Betrayed, Then Fled to the Fated Alpha

Chapter 2 He Never Truly Loved Me

Elara's POV

'Oh my God, Elara, you've finally come to your senses!'

Liora's voice burst through the phone like she'd been waiting years to say those words.

'You're a design genius, and everybody knows it, but you've spent all this time burying yourself inside Silver Peak for Ryan Walker. Five years ago, during that fight ring disaster, you gave a rib and Moon Goddess knows what else you've never told me, and ever since then you've been throwing yourself into that man like a moth into fire. You forgot who you were. Congratulations. You finally remembered.'

Her words landed somewhere deep, somewhere raw.

I stood barefoot on the cold floor, staring at the rain-black window, while the memory of last night still clung to my skin like something dirty. Ryan's hands. Ryan's voice. Ryan pinning me down after marking Seraphina. The thought made my stomach twist so hard I had to press a hand against it.

'Get your cross-pack transfer paperwork filed and get here,' Liora said, her voice turning warm and fierce. 'Fenrir's Pack Elite Wolf Academy is the real thing. With your talent, you'll shine there. I promise.'

'I'll get there as fast as I can.'

I hung up.

Only then did I notice the storm outside had turned violent. Wind lashed the balcony, and my moonrune wind chime swung hard, ringing in broken silver notes.

That wind chime.

Five years ago, when Ryan lay unconscious and half-dead, I fed one drop of my blood into one moonrune stone every day for a hundred days until the set was complete. After he recovered, he had them made into a wind chime and hung it on the balcony of our apartment.

I used to think it meant something.

Now it looked obscene.

A monument to my own stupidity.

I walked toward it, suddenly desperate to rip it down, but my hand knocked a picture frame off the bar cart instead. It hit the floor. Glass cracked.

Two photos slid out.

I froze.

There should only have been one.

I bent down and picked them up.

The first was familiar: Ryan and me, taken five years ago when we made our relationship official.

The second hollowed me out.

Ryan and Seraphina.

Seraphina was smiling, bright and warm. Ryan stood behind her with one hand at her waist, looking at her with a tenderness so open, so unguarded, that my breath caught.

He had never looked at me that way.

Not once.

Not in six years.

My fingers began to shake.

I turned the photo over.

On the back, in Ryan's handwriting, were four English words.

Farewell, my love.

The timestamp below them made the room tilt.

Three in the morning.

The day after Ryan recovered from the fight ring.

Seven hours before he stood in front of me with moon roses and asked to be with me.

So that was the truth.

His love had always been Seraphina.

And I had only been what was left after he couldn't have her.

Heat rushed through my veins so fast it almost hurt.

I had thought Ryan stood by me because he knew what Seraphina had done. Because he knew what she turned my life into. I had never imagined he could love the same monster who tortured me.

Nyx's grief rolled through me, low and broken.

'He never truly loved us.'

Something in me snapped.

I tore the moonrune wind chime down with shaking hands and let the stones scatter across the floor.

Good.

Let it shatter.

Let all of it shatter.

My phone buzzed twice.

Liora had sent the official invitation from Fenrir's Pack Elite Wolf Academy.

I looked at the message, then at the broken wind chime, then at the photo still clenched in my hand.

Then I smiled.

Small. Cold. Empty.

I grabbed my ID, left the apartment, and took a cab to the Pack Affairs Center.

The staff processed my paperwork quickly. One of them glanced over the file and looked up.

'Miss Thorne, your cross-pack transfer will take around ten days to process. We'll notify you when it's complete.'

'Thank you.'

I walked out of the building.

Ryan called at that exact moment.

I answered.

'Elara, something came up at the company. I probably won't be back tonight.'

He didn't wait for my reply.

He hung up.

A second later, my phone buzzed twice more.

Two short video clips from Seraphina.

I opened the first.

Ryan and Seraphina stood before the Moon Goddess shrine, fresh marking bites on both their necks, kissing.

Timestamp: yesterday.

I opened the second.

Ryan was on one knee, holding out a moonstone ring.

My ring.

The one I had designed for myself.

The one Ryan promised to place on my finger on our sixth anniversary.

Now it sat on Seraphina's hand.

Timestamp: five minutes before he called me.

I stared at the screen until my vision blurred.

Of course he wasn't coming home tonight.

He was with his Luna.

A cold smile touched my mouth.

Nyx's voice was steadier than mine.

'Stay calm, Elara. We leave with our dignity. That's the only way.'

Then a voice message arrived.

I played it.

'Elara, Ryan is my legally marked mate now. You are not to have any contact with him whatsoever. If you do, I won't let you off easily. And what I do to you next time won't be as gentle as an isolation chamber and a whip.'

My fingers tightened around the phone.

There it was again.

The same poison. The same cruelty. Just dressed up in a prettier voice.

I typed back one line.

I'm not interested in your discards.

Then I blocked her.

From the moment Ryan completed the marking with Seraphina, there was nothing left between him and me.

I knew that now.

And I was not going to become anyone's substitute.

Ten more days.

Then I would leave this place for good.

I put my phone away and went home.

Everything Ryan had ever given me over the years—except the expensive jewelry—I packed into boxes and threw away.

Every last thing.

The next morning, I took all the fine jewelry he had given me to the Pack bank, sealed it in a safe deposit box, and left instructions with the manager.

In ten days, give the key to Ryan Walker.

Then I went home and continued packing my own things.

Ryan returned while I was doing it.

He stood in the doorway and slowly looked around, his expression shifting with faint unease.

'Did something change in here? It feels different.'

'Cleared out some old things.' I didn't look up from the box. 'I've been meaning to replace stuff anyway.'

'Sure. If you find something you like, let my assistant know. She'll handle it.'

His tone was easy.

Casual.

Like he hadn't just destroyed me.

He tossed his jacket onto the couch. Then his eyes fell on the design sketches spread across the table.

'The Moonlit Radiance launch is tomorrow. You should come.'

My hands stopped.

For six years I had designed one major collection after another for Silver Peak as Alex, and not once had I been invited to the launch of my own work.

This invitation now wasn't generosity.

It was guilt.

'Okay,' I said at once.

Before I leave you, I thought, I'm taking back what belongs to me.

Nyx's voice softened.

'That's right. We leave with our dignity.'

Just then, my phone rang.

An unfamiliar international number.

Ryan's brow tightened instantly.

'Why are you getting an international call?'

I glanced at the screen.

And my heart sank.

That number.

The Holy Doctor's private line.

But our transaction ended five years ago.

Why was the Holy Doctor calling me?