Chapter 1 Chapter 1

"Mason is drunk. Can you come pick him up?" A phone call was almost it took to destroy my world. Mason and I were to be bound as mates in three days, so he went out for his bachelor party. I soon received. Call that he was drunk and I should pick him up. My eyes stayed on his open laptop a bit longer. The screen showed pictures of a woman and Mason. There were a thousand pictures. Something about them stifled me. He never took pictures with me nor did he have something like this stored just for me. "I am coming over," I managed to answer then picked up my bag and headed out. On the way there, my phone rang again. It was my friend Lily "Hey, how is the wedding planning going. Sorry I won't be able to make it," she said. "Is it urgent?" I asked her. "You know we have been having encroaching on my pack 's territory. It can't wait. Sorry it had to be on your wedding," she said. "No problem. I would have helped out if I could spare time. Are there enough werewolves for the hunt?" I asked her. "We still need more werewolves. Some ranks are lacking," she said. At this point I had walked into the bar where Mason and his pack and clansmen were having the bachelor party. As I approached the room, I heard voices inside and paused. "Diane, you are back just in time. Mason is about to marry some beta," I heard someone say. This voice was familiar. It was one of Mason's clansmen. "Mason had stalled bonding with her for years but she still stayed. The moment he agreed, you returned. You are back for Mason, right?" He said and my body went cold. I knew I was not so popular amongst Mason's clansmen, but I thought they liked me somewhat. From his tone, the girl in question was quite liked. The men inside talked to her as though they had known her their entire lives. I had never been accepted by his pack this much. I was curious about who she was I could hear Lily still talking over the phone and stepped forward only to pause. A bar staff had just walked out of the room and through the door, I saw Mason clinging to a woman I had not seen before. "Opal, are you there?" I heard Lily ask. But the room inside reminded noisy. The wolves inside were one of the best hunters in the pack. I did not believe they did not know I was outside. "Your future mate is coming to get you soon Mason. You should let Diane go," one of the men inside said. "Opal? She is just a friend who clings to me. She is not my future mate!" I heard Mason say. At this point I could only smile. A calm washed over me as I heard this, as though he was talking about someone else.If it were the old me, I would’ve yelled, argued, demanded answers. I would’ve looked him in the eye and asked, “Why? Why did you treat me like that back then?” But now? I didn’t say a word. I didn’t cry. I didn’t shout. I just stood there—quiet, numb, exhausted. The fire in me was gone. All that was left... was silence. Because I always knew I was not that important to him but could never let go. Seeing him there clinging to another, I sudden knew I should let him go but why was I holding on to him? I had convinced myself that as long as I stayed, he would love me. But somewhere within me, I always knew the truth. "Keep a spot for me to join you, Lily," I said to her softly. I am tired. The years had worn me down. "What? Why? What about your marking with Mason?" Lily asked. "The Marking is off," I answered and ended the call. I walked into the room and they all went silent. I looked at the always aloof Mason with his hand wrapped around another woman and took in a deep breath. The woman looked familiar. I had seen her photos before. Thousands of them. I looked around the room then back at Diane. "I am the friend. Please bring him out." I said and walked out of the room. I walked out to my car and waited for Diane to bring him down. Soon Diane brought him down and I unlocked the car to let her place him inside. Diane used this moment to advise me on how to take care of Mason. "When he wakes up, his hangover over will be bad. Honey water works on him, so you should make that for him. It is also best if you keep watch, he usually kicks the covers while drunk and will catch a cold," Diane said. She continued to ramble. Every word of hers hurt to hear.Mason had never let me close enough to know this. The moment she closed the door and offered to add each other on social media, I drove off. I was done.

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

In the car, my mind was blank. I could not understand why I put myself thought this. At that moment, his phone pinged and I guessed it was Diane again and picked it up to respond. At that moment, my eye caught a conversation Mason had with one of the wolves in his pack. "Don't tell anyone, just leak that I am about to take a mate," Mason had written. "Diane sure will return, but are you really taking Opal as your mate?" The person asked. "Just a fake bonding ceremony will be fine," Mason had answered. A sadness came over me.Years of devotion and this is all I was worthy of? This is all I deserved? A fake bonding ceremony? This must be why he wanted to keep our bonding a secret, even making me promise not to tell anyone. Only his closet formed knew. But both our families were still in the dark. It seemed it was finally time to let go. After a while, I drove home and helped him up to bed. I sat for a while thinking of the past. By morning I was much more calm. I had let go of the relationship. Mason woke up to find me on the phone with Lily. We talked a while about my relocation. When I ended the call he appeared before me, his hair still dripping wet from the shower. "Are you going somewhere?" He asked. I figured he must have heard me talking. "Just family stuff," I answered vaguely, but he did not go into it and just walked away. He had not walked far, when he spotted the glass of honey water I had made for him according to Diane's recommendation and paused. He picked the cup and threw me a sharp look. "What is this?" He asked coldly. "Honey water for your hang over,"" I answered calmly. "Who taught you this? Don't go believing nonsense you read online!" He said, slamming the cup down and storming off. I suppressed a bitter smile. It seemed he did not like his sweetheart being imitated. When it was time for us to leave for our photoshoot, he turned to my whole dressing. "I have called the photographer to change the location of the shoot to the lake side. It has a better scenery," he said. When I heard his words, I smiled bitterly inside. I was glad I had looked up Diane on Social media after last night. It was not hard. Mason was drunk and he followed all her social media handles. If I had not wanted to know who she was, I would not have noticed she had posted yesterday about wanting to visit the lake side by Mason's pack territory. I did not bother exposing him. For me, something told me we may not be able to save this relationship "Alright. Anything is fine," I answered. Knowing he was not going there for me, I made sure to put on a dress that I could easily move around in. We arrived at the lake to find the photographer waiting for us. Mason was greatly distracted, seemingly looking around for someone. Soon, he found Diane by a tree and turned and walked towards her without any word to me. I froze as he just walked away. My face suppressed a bitter smile. Sure enough, he went to her. It felt as though as long as there was Diane, I could never exist. As long as Diane existed, I was invisible to him. I took deep breaths to calm myself. As he walked over, I met Diane's eyes and I knew she made that online post on purpose. She knew Mason would come. The photographer looked at me puzzled but I gave him a bitter smile. "I don't think we will be taking pictures today. I will pay for cancellation," I said.to him.

