On the day Adelyn and Miles were supposed to finalize their mate rejection, she was struck with sudden, excruciating stomach pain.

“What’s the matter? Can’t keep up the act anymore?” Miles sneered, his towering frame looming over her, his muscular arms crossed in a display of dominance. His voice dripped with condescension, his rank as a Gamma giving him an air of superiority that he wielded like a weapon.

“If you don’t actually want to reject the bond, just admit it. Stop pretending you’re sick,” he added, his tone sharp and cutting.

Adelyn gritted her teeth, trying to bear the pain, but it was overwhelming. She passed out before they could complete the rejection process.

When she woke, she found herself in the pack’s healing quarters. Miles stood by her bedside, his expression cold and detached. He handed her a stack of receipts, his voice flat and devoid of sympathy.

“Lucky you had the surgery before the rejection,” he said, his tone mocking. “Otherwise, you’d have had to foot the entire bill yourself. It’s $700; you can transfer me $350.”

He tossed the medical bills onto her lap, and the room seemed to spin around her. Adelyn never thought she’d suffer an acute appendicitis attack on the day of their mate rejection, let alone that Miles would stoop this low.

She sat there, silent, a bitter smile spreading across her face. Even though she’d resolved to reject their bond, her heart still throbbed with a dull ache. Struggling to sit up, she saw Miles pushing his phone towards her, his expression expectant.

“$350—PayPal or Venmo, take your pick,” he insisted.

Under his watchful gaze, Adelyn transferred $700 to him. She couldn’t stand his self-righteous ‘savior’ act any longer.

Miles looked at her, surprised. “Feeling generous, aren’t you scared you’ll run out of cash?”

She tightened her grip on the phone, shaking with contained fury. Who would have imagined that Miles, a Gamma with access to the pack’s resources, could be so petty with his own mate?

Adelyn pulled herself together and made a call. Miles, satisfied with extracting money from her, turned to leave. As he headed out, she called after him. “The pack council is still open. Let’s finalize the rejection now.”

She completed the rejection proceedings in a wheelchair. The pack clerk initially tried to mediate, but they fell silent when they saw Adelyn had shown up despite her illness.

The division of assets was a straightforward fifty-fifty split, something Miles and Adelyn had agreed upon when they decided to separate. She gave up the territory and the car, opting for cash instead.

As they walked out of the council chambers, Miles taunted her with his usual sarcasm. “Always about the resources, isn’t it? Guess we were never really from the same world.”

The anesthetic had just worn off, and the pain was brutal. If she could have, Adelyn would have stood up and slapped him. Yet, there was some truth in his words. Miles and she were never from the same world. It had been her mistake to lower her standards and fall for the wrong person.

The weight of the rejection pressed heavily on her chest, but Adelyn knew she had to move forward. She had always been stronger than she looked, and now, she would prove it to herself—and to the pack.

Just as they were about to part ways, Miles called out to her, his voice laced with a bitterness that cut through the crisp evening air.

"Adelyn, I hope you move out soon. If you linger, I’ll have nowhere to turn for support."

The wheelchair came to a sudden halt, its wheels screeching against the rough pavement, a sound that echoed the tearing of a bond that once held them together. Adelyn’s shoulders stiffened, but she refused to let him see the cracks forming in her composure.

"Fine," she replied coolly, her tone as sharp as the edge of a blade.

With Theo’s help, she rose from the wheelchair and stepped into the waiting car, urging the driver to take her to the territory they once shared. She arrived before Miles, her presence commanding despite the exhaustion that clung to her like a shadow. The pack’s housekeeping staff was already waiting by the door, their heads bowed in deference to the Alpha she secretly was.

She didn’t need Miles to tell her to leave; she would have done so anyway. Every second in his presence felt suffocating, a reminder of the mate bond she was severing.

Under her direction, her belongings were packed quickly—a few clothes, some jewelry, and the items she had brought into their union. Anything connected to Miles after their bonding ceremony held no value to her now.

When Miles returned, most of the packing was done. His face was unreadable as he stared intently at the boxes, his eyes narrowing as if she had stolen something precious from him. His broad shoulders, once a source of comfort, now seemed like a wall of hostility.

Ignoring his scrutinizing gaze, Adelyn instructed a pack member to take down the painting hanging in the living room, a piece of her family’s legacy.

"What are you doing? Who gave you permission to touch that painting? Leave it alone!" Miles roared, his voice carrying the weight of his Gamma authority, though it lacked the commanding presence of an Alpha.

Adelyn turned to face him, her expression calm but resolute. "My parents gave me this painting for my birthday before our bonding. It’s part of my personal property. Why shouldn’t I take it?" Her voice was steady, her gaze unwavering.

The painting, a rare artifact acquired at an auction by her parents, was worth a fortune. Once Miles discovered its value, he had insisted it be displayed prominently, a symbol of his status. Now, faced with its removal, his anger flared, his control slipping.

With nothing left to say, Miles could only lash out, his words bitter and cutting. "A month to cool off. Don’t come back crying and begging."

Adelyn didn’t bother responding. She simply turned and walked away, her head held high, her steps firm despite the ache in her chest.

Beg him? The thought was absurd. She only hoped he wouldn’t be the one coming to her in tears, groveling for forgiveness she had no intention of giving.

After a long, exhausting afternoon, Adelyn’s wound inevitably reopened, forcing her to stay in the pack’s healing center for ten days. She had initially planned a trip during the lull, but her enthusiasm waned as the pain and fatigue set in.

During those ten days, Clover, her former packmate and close friend, visited her several times. Clover had been with her from the start, witnessing Adelyn and Miles transition from being in love to establishing their mate bond, and now, to the brink of rejection. Each time Clover visited, she would launch into a tirade against Miles, as if venting her frustration was the only way to cope.

“Let it go, Clover, it’s behind us now,” Adelyn would say, though deep down, the sadness lingered. She and Miles had been in love for four years and mated for one. She never imagined they would end up here, and so quickly.

Her phone screen was frozen on a bank transfer she had made to Miles, and his words echoed in her mind. In that moment, she felt utterly foolish.

Back during her training years, her parents, Phillip and Nova, respected elders of their pack, were keen on toughening her character. They not only restricted her access to pack resources but also forbade her from flaunting their family’s status. When they found out she had found her mate, they insisted she keep it discreet, even going so far as to demand a formal agreement before the marking ceremony. They openly expressed their doubts about Miles more than once. They were brutally honest; they feared a lower-ranked Gamma would drag her down.

This led to a major argument between them, as Adelyn was determined to prove to her parents that Miles genuinely cared for her. Adelyn and Miles had established their mate bond in their second year of training. After completing her studies, Miles chose to skip further advancement and jumped into a role within the pack’s trade division. He wanted to prove himself quickly. Adelyn didn’t see anything wrong with this; in fact, she fully supported him. He was a trainee from a modest background, and his mother, Julieta, had worked tirelessly to secure his position within the pack. During their training years, he was always driven by his goals and ambitions. This drive is what drew Adelyn to him.

Miles was always proud and had a strong sense of dignity. Within three years of completing his training, he clawed his way up to a Gamma position, earning a respectable share of the pack’s resources. After they established their bond, Julieta urged Adelyn to step back from her responsibilities and focus on starting a family. She advised that having pups while young would make it easier to maintain her strength and status. But Adelyn never anticipated reaching the point of rejection.

Her initial agreement to Julieta’s suggestion and her current lack of pups became tools for Miles to manipulate her, his dominance and arrogance growing with each passing day.