Chapter 2

I said coldly, "So you let Elena make herself at home in my house?"

"Does it really matter whose it is?" Lucien offered me that easy, reasonable smile. "We are about to be bonded. What is mine is yours."

"Lucien." I met his gaze directly, those golden eyes I had looked into beneath the full moon more times than I could count. "The mate bond is broken."

Lucien stood there, stunned.

Elena rose from the chair, and the blanket slipped from her arms, pooling on the floor. "Selena, please don't be upset. If it's a problem, I can find somewhere else to stay tonight."

"Drop the act." I did not bother to look at her. My eyes stayed fixed on Lucien as I held out my hand. "The keys."

"What?" he asked.

"The keys to my house. Hand them over," I said.

Lucien's expression darkened. "Selena, can you please not make a scene right now? Elena is standing right here."

"Oh, I am the one making a scene?" I locked eyes with him. Three years of trailing after him suddenly felt like a cruel joke.

I sneered, "Was it me who wrapped my arms around Elena in front of the entire pack at the Mate Ball? Was it me who brought her back to my house?"

"I told you already, it was nothing more than a hug," he said.

"Really? Then what about this?" I pointed at the blanket Elena had been wrapped in. "My blanket. My fur chair. My house. She looks quite comfortable making herself at home."

Elena stood and tugged at Lucien's sleeve, her voice shaky, on the verge of tears. "Lucien, perhaps I should leave. I don't want Selena to misunderstand."

"You don't have to go anywhere," I said, turning my back and walking out.

Lucien rushed to the door and caught my arm. "Selena, where are you going?"

I turned, met his eyes, and pulled my arm free, speaking slowly and clearly. "Lucien, we are finished."

The wooden door slammed shut, the sound echoing far into the quiet woods.

*****

I spent the whole night beneath the old oak tree outside the treehouse.

When the first light of dawn slipped through the canopy, Lila appeared before me.

The gray wolf shifted into her human form and draped a heavy fur over my shoulders. "Did you sleep out here all night?"

I nodded, my throat too dry to speak.

"Come on. Stay at my place," Lila said.

*****

She lived in a stone hut on the far edge of the pack's territory, a long way from the Alpha's castle.

I bathed, changed into her clothes, and sat by the fire, staring at nothing.

"So, what will you do?" Lila asked.

"I am going to get my things." I stood. "The moonstone, the lineage scroll, everything that belongs to me. It is all still in that house."

"Is Lucien there?"

"He is at the elders' meeting today. Elena is the only one home," I said, tugging at my collar. "I will grab my belongings and leave."

Lila looked as though she wanted to say more, but in the end, she squeezed my shoulder.

When dawn broke fully, I made my way back to the treehouse. The fire had gone cold, and the bowls from the night before still sat on the stone slab.

The front door hung ajar, so I pushed it open. On the wooden shelf beside the bed, the carvings of Lucien and me had been shoved into the corner, and Elena's portrait now stood front and center.

It was drawn in the human style, charcoal on parchment, barely resembling her, idealized far beyond truth.

I opened the trunk and found my wolfskin robe buried at the bottom, weighed down by a pile of human dresses.

On the stone dressing table, my wolf-tooth comb had been pushed to the very edge, replaced by a neat row of clay jars filled with human cosmetics. The cheap, cloying scent turned my stomach.

I pulled out the leather pouch that had been stuffed to the bottom of the trunk. There were the moonstone, the lineage scroll, and the pack's seal, all of which were still there.

And beneath them was a silver ring. It was the one Lucien had given me three years ago when he asked me to be his mate.

He had told me then that a true werewolf should not fear silver, and for my sake, he would endure its burning sting.

Footsteps sounded behind me. Elena's voice called out, "Selena?"

She stood in the doorway, draped in Lucien's wolfskin robe, the one I had sewn myself, the collar embroidered with our pack's totem. She asked, "Why are you back?"

I ignored her and kept packing.

"Selena, hear me out," she said, stepping closer. "I am only staying for a few days. Once another pack agrees to take me in, I will be out of your way."

I finished tying the leather pouch, stood, and faced her where she blocked the doorway. "Get out of my way."

Elena did not move. "I want to ask you something." Her tone had shifted. There was no trace of tears now. "How long have you and Lucien been together?"