Chapter 4

Azalea POV:

"AZALEA!"

The bedroom door slammed open.

Before my fist could connect, a hand grabbed the back of my shirt.

I was hauled into the air like a ragdoll and tossed aside.

I went flying. I hit the wall with a sickening thud, the breath knocked out of me. The difference in strength was absolute.

Caleb stood over Kimberly, his chest heaving. He looked at me with pure disgust.

"Are you insane?" he bellowed.

Kimberly scrambled back, clutching her throat. She let out a dramatic, sobbing wail. "She tried to kill me, Caleb! She's crazy! She just attacked me out of nowhere!"

I struggled to sit up, gasping for air. My ribs throbbed where he had shoved me.

"She broke... the necklace," I wheezed, holding up the shattered chain. "My mother's..."

Caleb glanced at the broken jewelry in my hand. Then he looked back at me, his lip curling.

"It's a rock, Azalea," he said coldly. "It's just a stone."

The words cut deeper than any knife.

"Just a stone?" I whispered, tears streaming down my face. "It was everything."

"You are attacking my guest over trinkets," Caleb spat. He helped Kimberly up, his hands gentle on her shoulders-hands that used to hold me. "Look at what you did to her."

I looked. Kimberly had red marks on her neck and a bruise forming on her shoulder, but she was fine. She buried her face in Caleb's chest, sobbing fake tears.

She's playing you, I wanted to scream. Can't you smell her lies?

But Alpha males were blind when their egos were stroked.

"You need help," Caleb said, staring at me. There was no love in his eyes. Not even pity. Just annoyance. Like I was a stain on his carpet. "I'm calling the guards to escort you out. If you come back, I'll have you arrested for trespassing."

"Trespassing?" I stood up, using the wall for support. "I own this building, Caleb. My name is on the deed."

"Not for long," he said darkly. "Once the Council sees what you've become-a violent, unstable liability-they'll hand everything over to me for safekeeping."

He turned his back on me to comfort Kimberly.

That was the moment.

The final thread of the Mate Bond didn't just break; it dissolved.

I looked at his broad back, the man I had loved since college. The man I had elevated from poverty to power.

I felt... nothing.

No pain. No longing. Just a cold, hard clarity.

I looked at Kimberly, peeking over his shoulder with a triumphant smirk.

I didn't scream. I didn't cry anymore.

I walked over to them.

Caleb turned, ready to shove me again.

But I didn't aim for him. I lunged past him.

My fingernails weren't claws, but they were sharp enough. I raked them down Kimberly's exposed cheek, digging in with everything I had.

"Ahhh!" she screamed, real pain this time. Four bloody, parallel lines welled up instantly.

Caleb shoved me back, shock written all over his face.

"Consider that a parting gift," I said, my voice eerily calm.

I looked Caleb dead in the eye. My inner wolf was pacing now, restless, hungry.

"You think I'm weak, Caleb. You think I'm just a broken girl with a bank account."

I stepped toward the door, clutching the broken necklace to my chest.

"Pray to the Moon Goddess," I said softly. "Because when I come back, I won't be knocking."

I turned and walked away. Behind me, Kimberly was wailing about her face, and Caleb was shouting orders.

But I heard a sound that drowned them all out.

Inside my mind, deep in the darkness where my wolf slept, I heard a low, echoing howl.

It wasn't a cry of pain.

It was a war cry.