Chapter 4: Breaking The Chains
The sound of laughter echoed through the hall as Lukas and Celeste strutted toward the pack, their eyes shining with a calculated gleam that had always made my stomach churn. I stood there, watching. them, the weight of the past few weeks pressing down on me, but there was no way I’d let it break me now. Not anymore.
The sting of betrayal still burned, but it wasn’t the sharp ache I’d felt days ago. No, now it was a cold, steady rage that ran through me like fire in my veins. I wasn’t the girl who had begged Lukas for scraps of affection anymore. I wasn’t the girl who would cry alone in the shadows, waiting for
his call. I was done.
As Lukas and Celeste disappeared into the crowd, I turned and walked in the opposite. direction. No one stopped me. No one tried to pull me back into the cage they thought I belonged in. I had earned my
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independence. They could all see it now.
I didn’t need Lukas or Celeste to define me.
I didn’t need anyone to tell me who I was.
I made my way to the garden. The sky was heavy with the storm‘ s remnants, and the soft sound of raindrops falling from the trees soothed my nerves. The thorns from earlier still ached where they had torn into my skin, but there was no time to nurse wounds. I had plans to make, decisions to change the course of my life. The only question was where to start.
Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Selene’s name flashed on the screen. I hadn’t spoken to her since she first reached out. But something about her message now seemed to pull me back from the edge. “I’ve found you some options. A fresh start, Ayla. No more looking over your shoulder. You deserve better.”
Her words struck a chord, and a fire.
flickered in my chest. I wasn’t about to let Lukas’s world be my cage anymore. If
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there was an escape, I’d find it.
I turned my back on the mansion and walked toward the road, ignoring the way the wind whipped through my hair. For the first time in ages, I didn’t feel like I was running. I was moving forward. The future. was mine to shape.
Back at the mansion, Lukas was fuming. I could feel it through the bond, the seething anger as he realized I had slipped away.
But this time, I wasn‘ t afraid of him. I wasn’t afraid of his anger. I wasn‘ t afraid of anyone anymore.
The road was quiet, almost eerily so, but that only gave me more peace. With every step I took, I left the past behind. The whispers of the pack, the coldness of Lukas’s eyes–none of that mattered
anymore.
By the time I reached the city, the sun was starting to dip below the horizon, casting a golden glow over the buildings. It was
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beautiful, but I barely noticed. The buzzing of my phone drew my attention again. This time, it was a text from my mother.
“Why are you doing this to us, Ayla? Lukas is your mate. You can’t walk away from him like this.”
I stopped walking, staring at the screen. Her words were like nails in my chest, but they were nothing compared to the weight of my own truth. Lukas might have been my mate, but he hadn‘ t earned that title. He had never protected me. He had never stood by me.
His loyalty wasn‘ t to me–it was to his pack. And Celeste.
I put the phone away. There would be no
more messages, no more pleas. I had made my decision.
As I entered the small apartment building I had secured earlier, my heart began to settle. The walls here didn’t know my
past. They didn’t know Lukas or Celeste.
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They were blank slates, just like me.
The apartment was sparsely furnished, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t need much. A
bed, a place to write, a space to breathe.
That was all.
As I unpacked, my mind kept drifting back. to Lukas’s words–his promises, his lies. And then, suddenly, the weight of the betrayal hit me again. This time, though, it wasn’t crushing. It was fuel. My anger, my pain, all of it turned into fire. I could feel my wolf stirring, sensing the power in the
shift.
I grabbed my phone, my fingers trembling as I typed a message to Selene. “I‘ m ready. Set it all up. I’m leaving everything behind.”
Before I could second–guess myself, I hit send. I had no room for doubt. No room for
fear.
Lukas‘ s call came an hour later. I let it
ring, knowing full well it wasn’t going to
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change anything. When it finally stopped, my phone buzzed again. A voicemail,
“Ayla…” Lukas‘ s voice sounded
different, strained. “Please don’t do this. I–I don’t know how to fix this, but I can. You‘ re not nothing. You‘ re my everything. Don‘ t leave me.”
I stared at the message, my chest
tightening. I had been his everything once. Those lies. But now, I am someone else.
There was no going back.
Two days later, Merryl called with the details. The interviews, the job offers, the city–the possibilities stretched out before
me like a new dawn.
But Lukas won’t dare forget me even if he wants to, I planned to cause him some pain, forgetting I was once obsessed with him. I stole his PC a while back to get information that I can use against him and not to my surprise….he had a whole lot.
I opened my phone to find Celeste had
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posted a new update. Hypocrite.
She was sitting in Lukas’s passenger seat, their fingers intertwined, both wearing the latest engagement rings. I smiled.
Using his account, I sent the story of our seven years together, along with the evidence of his affair I had collected, to everyone at the pack. Sent special ones to Sir Alpha Kane.
Then I smashed the computer, grabbed my suitcase and headed to the airport alone. As I was going through security, countless messages and calls flooded in.
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