While David was busy tending to his beloved Sarah's wounds, I hastily treated my own before continuing to pack my things.

I first needed to take down the oil painting hanging in the center of the bedroom. It was the one of me and David.

I had commissioned it in a moment of joy when David agreed to be my mate.

But the David in the painting was much softer than the real one. Back then, he had sat before the easel, visibly impatient and eager to leave. Ultimately, he couldn't even be bothered to wait until it was finished, so he simply turned and walked away.

The painting had only been completed based on my descriptions and the artist's faint impressions.

David had never liked it. He frowned at it daily, telling me to take it down.

Later, when he stopped coming into this bedroom altogether, he no longer cared enough to say anything about it.

"You loved that painting, didn't you? Why are you taking it down now?"

I hadn't noticed when he arrived, but there he was, leaning against the doorframe, watching me with narrowed eyes. "What game are you playing this time?"

He sneered, but his expression turned ice-cold when he saw the packed luggage. "Are you really moving out?"

I ignored him, silently stepping in his way to block him from entering the bedroom.

But he shoved past me and pushed me down onto the bed. The anger on his face was unmistakable, as if he could no longer tolerate my uncharacteristic behavior. "Didn't I tell you that acting cold doesn't work on me?

"Oh, I get it now. You're throwing a tantrum because I haven't touched you in a long time, huh? Fine. I'll satisfy you."

He sneered, reaching to tear at my clothes as his lips moved toward my neck.

Disgusted, I could no longer hold back my fury. I slapped him hard across the face. "Get off me! Go find some other woman. I find you disgusting!"

He froze for a moment, then wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his smile full of scorn. "Go ahead and keep this up. The one who'll regret it in the end is you."

He slammed the door on his way out.

Not long after I finished packing, I heard the all-too-familiar sounds coming from the next room—David's heavy breathing mixed with a woman's moans.

It was David and Sarah.

"Come on, babe. Be louder. Let everyone in this castle hear how good I make you feel." David's voice was low and thick with pleasure.

As soon as he finished speaking, the bedframe began to shake violently, and Sarah's moans echoed throughout the castle.

They hadn't even bothered to close the door.

When David saw me standing outside, he smirked, lifting himself off of Sarah, who was flushed red and gasping beneath him. He pressed her back into the sheets.

"What are you looking at? Do you want to join in?"

His grin was a provocation, silently daring me to regret my choice.

The old me would have broken down, screaming and crying, tearing at them to separate them. But now, I felt nothing but revulsion. I simply looked away.

David, however, was enraged by my indifference. He grabbed the vase from the nightstand and hurled it at me. "Get out! Stop interrupting us!"

I still felt nothing as the vase shattered against my head.

Blood trickled down my forehead, dripping onto the floor.

He briefly hesitated, but Sarah wrapped her arms around his neck before he could react and whined. "David, focus on me. Didn't you say that Evelyn was too boring, and that's why you dragged me into bed with you?

"If you get distracted again, I will stop."

She traced her tongue along his lips, and he sank into her embrace once again.

He chose her over me yet again.

I felt lightheaded. I wiped at the blood on my forehead. But no matter how much I wiped, I couldn't seem to clean it away.

Nevertheless, it didn't matter.

This would be the last time I ever let myself be humiliated and hurt because of him.

I picked up my suitcase, steadied myself against the wall, and slowly left the castle.

It wasn't until David had spent himself in Sarah's arms that his mind finally cleared. He called for a maid.

"Where's Evelyn? Has she calmed down yet?

"Tell her that if she comes in and bows her head, I can pretend that none of this ever happened."

The maid hesitated. "Alpha David… Mrs. Jones left while you and Ms. Lloyd were… occupied."

"What?" His expression darkened as he shoved Sarah aside.

He urgently asked, "Where did she go?"

"Alpha David, I-I don't know either. When I asked her, Mrs. Jones just smiled quietly," the maid answered, her expression troubled.

But David let out a breath of relief and smirked. "It looks like she's just throwing a tantrum this time.

"Don't worry about her. Where else could she go without me? She's probably hiding out in that shabby little wooden cabin, waiting for me to come and coax her.

"Let her wait a little longer. Otherwise, she'll think that I can't live without her."

Lying undressed on the bed, Sarah swayed her hips and pressed herself against David again.

"Exactly! David, you're so perfect and charming. There are plenty of female werewolves who adore you! Why can't Evelyn appreciate what she has? She always gets upset over the most trivial things.

"Is a mate who throws fits all the time really suited to be your Luna?"

She glanced up at David, trying to gauge his reaction.

But he looked distracted, completely missing the implication in her words.

Indeed, I used to throw tantrums all the time. Whenever I caught him with another she-wolf, I would cry and scream for days, making such a fuss that even Celine would get involved.

But ever since I gave birth, I had changed. Since then, I never cried or made a scene again.

An ominous feeling washed over David.

He suddenly pushed Sarah away and threw on a robe before running straight to my bedroom.

Falling off the bed, Sarah clenched her teeth as she watched him leave quickly, her hands balling into fists as she pounded against the mattress in frustration.

My room was empty.

He stood there in a daze, staring at the vacant space. The blank wall where our portrait once hung stood out more than anything.

That bad feeling intensified.

He started searching frantically. That painting was our only portrait together, and I loved it.

David figured that I must have taken it with me. He was sure that I was in that tiny wooden cabin, hanging the painting up and waiting for him to take me back.

He told himself this over and over again. But as he opened every drawer and checked every corner, the portrait was nowhere to be found.

His breathing steadied slightly until his foot knocked over the trash bin.

Shredded fragments of the painting scattered across the floor.

"Evelyn!"

His eyes instantly turned red. He let out a furious roar before shifting into his wolf form and dashing out of the castle like a madman. By the time he caught up, I was already crossing the Nighthowl Pack's border.

My body was weak and injured, so I could only move slowly.

I had thought that as long as I could make it past the waterfall cliff ahead, I would finally be free of David forever. But in the final moment, I was caught.

The one who grabbed me was Sarah.

The she-wolves who had followed her pinned me down in the mud, slapping and jeering at me. "You homewrecking woman! Are you trying to run after being caught red-handed? Beat her!"

They held me down and yanked at my hair.

They only stopped when David arrived.

Sarah instantly shed her vicious demeanor, clutching David's sleeve, her eyes pooling with tears. "David, please don't be mad at them. They only wanted to stand up for me because they thought that Evelyn was bullying me."

"Bullying you?" For once, David didn't immediately take the other side.

His eyes were inexplicably red.

He looked at Sarah, then narrowed his gaze at me. "What happened?"

One of the she-wolves who had attacked me yanked on my hair and dragged me upright as she rushed to answer.

"She's been spreading lies all over the pack, claiming that she's the real Luna and that Sarah is the third party between her and Alpha David! Sarah was slandered so badly that she cried from the injustice!

"When she got exposed, she tried to flee. As Sarah's friends, how could we just let her get away with it?"