I tossed my phone onto the table, frustration simmering as I stared at the bandage on my hand. My chest felt tight, but it wasn’t from the sting of the cut. No, it was the weight of three years of insults, provocations, and silent sacrifices…all because of Lila.
For three years, she had played this game, goading me at every opportunity. Every sly comment, every feigned act of kindness, was a dagger she twisted in my side.
And Harlan? He wasn’t blind. He wasn’t stupid. He knew. He knew exactly what Lila was doing. But every single time, he chose to look the other way.
I let out a bitter laugh, shaking my head as I paced the small room. The cold floorboards creaked beneath my bare feet, and the walls seemed to close in, suffocating me. Maybe I’d been a fool all along. For years, I told myself to endure it. After all, I owed Harlan’s family everything.
The Moonshine alpha and his mate had taken me in when I had no one. My parents had died in a rogue attack when I was barely six. I still remembered the night I was brought to the pack house, clutching the tattered blanket my mother made for me.
It was Harlan’s parents who held me when I cried, who fed me, clothed me, and treated me like one of their own. Harlan and Ronan became my family. They taught me how to fight, how to stand tall, and how to survive.
And now…
I clenched my fists, nails biting into my palms as fresh tears spilled down my cheeks. How could I even think about leaving?
Everything I had, everything I was, I owed to them. Walking away would make me ungrateful, disloyal.
But staying…staying was killing me.
I sank onto the edge of the bed, my shoulders trembling as the tears came harder. I buried my face in my hands, the sobs wracking my body. I cried for the love I had lost, for the bond I thought we shared, for the betrayal that cut deeper than any wound.
I cried for Ronan, who had died trying to save me. For the guilt that suffocated me every time I saw Harlan’s golden eyes filled with blame.
And I cried for myself, for the woman I used to be before this endless cycle of heartbreak turned me into someone I barely recognized.
The storm outside mirrored my anguish, rain pattering against the window like a thousand tiny needles. The wind howled, shaking the house.
I don’t know how long I stayed like that, curled up in a ball on the bed, but eventually, exhaustion pulled me under, my tears soaking the pillow beneath me.
The sound of the front door slamming open jolted me awake. My heart sank.The scent of pine and rain filled the air…Harlan’s scent. But there was something else mixed in…anger.
Before I could fully sit up, the lights flicked on, flooding the room in harsh brightness. Harlan was there in an instant, his golden eyes blazing as he yanked me out of bed.
“Anya,” he growled, “what the hell is wrong with you?”
I blinked, and I was feeling disoriented, “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb.” His grip on my arm tightened, “Why did you call Lila a bitch? Don’t you know what she’s been through? Don’t you know she only has Shadow left to remind her of Ronan?”
Lila appeared in the doorway, cradling the wolf pup in her arms. Shadow’s coat was pure white, with bright amber eyes that mirrored his mother’s. He let out a small, plaintive whimper, trembling as if sensing the tension in the room.
Lila buried her face in the pup’s fur, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs. When she looked up, tears clung to her lashes like fragile crystals, her lip trembling as if she’d been utterly devastated by my words.
“Harlan,” she whispered, “please don’t be mad at her. I’m sure she didn’t mean it. I only sent her the photo to reassure her, to let her know there was nothing going on between us.”
She sniffled, clutching Shadow tighter. “Anya, I promise you, I’ll never call Harlan for anything again. Even if I’m dying, I won’t bother him. I swear.”
The sight of her frail, pitiful, made my blood boil. And just like that, Harlan’s rage evaporated.He pulled her into his arms.
“Don’t say that,” he murmured. “I’ll always come when you need me, Lila. Always.”
I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails pierced the skin of my palms, drawing blood. This was the man who used to hold me like that. The man who used to whisper those words in my ear. And now, that was reserved for someone else. When he turned back to me, his golden eyes were cold.
“You’ve disappointed me, Anya,” he said. “I’ve told you time and time again not to pick fights with Lila. But you don’t listen. You can’t stand the fact that I care about her, can you? She’s like a sister to me, and you turn it into something ugly. Why?”
I opened my mouth to speak, to defend myself, but he cut me off.
“This isn’t about Lila,” he continued, “This is about your guilt. You know you’re the reason Ronan is dead, and you can’t handle it. So you lash out. But I won’t let you take it out on her. Do you understand me?”
His words hit like a physical blow, and I staggered back, the air knocked out of me…Guilt… He always came back to that.
No matter how many times I tried to explain, no matter how much I begged him to believe me, he refused. In his eyes, Ronan’s death was my fault.
And nothing I did would ever change that.
Desperation clawed at me as I grabbed my phone to show him the messages Lila had sent. But when I opened the app, her messages were gone. She deleted the messages and all that remained was my reply: a single voice note.
“You bitch.”
Harlan’s jaw tightened as he listened to it.
“That’s all I needed to hear,” he said.
Lila stepped closer, placing a hand on his arm. “Harlan, it’s okay. I don’t want to cause any more trouble. Just... don’t be too hard on her, okay?”
She was showing her fake compassion. My rage bubbled to the surface, and I raised my hand, ready to wipe that smug look off her face, but before I could do it, Harlan moved faster than I thought possible. He stop me by catching my wrist in mid-air.
“Don’t,” he growled, and his grip was firm but not painful. Even now, he wouldn’t hurt me not physically. But emotionally? He was a master at that.
He turned to Lila. “Go outside. I’ll handle this.”
She nodded, casting me one last triumphant glance before disappearing behind the door. When Harlan released my wrist, his golden eyes bore into mine.
“I don’t know who you’ve become, Anya,” he said, “But this? This isn’t the woman I have chosen as my mate.”
And then, without another word, he walked away, leaving me alone in the suffocating silence, the weight of his judgment pressing down like a stone on my chest.
