The air froze the second the words left my mouth.
Cassian’s temper flared.
“Astrid! Do you even know what you’re saying? Over a game, you invent these vicious lies about sexual assault and a miscarriage, and now you’re threatening me with mate rejection? Do you think as a no-wolf you could possibly survive in this world without me…”
His voice cut off abruptly.
A wet gagging sound tore out of him.
Cassian dropped hard onto one knee, blood spilling from his mouth onto the cold floorboards.
The tearing rupture of the broken mate bond hammered deep into his soul.
Agonizing rending pain and icy despair flooded through the shattered bond fragments straight into his nerves!
“No… no…” Cassian’s face turned deathly pale. He clutched his chest, staring up at me in total shock.
He tried to hide how violently his hands shook and stepped forward to pull me into his arms.
“I’m not joking.”
I shoved him away, filled with revulsion.
Before Cassian could get another word out, Chloe burst into tears.
“Astrid, I know you don’t like me. But you can’t make up stories like this just to turn everyone against me!”
She grabbed a suitcase and headed for the door.
“Fine. I’ll leave. You don’t have to talk to me anymore. After all, I’m the outsider who joined your group…”
Tristan and Jax immediately panicked.
One hurried over to comfort Chloe.
The other turned toward me.
“Astrid Ashwood, why do you have to push Chloe this hard? How could I have a sister as cruel as you?”
“If one of us has to leave, we’d rather it be you!”
I had already made up my mind to walk away from all of them.
Even so, hearing them say it out loud still hurt.
I turned and left.
I ignored every single “come back” that spilled from Cassian’s lips.
Cassian was obviously suffering terribly, and the others rushed to hold him up.
But I never glanced back. I was a no-wolf. I couldn’t feel that bond pain.
For all I knew, he might just be faking it.
I picked up my luggage and stepped outside.
I hadn’t walked far when a sharp, acrid scent hit me.
My vision went black, and I collapsed.
“Well, look who’s awake.”
A foul stench made me shake violently.
I opened my eyes and found myself staring my worst nightmare in the face.
“You… what do you want?”
“What do we want?”
The man in front of me spat onto the ground.
“You dared go running to the Lycan Royal Enforcement. Now enforcers are hunting me all across Frostfang Harbor. What do you think I want?”
The men advanced slowly toward me, their eyes roaming all over my body.
“I’m going to end up locked up because of you anyway. Might as well leave you with scars you’ll never forget before they throw me behind bars.”
Memories of the first sexual assault crashed over me.
Splitting pain hammered my skull, and my abdomen throbbed so hard my whole body trembled.
I bit the inside of my mouth until I tasted blood, fumbling around for my phone.
I called Cassian.
He picked up on the very last ring.
“Help me… please…”
One of the men noticed what I was doing.
He kicked the phone flying out of my grasp, then drove his boot hard into my chest.
“You stupid bitch! Trying to snitch again? Looks like I need to hurry this up.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the call was still connected.
But no sound came from the other end.
Then I understood.
Cassian was waiting for me to surrender, just like I always did during the Invisibility Game.
“Okay,” I sobbed, using every last shred of my strength. “I give up. Please… please send someone to save me.”
A soft laugh drifted over the phone line.
It was Chloe.
“So what gift are you giving me this time, Astrid?”
Agony exploded through my chest and stomach.
I couldn’t form another word.
Cassian finally lost what little patience he had left.
He spoke in a low, cold murmur.
“You haven’t even thought of a gift. Why should we forgive you?”
Then he added, “You’ve gone way too far this time. You even hired actors to make all of this sound real.”
The call disconnected.
Desperation swallowed me whole.
Just as I gave up every last shred of hope, another powerful, furious Alpha aura rolled through the alley like a raging storm.
…
After hanging up, Cassian couldn’t shake the twisting unease gnawing at his chest.
He paced back and forth.
After long hesitation, he finally called me back.
No one answered.
Fear clamped around his throat, making it almost impossible to breathe.
Then the doorbell rang.
Relief washed over him, and he sprinted for the entrance.
“You’re back…”
Only a delivery courier stood outside.
Cassian stared at him in confusion until he spotted the package in the courier’s hands.
All color drained from his face.
“Is Chloe Vane here? A lady asked me to deliver a gift to her.”