My cheek was still hot, but I was done.

The baby in my womb needed peace, and this pointless fighting was just making me tired.

I turned to leave.

"Wait." Seth's hand closed around my wrist. His grip was light, but firm enough to stop me. "Are you still sulking?"

After hitting me, his voice was suddenly gentle. Just like the man who used to make me happy.

"Ember, I know you still have feelings for me."

He stepped in front of me. His palm brushed against the cheek he'd just slapped. The touch made me freeze.

"See?" he murmured, mistaking my frozen shock for longing. "You still react to me." A triumphant glint lit his eyes.

"I'll give you a chance. A real one. In three days, the pack is hosting a gala for the peace treaty. I can take you. Show you real high society."

His fingers traced my cheek, as if soothing a frightened kitten.

"But you'll have to get rid of that disgusting band on your wrist. And lose the cheap jewelry. I'll turn you back into the beautiful Ember I remember."

The beautiful Ember.

The woman who would do anything for a glance from him. The woman who lost sleep over his cold shoulder.

That woman died three years ago at our mating ceremony.

"No, thank you." I frowned, shoving his dirty hand off me.

"What?"

"I said no, thank you." I took a step back, putting distance between us.

Seth's face turned ugly.

"Ember, do you really think you have a choice? Three years as a blood thrall is enough. Stop lying to yourself."

I didn't answer. I just held his gaze for a moment, then turned and walked away.

This time, he didn't stop me.

I walked to the lounge area of the trading post and sat on a long bench.

Outside the window, twilight was falling.

The magical lights of the station began to glow, mingling with the last fiery embers of the sunset.

I stroked my stomach and thought about that night, three years ago.

The night before my mating ceremony, I was crying in the park, jealous of the way Seth and Brielle were flirting.

That’s when Lucian found me.

The man I had met once before at a supernatural auction.

Tall, elegant, with the ancient, mysterious air of a vampire.

He gently wiped away my tears. His cold fingertips held a strange warmth.

"I told you before. I don't care about bloodlines or species. I care about the heart. And my heart tells me I've waited centuries for you."

I turned him down.

My mating ceremony with Seth was the next day.

I thought that was my destiny, my home. But destiny dealt me a cruel betrayal.

At the ceremony, Seth chose Brielle.

When I left the pack, heartbroken, Lucian appeared again.

This time, I didn't refuse him.

He hadn't cared about my broken heart or my fated bond to another. He'd only cared about me. His love was a relentless, healing fire. He didn't just give me a new life; he showed me what it felt like to be treasured.

I never would have come back here if it wasn't for this treaty.

Three days later, the night of the gala arrived.

The pack's most lavish ballroom was glittering with lights. Important guests were already arriving.

I stood at the entrance, wearing a simple, elegant black gown.

"Ember?"

That familiar, nauseating voice again.

Seth was standing nearby. Surprise flickered in his eyes, followed by smug satisfaction.

"I knew you'd come." He walked toward me, a victor's smile on his face. "You still can't let me go, can you? Three days was enough to make you see sense. Good. That's how it should be."

He reached for my hand, but I sidestepped him effortlessly.

He blinked, his smile faltering. "Ember, what game are you playing? Everyone is watching. Don't embarrass me."

Just then, Brielle pushed through the crowd.

She was wearing a flamboyant red gown, dripping with so many jewels she looked like she was trying to wear a nation's entire treasury.

Her eyes landed on my neck and went wide.

"How dare you!" she shrieked.

Her shriek sliced through the ballroom's polite chatter.

"That necklace! How dare you wear that fake to the gala? Are you trying to humiliate the entire pack? Or are you trying to start a war?"

The room fell silent.

All eyes were on me.

On the massive, glittering moonstone around my neck.

Whispers slithered into my ears.

“Is she insane?”

“Wearing a fake to this?”

“It’s a slap in the face to the Vampire Prince!”

“If the Prince finds out…”

“The entire wolf pack is done for!”

