At the other end of the phone, Alpha Darren fell silent. After a long pause, his somewhat awkward voice finally came through. "Sorry, Daniella. Something happened at home, and I came back early. Wait for me; I'll pick you up now." As he spoke, the sound of rustling and faint chatter could be heard between them. Camilla's voice called cheerfully, "Darren, dinner is almost ready! Where are you going?"
Daniella pressed her fingers to her temples, a bitter smile curling on her lips. Camilla could even call the pack leader just by using his name, once again making her a bit envious. "Forget it. Don't bother—I can take care of myself." This time, Alpha Darren hesitated for half a second before agreeing with Daniella's words; deep down in the woman's heart, she wanted her Alpha to oppose her, go home alone, and rush to pick her up, leaving Camilla alone there, but that was impossible.
"Alright, don't rush. I'm cooking something delicious tonight. I will wait for you when you come home." After hanging up the phone, Daniella let out a soft sigh, even though the wound in her heart seemed to deepen more and more. While gently touching the healing request letter in the Sharp Claws pack tucked in her pocket, Daniella wondered again how she could convince Alpha to agree to her departure and end this crazy mate relationship.
Leaning against the wall, Daniella limped out of the house area; fortunately, Uncle Jerremy was resting inside, so he wouldn't scold Daniella. Every step she took sent waves of burning pain to her ankle. After cursing her fate and complaining as if the pain in her foot would last forever, Daniella finally managed to call a taxi.
When she sat in the passenger seat, she realized her clothes were soaked with cold sweat. The taxi driver glanced at his pale passenger's face in the rearview mirror, his voice sounding worried, "Miss, you look unwell. Why don't you call your boyfriend to pick you up?" Leaning back in the chair, Daniella tried to ease her pain and laughed bitterly, more precisely, laughed at her own fate.
"I don't have a boyfriend, but a fiancé."
"If that's the case, call your fiancé. Look at yourself—your face is pale as a ghost. I'm sure he doesn't want anything bad to happen to his future wife." Daniella appreciated the taxi driver's empathy, but in this sensitive situation, for some reason, empathy felt like mockery to her.
"Fiancé?" Daniella snorted softly, staring out the window. "It's a pity he's busy spending time with someone else. He doesn't have time for me." The taxi driver fell silent for a moment before mumbling softly with a slightly awkward tone, "What kind of fiancé is he? He sounds unreliable." Daniella chuckled softly upon hearing his honest words.
"Not reliable?" Daniella pondered it for a moment. "More like indifferent." Alpha Darren cannot be said to be unreliable; as an Alpha, he has saved the pack more than five times until he was finally recognized as the strongest pack. Alpha Darren might just be indifferent towards Daniella, who is not very important to him.
Even when everything about the wedding preparations, from the invitations to the decorations of their future home, was left to Daniella alone. When Daniella asked for input from the Alpha, his response was always indifferent. "The man works outside while the woman takes care of the house. Why do you ask for my opinion on every little thing? Don't you have your own opinion?"
However, when Daniella had finished arranging the house, Alpha Darren complained because he found mistakes in everything. Finally, it was Camilla who finished the decoration according to the Alpha's wishes. When thinking about all that again, Daniella felt waves of exhaustion and humiliation from Alpha Darren at every moment.
When the taxi stopped outside their house gate, Daniella's steps grew heavier. It took several minutes to reach the porch because the Alpha's house was certainly not a small, simple house. However, the few minutes Daniella had to take turned into almost half an hour to cover that distance, each step feeling so heavy and slow. While standing in front of the door, Daniella instinctively reached for her keys before realizing they were missing.
Out of frustration, she knocked on the door. It took a while, until finally Alpha Darren opened it. The first thing the Alpha said upon seeing Daniella was an expression of impatience. "You didn't bring the key? Why do you always knock?" Daniella did not answer immediately. Instead, she entered their luxurious house and walked slowly to the living room, then took out the keychain from her bag.
"You took my key from that ring a few days ago to give it to Camilla, remember?" Daniella replied coldly. Her words made Alpha Darren silent. His annoyance slightly faded, replaced by a hint of guilt. However, his tone contained a hint of reproach. "Recently, I've been so busy that I forgot. Why don't you just buy a new one? You have time for things like this." Daniella smiled faintly, not wanting to answer.
She had long stopped hoping for justice because any defense would be futile for her. For Alpha Darren, everything concerning Camilla will always seem urgent to him, while Daniella's needs are a low priority and can be postponed—or even completely ignored. As Daniella walked into the dining room, she noticed Camilla was already there. "Daniella, you're finally back!" Camilla greeted her enthusiastically, running forward to wrap her arms around Daniella's arm with her cute gesture, sticking out her tongue while smiling. This made her look more like a cat than a wolf, or perhaps this was Camilla's advantage in the eyes of the male wolves.
"Daniella, we cooked food together earlier. Let's eat first; next time we should cook together as a trio." Camilla smile, she was so enthusiastic, but Daniella just frowned. "Why does it have to be with me? You usually do it together, right?"
