Chapter 7
One day, out of nowhere, I got a text from Theo.
[Anya, can we talk? Just once?]
I didn’t respond.
Then, after the mate bond was officially severed, he messaged again.
[Anya, I really want to explain everything to you in person.]
But there was nothing left to explain. We’d broken the mate bond. We were done.
I didn’t reply. Didn’t block him right away either, which turned out to be
Because not long after, a voice message popped up from Elena.
my one oversight.
Her voice was brittle, like she was hanging on by a thread. But the venom was still there.
“You must feel so smug right now, huh, Anya?” she sneered. “You got what you wanted–Theo all
to yourself. Congratulations. You isolated him from everyone who ever gave a damn about him.”
“You crashed our group like some outsider desperate for attention, and now look at him–no friends, no support, all because of you.”
“But I guess that’s what you do best, right? Play victim, break things, and act like the world owes you something.”
Faye was sitting right beside me when it came through.
She yanked the phone out of my hand, roasted Elena with the kind of precision only a best friend
could deliver, then wiped Theo off my phone like he never existed.
Just to be safe, she triple–checked that nothing slipped through the cracks.
Then she clapped me on the shoulder and said, “Out with the old, babe. Make room for better.‘
I smiled and nodded.
And just like that, it was really over.
We’d cut every last thread.
After that, Faye and I poured everything into our new venture–a dessert café. Something sweet,
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something that was all ours.
One night, after a long shift, I was walking home when I saw him.
Theo.
Standing outside my apartment building.
“Anya,” he said quietly.
He looked thinner. Worn. Like he hadn’t been sleeping. But that wasn’t my problem anymore.
I didn’t even break stride–I just walked right past him.
He reached out, catching my wrist.
I instinctively pulled away. He let go quickly, pain flickering in his eyes.
“I just want to talk,” he said. “Five minutes. That’s all I’m asking. Then I’ll leave you alone for good.”
And for a second–just a breath–I hesitated.
Because once upon a time, there had been love. Real love.
Before Elena showed up, it was me he obsessed over. Me he loved, protected, adored.
He used to wake up at dawn just to drive across the city for the stuffed pastries I liked.
He once skipped a work trip during a thunderstorm because he knew storms scared me.
I opened the door that night to find him soaked, shaking, smiling.
“Don’t be scared, Anya,” he said. “I’m here.”
It was easy to believe in forever back then.
I really thought we’d make it to the Mating Ceremony. That we’d last.
Then Elena came in like a storm.
Always inserting herself between us.
Even when we made plans–movie nights, anniversaries–she’d magically need something. Theo would cancel on me without blinking. And when I finally spoke up?
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“You’re overreacting,” he said whenever Elena mocked me and gave a half–hearted apology.
“She didn’t mean anything by it.”
But if I ever lost my temper? Suddenly, I was the problem.
I wasn’t quiet about it. I threatened to break the mate bond more than once. But no matter how upset I got, Theo always brushed it off with the same line:
“Elena knows she messed up. Let it go.”
As if my pain didn’t matter.
Eventually, I snapped.
I went through with it. I broke the bond.
But the silence that followed? It broke me all over again.
I missed him. So much it hurt. After a month of no contact, I caved. I swallowed my pride, called
him, begged for a chance to talk. Just five minutes.
He showed up with his childhood friends.
With Elena.
And looked down at me like I was pathetic.
“If you’re going to throw tantrums,” he said coldly, “you better be ready to deal with the consequences.”
“I don’t need you, Anya.”
Now, standing in front of him with the roles reversed, I gave him that same look.
That same voice.
“Theo, I don’t have time to waste on you.”
“Keeping you out of my life is the mercy.”
And with that, I walked straight into the elevator.
Right before the doors closed, I caught one last glimpse of Theo standing there-
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Tears streaming down his face.
And I felt absolutely nothing.
