Chapter 4

I woke to the sterile scent of antiseptic and the low hum of machines. My head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton, and my chest was heavy with a pain I couldn’t place.

Evan was sitting beside me, looking like the doting husband he pretended to be when someone else was watching.

“Camila, why do you keep fainting like this?” he asked, his voice annoyingly casual. “Your CT scan came back clean. The doctors couldn’t find anything, so they just gave you oxygen.”

I looked away, down at the stark white bedsheets. He hadn’t heard a single word I said before I lost consciousness.

Or maybe he had—and just didn’t care.

Bracing my hands against the bed, I pushed myself upright, breath shaky and shallow.

“Evan,” I rasped, “I’m asking you one last time. Can we… please finish our wedding?”

His brows drew together in annoyance, like my plea was a burden.

“Camila, just wait a little longer,” he said. “Let me walk Faith through her final days. You and I have a whole lifetime ahead.”

A lifetime? There was no lifetime. Not for me. Not anymore.

That’s when she burst into the room. Faith. She threw herself into Evan’s arms like she belonged there.

“Evan,” she whispered shakily, “can we go home? I don’t want to die in a hospital.”

He stroked her back gently, his voice full of comfort and promises he never gave me.

“Don’t be scared, Faith. I’m here. I’ll always be here.”

Then, without even glancing at me, he said, “If you’re feeling fine, Camila, pack up and discharge yourself.”

He didn’t wait for a response. He turned and walked out—arms wrapped around her.

I clenched the blanket in my fists as the Moon Goddess’s voice echoed again in my soul:

Two-day countdown.

The pain started small—like something crawling beneath my skin. But I knew what it was. My soul, tainted and torn, was unraveling.

Two days later, it would all be over.

That same morning, I saw Faith’s Instagram story. Photos and captions, written in her dreamy, sugary tone:

“Roses air-freighted from Tsuki Pack. Evan is the most romantic fiancé ever!”

“The dreamiest cake, designed with so much love.”

“Can’t sleep the night before my wedding—does this happen to everyone?!”

I didn’t need to scroll further. Every single thing she posted, I had prepared. I was the one who went to Tsuki Pack to pick the roses.

I spent months designing the cake with a specialty baker. Every detail of her Moon Ceremony was ripped from the wedding I once planned for myself.

I went to my computer and began deleting our memories—one by one. The folders filled with anniversary photos, the selfies taken at sunset, the recording of Evan saying “I love you”—gone.

The mugs we made together at that pottery class? I shattered them against the sink.

The blood oath contract we once signed as wolves? Torn to ribbons.

Evan walked in and saw the mess.

“Camila,” he snapped, “do you really have to ruin the house on such a good day?”

Then softer, like I was the one being unreasonable: “Do you have to be so stubborn? Can’t you just try to understand, just this once?”

Understand what? That he gave my dress… my ring… my future…to someone else?

That I gave up my life—even my wolf soul—just to complete our wedding?

I looked him in the eye, forcing a hollow smile. “I just want to tidy up the house,” I said.

He stepped closer and gently touched my face. “Good girl,” he murmured. “Wait for me to come back. We’ll plan a new wedding.”

I smiled again. And watched him walk away. Then I returned to erasing myself. By dawn, my body felt feather-light, like I was no longer anchored to this world. I sat at my desk, finishing my will with trembling hands.

When Evan woke and realized I was gone, he came to find me.

He stood in the study doorway, eyes narrowing at the document in my hands.

“A will?” he scoffed. “You’re seriously unbelievable.”

He stormed over, ripped the paper from my hands, and shredded it like it was trash.

“You think this will stop Faith and me from having the Moon Ceremony? If you want to die, Camila, then just do it already.”

Then he walked out, the sound of his footsteps trailing behind him like nails in a coffin.

Maybe that’s what the Moon Goddess wanted—For me to finally see the truth. That nothing I did… could break apart fated mates.

I stepped out onto the balcony. Below, the garden swayed with the breeze.

Faith stood beside Evan in my wedding dress, eyes sparkling with adoration as she looked up at him.

Evan gently took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm like he used to do with me.

The wind stirred the petals in the yard, sending them swirling like snowflakes. A cruel celebration.

Their wedding car pulled away, and with it, the last of my strength. My vision dimmed. And then—sharp pain, unbearable and blinding.

It felt like a thousand silver needles pierced through me, straight into my bones. Tearing. Burning. Claiming what was left of me.