Chapter 3

• People kept walking past me on the street with their umbrellas up and heads down against the rain. A few glanced over and were probably wondering why some woman was standing in a downpour looking like her world had just ended.
• Which, I supposed, it had. But I wasn’t going to fall apart. Not anymore. Not for him.
• I turned away from the alley where Damien and Riley were still… I couldn’t even think about it. My stomach churned, threatening to empty itself right there on the sidewalk. I forced myself to move, one foot in front of the other, walking with no destination in mind. Just away. Away from him, away from the lies, away from everything.
• The rain felt like it was washing something off me. Not just water soaking through my clothes, but years of blind devotion, of making myself small, of believing I was lucky someone wanted me despite being “damaged goods.”
• My wolf whimpered in my chest, confused and grieving. She didn’t understand why our mate had betrayed us so completely. The bond still pulsed there, sickly and wrong, like an infected wound that wouldn’t heal.
• Breaking a mate bond wasn’t like human divorce. It required ritual, intention, and usually the consent of both parties. Damien would never agree, not until he’d drained every asset from the Morgan pack, not until he’d gotten what he needed from me, but he will if I managed to force him.
• My grandmother had told me once, years before she died, that there were old dangerous ways that a wolf could reject their mate. But Goddess, it would hurt like nothing I’d ever experienced. Rejection pain could kill weaker wolves, could leave survivors crippled for months.
• But staying with Damien would kill me anyway. Literally, according to what I’d overheard. At least this way, I’d die free. I decided that I would do it tomorrow night at that family dinner, in front of both packs, I would reject him publicly.
• My eyes caught someone as I entered the merchant's street , and I turned to look. An elderly woman sat huddled in a doorway, trying to shelter under a narrow awning.
• Her thin jacket was soaked through, and even from a distance, I could see her shivering. My feet carried me toward her before I’d consciously decided to move.
• “Are you alright, ma’am?” I asked softly.
• She looked up, startled. Her eyes were exhausted. “Oh, I’m fine, dear. Just waiting for my grandson.”
• She was clearly not fine. Her lips had a bluish tinge, and her hands trembled badly. I looked down at my hand, at the wedding ring that suddenly felt like it was burning my skin. Without thinking, I slipped it off. The metal was still warm. I’d worn it every day for two years, believing it meant something sacred.
• Now it just felt like a lie I’d been wearing.
• “Here.” I knelt down and pressed it into her palm. “Please take this. Sell it. It should help you stay warm.”
• Her eyes went wide. “Miss, I can’t—”
• “You can.” I interrupted, my voice steadier than I expected. “I don’t need it anymore.”
• She studied my face for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “Thank you,” she whispered. “You’re very kind.”
• I stood and walked away before the tears could start again, before I could change my mind. My finger felt naked without the ring’s weight, but lighter somehow. All this while I had hidden under his shadow, but now I have woken up.
• I was Evelyn Morgan. Not Evelyn Cross. Not someone’s convenient tool, and I would be damned if I let him treat me like that.
• –
• The Phantom’s engine purred as it pulled up to the curb. Christian Castellan stepped out, his expensive shoes splashing slightly in a puddle he didn’t bother avoiding.
• His wolf was agitated tonight. He felt restless, but he couldn’t figure out why. He saw his grandmother hunched under the awning, looking small and fragile in a way that always made his chest tight with worry.
• “Grandmother.” His voice came out sharper than he intended as he rushed over to her. “Why are you out here?”
• “Don’t fuss at me, Christian.” She was already too tired to stand well. “The driver had an accident. I told him to take the girl to the hospital.”
• He steadied her with one hand and opened his umbrella with the other. “You could’ve called me sooner, Grandmother. You know I cannot stomach it if anything had happened to you.”
• “You were working. You’re always working.” She sounded tired.
• Christian sighed in response before he started guiding her toward the car when she suddenly grabbed his wrist. Her grip was surprisingly strong.
• “Wait. A young woman gave me something.”
• She pressed a ring into his hand. The metal was still warm. Christian stared at it with squinted eyes as he made out the shape and quickly realized that it was a wedding band, the pink diamond catching the streetlight. It looked delicate and expensive.
• “She just walked off that way.” His grandmother pointed down the street. “Lovely girl, but very sad eyes. You should return it to her.”
• His wolf surged without warning. The scent hit him all at once, faint but unmistakable on the metal. Rain and jasmine, yes, but underneath it was grief and exhaustion. Just as he was about to move away, his wolf recognized it as his mate.
