For 5 years, my Alpha husband, Adrian Mercer, had given me a gift at every Full Moon Festival. I'd thought it was a sign of how much he cared, until the store mixed up the delivery addresses this year. I received an expensive necklace set, along with a handwritten card. 'Ella, be happy this year, too.' Ella Foster was a low-ranking female werewolf. I called the store to check, and the clerk explained. "Mr. Mercer orders two sets every year. The instructions for the genuine one say to wrap it with care. The cheap imitation goes to the Luna." I pulled out the gifts I'd received over the past 5 years and checked them with the clerk. Each gift looked exactly like its expensive counterpart, but the real thing had never been mine. When he came home that evening, I put the cheap imitation necklace on the dining table. "Adrian, is this the one you bought me?" He froze for 3 seconds, then smiled, picked up the imitation set, and held it out to me. "Of course it is. Haven't you always liked simple designs?" I stared at him and laughed. For the past 5 years, I'd accepted whatever he gave me. This time, I didn't want anything he had to offer.

That weekend, some friends and I tried a viral challenge we'd seen online—Hide in a friend's house for a whole day without getting caught. Everyone scattered to find a hiding spot, each of us determined to win. I crouched behind the clutter on the bedroom balcony, pulling several layers of dust sheets over myself. Before long, my boyfriend, Asher Chandler, slipped into the bedroom with my best friend, Aria Mercer, in tow. They didn't see me on the balcony; instead, they hurriedly ducked behind the heavy floor‑to‑ceiling curtains. "Easy... What if Nova hears?" Asher said, his voice husky and amused, "That idiot is probably too caught up in hiding. Just focus." Then came the unnatural swaying of the curtains, the rustle of clothes, and the wet sounds of kissing that made my face burn and my heart pound. I was less than a meter away, quietly watching the entwined shadows on the curtain. That day, we won. But that was also the end of us.