"Don't just stand there like an idiot. Let's go."
The Beta, Jett, eyed me coldly, his tone as robotic as his expression.
Like a puppet on a string, I bent down to pick up my backpack.
My phone vibrated. It was a message from Titus.
"Go with Jett for now. I'll come and explain later."
I stared at the commanding text, my fingers trembling as I typed back. "Why did you lie to me?"
His reply came with obvious impatience.
"Don't cause a scene. This isn't the time or place for a tantrum."
A tear splattered onto the screen.
I followed Jett and was taken to a luxurious penthouse apartment that overlooked the entire city.
I swiped the key card and opened the door.
A wave of pure luxury washed over me, mixed with the scent of expensive woody cologne.
This was a world away from the "modest scholar's apartment" Titus had described to me.
I thought about how I had scrimped and saved for the past seven years, using all my savings to support his "research." It all felt like a colossal joke.
I collapsed onto the plush carpet, my gaze snagging on a magically sealed scroll in his study—a marriage contract.
I froze.
On the scroll, Titus and a white-gowned Evangeline were exchanging marriage vows in the presence of the pack elders.
In the bottom right corner, the date of the ceremony was engraved.
I remembered that day. It was the day I came of age.
That day, I had asked him, full of hope, "Titus, I'm an adult now. When can we have our bonding ceremony?"
He had replied, "Soon, Rowan. Just wait for me a little longer."
And on that very day, he was pledging his life to another woman.
Like a madwoman, I rushed into the master bedroom. The walk-in closet was filled with Evangeline's haute couture gowns and silk nightgowns.
Trembling, I pulled open his side of the closet and found a discarded shirt.
I fumbled with the cuff.
The last shred of hope in my heart shattered.
The unique fated mate mark—the one that should have been mine—was concealed by a powerful glamour.
In its place was a false rune, the symbol of his political alliance with Evangeline's family.
This was the ultimate desecration of the mate bond.
He had once pointed to the bare mark on his wrist and told me, "Rowan, look. The Moon Goddess has carved our destiny into our very bones and blood. No one can change it."
It turned out he had been lying from the very beginning.
I crumpled to the cold floor and sobbed my heart out.
