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Chapter 8
I told Tiber everything–about my first mate bond with Kael.
After hearing it all, Tiber gently touched the faint pink scar on my wrist, his eyes filled with sorrow. He leaned down and pressed a
tender kiss to it.
A warm magic spread from the spot where his lips had touched. The skin quickly healed, smooth and unblemished, as if the wound had
never existed.
“I’ll handle the matter with the crystal recording. You don’t need to worry about a thing,” he said softly. “Once your wrist is fully healed, I’ll take you to pick out your wedding dress.”
I nodded, watching Tiber throw himself wholeheartedly into preparing for our Mating Ceremony. He was clearly enjoying every minute of it.
In the past six years, I had always been the one revolving around Kael, pouring all my energy into keeping the relationship alive. Now that I had completely severed ties with him, I felt light–like I had finally set down a heavy burden.
Watching Tiber carefully select the venue, air–freight flowers from overseas, handwrite every invitation, and work with professional designers to create my bridal look–I finally understood what it felt like to truly be loved.
Love, I realized, should be mutual. It shouldn’t be one person constantly giving while the other just takes.
I had given Kael six full years of my life. Now it was time for me to open the door to a new relationship–one that was healthy, balanced, and real.
No–not just a new relationship. Tiber and I were already bound by something stronger. We had formed a mate bond far deeper and more enduring than the one I had before.
A few days later, Tiber told me that the recording crystal incident had been cleared up.
Everyone in Nightveil Pack now knew the truth–that the entire “thievery” had been a show orchestrated by Caela, designed solely to drive me out of the pack.
The day the crystal footage was made public, Caela was taken away by the werewolf police and investigated for slander and false accusations. Kael also officially broke the mate bond with her.
As for the slap Kael gave me–Tiber didn’t let that go, either.
As my mate, he filed a compensation claim against Kael. The amount didn’t matter; what mattered was making Kael pay, restoring my name, and giving me justice. That alone made Tiber’s efforts worthwhile.
When he told me all this, his gaze flickered slightly. He looked a little guilty as he asked, “Did I go too far? Do you feel uncomfortable about what I did?”
I curved my lips into a quick smile.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever known what it feels like to have someone standing up for me. And it feels.., amazing.”
Tiber smiled too. The corners of his eyes crinkled with joy, his expression tender and content.
Later, he took me to choose my wedding dress.
And outside the bridal boutique, after all this time, Kael appeared again, holding a bouquet of purple lisianthus.
“Nevara, I’m not going to mark Caela,” he said. “These past days have made everything clear for me. The only one I truly love… is you.”
I turned away in disgust.
The moment I saw his face, the scene of him and Caela standing at the altar on my birthday flashed vividly in my mind.
And now, with lips that had kissed another woman, he dared to say he loved me. It made me sick.
Chapter 8
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I couldn’t even be bothered to glance at him.
Standing beside him with his unshaven, disheveled appearance, Kael couldn’t compare to even a single hair on Tiber’s head.
I looped my arm through Tiber’s and steered us around Kael, intending to ignore him completely. But Kael rushed forward and grabbed
my wrist.
He held out a stack of medical records, thrusting them at me, page by page.
“Caela doesn’t have bone cancer–she lied to us!” he cried. “If I had known she was faking it, I never would have proposed!”
“Nevara, please, just look at them. Just take one look! I swear, I’m not lying!”
His eyes were bloodshot, tears streaming down his cheeks as he pleaded with me. Tiber, afraid I might waver, quickly pulled Kael’s hand off my wrist.
“Kael,” he said coldly, “I suggest you conduct yourself with some dignity. And keep your inappropriate thoughts about my Luna to yourself.”
With that, I raised my hand and scattered Kael’s stack of papers, sending them fluttering to the ground like worthless scraps.
What did it matter whether Caela had been sick or not?
None of it changed what Kael had done.
No forged diagnosis could erase the slap he gave me, or the way he crushed my things underfoot, or the way he stood by while I was humiliated.
And I couldn’t pretend it had all been a bad dream and go running back to him. That ship had sailed.
Kael was completely delusional if he thought otherwise.
The pages fell around us like snow.
Seeing Tiber’s slight frown–clearly annoyed by Kael–I moved even closer to him, leaning into his side affectionately. Then we stepped over the mess of scattered paper and kept walking without a backward glance.
Did Kael ever imagine, when he hurled my resignation letter and documents at me, that the day would come when he would kneel on the ground, eyes red, begging for my forgiveness?
Time couldn’t be turned back.
And I couldn’t forgive him.
But hating him would only drain my energy. The best thing I could do… was treat Rael like a stranger.
But Kael wasn’t done yet.
He scrambled up from the ground and charged at Tiber, fists flying. “This is all your fault! You ruined everything! You stole Nevara from me!”
His strength was no match for Tiber. With a single incantation, Tiber blasted him to the ground using magic.
I immediately called for the werewolf guards stationed outside the boutique,
This was a luxury, custom wedding shop. All their clients were either rich or powerful, and the staff were obligated to protect their safety.
The guards quickly arrived and subdued Kael, pinning him to the floor.
I didn’t even spare him a glance.
All my focus was on Tiber–checking him from head to toe to make sure he wasn’t hurt, my eyes full of concern.
From across the crowd of bodies and movement, Kael finally saw the truth.
Chapter 8
There was no longer a place for him in my heart, or in my eyes.
He had lost the mate who had once loved him with everything she had.
And I… had found someone who loved me with everything he had to give.
Chapter 8
