Chapter 8
588words
I followed him.
Late that night, Cael slipped out of our apartment like a shadow.
I trailed him from a distance, watching him expertly avoid security cameras before entering Lilith's antique shop downtown.
Though closed for business, lights blazed inside the shop.
I crouched in an alley across the street, aiming Lucas's high-powered listening device at the second-floor window.
Lilith's voice came through clearly, tinged with smug satisfaction: "Everything's proceeding perfectly. Once we extract the 'Moonlight Breath' from your little wolf pet as the key, we can shatter the Eternal Silence Seal when it's weakest. Then you'll reclaim your throne."
My heart plummeted.
"After that," Lilith's voice turned playful, "the wolf girl and her pathetic pack become… expendable. Will you wipe her memories or just dispose of her entirely?"
I held my breath, praying he would defend me.
Please, say you'll protect me. Say I matter to you.
Instead, his voice came through cold and detached:
"I only care about results."
My world shattered.
Everything around me seemed to spin and blur.
It was all true.
My love, my trust, everything I'd given him—all part of his calculated plan.
I wasn't his lover—just a tool, a "key" to be used and discarded when convenient.
I stumbled away, tears freezing on my cheeks in the night air.
That night, a rare supermoon hung in the sky.
The massive silver orb dominated the night, bathing the city in unnatural brightness.
I returned home in a trance.
Looking around our apartment—the home I'd created for us—everything now seemed like a cruel joke.
When Cael returned, he found me sitting in darkness, eyes swollen from crying.
"Where were you?" My voice was barely a whisper.
"Taking care of business."
"Business about the 'key'?"
Cael went completely still.
Just then, the supermoon reached its zenith, flooding the room with silver light that seemed drawn to my skin.
My werewolf essence responded violently, "Moonlight Breath" pouring from me in visible waves, filling the apartment with shimmering energy.
I should have fled to the woods—the transformation could overtake me any moment.
But I stayed, needing to see what he would do.
The energy slammed against the seal in Cael's chest.
The runes flared wildly, and under the onslaught of pain, his human disguise shattered.
Blood-red eyes, razor-sharp fangs, the overwhelming presence of an apex predator—his true nature revealed at last.
Vampire.
A vampire. My mortal enemy.
The ancient enemy of all werewolves.
The truly pathetic part? I'd seen all the signs but deliberately ignored them, refusing to believe what was right in front of me.
I should have known from the beginning.
The double betrayal broke something inside me. I laughed through my tears, a sound bordering on hysteria. "Liar! You goddamn liar!"
I launched myself at him, fists and nails flying, wanting to hurt him as he'd hurt me.
He stood motionless, accepting my assault, his eyes filled with something that looked almost like regret.
As my control slipped and the wolf began to emerge, he suddenly grabbed me and crushed his lips to mine.
Miraculously, the transformation halted. Instead of rage, something else surged through me—something that made me surrender completely to his embrace.
That night, beneath cold moonlight, everything changed.
I woke at dawn to find Cael sleeping beside me, his face peaceful for once.
I slipped away.
On his pillow, I left my silver wolf-pack pendant.
On the bathroom mirror, I wrote in lipstick:
"We're even now. Goodbye."
