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 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. 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.