• Impossible.
• He’d never believed in that instant-recognition nonsense. Fated mates were rare. He’d gone thirty years without finding his. What were the chances—
• “Christian!” His grandmother’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Are you going after her or not?”
• He looked where she’d pointed, and his eyes caught a silhouette pass by.
• “Get in the car. I’ll be right back.” He ushered her into the car.
• He took off at a jog, his wolf pushing him faster. The scent was already fading in the rain. He rounded the corner, but he found nothing. The street was empty. She was gone.
• Christian stood there breathing hard as rain soaked through his expensive suit, staring at the empty street where she’d disappeared. His wolf howled in frustration, clawing at his insides.
• But he forced himself to breathe, to think rationally. He had a ring. That was something. He could trace it. He could try to find her that way. When he got back to the car, his grandmother was watching him with sharp eyes.
• “You didn’t catch her.”
• “No.”
• “That girl was special. I could tell.” She paused, then added firmly. “Find her, Christian. I think the Moon Goddess brought her to us for a reason.”
• “She’s married, Grandmother.” He held up the ring as evidence.
• She waved that away like it didn’t matter. “She took it off. That means something.”
• It meant something, alright. It meant she was running from a marriage. From a mate bond, if she were a wolf. His wolf didn’t care about the complications. It wanted to hunt, to find and to claim.
• Christian tossed the ring onto the center console and started the car. His grandmother was still talking, but he barely heard her. The ring sat there catching the dashboard lights. His wolf wouldn’t settle down.
• What a headache, he thought. But even as he drove away, he was already planning how he’d find her again.
• –
• I ended up at Simone’s apartment without consciously choosing the direction. My feet just carried me there, to the one person who’d never lied to me. She opened the door in her pajamas, took one look at my soaked appearance, and pulled me inside.
• “Jesus, Eve. What happened?”
• Then the dam broke. I told her everything. About overhearing Damien and Kieran discussing how Vanessa had hired the rogues. About the plan to kill me once they’d secured the Morgan pack shares. Then finally, about seeing them in the alley.
• Simone’s face went through shock, rage, then horror. By the time I finished, she was pacing her small living room.
• “That motherfucker,” she hissed. “I’m going to kill him.”
• “Get in line,” I mumbled weakly.
• She whirled on me. “Eve, you have to leave. Tonight.”
• “I can’t. Not yet.” I shook my head. “I need to do this right. If I just run, he’ll find me and drag me back.”
• Simone looked like she wanted to argue, but she nodded tightly. “Okay. What do you need?”
• “Time.” I took a shaky breath. “And I need somewhere to go after.”
• “You can stay with me—”
• “No.” I cut her off. “I need to leave Silvercrest completely to where he can't find me.”
• Understanding dawned on her face. “The research.”
• “Yeah.” Something settled in my chest as I said it. “The research. The life I had before I gave it all up for him.”
• Simone grabbed my hands. “Then do it. Call them. Right now.”
• I stared at her. “It’s been three years. They probably don’t even—”
• “You don’t know that. And you’ll never know unless you try.” She squeezed my hands. “Eve, you were brilliant. You still are. Stop letting what he did to you define what you can become.”
• Her words hit something deep inside me. She was right. I’d spent so long believing I was damaged, broken, worthless because that’s what everyone had told me. What they’d made me believe.
• But I wasn’t broken. I was a survivor. And I’d survived long enough. It was time to do more than just survive. I pulled out my phone with trembling hands and scrolled to Dr. Stuart’s number.
• “Do it,” Simone urged softly.
• I took a breath, then another as my finger hovered over the call button. Everything hung in this moment. The choice between the life I’d been living and the one I’d given up. Between being Evelyn Cross, the damaged Luna, and Evelyn Morgan, the neuroscientist who’d once been called brilliant.
• I pressed call. It only rang once before the phone was answered.
• “Hello?” Dr. Stuart’s voice was exactly as I remembered.
• “Dr. Stuart?” My voice came out rough. “It’s Evelyn Morgan.” I paused, my heart hammering. “I know it’s been three years. I know I walked away. But I need to ask you something.”
• There was a pause on the other end. I could hear papers rustling, could imagine her setting aside whatever she’d been working on.
• “I want my position back,” I deadpanned, the words tumbling out before I could lose my nerve. “At St. Vale. In the neural interface project. If… if there’s still room for me.”