Chapter 2
779 Words
As soon as I finished speaking, I turned sideways to head out the door.
But Elliott caught my wrist, his grip firm and unyielding.
"The Lunar Ritual's only a few days away. What happens to the ceremony if you leave now?"
I curled my lip into a sharp, cold smile and waved my phone screen right in his face.
"You mean the ritual where the title of Luna isn't even going to be mine?"
Elliott froze mid-movement, his tone softening just a little.
"You know Selena's wolf spirit has been unstable lately. I was just trying to cheer her up, that's it."
Before he could finish, Selena stepped suddenly closer, her eyes red and glistening with unshed tears.
"Luna, don't be mad... I know I shouldn't have accepted that wedding dress Elliott gave me."
I stopped in my tracks and stared her dead in the eye, a sardonic smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth.
"Oh, you know that, huh? The way you were practically falling over yourself to post that photo online, I figured you'd forgotten Elliott already has a mate."
Selena's face went bone white in an instant, tears bursting out of her like someone had flipped a switch.
"Ivy, don't say that. Elliott and I are just friends, that's all. He gave me that vintage wedding dress just to help me fulfill a childhood dream..."
The tiny flicker of guilt in Elliott's eyes vanished immediately. He yanked Selena behind him to shield her, his face hardening into a cold scowl.
"Ivy, that's out of line. Apologize to Selena. Now."
My hand shook before I even realized it, and I wrenched my wrist as hard as I could to break free of his hold.
"Elliott, you want me to apologize to this man-stealing b***h?"
From behind his back, Selena tugged timidly at his sleeve.
"Elliott, don't fight with Ivy over me... I never should have come back."
Elliott turned to look at her, his voice dropping so gently it was unrecognizable.
"None of this is your fault. Ivy's just being overly sensitive."
When he turned back to me, his expression was thunderous.
"Ivy, the Luna of the Ravenfang Pack would never be the kind of woman who can't make space for her own pack members."
I blinked, stunned for a second. "Elliot, are you threatening me?"
"Elliott, are you threatening me?"
"I'm just reminding you. Apologize to Selena right now, and I'll pretend none of this ever happened."
My blood roared in my ears, boiling hot and rushing straight to my head. I stared at his face, and for a second, he looked like a complete stranger.
"Elliott, over my dead body!"
I spun around to leave, when a sharp, stinging pain flared at the base of my neck.
Elliott had ripped the necklace right off my neck.
He met my wide, disbelieving stare and spoke like he was commenting on the weather.
"Since you refuse to apologize, you can give this to Selena as a peace offering. She's had her eye on it for ages, anyway."
My head spinning, I stared at him in a daze.
It hit me all at once: that necklace was a sacred heirloom passed down through generations of Lunas of the Ravenfang Pack.
Elliott's mother had never liked me, and she'd refused to hand it over to me.
Elliott had knelt outside the estate gates for three whole days and nights just to get it for me back then.
His face had been deathly pale at the time, but the corner of his mouth was still curved up in a smile.
He'd fastened the necklace around my neck with trembling, careful fingers, his voice thick with sincere promise.
"Ivy, I swear you'll always be the Luna of the Ravenfang Pack."
And now? All it took was a few fake crocodile tears from Selena for him to snatch that very same necklace from me.
"Elliott. Are you sure you want to do this?"
I stared him dead in the eye, asking one final time.
"I'm making amends on your behalf, Ivy. You're the one who insulted her first."
With that, he held the necklace out and dropped it into Selena's waiting hand.
Watching that cold, deliberate action, the last thin thread holding my heart together snapped clean in two.
"If you apologize sincerely right now, Ivy, I might even consider giving this back to you once Selena gets tired of wearing it."
He spoke with a condescending, patronizing air, like he was handing me some huge favor.
"No need."
I hefted my suitcase and stepped across the threshold.
That necklace, I was done with it.
I was done with him too.
- Writer
