Ferocious growls erupted around me, echoing from every direction. Though the blindfold stole my sight, I could sense the wolves moving in a tightening circle, each step bringing them closer until I could almost feel their breath against my skin.

“Rowan!” I cried out, panic rising in my throat. “Please, help me!”

“Stop!” he roared, his voice raw with desperation. “I said stop! I'll make my choice!”

The wolves hesitated for only a heartbeat before creeping closer again. Sharp claws grazed my calf, sending a shiver of terror through me.

Darius chuckled. “Well, Alpha? Who will it be? Her... or the mother carrying your children?”

My chest tightened painfully.

For one foolish moment, I waited.

Despite everything that had happened, I still hoped.

“I...” Rowan began, his voice strained.

Before he could continue, Celeste broke into sobs. “Rowan... please save me. Our babies... I can't lose them. I don't want to die.”

An eerie silence settled over the clearing. Even the wolves seemed to stop moving as they waited for his answer.

Then he spoke.

“Celeste.”

Just her name.

Nothing more.

That single word quietly shattered the last piece of my heart.

The wolves attacked.

Their teeth sank into my flesh while claws ripped across my body. They dragged me across the ground, tossing me around like prey instead of a person. My screams echoed until my voice gave out, yet they showed no mercy. They would pull me away only to throw me back into the pack again, repeating the torture until I lost all sense of time.

By the time they finally dragged me out for the last time, I couldn't even lift my head. Every breath felt like it was tearing through my lungs.

“Are you trying to kill her?” Rowan shouted, fury and panic blending together. “She won't survive this!”

Darius only smiled. “Don't glare at me, Alpha. You're the one who made the decision.”

I collapsed onto the ground, my body so heavy and numb it no longer felt like it belonged to me.

“Now for the second game,” Darius announced casually. “Let's make things a little more entertaining.”

A harsh scraping sound followed as something metallic was dragged across the ground.

“A silver whip,” he said. “Ninety-nine lashes. So tell me, Alpha Ashcroft... who's taking them this time?”

Rowan remained silent for several long seconds. I could hear the uneven rhythm of his breathing while I struggled to draw air into my burning lungs. Blood filled my mouth when I coughed, and violent tremors ran through my battered body.

So this is how it ends...

Finally, he answered.

“Celeste.”

Celeste burst into tears, clutching her chest as though she'd narrowly escaped death. “Lillian has already suffered enough,” she sobbed. “I never wanted any of this to happen. I swear I didn't.”

I never looked at her.

My eyes searched only for Rowan.

“Why?” I whispered, barely able to form the word. “Why is it always her? Just tell me once, Rowan. Tell me why.”

He never replied.

The silver whip cracked through the air before slamming across my back. A blinding wave of pain shot through my body, forcing a cry from my lips. My fingers clawed desperately at the rocky ground, sharp stones slicing into my palms until blood stained the dirt beneath them.

“One!”

The second lash followed immediately.

“Two!”

I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood, but another cry escaped anyway.

“Three!”

Each strike felt worse than the last, peeling away my strength little by little until all I could do was endure.

“Rowan...” I gasped between ragged breaths. “Does watching this hurt you at all? Or have I become nothing to you?”

Only silence answered me.

By the time the count passed fifty, my thoughts were slipping away. Blood streamed down my back and soaked my clothes while my vision blurred until the world became little more than shifting shadows.

“Fifty-five!”

My knees buckled beneath me.

“Stop!” Rowan suddenly shouted. “That's enough! Can't you see she's dying? Stop whipping her!”

The chains restraining him rattled violently before snapping apart. I heard him rush toward me, and for one fragile instant I truly believed he had chosen me at last.

Then Celeste screamed.

“Rowan! My stomach!” she cried in terror. “Something's wrong! It hurts... I think I'm losing the babies. Please... help me.”

Everything stopped.

Even without seeing him, I felt the hesitation.

Then I heard his footsteps change direction.

“Celeste,” he said anxiously as he caught her. “Talk to me. Where does it hurt? Stay with me. I'm here.”

A weak laugh escaped my lips.

So this was the answer.

Another lash struck my back, forcing blood from my mouth as I coughed violently.

“Lillian!” Rowan called my name, but his voice already sounded impossibly distant.

Darius laughed with cruel amusement. “This just keeps getting better. My medical team is standing by, Alpha, but they can only save one person. Think carefully. Are you choosing her again... or will you finally make a different decision?”

The whipping continued. Blow after blow landed until the ringing in my ears drowned out everything else. I forced my swollen eyes open just enough to make out Rowan speaking to Darius. Their mouths moved, but I could no longer hear the conversation. A moment later, Darius gave a slow nod.

Without another word, Rowan gathered Celeste into his arms. He held her close against his chest, turned around, and walked away without looking back even once.

A bitter laugh slipped from my lips.

“So... this is how it ends.”

Somehow, the ninety-nine lashes hurt less than watching him leave me behind.

The setting sun painted the sky a deep crimson, as though the heavens themselves were bleeding alongside me. A white seabird fluttered down and landed beside me, its spotless feathers quickly soaking up the blood that covered my body until they turned scarlet.

“Rowan...” I whispered through trembling breaths. “You told me fate brought us together. You said our bond could never be broken. Were those promises meaningless from the very beginning?”

Every breath burned, and every heartbeat sent fresh pain through my body.

“If there's another life waiting for me... I hope I never fall in love with you again.”

The last of my strength slipped away, and darkness quietly closed over me.

I had no idea how much time had passed before I regained consciousness. The first things I heard were the wail of sirens, frantic voices shouting over one another, and strangers rushing around me. They told me I was fortunate. They said I'd survived.

