I watched in a daze as Gavin and his entourage moved on to the next party.

I could still hear him on the phone with his assistant.

“Send her home,” he said, his voice devoid of any concern.

At that moment, the past rushed back to me.

Snapping back to the present, I didn’t wait for Gavin’s response. I walked right past him and left the clubhouse.

I had delivered the Elder’s message.

Whether Gavin went or not was his choice.

I had never given him the cold shoulder before.

This was likely the first time since we were bonded.

It must have caught him off guard, because Gavin was still frozen in place as I left.

The moment I got in my car, Gavin’s call came through.

“It was just a game! What was that attitude?”

He started with a complaint.

Leaving without a word must have made him lose face as an Alpha in front of his friends and Talia.

A sharp pain shot through my heart.

So, a “game” could be that intimate.

Then what was this between us? A crueler game, orchestrated by fate?

Over the phone, I could faintly hear his friends laughing.

“When the Alpha gets home, Elowen will just be crying and begging him to mark her anyway.”

“A mate rejected by her own Alpha. It’s hilarious.”

“Shh, Gavin’s still on the phone.”

I remembered a saying: if you want to know if an Alpha loves you, look at how his pack treats you.

I had always known this. I had just chosen to ignore it.

“Come back and apologize to Talia. You made her uncomfortable,” Gavin commanded. “If you don’t, I’ll go take care of Talia tonight instead of coming home.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his familiar threat.

“Do whatever you want.”

In the past, those words would have worked on me, because I loved him.

But now? I didn’t want to live like this anymore.

After hanging up, I glanced at my phone.

Talia had posted on social media after I left.

The picture showed Gavin sitting on her bed, with Talia perched intimately on his lap, the dazzling Chicago skyline in the background.

The caption read: “He’s always by my side.”

Gavin had liked the post.

I liked it too, and left a comment: “Perfect for each other. All the best.”

I stared at the ring on my finger, the symbol of our bond.

After a moment’s hesitation, I took it off.

I had worn it for so long, but it felt more like a trap than a symbol of love.

For the first time in three years, I posted something on my own social media.

“Love yourself first to find your freedom.”

Then, I scrolled through my old posts. The last one was from our bonding ceremony.

I was smiling brightly, my eyes full of love for Gavin, completely oblivious to the impatience and disgust in his.

That night, I went to bed early.

For the first time, I didn’t call Gavin, nor did I brew the herbal tea that was meant to soothe his stress.

When we were first bonded, Gavin always used pack business as an excuse to come home late.

I used to brew his herbal tea and wait for him in the living room.

The moment I heard the door open, I would rush to greet him, hoping he would act like a real mate, gently stroke my hair, and drink the tea I had prepared for him.

Instead, Gavin would walk past me with a dark expression, scowling at the tea I’d made.

“I deal with elders and rivals all day. Do I have to come home and deal with you, too?” he once said.

His words caught me completely off guard. I never thought he would say something like that to me.

Though my heart was breaking at the time, I still managed a smile.

“I just wanted to wait for you. I thought you’d be tired from handling pack affairs.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” he snapped.

That was the first time I waited up for Gavin after we were bonded.

Back then, I thought he was just tired. Looking back now, I realize he just didn’t like me.

Even preparing a cup of tea to soothe his spirit was, in his eyes, a form of clinging.

In the middle of the night, Gavin came home.

The potent scent of an Alpha flooded the room, aggressive and demanding.

Before I could react, he was on top of me.

In the pale moonlight, I could see the fury on his face.

Before I had a chance to react, his feral kisses came crashing down, rough and direct.

“You did this on purpose, didn’t you?” he sneered, his voice thick with primal lust and anger.

“You want my child so badly you’d use the Elder to force me back here? Well, congratulations. You got what you wanted.”

Gavin’s strength was astounding, his Alpha instincts fueling his power. No matter how much I pushed, I couldn’t move him an inch.

That night, I felt like a soulless doll, forced to endure his every whim. His touches weren't caresses but brands, each one searing my skin and my pride. He forced his way inside me, not for pleasure, but to claim and to punish.

He soon broke the silence, his words laced with venom. “What, you don’t like it? Isn’t this the moment you wanted when you had the Elder summon me? Why pretend to be disgusted now?”

I buried my face in the pillow, choking back my sobs.

I regretted everything.

We had grown up together. Before the Elder declared us fated mates, Gavin had always been kind to me.

But ever since the Elder announced our destiny, he changed.

Suddenly, he wasn't the same person.

He never smiled at me again, never showed me any care, never gently stroked my hair.

He ignored the pain our bond would cause me, forcing me to drink at the pack’s banquet. He used the excuse of toasting the Elder, Elias, to make me drain the glass.

That night, Gavin had too much to drink, and Elias asked me to take him home.

The lights outside were bright, but it was dim indoors. In the shadows, I could barely make out Gavin's silhouette.

“You want to be tied to me that badly?”

When Gavin asked me that question, my heart nearly pounded out of my chest. I didn’t even notice how cold his tone was.

The next morning, I woke up sore all over.

The room was a mess, the blanket on the floor. I wasn’t even covered by a sheet, and Gavin was long gone.

Humiliation consumed me, yet I had still thrown myself at him blindly.

I had been naive enough to think that submitting to fate would bring us back to how we used to be. I never imagined he would end up hating me this much.

“Why can’t we be like other mates?” I couldn’t help but whisper.

Gavin paused, then let out a bitter laugh.

In his silence, I found all the answers I needed.

Unlike that night, this time, as I drifted off to sleep, Gavin wiped my face. The next morning when I woke up, I was covered with a blanket.

He, however, was gone.

When I went downstairs, the butler, Matteo, stopped me.

“Luna, today’s herbs are ready. What kind of calming tea would you like to prepare for the Alpha? I can help you with it.”

As an Alpha, Gavin was under immense pressure, his mood often volatile. He’d rather suffer a splitting headache than drink a tea he didn’t like.

Since we were bonded, I had always prepared his special blend of herbal tea, but he always threw it away in disgust.

To make sure he felt better, I started having his assistant deliver the tea, without telling him it was from me.

Hearing Matteo’s question, I shook my head and said, “I’m not making it anymore.”

Gavin’s words from last night echoed in my mind.

Elias had told me to bring Gavin back, but I didn’t even have a chance to explain why. So, Gavin assumed I was using the Elder to pressure him—just as he believed I had when we were bonded.

Sometimes, I couldn’t understand why the ever-rebellious Gavin had suddenly agreed to our bonding.

My parents told me that Gavin was the heir to the Blackfang Pack; he couldn’t defy Elder Elias’s will.

Elias chose me, so he had to accept me.

Just then, a notification on my phone pulled me from my thoughts.

My lawyer had sent me the “Bond Severance Agreement” I had requested.

This bond should have been severed long ago.