Chapter 2

Father looked pleased with my "obedience." Challenging the Council is taboo, even for a Pureblood.

Stepmother Karen smiled with satisfaction.

After they left, Lila lingered.

"Ivy, let me help you pack."

She stood before me, acting obedient, releasing a fake, sweet scent.

But when she looked around the room, her eyes were filled with greed—the hunger of a low-ranking wolf for high-ranking resources.

"I didn't expect the Council to agree to let us switch rooms either."

Lila tilted her head back, her eyes flashing with provocation.

"Ivy, does your wolf want to rip me apart right now?"

"After all, I just stole your fated mate, Caleb. And now, I’ve stolen the room you’ve lived in for ten years."

I suppressed the urge to teach her a lesson and turned to grab my suitcase.

Suddenly, Lila let out an exaggerated scream and threw herself onto the floor.

"Ivy..."

When she fell, her arm hit the corner of a table inlaid with silver filigree. Silver burns werewolves. Her skin instantly turned a bruised purple.

"Ivy! What the hell are you doing?!"

Caleb burst through the door, his Alpha hearing picking up the commotion instantly.

His face was dark—the precursor to Alpha rage. He carefully scooped Lila up into his arms.

"Caleb, I'm fine. Ivy didn't mean to."

Lila was crying, yet she forced a pained smile. "It doesn't hurt at all, Caleb."

"You're burned, and you say it doesn't hurt?"

Caleb looked at the wound on her arm, his eyes full of distress.

But when he looked at me, his golden pupils constricted, releasing icy hostility.

"Ivy, if you have a problem, take it out on me."

"Don't hurt Lila. She is just a newly shifted, fragile female."

"Unlike you. Born a noble Pureblood. You’ve never lacked anything."

I thought the mate bond wouldn't affect my emotions anymore.

I thought I wouldn't shed another tear for Caleb.

But in the end, I was still a female wolf with a connection that hadn't been fully severed.

I didn't have a body of steel. I didn't have a heart of stone.

My childhood ally.

The fated mate blessed by the Moon Goddess, a bond we kept for three years.

In just a few days, because of some "freshness," he fell for a young girl who had just shifted.

He saw me as a vicious, stray Rogue.

I didn't want to cry. I actually wanted to laugh.

But my tear ducts ached.

"Caleb, is your nose broken? Can't you smell what kind of person I am? Can't you smell the stench of lies on her?"

Caleb frowned.

His gaze rested on my face—an Alpha’s scrutinizing look. His expression seemed to waver slightly.