(Rosienne’s POV)
Even after eighteen years, my mother was still being cursed across the werewolf kingdoms for the sins of that night.
"I'm sorry, Greyla. I shouldn't have dropped your gown onto the floor."
But Greyla clearly had no plans to forgive me so easily.
"An apology should sound sincere," she said coldly. "Otherwise, I'll believe you're lying."
"What do you want me to do then?"
Greyla smiled cruelly.
"Tell everyone here that you wanted to become Darius Redclaw's hidden mate. Admit that you're just as shameless as your mother." She paused before laughing softly. "No. You're even worse than she was."
"I don't want to become anyone's hidden mate anymore. Darius and I are over."
Right in front of her, I removed the moonstone ring from my finger. The ring I once planned to wear during our mating ceremony.
"Take it back," I said quietly. "We're finished."
Darius stopped moving for a moment. But he never reached for the ring. It fell onto the marble floor with a cold sound.
"If I say you wanted it, then you wanted it."
Greyla suddenly grabbed my hair and dragged me into the grand banquet hall.
"Everyone, look over here!" she shouted loudly. "This woman begged to become another she wolf's replacement!"
A nearby guest frowned.
"Isn't she Darius Redclaw's mate?"
"Not anymore," Darius answered flatly. "My chosen mate is Greyla Darkmere, she’s the new secretary of my territory."
The crowd immediately understood. Soft mocking laughter spread throughout the hall.
One older she wolf stepped forward with disgust in her eyes.
"I said long ago that the daughter of a hidden lover would grow into the same kind of woman. Yet you used to defend her, Alpha Darius."
Greyla smiled sweetly. "She even slapped herself earlier to gain Darius's sympathy. But our Darius is a noble Alpha. He would never fall for such pathetic tricks."
As she spoke, Greyla leaned affectionately against Darius's chest.
I noticed the strange expression crossing his face. For a moment, he looked uncomfortable. Yet he still answered softly, "Whatever you say, sweetheart."
Those words stabbed deeply into me again.
I opened my mouth to explain, but before I could speak, someone suddenly threw a glass of moon wine into my face.
"You're a disgrace to every she wolf alive!" a woman shouted angrily. "Were there no unmated men left in the kingdoms? You had to chase after another woman's mate?"
The wine poured into my mouth. I choked violently and coughed so hard my chest burned painfully.
Before I could recover, another glass splashed across my face.
"Women who destroy mating bonds deserve death!"
Then more drinks followed. One after another. Some soaked my dress. Some drenched my hair….
Someone grabbed my jaw and forced more alcohol down my throat.
I was the one being humiliated, the one branded as a hidden mate. I was the one suffering beneath everyone's hatred.
Meanwhile, the true intruder stood safely inside Darius's arms, smiling brighter than ever.
I couldn’t even cry out my innocence before they shoved me onto the ground.
When the drinks were gone, they used their fists. Then their shoes.
At that moment, the nightmare I feared most finally arrived.
My mother suffered through this same horror before her death. The crowd, the shame, and the hotel incident.
In the end, she could no longer endure it and jumped from the rooftop beneath the moonlight.
That was why I ended things with Darius so quickly. Because I was terrified history would repeat itself.
And yet it still happened. Only this time, it came disguised as justice built upon lies.
The darkness Darius once protected me from returned again, heavier and colder than before, swallowing me whole. There was no more light left in my world.
The man who once shined upon me was now shining on someone else.
I saw Darius smiling at Greyla. His smile was so full of happiness that tears even glimmered in his eyes. He truly looked happy.
Darius Redclaw...
Why was the man who once rescued me from hell now the same man throwing me back into it?
Something inside me finally broke.
Like a madwoman, I pushed through the crowd and stumbled toward the elevator, just like my mother once did before her death.
The elevator carried me all the way to the rooftop.
Perhaps because he remembered my mother's fate, Darius suddenly chased after me in panic. His face had turned completely pale.
"Rosie, stop!" he shouted desperately.
But unlike my mother, I didn’t jump from the rooftop.
Instead, I climbed upward.
Step by step, I grabbed the hanging ladder beneath the helicopter waiting above the hotel and pulled myself higher into the stormy sky.