Lucky?

I couldn't bring myself to believe that.

The hospital staff cleaned and treated my injuries, insisting that I stay for further observation, but I refused. There was nothing left there for me. As soon as they discharged me, I returned alone to the glass house.

It had once been the place Rowan built with me in mind. Every room, every piece of furniture, every tiny detail had been chosen because he wanted to make me happy. Now, it felt like I was walking through someone else's home.

Celeste had only lived there for two months, yet her presence had swallowed everything.

Her perfume lingered in every hallway. Her clothes occupied closets that had once been mine. Her belongings were scattered throughout the house as though I had never existed.

When I stepped into my dressing room, it was in complete disarray. My music room had been taken over as well, filled with her things until there was almost no trace of me left.

Then my eyes landed on a wooden carving lying crooked on the floor.

I had carved it by hand and given it to Rowan years ago. Back then, he'd held it as though it were the most precious gift he'd ever received.

I stood there staring at it for a long while.

Had those tears in his eyes been genuine...

Or had they been another performance?

Outside, darkness had already swallowed the sky. An entire day and night had passed since everything happened, and Rowan still hadn't returned.

Of course he hadn't.

He was with her.

A faint smile tugged at my lips, though it carried no warmth.

I wiped the dried blood from the corner of my mouth before taking several prepared documents from my bag. Quietly, I slipped them into the mailbox standing outside the glass house.

The first envelope contained the laboratory report about the bouquet Celeste had given me.

My fingers trembled as I unfolded the pages.

Every line made the ache in my chest grow heavier.

The flowers hadn't been harmless after all.

Someone had hidden powerful intoxicating herbs among them.

Those scents were what had driven the rogue wolf and the shadow lynx into a frenzy.

It had never been an accident.

Someone had planned everything from the beginning.

Yet Rowan never questioned what happened.

He never investigated.

He never even wondered why the beasts had suddenly targeted me.

He simply accepted it while I nearly died.

My grip tightened around the second document until the paper crumpled beneath my fingers.

It was my medical report.

The words blurred before my eyes.

Miscarriage.

Our child was gone.

Because once again...

He had chosen Celeste.

Just as he had on the day I was thrown into the rogues' pit.

Just as he had while I endured the silver whip and she watched from safety.

For the second time, his decision had cost our unborn child its life.

The final item rested silently in my palm.

A broken diamond ring.

Five years ago, Rowan had traveled all the way to Africa to find that diamond himself. He'd proudly told me he'd spent months waiting for it to be polished because nothing less than perfection was worthy of me.

He had called it proof of his devotion.

A promise that I would forever be the only woman in his heart.

Now it was nothing more than shattered glass and broken promises.

I let out a bitter laugh that barely sounded like my own.

“So it was you all along, Rowan.”

The deep thrum of helicopter blades suddenly echoed overhead.

I looked up and saw a familiar figure leaning out from the open cabin.

“Aren't you coming?” Alaric called down.

Instead of answering immediately, I forced a small smile despite the ache crushing my chest.

“Do you happen to have a lighter?”

He gave a short whistle before tossing down a box of matches.

“Closest thing I've got.”

“That'll do.”

I caught it with trembling hands.

Every step toward the glass house felt heavier than the last. My wounded legs protested with each movement, while memories crowded my mind from every corner of the place.

Once, these walls had echoed with laughter.

They had held music, warmth, and dreams of a future together.

Tonight, they would hold only fire.

I remembered Rowan's gentle hands.

His quiet smiles.

The nights I believed I had found a love blessed by fate itself.

The memories squeezed painfully around my heart, but they no longer had the power to stop me.

I struck a match.

Before letting it fall, I lifted my free hand to the mating mark on my neck.

Even touching it sent unbearable pain racing through my body.

Gritting my teeth, I whispered into the stillness surrounding the house.

“I am Luna Lillian Brightman.”

“My bond with you ends today, Alpha Rowan Ashcroft.”

“I reject you.”

“You are no longer my mate.”

The rejection tore through me like lightning.

Agony surged through every vein as though something inside me was being ripped apart by force.

My knees nearly gave way.

I clutched my neck, feeling the bond fight to remain intact before it finally began to break.

It screamed through my mind.

My body convulsed violently.

Blood mixed with tears as they ran down my face, yet I refused to let go.

Not this time.

Never again.

With the last of my strength, I flicked the burning match toward the glass house.

The flames caught almost instantly.

Within seconds they raced across the walls, devouring everything in their path. Glass shattered in deafening bursts, the roof began collapsing, and room after room disappeared beneath waves of fire.

The home where I'd once laughed...

The place where I'd believed every promise Rowan whispered...

Everything was consumed by the blaze.

Smoke curled into the night sky, carrying away every memory I no longer wanted to keep.

Behind me, Alaric spoke quietly.

“Are you alright, Lillian?”

I gave a slow nod.

The words barely escaped my lips.

“I will be.”

“I'm finally free.”

He said nothing else.

He understood there was nothing left to say.

I turned for one final look at the burning glass house.

The emptiness inside me remained.

So did the grief.

But beneath them...

There was also relief.

Without another glance back, I walked toward the helicopter.

The rotors whipped my hair into the air as I climbed aboard. As the aircraft lifted from the ground, the burning house grew smaller and smaller beneath us, its flames becoming nothing more than distant light against the darkness.

“This is goodbye, Rowan,” I murmured to the wind. “Goodbye to every promise you ever made.”

The helicopter carried me farther across the night, leaving the fire, the lies, and the man who had once been my entire world behind.

This time, I didn't look back.

I was gone.