chapter 3

Simona was awakened by the vibration of her communicator. On the other end was her best friend from Frostmoon Pack and college classmate, Madeline Goodman.

"Mona, still in bed? It's almost noon! What's your plan for tonight's alumni banquet? Are you going with your Alpha, Dorian, or with me?" Madeline teased.

Rubbing her eyes, Simona got out of bed.

Every corner of the apartment showed no sign of Dorian—even his usual wolf-fur cloak, still faintly scented with his iron-gray pheromones, was gone from the hanger.

She glanced softly around the apartment she had lived in for six years. "Pick me up tonight, okay?"

Madeline praised her, saying that for once she wasn't letting romance get in the way of friendship.

Indeed, in the past, Simona had organized her life entirely around Dorian. No matter where he went, she would follow him without hesitation. If he went west to unwind, she would go west too.

Her obsession with the fated bond had made her so pitiful and ridiculous.

After ending the call, Simona decided it was finally time to slowly untangle herself from 10 years of entanglement.

Simona was talented at drawing, and when Dorian had set up this apartment, he had reserved a whole room just for her as a studio.

He took her hand, led her to the doorway, and said, "Simona, this is the best I can give you right now."

At the time, she had been overwhelmed with emotion, crying her eyes out in his arms, thinking this was the beginning of his response to her years of pursuit.

Simona decided it was time to start clearing things out. She packed everything related to Dorian from her drawings—maps she had sketched of him hunting, wolf-bone sculptures engraved with his name, and clay figurines of the two of them—into a box.

Even the matching wolf-claw mugs she had made for them, displayed along the wall, went into the box.

The fangs and feather keepsakes they had collected on their hunting trips…

Everything she gathered filled two large boxes.

When she finished, she leaned against the wall to catch her breath—not from physical exhaustion, but from the weight of all the frustration and disappointment pressing on her chest.

With every item she packed away, a heavy wave of grief and betrayal surged through her.

Dorian's message came through her communicator, and she answered briefly, "Hello!"

"Simona, I won't be going to the alumni banquet tonight. I can't make it."

"He can't make it? Or is he too busy with Rowena again?" Emma, her wolf, flicked her tail in the mindscape, sarcastically.

"A fated mate is supposed to be a gift from the Moon Goddess, yet he keeps breaking it, abandoning us to be with his first love—such a fated mate isn't worth my loyalty!"

"Yeah, I should've listened to you and let him go sooner. I wouldn't have wasted so many years."

After calming Emma through their mind-link, Simona replied to Dorian in a steady voice, "Fine. I understand."

Dorian went silent. Simona had once told him these alumni banquets were boring—a bunch of strangers showing off whose wolf spirit was stronger, whose pack had more influence, or who was the most accomplished.

After returning to the apartment that day, she had frowned in his arms. "It's so dull. If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't have gone at all."

Now that he noticed she didn't seem to care whether he went or not, he asked, "So, are you still going?"

After a long pause, Simona replied, "No."

Satisfied, Dorian's tone softened before ending the call. "Stay home and wait for me. I'll be back early to keep you company."

"Okay."

Simona didn't give it much thought.

She dragged the two packed boxes to a pile of discarded junk outside the apartment and returned inside to freshen up, waiting for Madeline to come pick her up.

Since deciding to let go of Dorian, she no longer cared whether he skipped the alumni banquet or went off to accompany Rowena.

Yet, when Simona walked into the alumni banquet arm-in-arm with Madeline, the sight of the two figures leaning on each other at the table still made her eyes sting with red.

So that was it—he had called to check if she would attend the alumni banquet, just so he could bring Rowena along.

How amusing!

Even though she had expected it, Emma still roared in anger. "Damn him! How dare he humiliate us like this! Let me out—I'll tear those two scumbags apart!"

"No need to waste your anger on someone who doesn't matter." Simona had just calmed Emma through their mind-link when she noticed Madeline beside her about to explode.

Fearing she might lash out at the banquet, Simona quickly held her back.

She didn't want to cause a scene before leaving, and she certainly didn't want her best friend to become the target of everyone's gossip and blame.

Seeing the pleading look in Simona's eyes, Madeline's heart ached. "Simona, what's going on? You and Dorian are fated mates, and you've been together for so many years. What is he doing now?"

Simona didn't answer. She simply shook her head at her, signaling her to stay quiet.

The commotion at the door drew everyone's attention. When Dorian saw Simona, he instinctively tried to stand, but Rowena held his hand back.

Simona acted as if she hadn't noticed him and walked straight over to sit beside Madeline.

The group at the table immediately started teasing.

"Simona, it's great to see you here today! You've come just in time to witness Dorian's hidden 'future mate' up close!" one of her classmates teased, laughing.

"Back in the day, when we were still in school, you were the one chasing Dorian the hardest! Didn't we all know it?" another chimed in, bursting out laughing.

"Exactly! Everyone knew what you did—bringing him revitalizing soup to restore his wolf strength, even staying with him during those late-night training sessions. Honestly, it made us all so jealous," another added.