Chapter 147 Chapter 147
Amber
“That’s more like it, darling,” he purred. “We start tomorrow. I’m taking you out on a date but you’ll invite Rayne too. We’ll pretend it’s a coincidence. Fair warning, mon chérie. I’m very touchy. Or affectionate, as I like to call it.”
“Won’t Rayne just see through the whole thing?”
Erlan’s laugh was soft and cocky. “Have a little faith in me, darling. I can be very convincing. I’ll send you the venue.”
He paused. “I look forward to our first date, beautiful.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Um… Me too…”
“Have a good night,” he said in that warm, silken voice, “and do dream of me… just as I will of you.”
“Night.”
I ended the call and dropped the phone beside me.
Then I fell back against the pillows, the breath rushing from my lungs like I’d been holding it the entire time.
My heart was pounding wildly in my chest.
What the hell had I just gotten myself into?
I had just landed a date with Erlan Lark—someone my teenage self used to secretly fantasize about. It didn’t feel real. The room suddenly felt too warm, too still, like I was floating in a moment I couldn’t fully process.
I lay there for a while, staring at the ceiling like it might have answers. My fingers played absently with the edge of my blanket, but my mind was racing too fast to focus on anything.
What the hell was I thinking?
Erlan. Freaking Erlan Lark. The most dangerous and elusive flirt in Hunter Valley, and I’d just agreed to a fake relationship with him. A date. A trap, really—one I’d set, but couldn’t help wondering if I’d end up being the one caught in it.
And then, like clockwork, Irma surfaced.
Her presence rose inside me like a gust of wind slamming open a door. She was furious.
"You're doing it again," she snapped, her voice razor-sharp and cold in the back of my mind. "Starting stupid shit for no reason. Why can't you just stop all this drama and reconcile with our mate? It would certainly make Evalie happier."
I clenched my jaw.
"Because I deserve better, Irma. We're not having this conversation."
"You deserve to keep punishing yourself forever?" She hissed. "Evalie deserves peace and stability, Amber. She deserves a united family. But you—you keep throwing bombs into every bridge we’ve ever tried to build."
"Evalie has me," I shot back. "She doesn’t need someone as unreliable as Rayne pretending he gives a damn."
"Stop lying to yourself," Irma growled. “Ugh! I seriously hate you right now. You're gonna get yourself in some messed up situation, just you wait and see.”
I clenched my fists. My throat tightened. "You’ve sucked lately. You never support me, you keep wishing me ill. It’s like you can’t fathom me being happy if it’s not with Rayne. You’re a bad wolf."
The silence that followed that accusation was deafening.
And then the pain hit me.
It was like a wave of sorrow broke through our bond, crashing over me with raw, soul-deep hurt. I felt it through every nerve ending. A cold, aching grief that dug deep into my chest and held there like a bruise.
Irma didn’t yell back. She didn’t curse or argue.
Her voice, when it came again, was barely more than a whisper.
“I’m sorry for caring. For having my own desires. It’s your life and I’m just your soul, I have no right to try to control you. I won’t interfere anymore. I hope you find the happiness you're chasing so desperately.”
And then—she was gone.
Not gone-gone. But buried deep inside, like she’d folded herself up and locked herself in a back room, far away from me. I couldn’t feel her warmth anymore, couldn’t sense her breathing beside my thoughts like usual.
The silence she left behind wasn’t peaceful. It was sharp. Empty.
And just like that, I felt… guilty.
Not enough to say sorry.
Not enough to admit she might be right.
But enough for the guilt to creep in and spread like ice beneath my skin.
I rubbed my face with both hands and sat up slowly, dragging the covers with me.
“Whatever,” I muttered aloud. “It’s not like I asked for a wolf who falls head-over-heels for our damn mate anyway.”
Still, my chest ached.
I glanced at my phone again, Erlan’s number still visible in my recent calls list.
What the hell had I just signed up for?
Rayne wasn’t going to see this coming.
Hell, I barely saw it coming.
Erlan had said we’d start tomorrow. A date—with him. And Rayne invited, too. The plan was already forming in my head, shaky and impulsive and maybe a little self-destructive… but it was a plan.
Rayne would have to watch me smile at someone else. Laugh at someone else’s jokes. Be touched—casually, intimately—by someone that wasn’t him.
He needed to know how it felt.
To be the one standing on the outside.
To be left behind.
Was I doing this out of pain? Maybe.
Out of vengeance? Definitely.
But beneath all that, buried somewhere deep where I couldn’t reach it, a tiny ember glowed.
Curiosity.
About Erlan. About whether he could really make Rayne squirm. About whether I could truly move on.
The pieces were in motion now. The script had been written. I just had to play my part.
Still lying in bed, I closed my eyes, but sleep wouldn’t come. My thoughts buzzed like bees in a jar.
Tomorrow, I reminded myself. The real game begins tomorrow.
And Rayne wouldn’t know what hit him.