The potion would hurt me a lot, but I had to leave Ryder because he had completely betrayed me and our sacred bond.
The potion burned my throat and set my insides on fire. Every part of my body burned and itched a lot. My wolf howled in pain inside me.
Breaking the mate bond hurt so much that I thought I was going to die. I had to get up right away. I had to leave the Nightgale Pack before Ryder could tell that the bond was broken.
That night, every subordinate pack that was part of the Nightgale Pack heard about our broken mate bond.
At the same time, I was in the car on my way to the Iceclaw pack.
I had left the report about my miscarriage at home. As the car drove away from the Nightgale Pack, I whispered, “I hope you don’t regret this, Ryder.”
Ryder brought the pup back to the pack the night I left because they had gotten sick after moving to a new place. The little ones were very adamant about coming back.
Chloe had secretly called the elders of the pack and brought the pups back.
When the elders saw Ryder, they all yelled at him. “We told you a long time ago that Zoe can’t be the Luna. That she-wolf couldn’t even have kids! What makes her a good Luna? Look. Now she’s made such a mess.
“Now that you’ve broken the mate bond with her, just go ahead and make Chloe your mate.”
Ryder got more and more angry as the elders talked bad about me. “There’s no way I’ll do that! Zoe agreed to help me get the pack through this crisis. Once we do, she will be Luna again.”
“The future of our pack depends on those two pups, Alpha Ryder. We can’t let Zoe come back and hurt them again.”
“Shut up! I am the Alpha. The Moon Goddess gave me Zoe as a mate. She is the only one who is worthy of being my Luna,” Ryder said in a tone that made it clear he was done.
Chloe’s face got darker and darker as she watched from the shadows.
It had been nine years! She and Ryder’s pup were already grown up, but he still wouldn’t let me go.
Chloe didn’t get why she wasn’t as good as me.
“Zoe, where are you? Why aren’t you home?” Ryder asked on the phone, sounding worried.
“It’s only right that I go back to my own pack since we’ve already turned each other down!” I yelled.
“No! We—”
I hung up right away and blocked Ryder’s number.
I had left the report from the hospital in the room. Ryder was the father of our puppy, so he had a right to know about it.
He couldn’t change what had happened now, even if he wanted to.
My pack of Iceclaw wolves welcomed me back with open arms when I came back.
Dad had a strong and scary presence. But I could see how much he loved me when he looked at me.
He came over and hugged me. “How could Ryder betray my sweet little princess?”
Dad took me home and told me to get some sleep.
During this time, I was well taken care of and went back to being Beta of the Iceclaw pack.
I had already been the Beta of the Iceclaw pack before I became the Luna, who everyone in the Nightgale Pack loved. I was good at leading the pack, so it didn’t take long for me to get all of its members’ support back.
“Beta Zoe, Alpha Ryder of the Nightgale Pack has asked to come see us again.”
Ryder had been asking me to come over and visit over and over again since I agreed to be Beta. “Okay. Let him come,” I said.
