Chapter 3

Asher's mouth moved, but no sound came out. Then he lifted a hand and took the chain from his neck.

It was a vintage compass pendant, only half of one.

The other half was with me.

When we were seven, we had won it at a stall at the Northern Moon Fair. One half for each of us.

Neither of us had taken it off since, not even during our first wolf-shifting training. I wore my half beside the moonstone pendant my mother had left me.

He called it our lucky charm. He also said that when we finally formed our mate bond, we would put the two halves together.

But now, he handed his half to Serena.

Serena lifted the pendant under the light, her smile bright and vicious. "So cute. Now it's mine."

She tilted her head slightly toward Asher and added, "So are you."

I wiped the water from my eyes and stared at Asher.

He looked at me. The smile on his face vanished instantly.

"What? Do I need your permission to give away my own things?"

No explanation.

No apology.

Only a bucket of ice water and a room full of malice.

He was no longer the boy who would stand against the whole world for me.

Someone shouted from the door, "Let's go! I booked rooms in Moon Lake Town. Graduation party continues!"

The crowd surged toward the door. When Serena passed me, she deliberately stuck out a foot and tripped me.

I pitched forward. My knee slammed into the wooden stairs, and pain flashed white behind my eyes.

She looked back with a sweet, innocent smile. "Oops. Didn't see you."

Then she linked her arm through Asher's and walked out in white canvas shoes. Asher let her pull him along, passing right beside me.

He lowered his head and glanced at me.

The look was so brief I could not read it.

Then he looked away and followed her into the summer night.

I knelt on the cold floor. The blood on my knee mixed with the ice water dripping from my hair, falling drop by drop onto the wooden boards.

Drip.

Drip.

Like all the one-sided love I had poured into him over the years.

Pathetic and pointless.

I could not go home. If Dad saw me like this, his heart would break.

I walked the black stone road outside the academy for a long time. In the end, I found a cheap motel in Moon Lake Town and got a room.

I stood under the hot water for a very long time, until my body finally felt like mine again. When I came out, my phone was lit up with messages from Asher.

Your dad called and asked when you're coming home. I said you were with me. Go home soon.

Where are you? Are you safe?

Then came a video call.

I hesitated, then answered. Asher's face appeared on the screen, still handsome. Behind him was a dim motel hallway.

He frowned. "You're at a motel?"

"Yeah."

"Which one?"

"None of your business."

After a moment of silence, his tone hardened. "Stay where you are. I don't want to deal with your dad."

"Asher." I looked straight into his eyes through the screen. "That compass pendant. Are you really giving it to her?"

He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"You said it was ours. You said that on the day we formed our mate bond, we would put them together."

He stayed silent.

I asked, "You gave it to Serena. Then what am I?"

He swallowed. "It's just a cheap piece of metal."

I let out a small laugh. "Right. Worthless. Just like me."

"Elena..."

I hung up.

Half an hour later, someone knocked on the door. It was a delivery driver. He brought a tube of ointment for scrapes and a box of hot mac and cheese.

I sat on the motel bed while my phone kept vibrating. The Mooncrest Academy graduation group chat was full of videos.

Serena and Asher were singing at the party. She leaned on his shoulder with a cup in her hand while a sickly sweet love song played in the background.

Comments popped up one after another.

"Oh my god, the way Asher looks at her. I'm dead."

"Kiss! Hurry up and kiss!"