Chapter 1My father died at my mating ceremony. And my fiancé? He didn't even show up.
Dad traveled two days on a bus—sick, barely breathing—just to see me bond with Asher Steelclaw.
I'd begged for ten hours outside the Steelclaw estate. On my knees. Holding Dad's medical records.
Asher finally said yes.
But when it mattered? He ghosted me.
I screamed until my throat bled. He never came.
Dad collapsed the second he walked into the hall.
He died right there.
My mating ceremony became his funeral.
Then at midnight, I saw her post.
Vessa Briarthorn. Asher's "childhood friend."
"Only the unloved one is the third wheel."
I sent him one message: "We're done."
His answer?
He brought her home. To our home.
So yeah. That's when I knew.
This Alpha never deserved me.
---
It was already past midnight when I finished dealing with my father's funeral arrangements.
I returned to my cold room and peeled off the ceremonial white dress—the one meant for a Mating Ceremony that never happened.
Ten hours had passed since I sent Asher Steelclaw the rejection message through the Pack bond.
This wasn't the first time Asher had abandoned me for his so-called "healer," Vessa Briarthorn.
After Vessa appeared, every single one of our meetings would be interrupted by her, intentionally or not.
Sometimes she'd claim wolfsbane poisoning, other times energy depletion from "overhealing."
Those common excuses would become matters of grave importance in Asher's ears.
I used to make a fuss about it at first, but later I came to understand my place.
A late-bloomer with no Pack.
Defective. Unwanted.
I sat on the cold tiles, unknowingly drifting off to sleep.
When I woke up, Asher was sitting on the sofa, eyes glowing faint gold in the darkness, staring at the ceremonial dress with obvious irritation.
"Why aren't you sleeping in the bedroom? What's wrong with you sitting here? You nearly scared me to death when I came in."
He frowned at my swollen eyes. "It's just a fake Mating Ceremony, isn't it? It was fake anyway. We can reschedule under the next full moon. Are you never going to let this go?"
As he finished speaking, Vessa walked in with a bag of coffee and pastries, using her own key.
All my vulnerability was suddenly exposed.
Seeing the tense atmosphere between Asher and me, Vessa spoke with false concern:
"I'm so sorry, Kira. This afternoon my wolf started rejecting my human side—I nearly lost control completely. If Alpha Steelclaw hadn't found me in time and used his Command Voice to pull me back, I might have gone feral by now."
I gave her a cold glance, not bothering to respond.
But Vessa seemed to remember something and quickly turned to pull out a small black pouch from her purse.
"Alpha Steelclaw ran to three different apothecaries to find these moonflower extracts for me, but they're not really appropriate for a healer to use. I should return them to you, Kira."
Her innocent eyes blinked repeatedly.
She thought I still cared about this laughable bond.
I curved my lips in mockery and coldly said after she finished: "Asher, I'm severing whatever's left between us."
Whether the Mating Ceremony was real or fake, I didn't want it anymore.
Even the air around him made my wolf recoil in disgust.
Chapter 2
After speaking, I didn't wait for Asher's reaction and went to grab the duffel bag I'd packed last night.
My body was stiff from sleeping on cold tile all night.
But Asher just kept his head down, eating the pastries Vessa brought, like I wasn't even there.
I dragged my bag toward the door, then remembered something in the kitchen.
So I turned back, ending up right in front of him.
He stopped chewing and let out a sharp breath through his nose.
"Finally coming to your senses? It's not too late to submit. Don't be stupid—I've been way too lenient with you these past five years."
But I didn't even look at him. My eyes stayed locked on the kitchen counter as I spoke:
"Move."
He sat there, jaw tight, pretending he didn't hear me. So I just stepped over his legs.
From the back of the counter, I pulled out the small wooden box—the one holding my father's moonberry pie from his last visit.
I held it carefully against my chest.
But as I turned to leave, Asher stuck his leg out deliberately.
I went down hard. My head cracked against the edge of the coffee table.
He scowled. "What's so damn precious about that junk? Should've tossed it weeks ago. Whole place reeks like a human bakery."
I pushed myself up with shaking hands, staring down at the scattered crumbs on the floor.
Blood dripped slowly onto the wood, blurring my vision.
Asher leaned back, still looking annoyed, and lit a cigarette with a flick of his claws.
"Kira, can you stop embarrassing yourself? You gonna get on your knees and lick that off the floor? I helped Vessa through one shift crisis yesterday, and you're acting like I betrayed the whole damn bond. Who the hell are you performing for?"
"You knew the Mating Ceremony was just for show. So why are you losing it now?"
"A fake ceremony—how the hell is that more important than someone actually dying?"
Even now, he thought this was just about the ceremony.
I got it then. Crystal clear.
It wasn't that the ceremony didn't matter.
It was that I didn't matter. Not to Asher. Not to his Pack. Not to anyone.
For five years, I'd been the one bending. The one waiting. The one making excuses.
Maybe Vessa really was better suited to stand beside an Alpha like him.
I'd spent so many nights waiting for him to come back to this apartment.
All I ever got were messages through the bond—cold, distant updates about "Pack business" with Vessa.
I'd send him gentle reminders. Don't push yourself too hard tonight.
The bond would just go silent. Or worse—he'd block me out completely.
When it got late, I'd feel the bond flicker back online just long enough for Vessa to send me a message from his phone.
