Chapter 4

Brian Clarke quickly hung up.

They scrambled to put out their cigarettes, adjusted their suits, and rushed out of the balcony.

As Jason Miller caught up with me, he whispered, "Elena, we all know what you and Lucas have been through all these years. He loves you. It's just... you know how men are."

I didn't look at him, nor did I reply.

Honestly, before yesterday, I refused to believe he would fall into the old cliché of discarding the old for the new.

Summer was the only daughter of the Shadow Pack's Alpha, only eighteen.

Ever since they met at a Lunar Summit, his eyes had been different.

After ten years together, I knew him too well.

So, those suspicious late-night texts and unanswered calls... I chose to trust him.

I didn't believe our decade of love could lose to a girl he just met.

But gradually, he grew eager to tear off his mask. It became ridiculous.

He stopped hiding it. He even let me find out on purpose.

He wrapped his betrayal up as a blessing:

"An Alpha as powerful as me can't just have one woman. But my heart is yours. No one else will ever take the title of Luna from you."

He expected me to be grateful.

Hailey was right. He was too good at acting.

He waited until the very day before the wedding to strip away his final disguise.

In the most cruel way possible, he made sure I saw and heard exactly what I meant to him.

He left me with no way out.

"Elena, walk slowly down the aisle, okay? We'll be right behind you to back you up."

"Yeah, Lucas said he'll get here as soon as he can. Just go through the motions for now."

They thought I was just going to go through the motions.

They expected me to wear my wedding gown, walk down the aisle alone, stand on the altar, and wait for a groom who might never show up.

And then smile and say "I do" to an empty space.

That was the script Lucas wrote for me.

The groomsmen stood on both sides of me, still wearing those smug, "everything is under control" smiles.

The heavy doors of the grand hall slowly opened, revealing a figure standing against the light.

And then, everyone's smile froze.

...

Lucas took a drag from his cigarette and buckled his belt.

"Are you really leaving?" Summer sat on the bed, wrapped in a blanket, looking miserable. "You promised to stay with me all day. I only agreed to hold off on the marking because of that."

"I have to go." Lucas picked up his jacket. "She only gave me three minutes. If I don't show up, you know how her temper is..."

"What temper?" Summer scoffed. "Isn't she always the obedient one?"

"Obedient, sure. But today is different." Lucas checked himself in the mirror and adjusted his collar. "The grand ceremony is what I promised her."

"Then why did you come to me?"

"Because you begged." Lucas smiled, leaning down to pinch her cheek. "Be good. I'll be back tonight."

Summer smacked his hand away and turned around. "Then when are you going to mark me?"

"We'll talk about it later," Lucas mumbled dismissively, picking up his phone from the nightstand.

The screen lit up with a barrage of notifications.

The group chat with his friends was blowing up. Voice notes kept coming, and the last one was a video from Brian Clarke.

Frowning, he clicked on it.

His eyes widened in shock.