---- The baby clothes I'd hidden in the closet. The names I'd written in a journal he'd glimpsed once. Garrett wanted to prove he was right. He drove home like a madman. His car swerved dangerously through the streets. Other drivers honked and cursed. He parked crookedly in the driveway and stumbled to the front door. Looking at the empty house, he suddenly remembered. The day they fought, when I came back, I had been. packing my things. A single suitcase. That's all I'd taken. Seven years of marriage, and all I'd wanted was one suitcase. ---- I really was determined to leave. "Arial" He ran through the house, throwing open doors. "Aria!" His repeated calls went unanswered. The silence was deafening. The house felt like a tomb. Garrett suddenly lost his footing and fell to the ground. His knees hit the hardwood floor with a painful crack. That's when he saw it-the Luna ring that had rolled under the table. His breath caught in his throat. This Luna ring had been custom-made by Garrett himself shortly after their mating ceremony. ---- He'd spent weeks designing it. Chosen every stone personally. In the werewolf world, rings represented loyalty and love. Thad treasured it. For ten years, despite our constant arguments, I had never taken off this ring. Not when he brought other women home. Not when he humiliated me in front of the pack. Not when he ignored me for weeks at a time. For both of us, this ring was more than jewelry. It was a witness to our beautiful past. Those early days when he'd actually tried to make me happy. It was our last remaining hope and memory. ---- But now, the ring lay discarded in a forgotten corner. Abandoned like everything else he'd thrown away. And I was nowhere to be found.