Complete with photos of them at some Pack lodge. Her hand on his arm. His eyes glowing gold in the dim light.
"Kira, I'll make sure the Alpha gets rest. You should sleep!"
She really did take care of him. So well that he didn't need me at all anymore.
I looked at Asher, voice flat and cold. "Life is important. But my father's life wasn't important to you, was it?"
His expression darkened.
I turned back toward my bag.
But Asher shot to his feet, voice loud enough to rattle the windows.
"Are you seriously doing this right now? Fine—I'll go to the healers' hall and apologize to your father. That good enough? Hell, I'll bring Vessa with me if that's what you need. You want me to show him her medical records? Prove she wasn't faking?"
Fury erupted in my chest, hot and vicious.
So that's what he thought. That my father and I were just unreasonable.
He saw my expression shift and hesitated, like he was about to reach for me.
But Vessa's voice cut through the room first.
"Your father's travel permits were probably forged, Kira. He shouldn't have even made it past the border patrols. This isn't about him being upset—it's about you being mad that Asher missed the ceremony yesterday. It's okay. I can explain everything with the healer records."
Something inside me snapped.
I grabbed the black pouch from the side table and hurled it straight at her head.
Chapter 3
The second the pouch left my hand, Asher's expression—which had been wavering—went pure rage.
He crossed the room in two strides, grabbed my duffel bag, and slammed it into the floor.
Clothes exploded everywhere.
As he walked toward me, his boot came down hard on the wooden box. The moonberry pie inside crushed under his weight. I stared at his foot, jaw locked tight.
"Kira, I've got limits. Don't drag innocent people into your bullshit."
My hands shook, but I didn't move.
Vessa's eyes went red, tears pooling as she looked at me like I'd just stabbed her.
"I'm sorry, Kira. I was just trying to verify your father's border clearance. I was going to meet him at the checkpoint myself. I didn't think—"
Her voice cracked. Tears hit the floor, mixing with crushed berries and crust.
"I was worried someone was using fake documents to get close to the Steelclaw Pack. It happens all the time—rogues pretending to have dying relatives just to force a bond with an Alpha. I was only trying to protect—"
She glanced at Asher, biting her lip, shaking her head like she was too noble to finish the sentence.
I felt my expression go cold. When I spoke, my voice came out flat.
"So you think I'm lying too."
Asher didn't answer. But his face said everything.
My father's diagnosis was real. Signed by the healers at Misthollow before the Pack fell.
I'd been there six months ago when they told him the wolfsbane poisoning was terminal. There was no faking that.
So Vessa went after the travel permits instead.
And yeah—my father didn't have an official clearance pass.
How the hell could he afford one? A dying lone wolf with no Pack backing?
He'd spent what little he had left just to make the thirty-hour trek on foot through unpatrolled territories, wolfsbane eating him alive the whole way.
All to see his daughter's Mating Ceremony.
A ceremony that never even happened.
And Asher couldn't even show up long enough to say one line in front of the witnesses.
I got it now. He'd never actually wanted this bond. Our ending was set the moment we met.
I'd spent five years looking for proof he cared. Finding scraps. Lying to myself.
Everything stayed smooth as long as I kept my head down.
But the second Vessa showed up, that fake peace shattered.
Asher started acting like he had feelings. Like he gave a damn about someone.
Just not me.
He'd ask me what to do when Vessa had "energy crashes."
He'd keep suppressants in his truck in case her wolf "destabilized."
He'd bring her to every Pack meeting, every territory negotiation, introducing her as his "invaluable healer."
Meanwhile, I was dirt. Less than that.
I could've gotten on my knees and begged, and it still wouldn't have earned me a place at his side.
But I was done wanting things I'd never get.
The spot where the pouch hit Vessa's temple was already swelling, turning red. Tears kept falling.
Asher cursed under his breath, but his hands moved fast—pulling a tin of salve from his coat and dabbing it on her skin with his fingers.
Once she was "okay," he turned on me, voice low and dangerous.
"Kira, don't push it. Vessa didn't do anything wrong. First thing she said when she woke up yesterday was that I needed to get to the ceremony. That I needed to find you."
"Look at yourself. You're acting like some jealous, unhinged—how the hell do you repay her kindness like this?"
"I'm telling you one last time. Apologize."
"If you pull this shit again, get the fuck out."
I didn't react. Just bent down and started gathering my clothes in silence.
Seconds passed. His patience snapped.
He closed the distance, leaned down, and fisted a hand in my hair.
The pain ripped through my scalp, but I bit down hard, keeping quiet. My eyes stayed locked on his face.
His voice came out rough and vicious. "Can't hear me? Or do you not know how to apologize? I've let you get away with way too much."
"You want your dad's little pie so bad? Go ahead. Taste it."
I clenched my jaw, but he shoved my head down, grinding my face into the floor.
My lips smashed against broken crust and berry pulp. Tears mixed with the mess on my cheeks.
But he wasn't done.
He yanked my head back up with one hand and cracked his palm across my face with the other. Again. And again.
Blood filled my mouth. My vision blurred red.
"Open up. You were so tough a minute ago, right? Let's see if you can take it."
He scooped up a fistful of crushed pie from the floor and smeared it across my face, shoving it toward my mouth.
"Smells good, doesn't it? You happy now? Apologize to Vessa."
"Or I'll make sure your father's body gets dumped back in whatever rogue territory he crawled out of."
