Chapter 7
Europe kept me so busy I barely remembered what sleep felt like. I worked nonstop, crashing face–first into bed every night. Even after a week, I was still adjusting.
Eventually, the team assigned me a personal assistant to help out.
“Julissa!”
Nathaniel dropped into the seat across from me with his usual smug grin. “Miss me?”
A smile curved on my lips. “Yeah. It’s been a while.”
“I’m your assistant now,” he said proudly. “And I’ve got great news–Mason’s friends finally developed a partial counteragent to Oblivion Drop. No more side effects after the drug wears off.”
My chest tightened for a beat, then softened with relief. Mason would’ve been proud.
He handed me a small box. Inside was a vial of glowing violet liquid.
“Well then,” I said with a laugh. “Looks like I just earned myself another ten years.”
But I quickly added, “Do you know why Mason stopped developing it in the first place?”
Nathaniel nodded, clearing his throat. “He mentioned it once.”
“There were two mate pairs in the final trial. One she–wolf had always resented her mate for having a criminal past–thought it’d ruin their kids‘ future. After taking the potion, she fell in love with
him all over again. But in the end, she became his accomplice in a murder.”
“The other pair had simply drifted apart. The spark was gone. They took the potion, fell hard for
each other again… but it didn’t last. They fought constantly, couldn’t stand each other, but neither
was willing to break the bond. In the end, they chose to die together.”
“Mason realized some things aren’t meant to be forced. So he shut it all down.”
I nodded.
Love changes. People change. Some things just aren’t meant to last.
Maybe Landon and I were always doomed. Too many cracks, not enough glue.
“Julissa, someone’s asking for you.”
I gave Nathaniel a quick smile and stepped outside.
The second I opened the door, someone grabbed my arm.
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I flinched, half expecting it to be one of the homeless men I sometimes gave food to on the street.
But no.
It was Landon.
Disheveled, eyes sunken, stubble on his jaw. He looked like a ghost dragged through a storm.
“Julissa, I’m sorry,” he rasped. “I know I messed up. Please… come back.”
I stared at him and felt nothing. Not a flicker of anger. Not a hint of sympathy.
Just… nothing.
I reached out and pulled his torn collar straight, then met his eyes calmly.
“I don’t love you anymore, Landon. This is over.”
“No–no, you can’t say that! You promised you’d love me forever!”
He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a crumpled, tear–streaked letter. His hands shook as he held it out to me like it still meant something.
On the top, scrawled in my handwriting, were the words: [My love ends only with death. You’ll be
my always.]
“I wrote it,” I said evenly. “But so did you. And you’re the one who broke it. You betrayed our bond,
not me.”
I snatched the letter, ripped it into pieces, and tossed the shreds back at him.
He scrambled to catch them, hands trembling as he gathered the fragments like they were pieces of
his heart.
“I regret it. I do. Just… please. Give me a chance to make it right.”
But the moment he saw I wasn’t moved, something inside him snapped. His breath turned ragged,
his face twisted in panic.
Then, in a blur, he pulled out a small blade and pressed it to his own throat.
“If you don’t come back to me—I swear I’ll end it right here!”
I didn’t move. I knew this version of him too well.
“Landon,” I said softly, taking a step forward, “please don’t hurt yourself.”
“Then say you’ll stay.” His voice cracked, wild and unhinged. “Say it!”
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When he glanced away for a split second, I lunged forward and grabbed the blade with my bare hand.
It sliced deep into my palm, blood dripping down my wrist. I winced but held steady.
Landon’s eyes widened in horror. He dropped the knife and rushed to cradle my injured hand, his voice shaking.
“I’m sorry–I’m so sorry, Julissa…”
“There’s a potion for forgetting,” I whispered, “but there’s no cure for regret. Let it go, Landon.
Please.”
I tried to pull back, but he yanked me into his arms.
“Don’t leave me. Please. I’m begging you.”
Before I could respond, someone tore us apart.
Nathaniel stepped between us, fury etched into every line of his face.
“Are you kidding me right now?” he snapped. “Shouldn’t you be off doting on your perfect little
mate? What the hell are you doing here, chasing Julissa halfway across the world?”
He folded his arms, smirking coldly.
“Oh, and by the way–your Kendra? Turns out she’s even more impressive than we thought.”
He held up his phone and shoved it in Landon’s face.
“Take a good look. She’s been reported for orchestrating group sex parties. Word is, unless you get back to the pack fast, you’ll be visiting her through a glass wall.”
Landon’s knees gave out. He crumpled like a dead weight, hitting the ground hard.
I wasn’t surprised.
To him, Kendra had always been the golden girl–smart, sweet, graceful, untouchable. Even after everything, some part of him had clung to that illusion.
And now? Now it was shattered.
He’d crossed oceans to find me, but just one whisper about Kendra and he fell apart again.
That told me everything I needed to know.
He never really understood what he wanted.
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I crouched down, staring at his pathetic, broken figure.
“Stop lying to yourself, Landon.”
Nathaniel snorted, clearly disgusted. He grabbed my hand and pulled me away.
As he patched up my wound, he grumbled under his breath.
“You’re way too soft. If that were me, he’d have gotten a slap to the face. Or five.”
I smiled faintly but didn’t respond.
Love’s complicated. It changes from person to person.
I never doubted Landon loved me–at least at one point. But love, when it shifts with every wind,
isn’t the kind of love I need.
What I want… is something that stays.
Maybe that doesn’t exist. Maybe most mates burn bright when they’re young, and fizzle out just as
fast.
Funny thing about love–people like to say it takes trust or timing or fate. But sometimes? It just
takes a damn conscience.
But Landon? He didn’t even have that.
