Chapter 5

The morning air was frigid, biting at my skin as I wandered down the empty streets. I hadn’t even realized where I was going until I found myself standing in front of a small park on the edge of town. 

The swings creaked in the cold wind, the stillness of the place almost eerie. It used to be a place of comfort, a place Damian and I would come to when things felt heavy, back when we were… us. Now, it felt foreign, like a memory I no longer recognized.

I sat down on a bench, my body shivering from more than just the cold. The weight of everything pressed down on me—what I had done, what I had become. I had betrayed the mate bond. No matter how much I wanted to tell myself it was Damian who had broken us, who had turned our marriage into a hollow shell, the truth was undeniable: I had crossed a line I could never uncross.

I stared at my phone, Elijah’s message still glowing on the screen. My heart pounded in my chest as I read it again. Don’t ignore me, Annabel. We need to talk.

A part of me wanted to throw the phone into the bushes, to pretend that none of this had happened. But another part, the part that had walked into Elijah’s arms last night, knew there was no running from this. Not anymore.

I pressed my thumb to the screen, typing out a response before I could talk myself out of it. There’s nothing to talk about.

His reply came almost instantly. You and I both know that’s not true.

I squeezed my eyes shut, my fingers trembling as I held the phone in my hand. I didn’t want to engage. I didn’t want to face what had happened between us. But the more I tried to push it away, the more it gnawed at me, refusing to be ignored.

Another message appeared. Meet me. Same place as last night.

My heart skipped a beat. The memory of last night flashed through my mind—the bar, the alcohol, the feel of Elijah’s hands on my skin. I had been so lost, so desperate for comfort that I had allowed myself to forget who I was, who he was. And now, Elijah was asking for more. More than I could give.

I can’t, I typed back, the words feeling inadequate. It was a mistake.

His next message chilled me to the bone. Mistakes don’t just disappear, Annabel. They have consequences.

I swallowed hard, my pulse quickening. What do you want from me, Elijah?

The response came slowly this time, as though he were thinking carefully about his next move. Finally, his message appeared: I want you to stop pretending you’re still his. You’re not. You know it. And so does he.

A shiver ran down my spine as I read the words. Damian had said as much last night—that I was a disgrace, that I had betrayed him in the worst way possible. But Elijah’s words carried a different weight. It wasn’t just about betrayal. It was about possession, control.

I stood up from the bench, pacing as my mind raced. Elijah wasn’t just trying to comfort me. He wanted something. He wanted me. And that terrified me more than anything.

My phone buzzed again, but I didn’t need to look at it to know it was him. I was already trapped, and he knew it.

I’ll be waiting. That was his final message.

The day stretched on, long and torturous. I wandered through town, trying to clear my head, but nothing worked. Everywhere I went, I felt eyes on me, whispers trailing in my wake. 

I knew it was only a matter of time before the rest of the pack found out what had happened. Secrets never stayed hidden for long in our world. And when the truth came out, I would be marked—not as Damian’s fated mate, but as the woman who had betrayed him with his own uncle.

By the time I made my way back home, the sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows across the empty house. I hesitated at the front door, my hand hovering over the handle. I didn’t want to go inside. I didn’t want to face what was waiting for me. But I had nowhere else to go.

I pushed the door open, stepping inside the darkened hallway. The silence was suffocating, a stark contrast to the chaos in my mind. Every step I took echoed in the empty space, the weight of my own footsteps heavy on my soul.

Damian was nowhere to be seen, and for a moment, I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe he was out, maybe he needed space as much as I did. But as I turned toward the staircase, a voice stopped me in my tracks.

“You’ve been busy.”

I froze, my heart leaping into my throat. Slowly, I turned around to see Damian standing in the shadows of the living room, his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were cold, unreadable, and my stomach twisted in knots at the sight of him.

“I didn’t—” I began, but he cut me off.

“Save it,” he said, his voice low and filled with venom. “I don’t care where you’ve been. I don’t care what you’ve done.” He took a step forward, his gaze never leaving mine. “You’ve made your choice.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but the words wouldn’t come. There was nothing I could say that would change his mind, nothing I could do to erase what had happened.

Damian’s eyes narrowed as he took another step toward me, his expression hardening. “You think I don’t know? You think I haven’t heard the whispers? My uncle, Annabel?” He spat the word like it was poison. “You couldn’t even find someone else? You had to go to him?”

The shame hit me like a punch to the gut, and I flinched, my hands trembling at my sides. “It wasn’t like that,” I whispered, even though I didn't even believe the words.

Damian’s laughter was sharp, cruel. “It’s exactly like that. You let him touch you. You let him mark you, didn’t you?”

I froze, my blood running cold at his words. “No,” I said quickly, shaking my head. “He didn’t mark me.”

But Damian didn’t seem to care. He was beyond reason now, his fury consuming him. “Do you know what they’re saying about you? Do you know how pathetic you look? My own mate, crawling into bed with my uncle like some desperate, weak wolf.”

Tears welled in my eyes, the weight of his words crushing me. But I wouldn’t let him see me break. Not again.

“I didn’t want this,” I said, my voice trembling. “I didn’t want any of this.”

Damian scoffed, shaking his head. “You wanted it the moment you let him touch you. You wanted it the moment you stopped fighting for us.”

“I’ve been fighting for us for months!” I shot back, my voice rising with the emotion I could no longer contain. “I begged you to love me. I begged you to stop cheating on me, to stop bringing other women into our home. But you never cared. You gave up on us long before I did.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Damian stared at me, his expression hardening into something I couldn’t quite read. Then, slowly, he took a step back, his eyes cold and distant.

“You’re right,” he said finally, his voice barely above a whisper. “I stopped caring a long time ago.”

The words hit me harder than any slap could have. My heart ached with the finality of it. This was it. This was the end.

“I’ll leave,” I said quietly, my voice breaking. “If that’s what you want.”

Damian didn’t respond. He just turned away from me, his back rigid as he walked toward the stairs. “Do whatever you want, Annabel. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

And with that, he disappeared up the stairs, leaving me standing alone in the empty hallway, my heart shattered beyond repair.

I didn’t know how long I stood there, frozen in place, before the buzzing of my phone snapped me back to reality. I pulled it out of my pocket, my hands trembling as I stared at the screen.

Elijah.

I hesitated, my mind reeling from everything that had just happened. But before I could decide whether to answer, the call ended, only to be replaced by another text.

It’s time. Meet me.