As soon as Blake heard my words, his face twisted into a scowl as he growled, “How dare you speak to me like that, Amber?! Remember that I'm your Alpha and your mate, you live in my pack, so I mean everything to you!”

Telling him off was the best option. In the years that we've been together, I've always done my pack duties as Luna and a member of the pack.

Even while I was working at the pack office, I would clean the pack house and do laundry for all pack members living in the pack house on certain days. I never asked him to take me out of doing those duties after I became his Luna mate.

However, I wasn't able to tell him off as the doorbell rang.

I walked over to the front door and pulled it open. The delivery man for Wendy's handed me the white cake box and I closed the door.

Blake looked confused for a second then a thoughtful look showed on his face and he murmured, “Don't tell me today is your birthday.”

It was indeed my birthday and I was turning 34. It was also our 9th mating anniversary, yet he still hasn't marked me. I didn't know why, but now, I suspected that it has something to do with Hailey.

I have spent the whole day sewing a nice dress with the intention of wearing it when Blake took me out for my birthday and our anniversary dinner like we did every year after he came back home from the pack office.

Haunted by regret, Blake took the cake box from my hand then pulled the cake out and set it on the center table as he rushed out, "I've been swamped with trying to keep rogues out of our territory recently. I want to make amends. Why don't we go shopping this evening so that you can select a new diamond mates bracelet?”

I sat down and he followed, sitting beside me on the couch, his loving attitude returning.

“Amber, you don't have to worry about Hailey. I mean, we used to be mates when we were just teenagers, but that was ages ago and I'm over her now.” He added in a soft voice.

Was he really over her?

There was a time when we had just become mates and he introduced me to his family.

I stood up to go to the bathroom and overheard their conversation with my heightened werewolf hearing when I was about to enter the bathroom.

They asked him what happened with Hailey and he replied, “I can be with anyone, just not her.”

I thought that meant he was over her, but I could now see that I was fooling myself.

As I thought about my relationship with Blake, I noticed that it wasn't what I expected it to be.

Agreeing to become Blake's mate has been the worst thing to have ever happened to me and I had to put a stop to this problem.

I glanced at him as I replied in an uncaring tone of voice, “Don’t worry about it. Just go wherever you want to go, you don't need to worry about it.”

A shocked look appeared on Blake's face at my response.

However, after years of me biting my tongue, he had become accustomed to my silence.

It seemed that he believed that I had put what he had done behind us and grinned as he picked up the knife from the table and cut a slice of cake.

“Here, have a bite.” He murmured as he handed me the plate that he had placed the cake on and added a fork on it.

I always tried to stay away from cake and any dessert related food because I wanted Blake's love. But now, I was willing to eat the whole cake because I wanted to live a happy life far away from Blake.

As I made my decision, I took a bite of the cake and savored the taste.

I finished the slice and cut a bigger slice. I was so concentrated on eating the cake that I didn't notice when Blake left.

I looked around and found the dress that I had spent all day sewing had fallen to the ground and had a dirty footprint on it like someone had matched it.

He was trying so hard to get away from me that he had pushed over my dress and stepped on it on his way out.

I picked the dress and placed it in the washing machine.

My phone beeped, indicating a notification coming through. I glanced at the screen to see that it was from Facebook.

Hailey has posted a video, and I clicked on it to see her saying, “Hey, guys! You have no idea what happened today. I’m such a scaredy little cat! I was afraid of a spider. Good thing my savior will always rescue me.”

The video ended and I saw her next post which was tagged in. It was actually Blake's post from his second account which I had no idea he had.

The post was a reply to her post and it was also a video of him saying, “I’ll always rescue you even if it's from fire breathing dragons.”

He never replies to my post even after I posted that I was attacked by rogues.

I commented on the post, [You did good.]

Immediately, he texted me, [ Hailey was traumatized by a spider in her house, so I'm taking her to the pack hospital to see a psychiatrist.

You need to help her, so come over and do her laundry. By the way, make some chicken soup for her and bring it to us at the pack hospital. Remember not to add onions inside the soup.]

That was when it hit me. Blake always liked onions, but whenever I added onions when cooking a meal, he would get angry and curse at me. So he has actually been making me cook for Hailey and not him.

I wanted to ignore his text, but after pondering on it, I decided to walk down the street to Hailey's house.

When I entered the house, I saw Blake gripping Hailey's hand as he whispered soft murmurs to her.

However, as soon as his gaze landed on me, his expression changed as his face darkened and he growled, “What took you so long to come? If she doesn't see a therapist right away, I don't know how much more traumatized she will become.”

