Chapter 3
I scrolled through Instagram with masochistic determination, each new photo feeling like a knife twisting in my chest. Ryan and Luna in Paris. Ryan and Luna in Rome. Ryan and Luna in Barcelona. Their European pack tour—the one he'd invited me to join—had become a parade of intimate moments captured in filtered perfection.
The latest post showed them at sunset on the Amalfi Coast, Luna wearing a flowing white dress that caught the breeze, Ryan's arms wrapped possessively around her waist. His caption read: 'Some connections are written in the stars.'
I threw my phone across the room with a strangled cry, Sarah howling in anguish inside me.
'Careful there, tiger,' a voice said from my doorway. 'Those things aren't cheap.'
I looked up to find Ethan leaning against my doorframe, his amber eyes filled with concern. After three weeks of training together, he'd become a fixture in my life—the only person who seemed to understand what I was going through without pitying me.
'Sorry,' I mumbled, wiping at my eyes. 'Just having a moment.'
He crossed the room and retrieved my phone, glancing at the screen before handing it back. 'Ah. The European adventure.'
'I'm pathetic, aren't I?' I asked, taking the phone and forcing myself to look at the image again. 'Still torturing myself over someone who clearly doesn't—'
My words died in my throat as I noticed something I'd missed before. Around Luna's neck hung a delicate silver chain with a moonstone pendant—identical to the one Ryan had given me on my sixteenth birthday.
'What is it?' Ethan asked, noticing my sudden stillness.
'That necklace,' I whispered, zooming in on the photo. 'He told me it was one-of-a-kind. That he'd had it specially made because it reminded him of my eyes.'
Ethan sat beside me on the bed, close enough that his comforting scent of pine and rain washed over me. 'Some guys are just full of lines.'
'No, it's more than that.' Something was clicking into place in my mind—a pattern I'd been too blind to see. 'Every gift he ever gave me... I think he bought in pairs.'
Ethan's brow furrowed. 'What do you mean?'
'I need to check something.'
I jumped up and raced to my closet, pulling out a box I'd kept hidden at the back. Inside were all the gifts Ryan had given me over the years—the moonstone necklace, a leather-bound journal, a silver bracelet with a wolf charm. I laid them out on my bed, memories flooding back with each item.
'Look at these,' I said, pulling up Ryan's social media and scrolling back through months of photos. 'This bracelet he gave me for Christmas—Luna has the exact same one in this photo from February. And this journal—there's Luna with an identical one.'
Ethan's eyes darkened. 'That's... calculated.'
'He's been playing us both,' I said, the realization burning through me like acid. 'For how long? Months? Years?'
Sarah's rage surged through me, and for the first time, I didn't try to contain it. I grabbed the box and stormed out of my room, down the stairs, and straight out the back door into the woods behind our house. Ethan followed silently as I pushed deeper into the forest, my breathing ragged, my vision blurring with tears.
When I reached a small clearing, I stopped and hurled the box against a tree. It splintered, scattering its contents across the forest floor.
'I HATE HIM!' I screamed, my voice echoing through the trees. Birds scattered from the canopy above, startled by the sudden outburst.
The emotion was too much. I felt my control slipping, my body responding to Sarah's demand to break free. My bones began to shift, pain shooting through me as my wolf fought to emerge.
'Sophia,' Ethan said calmly, stepping closer. 'Breathe. You're safe here.'
'I can't—' I gasped, dropping to my knees as the transformation took hold. 'Sarah's too strong—'
'Then don't fight her,' Ethan said, kneeling beside me. 'Let her run. Let her feel what you're feeling.'
I looked into his eyes, finding nothing but acceptance there. No judgment, no fear—just steady support.
'I'll stay right here,' he promised. 'Go.'
With those words, I surrendered to the shift, allowing Sarah to take control. The pain gave way to release as my human form melted into my wolf. I was larger than I remembered, my silver coat gleaming in the dappled sunlight. I threw back my head and howled—a sound of pain, of rage, but also of liberation.
Then I ran, faster than I ever had before, letting the forest blur around me as Sarah's strength flowed through our shared body. Each stride carried away a piece of the hurt, each breath cleared my mind a little more.
I wasn't just running from Ryan's betrayal—I was running toward something new. Something that felt, for the first time in years, like it might be mine alone to discover.
Behind me, in the distance, I heard another howl answer mine—deep and resonant, carrying a promise I wasn't yet ready to acknowledge but couldn't entirely ignore.
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