Chapter 4
I’ve been hiding in my room these past few days, avoiding everyone.
To pass the time, I’ve been trying to calm the restless energy inside me, the one that always seems to simmer beneath the surface.
Every night, I dream of him—Arthur Ford, the Lycan Prince who saved me from the rogues that night by the lake.
In my dreams, he asks if I regret choosing him, and I always say no.
If he hadn’t emerged that day, if he hadn’t intervened, I would’ve been at the mercy of Lachlan Garcia and his pack of rogues.
He told me to meet him at the Moonstone Altar in seven days, to wear red for our mark ceremony.
I asked a maid to buy me red fabric, and I’ve been sewing a dress in secret, my fingers tracing the fabric with a mix of hope and determination.
But somehow, word got out.
Alpha Marvin and Luna Elodie burst into my room, their auras heavy with anger.
“Willow, what are you thinking?” Alpha Marvin’s voice was sharp, his alpha tone cutting through the air. “An unmated she-wolf sewing a dress like this? Do you have any idea what this could do to our pack’s reputation?”
“Or are you trying to ruin Emelia’s mark ceremony with Joaquin Mendoza?” Luna Elodie added, her tone icy. “Do you want to jeopardize the alliance we’ve worked so hard to build?”
No matter how much I tried to explain, they wouldn’t listen.
Alpha Marvin grabbed the dress from my hands and tore it to shreds, the fabric scattering across the floor like bloodstains.
“Willow, if you dare disrupt Emelia’s ceremony,” he growled, “I’ll deal with you myself. You’ve been nothing but trouble since the day you were born.”
I stared at the ruined fabric, tears slipping down my cheeks.
Maybe this was for the best. When I left, I wouldn’t feel any attachment to this place.
Alpha Marvin and Luna Elodie have been fussing over Emelia these past few days, making sure her mark ceremony goes perfectly.
Oddly enough, Clark, my brother, hasn’t been causing me any trouble. In fact, he even gave me a necklace.
But of course, he couldn’t help being his usual arrogant self.
“Willow, you’ve been behaving yourself lately,” he said, tossing the necklace at me. “This symbolizes completion. I’ll find you a suitable mate, someone who’ll make your life whole.”
I couldn’t tell if he was mocking me.
His idea of a “suitable mate” was probably someone like Lachlan Garcia, a rogue who’d treat me like dirt.
Time passed quickly, and the Snyder Pack’s territory was decorated with lights and banners for Emelia’s ceremony.
Using a red dress I already owned, I made a simple outfit for myself.
The entire pack was so busy with Emelia’s ceremony that no one noticed when I walked out the front gate.
I paused at the threshold, taking one last look at the place I used to call home. From now on, it would have nothing to do with me.
Their joy wasn’t mine to share. My life here had always been a joke.
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