Hailey rubbed his arm softly as she pouted and murmured, “You don't need to worry about me, Blake. Don't let my condition come between the two of you. I know that she's never been fond of me.”

He reprimanded me, “That's it, Amber! Do her laundry and tidy this place up. I can't mark a lazy she-wolf that doesn't know her duties!”

As soon as he said that's he turned around and walked out of the house while pulling Hailey with him as he had her wrap her arm around his shoulders and supported her weight on his side.

I stared at his back as he walked away and muttered to myself, “And I can't let a filthy, unfaithful he-wolf mark me.”

I walked to her bedroom and glanced around the room to look for the laundry.

Two towels that had a man's cum stains laid on the bed.

I felt my heart clench in my chest.

Was this why Blake has now been making excuses about rogue attacks late at night and needing to stay out late to stop them?

So he goes down a few blocks away from us to Hailey's to sleep with her each night before coming back home to me.

I saw her walk-in closet left open and noticed designer clothes along with designer bags and shoes.

A week ago, I had wanted to buy a new scarf to keep me warm during the cold winter, so I told Blake about wanting it as my anniversary gift.

He had narrowed his eyes at me as hate filled them and he yelled, “Nine years together isn't something to be happy about! I haven't even marked you yet for God's sake. Despicable!

Wait until I mark you and then you'll celebrate.

Concentrate on your pack duties instead of thinking of silly things. Celebrating our anniversary wouldn't make me want to mark you any sooner.”

It wouldn't make him want to mark me any sooner and that wouldn't stop him from marking other she-wolves as his either. His ‘ideal mate’ as he had called her, Hailey must be the one that he liked the most.

I mentally prepared myself and pulled my phone out of my hand bag then started making a video of the bedroom.

After that, I walked out of the house and made my way back home. I was going to gather my things and get ready to leave.

Even though Blake and I have been together for nine years, he had only given me two gifts – a hair comb and a set of hair products including shampoo, deep conditioner, leave-in conditioner, detangling lotion and moisturizer.

I wasn't going to take them with me when he was cheating on me.

It was almost like my relationship with Blake was a joke. My stuff in the house couldn't even fill my suitcase while Hailey's stuff in her house could fill five suitcases.

As soon as I was finished packing, I dialed my close friend, Gina’s number who was in another pack.

She picked up almost instantly and I felt my heart clench with pain as I said, “Gina, I've made a mistake.

Giving up my position as the pack's financial secretary and living my life freely for Blake was the worst decision that I've ever made! I feel remorseful over this decision and I want to transfer to your pack to reunite with you again.”

“You're so dumb for falling for his lies.” She said and hung up the call.

I stared at the wall as I felt my heart break from pain.

I remembered how she had told me countless times how Blake was just playing with my feelings and how a look of disapproval stayed on her face when she left the pack.

My heart broke even more as I remembered the memories and I clutched my chest. I crumbled to the floor as my mood turned dark. That was when my phone beeped.

I got up from the floor on shaky knees and I grabbed my phone from the bed.

I checked the notification to see that it was a message from Gina.

She had sent me the pack transfer form and her pack's location.

She sent another message that read, [The transfer form needs to be filled and signed within a day and sent back for approval. The approval would take only a day.]

That meant that I could leave in two days.

I typed and sent her, [Thank you.]

A laugh tore out from my throat as I felt overwhelmed with joy. I would finally stop wasting my life on Blake and be free.

This called for a run. I wanted to celebrate, so I placed my phone on the bed and made my way to the front door.

As soon as I was out of the house, I shifted into my wolf form and started running into the woods beside the pack house.

I howled, finally feeling free.

The wild animal in me let loose and ran faster.

The full moon loomed above in the sky, lighting my path.

Suddenly, I disappeared from the woods and appeared in front of Hailey's house.

Did I teleport? How did I gain new powers?

I looked into the house’s window and saw her standing in the kitchen in front of the counter and then I saw Blake walk behind her to wrap his arms around her then pull her back to his front.

I had seen enough, so I turned around and ran back home.

I slept alone that night because Blake didn't return home. When he saw that I didn't follow his instructions to act as Hailey's servant, he stopped answering my mindlinks and blocked me on Facebook and all social media.

I decided to ignore him too and made my way to my father's house to pack my remaining stuff from there.

I didn't know what Blake had said to my father to make him so angry. When I climbed out of the taxi, I saw him walking towards me.

He scanned the area for Blake. When he realized that I was alone, his expression changed as a scowl appeared on his face.

He shouldn't have cared about Blake because Blake would never visit his home ever again.

He always thought that we were too low class to be his concern.

