Chapter 342

Third Person's POV

Fred's expression was dark. "To lose his own flesh and blood for a kid that isn't even his... he really is a piece of work."

Trista shook her head. "He's not worth my resentment anymore, and he's definitely not worth my hate."

In the werewolf world, everything came back around.

She realized that withdrawing her emotions refusing to waste a single drop of feeling on him-was the ultimate karma.

In the shadows not far away, the window of a black luxury car was rolled down halfway.

Cassian sat inside, his body rigid, every cell in his being feeling like it was being torn apart.

He stared at Trista under the streetlight, his fingers gripping his shirt so hard he ripped the fabric. His bloodshot eyes were brimming with tears.

He opened his mouth to breathe, but it felt like his windpipe had been cut; he couldn't make a sound.

Late night, at the second floor of the Imperial Club, when Fred pushed open the door to the private suite, he was shoved back a half-step by a wave of Alpha aura so thick it felt physical.

The room reeked of spilled hard liquor and Cassian's out-of-control, blood-edged pine pheromones.

Fred snatched the swaying glass from Cassian's fingers. "You heard her, didn't you? Every word she said on the street tonight."

Cassian's brow was furrowed into a deep knot. His fingers dug deep grooves into the leather armrest of his chair.

He lowered his eyes, which were clouded with misery. Inside him, his wolf was letting out a dry, desperate howl of abandonment.

His lips twitched, a broken, hoarse growl escaping his throat. "It was me... I'm the one who tore our bond apart."

Fred tried to keep his cool, releasing a few calming signals to settle the violent energy in the room. "Cassian, Trista gave you the best years of her life, and you hurt her until her soul nearly burned out. If you have any dignity left, show her some mercy for once. Sign the papers and set her free."

Cassian grabbed his jacket and stood up, swaying on his feet.

The mix of alcohol and regret made his brain feel like it had been thrown into a boiling cauldron; every nerve was being flayed alive.

Right now, he just wanted to find the coldest, most desolate wasteland to bury the self-loathing that was about to explode.

He didn't even look at Fred as he stumbled out the door, leaving a trail of decaying pheromones in the hallway.

For the next two days, Cassian completely "vanished" from the pack.

He spent his days buried in work at the Ironthorn offices, acting like a machine that didn't know how to tire. At night, he curled up on his office sofa, swallowing the agony of the bond's backlash alone.

Humphrey watched his leader's self-destructive spiral and couldn't take it anymore. He secretly leaked the news to Alaina.

Soon, Cassian's parents and his sister Wynn all showed up, but he blocked them all out using "urgent business" as an excuse.

By the end of the third day, Humphrey bit the bullet and whispered a report. "Alpha Cassian... Luna Trista has been waiting for you at home for two days. Maybe... it's time to face her?"

Cassian leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes.

Three days. He hadn't been home in three days, and his mind-link with her was a total dead zone.

She didn't care where he was. She didn't care at all.

Late that night, Cassian pushed open the front door, smelling of booze and exhaustion.

Trista was coming out of the kitchen

with a glass of water. When she saw him looking like a wreck, she just calmly set her glass down and headed for the bedroom. She didn't give him a single second of her attention. sŵnovels

Cassian snapped. That feeling of being completely exiled was more painful than the bond actually breaking.

He threw off his suit jacket and lunged forward like a feral beast, locking her in a crushing embrace from behind.

"Cassian, get that nauseating smell of alcohol away from me," Trista said, struggling in his arms. Her voice was as cold as a poisoned blade, laced with a hint of Luna

aura.

"I've been drinking, but I'm not drunk," Cassian muttered, burying his head in the crook of her neck. That skin should have smelled like sweet, calming herbs; now, it only radiated cold rejection.

He tightened his arms, his fingers sinking into her skin as if he wanted to shove her

into his own bones to fill the crack in his soul.

Trista jerked her head away from his hot, whiskey-soaked breath. "If you're not drunk, then get your paws off me."

"I haven't been home for three days," Cassian whispered against her ear—the final, desperate question of a breaking Alpha. "And you didn't even bother to ask where I was?"

Trista thought his "Alpha pride" was almost pathetic.

She broke free with a burst of

strength, her eyes flashing with a silver light in the dark. She spun around to face him. "Cassian, you thought it was perfectly fine to lie to me for a month while you looked after that she-wolf. Being gone for three days is nothing to me."

They stared at each other in the dim light. Cassian's pheromones were screaming

for a reconciliation, but Trista's soul was as calm as a dead sea-completely devoid of warmth.

Cassian suddenly clutched his chest, his face going pale.

He didn't know when it had started, but every time she looked at him like he was already dead, his heart would seize up in a sharp, agonizing cramp.

Trista hesitated for a split second, but then she hardened her heart and turned to walk away.

"Trista, don't... my chest hurts," Cassian rasped, grabbing her wrist. He looked like he could barely stand.