His voice was unusually anxious.

“Blair, James is extremely drunk. His Alpha form is unstable—he needs someone to watch him.”

But I only replied lightly:

“If he’s drunk, let him sleep at your place.

If that doesn’t work, ask Aria whether she’s free.”

Heaven and earth knew—I said that entirely for his sake.

But the James who was supposedly too drunk to stand,

who should’ve collapsed into his beast form,

somehow managed to force himself home—

only to throw a cold face at me the moment he walked in.

He sat next to me, stiff and silent, pretending to watch TV.

That icy attitude appeared every day afterward,

right on schedule.

And yet strangely, he never once failed to come home.

Not a single day.

More than that—

for an entire week straight,

he had someone deliver 999 moon-roses to my office in the Clan Affairs building.

In the past, even a small charm from him would’ve made me rush to post a dozen updates, flaunting my joy.

But this time, no matter how often he refreshed the clan network,

he never saw even a single petal.

James seemed to have completely forgotten about “divorce” and “dissolving the bond.”

Meanwhile, I followed the clan lawyer’s advice

and simply waited quietly for the best opportunity.

“Ningning, where are you? Yes, we’re in Private Room No. 8—come quick!”

Lynn’s voice sounded through the mind-link.

I was heading to the private club to sing with her.

Walking through the dim corridor lit by moon-halo lamps,

I hadn’t yet found the right room

when someone pressed a hand on my shoulder from behind.

“Blair—how did you know I was here?”

Even in the sultry, ambiguous lighting,

the excitement and joy in James’s eyes were unmistakable.

His Alpha scent even warmed instantly upon seeing me.

“I told you I’d be back soon, didn’t I?

But since you’re here, perfect—come in and say hello.”

He practically half-dragged, half-held me into the room.

Aria was the first to come forward.

The moment she saw me, her smile faltered noticeably.

“Didn’t expect Blair-sis would come to a place like this.”

She playfully glared at James,

then swept her gaze over me with thinly veiled disdain.

“James-ge always says you’re fussy and shy.

See? I knew he was lying. Blair-sis is definitely not the silly kind of woman he described.”

In that moment,

I noticed the custom-made coat draped over her shoulders—

The exact coat I had gifted James for our anniversary last year.

Recently, I had asked him to wear it to accompany me to the Gu Family banquet.

He told me impatiently that the coat had been lost during a field mission.

All I had done was murmur, “That’s a pity.”

Yet the man acted like something in him snapped,

exploding with rage:

“It’s an ugly old coat! Of course I tossed it!

You interrogate me like a criminal!

Blair, should I take you to the healer right now and have your brain examined?

You really should fix that pig-brain of yours!”

At that moment, his Alpha suppression was unrestrained—

treating me not as a partner,

but as property.

James then dragged me toward his so-called “old friends,”

making me greet each of them one by one.

While the werewolves joked about him being “tightly controlled by his mate,”

James laughed contentedly,

his eyes glinting with the smugness only an Alpha felt

when surveying what he believed was his territory.

He stared at me—

as if I were still the little wolf cub who used to orbit around him.

When they began egging us on to sing a duet together,

Aria suddenly stepped forward and draped the coat over my shoulders.

She said sweetly,

“Blair-sis wore so little—I don’t want her to catch a cold.”

But I recognized it instantly.

The coat was the same anniversary gift I gave James.

The same one he claimed to have “lost.”

The same one I recently asked him to wear to accompany me to a banquet.

Seeing me wearing that coat—

James stiffened.

His breath hitched, even grew unsteady.

He grabbed my wrist, speaking carefully:

“On the last mission, the temperature dropped suddenly…

Aria didn’t bring anything warm…

So I… had no choice but to lend her my coat…”

I didn’t bother looking at him.

I simply continued replying to my friend’s message.

“Mhm? It’s just a coat.

Lending it to her—or even giving it away—doesn’t matter.”

And right at that moment,

Lynn sent a blurry side-profile photo with a single caption:

“Your ex-husband is here.”

I handed the microphone directly to Aria,

then turned to James and said,

“You two sing together.

