He Scorned My Love Now He Watches My Rise Chapter 01
I came from the Cedar Pass pack. My family had no money and no prestigious bloodline.
Colton Moretti, on the other hand, was the Alpha heir of the Nightfall pack. So everyone around him assumed the only reason I’d agreed to become his chosen mate was for the title of Luna.
Especially Bianca Vale, the Beta’s daughter who had grown up with him.
She was always saying she’d seen too many women use tricks to get close to Alpha blood, so she knew my type.
To shut them up, I spent three years with Colton and never accepted a single expensive gift from him.
Bianca still said, “She only says no because she’s holding out for something bigger. She’s after the Moretti family’s resources and the Luna position.”
Then came Colton’s birthday. I saved for six months to buy him a mechanical watch.
I was almost at their private dining room in the Nightfall pack’s clubhouse when I heard Bianca’s laugh from inside.
“I knew she’d buy something expensive.”
“Women like her are always calculating. Spend a little now, and once the claim is complete, take a lot more from the pack.”
Colton was sitting right beside her. He didn’t deny it.
Someone laughed. “Colt, your future Luna really knows her math.”
Another person saw me and held up a hand, silencing the table.
“She’s here.”
Bianca let out a cold little laugh. The scent of her smugness was so sharp even my wolf could smell it.
“Some people are such fakes. Alphas prefer someone who’s direct, like me. Isn’t that right?”
Colton was silent for a moment before he looked up at me.
“Have you been pretending this whole time? Just waiting for the claim so you could get more out of me?”
I stood in the doorway, the watch box in my hand suddenly feeling impossibly heavy.
We weren’t fated mates. We had only registered as chosen partners with the pack. The claim hadn’t been completed, so there was no mark, no bond.
But after three years together, he should have known whether my feelings were real.
My wolf knew the scent of cedar that clung to Colton. It used to feel like home. Now, she recoiled from it.
I didn’t say a word. I just turned and walked away.
If he saw my sincerity as a joke, then there was no point in offering it.
After leaving the clubhouse, I went straight back to the mall where I’d bought the watch.
The saleswoman recognized me.
Half an hour earlier, I had been smiling as I took the gift box from her.
Now, with the ribbon still tied, I was asking her to take it back.
“Ma’am, his name is already engraved on the back. We can’t offer a full refund. We can only buy it back at the secondhand price.”
“How much?”
“Seven thousand dollars.”
I had spent six months saving ten thousand dollars for that watch.
I lost three thousand dollars in a single moment.
I nodded.
“That’s fine.”
The saleswoman had just taken the box when Bianca’s laugh echoed behind me.
“See? I knew she’d return it.”
Colton and everyone from the dining room had followed me.
A circle of high-ranking werewolves gathered around the counter, watching me like I was some kind of specimen up for inspection.
Someone took out their phone and snapped a picture of the refund slip.
“Ten grand for a watch. She’s probably angling for a sports car next.”
“That’s a better ROI than our top brokers get. Maybe she should give lessons.”
“Clawing her way from a border pack like Cedar Pass into the Alpha heir’s bed? You’ve got to admit, she’s got skills.”
The words hit me, one after another, until my fingers started to shake.
They all came from powerful Nightfall families. The nearby employees heard every word, but no one was about to offend the future Alpha and the Beta’s daughter.
Bianca walked over and glanced at the buyback receipt.
“You’re all so naive.”
“A normal gold digger just asks for money.”
“She’s smarter than that. Spend a little, then make a show of being hurt and returning the gift. Make the man feel guilty, and the car, the apartment, and the Luna title are sure to follow.”
The people beside her laughed even louder.
“So that’s the trick.”
“No wonder she didn’t take Colt’s gifts for three years. She’s been playing the long game for the title of Mrs. Moretti.”
I took my bank card back and turned to leave.
Colton caught my wrist.
“Are you done?”
He pulled a black card from his wallet and shoved it into my hand.
“I was harsh today. Go buy yourself something you like and cut the attitude.”
I looked down at the card, my chest tight with a pain so sharp it was hard to breathe.
We’d been together for three years, and I had never spent a cent of his money.
But even now, he still thought money and his Alpha-heir privilege could fix anything.
I set the card on the counter.
“Colton, we’re done.”
His expression shifted.
Bianca clapped her hands once.
“I told you.”
“Returning the gift was just step one. The breakup threat—that’s the real power play.”
She turned to Colton, her voice full of smug certainty.
“She waited three years. The claim was right around the corner. There’s no way she’d actually walk away.”
“She’s trying to force your hand, make you move up the ceremony.”
The others chimed in at once.
“Just move up the claim ceremony, Colt.”
“If you don’t claim her soon, the next thing you know she’ll be filing to cancel her registration.”
The crease between Colton’s brows slowly smoothed out.
He looked down at me, his voice suddenly lighter with the infuriating confidence of a man who thought he’d figured me out.
“If you want the claim, you can just say so.”
“Don’t use walking out to manipulate me. It’s childish.”
I pulled my hand free.
