Before my boyfriend, August Cadwell, marked me, we went to register our mate bond at the Pack Affairs Department.
Without a word of explanation, he unexpectedly had someone throw me out of the office.
Then he walked in with his childhood sweetheart. He didn’t even blink when he saw me sitting there on the ground, shaking with disbelief.
“Hailey’s pup needs to be part of the Aurelis pack. The best and quickest method is for her to register a mate bond with a werewolf from the Aurelis pack. As soon as we sever the mate bond, I’ll form a mate bond with you.”
Everyone assumed the lovesick version of me would wait just one more month for him. After all, I’d already waited seven long years.
But that night, I did something unexpected too. I accepted my parents’ arranged mate bond and quietly left for the Lymerian pack, disappearing from his life entirely.
Three years later, I returned to my original pack to visit my family. My mate, Ryder Weyland, was now the lycan chairman. Because of an urgent council meeting, he arranged for someone to collect me from the airport.
I never imagined that “someone” would be August. The moment he spotted me, his eyes immediately landed on the sparkling bracelet on my wrist.
“Isn’t this a knockoff of the bracelet Ryder Weyland, the lycan chairman, spent two million dollars on for his mate? Didn’t expect you to turn this vain after just a few years.
“You’ve caused enough chaos, haven’t you? It’s time to return. Hailey’s pup is now of school age. You can take on the responsibility of pick-ups and drop-offs.”
I gently ran my fingers over the bracelet on my wrist.
Little did he know that this was the cheapest one Ryder had ever given me.
…
As I walked into the arrivals hall, I noticed someone holding a sign that read “Mrs. Weyland”. I approached and froze.
It was August Cadwell, my ex-boyfriend—the one I hadn’t seen in three years.
Three years of silence. No calls. No messages. No apology or explanation.
Now here he stood, one arm draped casually around Hailey Reed. Behind them clustered a group of preening sycophants, gathered like flies at the arrival gate.
One of them spotted me and smirked. “Well, well, August… Isn’t that your shadow? What was her name again? Sophia something?”
August’s eyes widened, startled—but the mask slipped back into place quickly. His mouth curled into a slow, mocking smile. “Told you. She’d come crawling back eventually.”
