Chapter 4

On the evening of our anniversary, I finished packing everything I needed.

An hour before we were supposed to leave, Cain's phone rang.

He picked up, listened for less than thirty seconds, and his expression changed. He hung up and told me Serena wasn't feeling well—probably a pregnancy symptom. He needed to go check on her. He'd be right back.

"Go," I said. "I'll drive to the lake myself. Meet me there when you're done."

"An hour. At most."

I nodded.

I drove to Moonfall Lake alone.

The sky wasn't fully dark yet when I arrived. I sat on a rock by the shore and took out my phone.

Someone had just shared a photo in the Pack group chat. Serena lying on a couch, someone behind her pulling a blanket over her shoulders. The photo only caught one of his hands—but the tattoo on his wrist was the totem that only the Alpha of Blackthorn Pack carried.

The caption was from Serena: "When you're not feeling well, having someone by your side makes everything okay."

I called Cain.

It rang three times. Then the call was cut off.

I called again. This time Serena answered, her voice languid: "Cain just fell asleep. Is it urgent? I can pass along a message."

I hung up.

He didn't come. Not all night.

The lake was quiet. The wind came off the water, cutting straight to the bone.

At four in the morning, I called Cain one last time.

Powered off.

I stood up, opened my phone, and set the file package I'd prepared to send on a three-hour delay—straight to Blackthorn Pack's public communication channel.

The package contained three things.

First, scans of every page of my handwritten herbal research notes, each one bearing my handwriting and dates. Second, a side-by-side comparison of every "breakthrough" Serena had published over the years, matched line by line against my notes. Third, the photos from the safe.

At the end, I'd attached a message—

"I was Cain's fated mate for three years. In those three years, he handed my research to another woman, erased my name from my own work, and told me to stay home and rest. Today is our mating anniversary. He promised to be here. He didn't come. This is the last time."

I pulled the herbal concoction from my pocket, tilted my head back, and swallowed it.

In fifteen minutes, the bond between me and Cain would be forcibly severed. He would feel the tearing agony of a mate's death.

The Rogues were already nearby.

I sent a message: Move in.

Then I sat back down on the rock and waited for the herbs to take effect.

On the other side.

Cain jolted awake in Serena's apartment, seized by a bolt of searing pain.

His chest felt like something was ripping it apart from the center. The pain doubled him over.

The bond was severed.

His Beta's call came through, voice trembling.

"Alpha—Luna was attacked by rogues at Moonfall Lake. She's been... she's been torn apart."