his house, one agonizing step at a time.

He never chased after me.

The next day, I packed my things and moved out of Timber Ridge.

Ethan made no effort to stop me. Not a single text, not a single call.

As I packed, he stood in the middle of the living room, watching in silence as I loaded box after box. From start to finish, he didn't utter a word.

When I wheeled my suitcase out past the Timber Ridge territory gates, the sun was shining brightly. I stood by the entrance waiting for my Uber, the warm rays pouring over me.

Yet I couldn't feel a drop of warmth.

The mate bond was dead. The channel that once linked my soul to his was reduced to hollow, smoking ruins.

*Beep. Beep. Beep.*

The morning alarm went off.

I took a deep breath and sat up in bed.

I washed up and headed downstairs for breakfast. The housekeeper had already laid it out: toast, fried eggs, hot coffee, and a bowl of cereal for Liam. Next was dropping Liam off at the pack academy, then heading over to the library.

I now worked at the Silver Creek Pack library. Alexander knew I had experience with it and kept the position specifically for me. Calling it a job was generous; it was mostly just reading, shelving books, and passing the time. A Luna never had to work to survive.

Holding a cup of Starbucks, I walked toward the central square of the pack.

My boots froze on the pavement.

Parked right at the entrance of the square was a sleek black SUV.

Ethan was leaning against the driver's side door in a tailored black suit, smoking a cigarette.

The moment he spotted me, he crushed the cigarette butt and straightened up.

Passing members of the Silver Creek Pack cast curious glances his way. An outside Alpha showing up on our territory was bound to draw attention.

I tightened my grip on the coffee cup, forced my eyes away, and tried to walk straight past him.

"Sophia."

He called my name.

I ignored him and picked up my pace.

With a few long strides, he cut me off, blocking my path.

"We need to talk."

"We have nothing to talk about, Ethan."

I looked at him, my expression completely blank.

He stared hard into my eyes, silent for a long moment.

"When you left back then... did you hide something from me?"

My heart seized. The coffee in my cup sloshed, nearly spilling over the lid. But my face remained stone cold.

"No."

"Really?" He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Then that child at the bakery yesterday..."