Chapter 2

2.

The mountain estate where the ceremony was held was the private territory of the Blackwood Pack.

I had no cell service to even call an Uber.

A kind server took pity on me and handed me an umbrella.

I thanked him, then started the long, difficult walk down the mountain, holding the umbrella with one hand and the heavy, wet dress with the other.

The sideways rain soaked me to the bone, a deep, chilling cold that went straight through me.

The back of my heels were rubbed raw and bloody.

When my phone finally got a signal, it exploded with over a dozen messages.

They were all from Aiden.

Every single one was a furious accusation, demanding to know why I was still targeting Layla when he’d already explained she was just like a sister to him.

I ignored them. A moment later, a video came through from an unknown number.

In the video, Aiden was holding Layla’s hand while she got a check-up. He kept kissing her fingertips, his eyes red as he begged her not to be sick.

I remembered when I first found out I was pregnant. I had fainted in the bathroom from low blood sugar.

I broke my leg in the fall, and a sharp pain shot through my stomach.

Terrified, I instinctively reached out to him through our mate bond, crying for help.

His only response, cold and distant through the bond, was that he wasn't a healer, so what was the point of contacting him.

I ended up in the pack infirmary for two weeks. He never visited me once.

Later, I found out why. The day I fell, Layla had cut her hand while cooking. The healer told her it might leave a tiny scar, and she cried her eyes out.

So Aiden directed all his anger and worry toward me.

I stopped walking and let out a bitter, self-mocking laugh.

I really was a fool. It took me far too long to wake up, and now I was stuck in this humiliating mess.

I was trying to use a rideshare app when Aiden’s call came through.

He started screaming the second I answered. After he ran out of breath, he told me that I had scared Layla so badly her wolf spirit was unstable and on the verge of collapsing. He demanded that I get my ass over there and apologize to her immediately.

I struggled to hold the flimsy umbrella against the wind. "I'm still at the estate," I said calmly.

Just as I spoke, a loud crack of thunder echoed across the dark sky.

Aiden's tone shifted. "It's pouring out there. They didn't bring you back? I'll come get―"

He was cut off by the sound of Layla crying in the background. "Is Clara mad? It's all my fault. Maybe I should have just died when I was away…"

Aiden immediately went back to soothing her.

Then his anger returned, directed at me. "This is your own damn fault! What do you have to be upset about? It was just five minutes! If you had just been a little more generous, I wouldn't have had to leave you there!"

Something inside me finally snapped. I cut him off with a smirk in my voice. "Let's just end our bond. I'm not apologizing to Layla. I was never the one in the wrong. You two were."

If they couldn't stand to be apart, why did he ever bother with me?

He was the one who confessed his feelings first. He was the one who said he wanted to spend his life with me. That's the only reason I chose him.

Ten years. Was my time, my love, completely worthless compared to theirs?

I hung up and quickly got a taxi.

As I sat in the car, another text from Aiden arrived: Clara Reed, you need to admit when you're wrong. After ten years, you're marked as mine. Do you really think any other Alpha will want you now? Especially when you schemed so hard to get pregnant with my child.

I stared at the message, a cold numbness spreading through me.

I thought nothing could possibly hurt more than what had already happened today. I was wrong.

I rolled down the window, letting the cold wind whip against my face. The pain started to clear my head.

I told the driver to turn around.

I was going to the hospital to undo the one thing tying me to him.