Chapter 2

While I was still searching for a way to break the bond with minimal harm, things spiraled out of control—far beyond anything I could have imagined.

It was the night of a pack gathering. All the prominent werewolf families had assembled at the Hale family estate to celebrate the start of hunting season.

This was one of the most important holidays of the year for our kind. Every werewolf would shift under the moonlight and run free through the forest.

I attended in an elegant gown, playing my part as Mrs. Hale. Iris was there too, wearing a simple black dress, standing off in a corner, looking out of place.

A group of noblewomen had gathered to gossip, and inevitably, the topic turned to Iris.

"That Miss Iris is so full of herself," one of them said. "A lone wolf, and she actually has the nerve to live in the Hale family's main residence."

Another chimed in, "I heard her father died saving Mr. Hale, which is why he's taking care of her. But this level of *care*? It's getting hard to tell who the real Mrs. Hale is."

Their voices weren't exactly quiet—clearly intended for my ears. I held my wine glass, kept a smile on my face, and pretended I hadn't heard a thing.

But my friend—a Beta with a fiery temper—couldn't hold back.

She declared loudly, "A lone wolf is still just a lone wolf. Without proper pack upbringing, she doesn't know how to behave."

The words reached Iris. I watched her face drain of color, her eyes reddening, before she turned and fled.

My heart sank. I knew trouble was coming.

Sure enough, within ten minutes, Nathan found me. His eyes had already turned golden yellow, his Alpha rage barely contained.

"Clara," his voice was low and dangerous, "did you put someone up to bullying Iris?"

I took a deep breath, fighting to stay calm. "Nathan, I didn't ask anyone to bully her. There was no need."

"No need?" Nathan laughed coldly. "You think I don't know what you're thinking? You're jealous of her, so you let your friend humiliate her."

"*I'm* jealous of *her*?" I finally snapped, my voice rising. "Nathan, she's living in our home, using our resources, enjoying the companionship that should be *mine*. Is it really so wrong for my friend to stand up for me?"

"Because she *deserves* it!" Nathan roared. "Her father died saving me. She lost her only family. What right do *you* have to be jealous of her?"

The guests around us had fallen silent. Every eye was on us. I felt countless gazes—some sympathetic, some curious, some gleeful.

I clenched my jaw, forcing back tears. "Nathan, do you have any idea what you're saying? I'm your mate."

"Wife?" Nathan's gaze turned to ice. "Clara, do you really think you deserve that title?"

The words drove into my heart like a blade.

That night, Nathan had me taken to the Seaside Villa—a private Hale family property, an isolated building perched on the edge of a cliff.

Outside, waves crashed against the rocks with a deafening roar.

Nathan ordered his guards to suspend me from the exterior wall of the villa. Ropes bound my wrists, leaving me dangling thirty feet in the air, with nothing below but churning surf pounding against the rocks.

And he knew perfectly well that I have a severe fear of heights.

The icy night wind carried the briny smell of seawater as it lashed against my face. My wolf was screaming, desperate to shift and escape.

But the special mate mark bound me like a shackle, making it impossible to resist an Alpha's command.

This is one of the cruelest punishments in werewolf society—using the special mate bond to suppress any resistance.

Nathan stood on the cliff above, looking down at me. In the moonlight, his face was cold and sculpted, his eyes now completely the golden yellow of his wolf, fangs barely visible.

"Clara," his voice was frigid, "do you have any idea what it means to be a lone wolf?"

I trembled all over—not from the cold, but from terror.

"It means she lost her pack, lost her family, struggled to survive alone in the wild," he continued. "And you—pampered by everyone in the pack your whole life—what right do you have to mock her?"

*I didn't—* I wanted to explain, but the rope suddenly went slack, and I plummeted downward.

The icy seawater swallowed me instantly. The briny liquid flooded my nose and mouth; my lungs felt like they would burst.

I thrashed desperately, but the ropes only tightened around me. Just as I was about to suffocate, the rope yanked me back up.

I coughed violently, retching up the water that had forced its way into my lungs. Before I could even catch my breath, I was plunged back into the sea.

Again and again.

The seawater filled my lungs over and over. My consciousness began to blur. Through the haze of near-death terror, I heard Nathan standing above me, demanding in a low voice—

"Have you learned your lesson?"

His voice was cold, his eyes now completely the golden yellow of his wolf. This was an Alpha disciplining a subordinate—the harshest punishment permitted under pack law.

But I was supposed to be his mate.

We bore each other's marks on our necks. The soul contract still held. Yet for the sake of an outsider lone wolf, he was doing this to his own mate.

The next time I was thrust into the water, I finally stopped struggling. The icy sea wrapped around me like death's embrace. I closed my eyes and let myself sink.

In that moment, I finally saw the truth clearly.

Six years of marriage. Six years of devotion. In his heart, they meant nothing compared to one month of life-saving gratitude.

My consciousness finally slipped into darkness.

In my last moment before passing out, I caught an unfamiliar scent—not Nathan's fir, not Iris's cedar, but something warm like amber, carrying hints of sunlight and forest.

*Whose scent was that?*

Then everything went black.