I balanced the takeout bag in one hand as I fumbled with the spare key to Ryan's apartment. He wasn't expecting me—this was supposed to be a surprise lunch date before his birthday celebration tonight. After dating for over a year, these little gestures kept our relationship alive, especially with how busy he'd been lately.
The apartment was quiet when I stepped inside. "Ryan?" I called out, but there was no answer. His car wasn't in the parking lot, so I figured he must have gone out with his pack friends. Setting the food on the kitchen counter, I noticed his phone lying there, screen lit up with an incoming message.
I shouldn't look. I really shouldn't.
But something had been off lately. The late nights. The canceled dates. The way he'd pull away when I tried to kiss him goodbye.
The screen went dark, but not before I caught a glimpse of a woman's name. Chloe. My stomach twisted as I picked up the phone. To my surprise, it wasn't locked—Ryan must have been in such a hurry he'd forgotten. My finger hovered over the message icon, my heart pounding in my chest.
Just one look, I told myself. Just to ease my mind.
The moment I opened his messages, my world collapsed. There they were—dozens of steamy texts between Ryan and this Chloe. Pictures. Plans. Promises.
"Can't wait to mark you next week, baby. You're my true mate. The only one who matters."
My hands trembled as I scrolled up, each message driving the knife deeper.
"What about that wolfless girl?" Chloe had asked.
"Don't worry about Madison. I'll reject her at the pack gathering. It'll be public, final. Then it's just you and me."
Another text made bile rise in my throat: "Thanks for the watch, babe. How did you afford it?"
"Don't worry about it. Madison's family sends her money for school. She never checks her account balance."
The room spun around me. The birthday gift I'd saved three months of waitressing tips to buy him sat heavy in my purse. All this time, he'd been using my money to court his true mate. His fated mate.
Something I could never be.
Because I was broken. Twenty years old and still wolfless. A late bloomer at best, a genetic dead end at worst.
I dropped the phone like it had burned me, backing away until I hit the wall. The tears came hot and fast, blurring my vision as reality crashed down. I'd been a placeholder. A wallet. A joke.
Twisting the promise ring on my finger—another lie—I yanked it off and slammed it down next to his phone. Then I ran.
---
Hours later, I found myself at the Crescent Moon Pack house, surrounded by lanterns and laughter. I shouldn't have come to Ryan's birthday celebration, but some masochistic part of me needed to see them together. Needed to confirm what I now knew was true.
I huddled in a corner, nursing a drink I hadn't touched, scanning the crowd for Ryan. My phone clutched in my hand displayed his messages—screenshots I'd taken before fleeing his apartment. The name "Chloe" burned in my mind like a brand.
And then I saw them. Ryan, looking handsome and carefree in a button-down shirt I'd bought him for Christmas, his arm wrapped possessively around a stunning brunette. She wore a delicate gold necklace I recognized from one of the photos in Ryan's texts—another gift purchased with my money.
I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood, fighting back tears. The wolfless girl, watching from the shadows while her boyfriend paraded his true mate around. How pathetic.
"You deserve better than him."
The deep voice startled me from my spiral of self-pity. I looked up to find Jake Sterling standing before me, his powerful Alpha aura rippling through the air between us. Ryan's roommate. Future Alpha of the Silverfang Pack. And notorious heartbreaker.
He extended a fresh drink toward me, his intense gaze seeming to see right through my carefully constructed façade.
"How would you know what I deserve?" I managed to ask, my voice barely steady.
A smile played at the corner of his mouth, not quite reaching his eyes. "Because I've been watching him lie to you for months. And I've been watching you believe him." He nodded toward the drink. "Take it. Tonight seems like a good night to start making better choices."