I have something to attend to, so I’ll leave first.”

Before James could respond,

Aria immediately spread her arms to block my way,

her expression wavering between wanting to cry and wanting to appear virtuous.

“Blair-sis, are you still misunderstanding me and James-ge?

We’re really not what you think.”

Exactly as she intended.

When she lifted her arm,

I saw the delicate tattoo on the inside of her forearm.

A sword and a rose.

A wolf-clan shadow mark.

Sharing the same shadow mark meant shared secrets, shared scent, shared memory—

an exclusive bond between two werewolves.

Two months ago,

I had seen the exact same mark on James.

Matching the sudden panic in his eyes,

I did something no one expected.

Under the stunned gazes of every werewolf present,

I took his hand and Aria’s hand—

and interlaced their fingers together,

like a witness blessing a couple.

I smiled, my voice soft yet cutting through the air like a blade:

“True love is not a crime.

It’s the unloved one who doesn’t belong.

Choose a date soon.

Invite everyone to the wedding.”

With that, I walked out of the private room with calm composure.

James chased after me immediately,

his aura chaotic, on the brink of losing control.

I had never seen his face so pale.

“Blair, I can explain—please, just listen.”

I stared at him, genuinely puzzled.

“You and Aria seem perfectly fine.

Why do you need to explain anything to me?”

“I’m not with Aria!

Yes, we have matching tattoos, and I know how it looks—

but I swear to you, mine was just a stupid bet with Elder Yuan’s group!

It means nothing!

I can have the tattoo master remove it tomorrow!”

“Blair, after everything we’ve been through,

can’t you believe me just this once?”

Because of how frantic he was,

his voice carried a low Alpha growl—

enough to make nearby werewolves stop walking and glance over.

A flash of deep irritation passed through my eyes.

“James, don’t be so emotional.

If you have something to say, wait until I finish meeting my friends.”

Once—

the day I caught him accompanying Aria in and out of the healer’s hall, tending to her the whole time,

I had screamed at him in the lobby like a mad wolf.

And back then, James had dismissed me with the very same impatience and condescension.

Now, the tide had turned—

for the first time, I saw naked shock and hurt in his eyes.

I ignored him completely

and pushed open Room 8’s door without looking back.

The next few hours, my communication stone lit up and dimmed repeatedly.

James sent more than a dozen messages, starting with:

What time will you be home?

I’m waiting in the room next door for you to finish.

Later, he began nagging:

Don’t drink.

If you must, only one or two cups.

I prepared your allergy medicine—take it if you feel unwell.

Eventually, he called.

When I finally picked up,

his voice was so soft, it was almost unrecognizable.

“Blair… your gathering is over, right?

I’ll come pick you up.”

“I already left in my friend’s car.”

At first, James assumed I was joking.

So I switched the communication stone to speaker mode

and let the senior from my academy days—Perry, who kindly offered to drive me—

say hello to him.

James had never met Perry,

but he had heard vague rumors about our “ambiguous” past during our academy years.

Through the communication stone, I couldn’t see James’s expression—

but I could hear his rapid, uneven breathing.

The telltale sign of a high-ranking Alpha on the verge of losing emotional control.

To avoid pointless arguments,

I hung up directly.

That night,

I didn’t return to the Alpha residence.

Almost all my belongings were already packed.

I stayed at Lynn’s place

and slept better than I had in years.

The next morning.

I recharged my communication stone.

The moment it turned on, James’s call came through instantly.

Seeing dozens of missed calls from the night before,

I massaged my temples and shut the device off again.

When I stepped outside,

a silver werewolf carriage was parked at the entrance.

Perry stood beside it,

dressed in a dark ceremonial outfit embroidered with his clan’s crest—

a symbol of honor and protection.

In his arms was a bouquet of everlasting white moon-tulips—

flowers symbolizing new beginnings, eternity, and devotion.

Morning light filtered through the mist,

resting gently on his shoulders.

He lifted his gaze to me,

calm, warm, steady.

“Blair.”

He called my name softly,

as though calling someone fated to him.

“I’ve come to take you home.”