The murmurs grew louder. Panic started to spread through the crowd.

Everyone stared at me like I was already dead.

The color drained from Seth’s face.

He felt the furious glares of the pack elders and scrambled to distance himself. “For the record, I have nothing to do with this lunatic!”

He shouted, making sure everyone could hear him.

“She was cast out of the pack three years ago! Her actions have nothing to do with us! If there are consequences, she’ll face them alone!”

His words were a dagger in the heart he’d already shattered.

“That’s right!” Brielle strode toward me, her eyes glittering with venom. “Does a traitor really think she can defile the sacred Truce Gala?”

She pointed a sharp finger at my necklace, her voice a piercing shriek. “Take it off! Now! And get out! Don’t you dare disrespect the Vampire Prince any further!”

I stood my ground, unmoving.

“Are you deaf?” Brielle had completely lost it.

She lunged, her hand reaching to rip the necklace from my throat.

I recoiled instinctively.

Just then, a foot shot out from the crowd.

The trip came out of nowhere. My feet went out from under me.

THUD.

I crashed onto the slick marble, the impact jarring me to the bone.

My head spun. Blinding pain shot up my spine.

But a colder fear seized me. The fall had jolted my womb.

The moonstone necklace slid from my neck, clattering against the ground.

“Hahaha!” Brielle shrieked with glee. She scrambled to snatch it up. “Finally got it!”

She held the necklace high, then smashed it onto the floor.

CRACK!

The clasp broke. The delicate chain scattered. But the massive moonstone remained perfectly intact.

It lay silently on the ground, still glowing with a mysterious silver light.

“Huh?” Brielle froze. “This fake is pretty tough, isn't it?”

Not giving up, she grabbed the moonstone and hurled it against the wall.

CRACK!

A fissure appeared in the wall. But the moonstone was still flawless.

“Interesting,” Brielle sneered. “Too bad it’s going to bring ruin to our entire pack.”

She loomed over me, malice dripping from her eyes.

“You’re going to die, Ember. When the Vampire Prince finds out someone insulted his mate, you’ll learn what a fate worse than death really is.”

She waved to the guards.

“Drag this madwoman out! Don’t let her taint this sacred night!”

Two towering werewolf guards started toward me.

“Wait!” I forced myself to sit up. “How dare you…”

“Still trying to argue?” Brielle strode over.

SMACK!

Another slap. The other side of my face flared with pain.

“Still talking back?”

SMACK! A second one.

“You ungrateful traitor, you worthless blood-slave! Wasn’t three days ago enough of a lesson for you? Did you really think you could fool everyone with a cheap fake?”

She was completely unhinged, her words a frantic tirade.

I slumped to the floor, my cheeks swollen, a trickle of blood at the corner of my mouth.

But all I could worry about was the baby in my womb. My stomach ached from the fall.

In this moment of utter humiliation, Seth seemed to make up his mind. He walked slowly toward me.

He crouched down, putting on a pitiful, sympathetic face.

“Ember, look at you. Why do this to yourself? You knew it was a fake. Why embarrass yourself like this? Why drag the entire pack down with you?”

He reached out a hand, as if to help me up.

“But I’m a forgiving man. If you get on your knees right now and beg me, I can still forgive your foolishness.”

A twisted pleasure flickered in his eyes. This was what he craved.

To see me broken. Begging. Sobbing at his feet. He wanted to own me again.

I looked up at him through my swollen eyes, utterly disgusted.

Just then, the great doors of the ballroom swung open. An ancient, suffocating power filled the air.

The Vampire Prince, Lucian, had arrived.

His mere presence, the aura of a born king, plunged the entire hall into a dead silence.

Seth, who a moment ago was demanding I beg him, scrambled backward, his eyes screaming a threat: You’re finished, Ember. I can’t save you. You’re dead.

Then, under the terrified gaze of everyone present, Lucian stalked straight toward me, radiating a terrifying killing intent.