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

Despite picking a dress easy to move around in, my heels were a problem. They dug into my skin as I walked over to meet Diane and Mason by the tree. As I walked closer, I saw Mason chatting with her with a wide smile. I could not believe my eyes. He looked at Diane softly, something I had never been lucky enough to experience. His smile hurt my eyes in a way. He looked genuinely happy. It made all the years I spent with him fell like a joke. He soon noticed me arrived and instantly looked guarded. You would have thought I was an enemy coming to destroy his relationship.His guarded look felt like a knife to the heart. I could almost read his mind. He was afraid I would expose our relationship to Diane. I felt like a stranger intruding on their personal time. The thought of it hurt more than I thought it would. It seems Diane had not told him I picked him up from his party last night. "Why are you here?" He asked. "I need to go. I have things to handle with my family. I have paid the photographer to leave first," I told him and seemed uncomfortable. I could read his mind. I was usually not one to overlook him abandoning me during our photoshoot. Before I knew about Diane, I would have thrown a fit. But what was the use of fighting for a lost cause? After speaking, I turned and walked away. Behind me, I could hear him throw a clumsy excuse to Diane. "We were just doing a photoshoot for an advert," he said and I kept walking without turning back. When I got home later that evening, I found that Mason had cooked. This made me paused. The moment he saw me, he got up and walked over. "I prepared something for you. You have been gone too long. Come sit. You have gotten thinner," he said to me. His voice was so soft, I was confused for a second. In the years we spent together, he had never treated me with any care. His usual attitude was indifference. If I had never seen him with Diane, I would have thought he was not capable of showing care to anyone. But right now he was worried I was thin? Sure, I had been eating less recently and had eaten ven less since I found out about Diane, but to think he noticed. But I had not appetite. His soft eyes and voice reminded me of Diane. "I am not hungry. You go ahead. I am tired," I said and went upstairs. I figured if walked away fast enough he would go back to his old self. But he must have seen my heel which had been scrapped raw by my shoes and followed after me with a first aid box. Seeing him offering to clean my wounds bothered me. The wound had long dried up and did not need any more attention. Why was he being caring all of a sudden? What did he want? His face fell when I rejected him and he left. But soon, he returned with a slice of cake and turned or hand it to me. But things time, be finally let loose why he was doing this. "About the she-wolf I met this afternoon, don't over-think. Her name is Diane, she is an old friend from..." He started to say but I stopped him by holding up my hand. "I can't eat that. I have not taken any thing with cream for a while because of allergy, you must have forgotten that," I said and he froze. I wondered if he felt guilty. But there was no need to wonder too deeply. His face turned cold. It was as if that soft side of his never existed. I could tell his ego had taken a hit. It was the first time he had tried to show me any care and I disregarded it. He turned around and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Later, I was hungry and went down for a drink on my to find him in the living room. He looked to be typing away on his phone, smiling too. I could already guess who he was talking to. My hands shook slightly but I took a deep breath to calm down. With a bitter smile, I turned around and walked back upstairs. When I woke up on the day of our bonding ceremony, he was gone. We were to go to his clan and register a blessed on to witness our bonding, but he was no where to be found. Out of habit, I looked through Diane's social media for the answer. Sure enough, she had posted an injured photo of herself "After Ten years I still need you to take care of me," she had captioned the post. I knew who she was referring to. i was strangely numb. Maybe a few years back I would have drowned in pain, but I was not as sad as I had thought. I knew he would not come back, so I packed up and called a taxi to the airport. It did not matter anymore, because I knew I had waited long enough and I would probably not see him again. On the way, I was glad I had not told my family I was taking a mate. It made leaving easier. I called Mason over and over to tell him out breaking up, but he did not pick up. After he sent me me a voice message. His angry voice rang out in the taxi. "Just head over to the clan and register. I will arrive after a while. Diane got hurt trying to come to our bonding ceremony. I will not run away, there is no need to continue hounding me," he said. In a way I was relieved when I heard his words. I knew this would be the last time his would would hurt me. My heart was calm and ready to move on. I listened indifferently, then sent one line text as a reply, saying, "You can bond with Diane instead. Let's break up."