“I’m not manipulating you.”
“I’m just done with you.”
Colton stared at me for a few seconds, the last of his patience gone.
“Fine. Let’s see how long you can keep this up.”
I didn’t answer. I just left the mall alone.
The moment I got into a rideshare, my director called.
“We’re suddenly short-handed on a project in the Red Sand territory. It’s a three-year posting, and you’d have to leave the day after tomorrow.”
“The local partner is the Crimson Sand pack. The conditions there are rough. Are you interested?”
I had already turned down two overseas assignments for Colton.
This time, I didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll go.”
I booked a flight for nine o’clock the morning after next.
Forty-eight hours. Then I would leave Gray Harbor—and Colton—behind.
…
Early the next morning, I started packing.
Three years of my life with him, and it all fit into two suitcases.
I had just zipped them shut when the apartment door opened.
Colton walked in, with Bianca right behind him.
The same people who had mocked me last night were there too.
None of them looked the least bit embarrassed. They gathered around my suitcases and started commenting.
“So she really packed.”
“Gotta commit to the act. Even a fake escape requires two suitcases.”
“I bet she’ll be unpacking by tonight.”
“Tonight? That’s too long. I give her three hours.”
Bianca held up one finger.
“One hour.”
“If Colt offers her this apartment and pack residency, she’ll drop the act.”
Someone grinned at her.
“You always call it.”
“You know her type best.”
They all burst out laughing.
I crouched down and slid my passport and territory travel permit into an inner pocket of my suitcase.
Colton stood in the doorway, his expression grim.
“Where are you going?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Bianca answered for him before I could.
“You hear that? She’s being deliberately vague. She wants you to panic.”
“The more you ask, the more she wins.”
Colton had already taken a step forward.
At Bianca’s words, he stopped.
I took a box out of the drawer.
Inside were the apartment key card, the spare keys, and the few things Colton had given me.
The most expensive was a moonstone necklace worth a little over a thousand dollars.
It had been a leftover prize from some pack banquet, and he’d handed it to me without a second thought.
I pushed the box toward him.
“Take them back.”
The moment Colton saw the keys, his face darkened.
But Bianca got to them first, snatching them up and dangling them from her finger.
“Colt, do you still not get it?”
“She’s lived here for three years, and this apartment and her long-term Nightfall residency were never put in her name.”
“She thinks you still haven’t made things clear enough.”
The friends around us all wore the same look of dawning comprehension.
“Three years and she still didn’t get an apartment. No wonder she’s finally losing her patience.”
“Looks like you haven’t satisfied her after all this time, Colt.”
“She’s from Cedar Pass. Her family’s whole house is probably worth less than one bathroom here. Of course she’s in a hurry.”
My nails dug into my palms.
Colton knew better than anyone how much I hated it when people used my background against me.
But he just stood there and said nothing.
His Alpha pressure could have shut them all up, but he never once used it for me.
He only looked at me.
“I’ll have my lawyer draw up the transfer papers this afternoon, and I’ll have the pack registry put the residency rights in your name.”
“The apartment is yours. Happy now? You can drop the act. If you wanted these things, you just had to ask. What I can’t stand is the hypocrisy.”
The words were like a punch to the gut.
“I don’t want it.”
His friends exchanged glances, then laughed again.
“She’s got a big appetite.”
“She won’t even take an apartment. Guess she’s aiming for a piece of the Moretti family fortune.”
Bianca folded her arms, her voice dripping with mockery.
“It’s not that she doesn’t want it.”
“It’s that she thinks it’s not enough.”
“Colt, if you give her the apartment today, tomorrow she’ll be demanding control of the pack treasury.”
I looked up at Colton.
“You think so too? That I’m saying no because it’s not enough?”
He said nothing.
In that moment, I didn’t have the strength to explain myself anymore.
I took out my phone and called the event planning company right in front of them.
“The public claim ceremony is canceled.”
Colton’s head snapped up.
“What did you say?”
“We’re not doing it. Charge the deposit to my account. Do not contact Colton Moretti.”
After I hung up, I logged into the Nightfall pack registration system, withdrew my Luna candidate application, and canceled the custom dress and stylist.
Colton snatched the box of my things from the table.
“If you cancel now, it won’t be easy to reschedule. The elders’ seats have been confirmed. We can’t just rearrange something like this.”
I nodded.
“Then don’t.”
He stared at me.
Bianca tugged on his arm.
“Don’t bother with her.”
“The bigger the scene, the more obvious it is she’s terrified you’ll actually let her walk.”
At last, Colton turned and left.
At the door, he threw one last cold sentence over his shoulder.
“I’ll wait for you to come crawling back. But don’t take too long. Think about what you’re throwing away.”
After the door closed, I unlocked my phone.
The company had already sent my overseas contract to my inbox.
The Crimson Sand pack had also issued my three-year guest residency permit. My residency status was tied to my job now, not to Colton.
I signed my name and hit send.
From that moment on, it was over between me and Colton.
And he could wait forever. I wasn’t changing my mind.