Dad stopped in front of me as he asked in a stern voice, “Are you and Blake back together?”

“No, we're never getting back together.” I muttered in a firm voice.

After I said those words, my father threw a kick at my calf, making me groan and wince in pain as I squatted down and held onto my leg.

He looked like he didn't have enough, and pushed me, making me fall to the ground.

“Shift!” He growled at me and shifted into his wolf form.

I had no choice, but to shift.

He opened his mouth wide and clamped his sharp teeth around my neck. He always did this as a punishment whenever I had angered him.

I let him do it since he was my father. Besides, it would be hard to fight him off since he was bigger and stronger even though I had werewolf powers unlike him.

The pack members around us stared and pointed at us.

After doing that for a while, he let go and aimed for my shoulder. He bit down hard, making me groan in pain.

He has never bitten before, and I knew that he was very angry to have bitten me.

As he pulled away, I heard his mindlink as he said, “You’re a disgrace.”

I felt tears brim in my eyes and felt my tummy tighten in pain at his words and actions.

He head butted me, making me skid across the ground and stop a few feet away from him.

He walked over to me as he shifted back to his human form.

I stayed in wolf form as I waited for the bite wound to heal since we healed faster in wolf form.

He pointed fingers at me as he growled, “I learnt what happened from Blake. Don't you know that getting a he-wolf like him to want you as his mate is good karma that takes thousands of years to earn, yet you couldn't get him stay with you? Envious, lazy and acting like a whore, you're worse than a disgrace!”

“I'll tell you this, you better try whatever you can to get Blake to mark you whether it's by treating him like he means the world to you or acting as his maid or I'll disown you!” He yelled as he glared at me.

I shifted back to my human form as my wound has healed, but I was still weak and it was from his words, not from his punishment.

Tears dripped down my cheeks as I remained speechless.

My father only stopped hurling insults at me when snow started falling from the sky.

He turned around and made his way to the house. I followed him, but turned back around when he heard my footsteps.

A growl rumbled from my father's throat, threatening me to stay away.

He then turned back around and went inside then locked the door.

I stared at the door as I thought of how to fix the situation.

A few minutes later, he unlocked the door, opened it and pushed my stuff out onto the porch; a box of books and awards, a traveling bag and a small suitcase then kicked them off the porch.

“Leave this instant! I would never accept you back unless you get back together with Blake!” He growled at me.

He threw one of my accounting textbooks at me and it slammed against my stomach, making me couch loudly as I held onto my tummy.

He turned around and slammed the door shut.

I squatted down and grabbed the textbook then placed it in the box of books. I checked the stuff inside the book as I wanted to save my past experiences.

Suddenly, a new model Mustang stopped in front of of our lawn and the driver's seat door opened. Blake climbed out with a small, black blanket in his hand.

He walked over to me and caught my arm then dragged me to his car as I struggled against him.

He glanced me as he muttered, “About time you learned, Amber! I'm the only he-wolf that will take you as a mate. So stop being stubborn and come back to the house with me. Repent the right way to Hailey and I will mark you.”

He wrapped the blanket around me and I saw its tag with the a brand name on it, [Hailey.]

She must have had them made for her like that so that people would think that she was a fashion designer.

I didn't answer Blake, I just stared at the road ahead through the windshield as I thought about my father's harsh words. Pain and sadness enveloped me.

I used to take Blake as my rock and would go to him whenever I was in distress and tell him all that was bothering me. However, he had exploited my vulnerabilities.

He was never my safe haven and he didn't deserve my heart. Leaving him was the first step towards reclaiming my life.

As I continued pondering on my love life, Blake's phone beeped, indicating a message coming through. He checked it and as he started typing, the phone started ringing.

“Where are you? All the pack members at the pack office are eager for your arrival, Alpha Blake.”

With my heightened werewolf hearing, I heard a she-wolf's voice say as soon as he answered the call.

She added, “They're mocking me and talking about how the pack company's Gala party can't have only the Alpha's mate coming to the party when the Alpha isn't even present. I don't even have anymore excuses to give.”

Blake glanced at me as his face slipped into a cold mask. He stayed silent for a few seconds as if thinking it over.

It looked like he wanted to leave me to go to the pack company’s Gala, but he seemed to have a change of heart as he sighed and asked me, “Come with me to our pack company’s Gala party. You agree, right?”

Blake has never let me attend the pack company's Gala party or any event that the company was hosting before even when I was working at the company.

He said that he didn't want any he-wolf to get any ideas when he sees me at a party even though it was a formal party.

I caressed my shoulder where my father had bitten me, realizing that it wasn't hurting anymore, I nodded steadily and I replied, “Sure.”