Chapter 3
I hung up the phone and returned to the pack house.
It wasn’t until I opened the door that I realized–this place was no longer a “home.” It was just a shell, hollowed out and soulless.
The whole house felt empty, disturbingly silent,
as if
Ven the air had been drained of life.
This was the place Damon and I once decorated togethe that belonged only to us.
He had held me close, promising that this would be the home where we’d grow old, a little world
But now, every piece of furniture we chose, every decoration we hung–gone. Not a single trace of our past remained.
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He hadn’t even spared the garden.cake
The flowers we planted together–he had ripped out every last one. Roots and all. He had even turned the soil, as if determined to erase every trace of presence from the land.
I stood in the middle of the living room, staring at the bare walls. A bitter laugh slipped out, curling at the corners of my mouth.
Damon, were you so ruthless because you were afraid I’d remember and feel pain? Or were you scared that once I recovered my memory, I’d ruin your perfect act and destroy your mating ceremony with Clara?
Did you really think that breaking the mate bond and drugging me with a memory–erasing potion would be enough to wipe me from your life?
Did it ever cross your mind that without a cure, I might never recover my memory… and that you might regret it?
I stood before the mirror, staring coldly at the mark on my neck–the one he had given me.
my
I raised my hand and wiped it away
without hesitation.
The sting on my skin couldn’t compare to the ache buried in my heart.
I slipped the ring off my finger. The same one he had placed there on our wedding day. It no longer belonged to me.
Grabbing a pen and paper, I wrote him a letter.
Every word bled like an open wound, each stroke of the pen ca
Auto–added to the Library
a crack in the flowerpot on the balcony–the very spot where
When I finished, I placed the letter and the ring in an envelope he used to sit and daydream.
If he ever regretted what he’d done, he’d find what I left for him.
1
Just as I was about to leave, my phone rang.
“Hannah?” I answered.
She was quiet for a moment before speaking. “Zoey, I… I have to tell you something. Ithink Damon’s cheating. I just saw him outside the pack doctor’s clinic, holding woman really close.”
I replied calmly, “It’s fine. Let him do whatever he wants.”
She clearly didn’t expect that answer. Her tone sharpened. “Zoey, are you… serious?”
Her concern made me laugh.
“Why wouldn’t I be? Damon and I already broke the mate bond.”
“What? You broke it?!”
I gave her a brief rundown of what had happened.
When I mentioned the wine laced with potion, she swore loudly. “Son of a bitch! That bastard! He actually drugged you just to seal the mate bond with that woman?!”
“Hannah…” I said softly, trying to calm her.
But her fury wouldn’t be contained. “What gives him the right?! You gave up your acceptance to the Royal Medical Academy for him! You helped him build up his career from nothing, cleaned up his messes, stood by him until he became Alpha, held the entire pack together! You paved the way with your hard work and he thinks he’s doing you a favor by kicking you aside like this, saying it’s for your sake?! He doesn’t deserve you!”
I closed my eyes, and my mind drifted back to that night five years ago.
Chapter 3
Damon had been a wreck, barely clinging to life in wolf form, and I had sealed our mate bond without hesitation to drag him back from the brink of death.
After that, I poured everything into helping him restore the pack–brick by brick, honor rebuilt from ruins. He had held me in the dark and whispered that I was his only moonlight, the most important partner in his life.
But now…
He had betrayed me. Betrayed my wolf. Betrayed
ing I had ever given him.
He had forgotten our vows and even wanted me to forget who I was.
Exhausted from raging, Hannah took a deep breath and said coldly, “He’ll regret it. Believe me, Zoey. He’ll regret it all.”
She added, voice dropping to a low whisper, “He’ll never know–you never finished the antidote. You won’t remember him. You won’t go rot, slowly, in the pain he brought on himself.”
I turned to look at the flowerpot on the balcony.
That was my last message to him. The final piece of kindness I could offer.
I knew him too well.
When Damon was frustrated, he always went to the balcony to drink. If… if he ever felt regret, he’d find that letter.
The night deepened. The full moon rose.
back. And he’ll
Late into the night, Damon returned to the pack house. The moment he stepped inside, he tore through the place, searching frantically as if something had slipped through his fingers.
“What are you doing?”
My voice cut through the silence. He froze and turned sharply, finding me standing at the doorway in pajamas, my expression unreadable.
His face registered pure shock.
“You… weren’t you already asleep?”
Leaning against the doorframe, I said coolly, “What are you looking for?”
Chapter 3
