After Andrew left, I sat alone at the dining table.

Suddenly, a searing pain exploded in my chest.

"Ah—!"

I clutched my chest, feeling as if something was tearing my very soul apart.

It was the backlash from the ritual, far more violent than I had anticipated.

Waves of agony crashed over me. My vision blurred, and my body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Deep inside, I could feel my wolf whimpering.

Instinct took over. I reached out to Andrew through our mate bond, a primal cry for help from the depths of my soul, like a drowning person grasping for a lifeline.

【Andrew… help me… It hurts so much…】

The connection opened.

But what I found on the other side was a vision that made my heart turn to ice.

In a lavish presidential suite, Andrew was on top of Crystal, pounding into her with fierce intensity.

Her nails raked across his back as she let out shameless moans.

Andrew's face was completely lost in a sea of lust.

My cry for help, my agony, was nothing in the face of their carnal feast.

The moment he severed the mental link, a cold, profound despair washed over me.

That feeling of being utterly abandoned cut deeper than any physical pain.

I don't know how much time passed, but when I woke up, I was in a bed in the pack hospital.

White ceilings, the sharp smell of antiseptic, and the hum of complex medical equipment.

"You're awake," a gentle voice said.

I turned my head to see Dr. Wilson, the pack’s head physician, standing by my bed, his face etched with worry.

"Lucia, your wolf's spirit is extremely weak. You need your mate’s presence and the nourishment of his spiritual energy. The Alpha's vitality can be channeled through the mate bond to help your spirit stabilize."

I couldn't help but give a bitter smile.

Andrew's presence?

When I was on the brink of death, he was screwing another woman.

When my wolf's spirit was fading, he cut me off without a second thought.

And now I was supposed to rely on his presence to save me?

It was a cosmic, cruel joke.

"Don't worry too much, Lucia," Dr. Wilson said, mistaking my despair for fear. "Alpha Andrew will be here soon. With him by your side, you'll recover in no time."

I stared out the window as the sky began to darken, thinking that Andrew was probably still enjoying himself with Crystal.

Maybe they were finished and were now playfully splashing in a bathtub together.

"It doesn't matter," I said calmly, still looking outside. "He won't be my mate for much longer."

Just as the words left my lips, the door to the room swung open.

Andrew stood in the doorway. He had clearly rushed here; his hair was a mess and his shirt wasn't fully buttoned.

He frowned, looking at me with confusion. "What do you mean, not your mate?"

"Lucia, I know you're angry," Andrew said, sitting by my bed, his face a mask of remorse. "I'm so sorry. I was dealing with a difficult situation and had to cut the link. I didn't know..."

He reached out to touch my face. The cloying scent of sweat, cheap perfume, and sex rolled off him, and I had to fight the urge to gag.

I couldn't take it anymore. I shoved his hand away. "Don't touch me!"

My reaction stunned him. He stared at his rejected hand, then back at me, his eyes filled with confusion and hurt.

"Lucia, what's gotten into you? I'm your mate. Why won't you let me touch you?"

I took a deep breath, fighting down the rage and disgust.

It wasn't time for a confrontation yet. I had to keep up the act.

"I'm sorry," I softened my tone. "I'm just not feeling well. It's not you."

"Then tell me," he pressed, "why is your wolf's spirit so weak?"

"It's probably a side effect from the last full moon," I said, feigning nonchalance. "I used too much of my power to soothe you, and I never fully recovered."

It was a partial truth.

During last month's full moon, Andrew's wolf had been unusually feral, and I had indeed exhausted myself calming him.

Hearing my explanation, a complex expression flickered across Andrew's face before he nodded. "I see."

He reached out and stroked my hair, his touch as gentle as if he were handling a priceless piece of art. "It's my fault. I've put too much of a burden on you."

"It's not your fault," I said, the lie tasting like ash in my mouth. "It's my duty as Luna."

Andrew was quiet for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "Maybe for the next full moon, you won't have to use so much of your power."

I knew what that meant. He had already found my "replacement."

He was already planning to let Crystal anchor him during the next full moon.

"Oh? That's good," I forced myself to smile.

Seeing me smile, Andrew seemed to relax.

He leaned in, about to hug me.

But just then, his phone rang.

The sound was jarring in the quiet hospital room.

Andrew glanced at the caller ID, and his expression shifted slightly.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the name "Crystal" on the screen.

"I have to take this outside," he said, standing up hastily. "It's an urgent pack matter."

Pack matters.

His all-purpose excuse. He’d used it a thousand times.

A few minutes later, Andrew returned, an apologetic look on his face.

"Lucia, I'm so sorry. There's an emergency with the pack. I have to go deal with it right now." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "You get some rest. I'll be back as soon as I'm done."

"Go on," I said, nodding obediently. "The pack is more important."

But just as I expected, Andrew didn't keep his promise. He never came back.

Instead, I got another message from Crystal.

It was an ultrasound photo, with a triumphant caption underneath:

【Dear Luna, I'm pregnant. Andrew was so happy, he's rushing over to be with me for my appointment.】

Another picture followed.

A grainy, black-and-white image of a tiny embryo. In the top right corner, the text read: 6 weeks.

【Surprised? You know, when I told Andrew the news, he was so excited he acted like a wild beast.】

【Oh, and by the way, he really is a beast with me. Not so… restrained, like he is with you. Is he always gentle when you two are together? Hahaha, that’s because he doesn’t even want to touch you! But with me… God, I can barely handle how feral he gets!】

I leaned back against the hospital bed, the world spinning.

Andrew had once looked at me with that same hopeful excitement, saying, "Our pup will be the happiest child in the world."

But the child we had waited five years for was now growing in his mistress's womb.

Maybe I should congratulate them.

Another message popped up:

【By the way, he said he wants to keep his pregnant mate happy, so he's taking me to New York tomorrow. We're going to have a romantic little getaway~】

I shut off my phone and left the hospital, my face a blank mask.

No one stops a Luna, even one who looks like she's about to collapse.

Back at the estate, I started packing.

I took out all the gifts Andrew had ever given me—the jewelry, the clothes, the designer bags—and threw them one by one into trash bags.

These things, once symbols of love and commitment, were now just hollow props in a one-woman show.

As I was packing, my phone buzzed.

A message from Andrew.

【Babe, I have to go to New York to handle some urgent pack business. I'll probably be gone for three days. I wanted to take you with me, but you're too weak. You should stay home and rest.】

I sent a simple, two-word reply: 【Okay.】

A few minutes later, my phone rang.

It was Andrew.

"Lucia? You're quiet today," he said, a hint of suspicion in his voice. "Usually when I have to travel, you ask a million questions and pout until I promise to come back soon."

"I'm probably just not feeling well," I said calmly. "You go handle your business. I'll be fine resting here."

There was a pause on the other end of the line before he asked tentatively, "Are you sure you're okay? You seem a little off today."

"I'm not off," I said. "Just tired."

Another silence.

I could hear the muffled sound of an airport announcement in the background.

He was already on his way to New York.

"Andrew," I heard myself ask, my voice detached, "if one day you woke up and I was gone, what would you do?"

A confident laugh came from the other end. "Don't be silly, babe. You're my mate. You have my mark. I could find you no matter where you run."

His voice was filled with absolute confidence and possession, as if I were his property.

"Is that so?"

After hanging up, I went back to my packing.

Andrew would never imagine that in three days, when our mate bond shattered completely, he would lose track of me for good.

And then, no matter how powerful he was, he would never find me again.