03/02/2026
Stellan's income was so tight.
I'd walk for an hour rather than waste money on a cab.
I'd slipped. Went down hard.
Lost our baby—three months along—right there in the snow-melt and blood.
Stellan had dropped everything. Stayed with me for seventy-two hours straight.
But when I finally came to, my ring was gone. Vanished along with our child.
He'd held me so tight I could barely breathe.
"We'll have another baby. I promise. And I'll get you a new ring. A better one."
I'd sobbed and shaken my head.
"Didn't you say the pack might cut your position? We need to save. Get me a ring when you're actually making decent money."
His eyes had gone red. Tears pooling at the edges.
"I'm sorry. I'm useless. I can't even give you a decent life."
I'd just shaken my head again.
Now, sitting beside me, Camille kept rotating that stolen ring on her finger.
"So you forced him to take his mate's ring?" I asked carefully. "And give it to you?"
"At first he refused," she said with a shrug. "Wanted to buy me something flashier."
She tilted her hand, examining it from another angle.
"But that woman thinks she's untouchable just because she's his fated mate."
"Someone needed to remind her she's nothing special."
Rage coiled in my heart. I dug my nails into my palms.
"Still, this ring is cheap compared to the other stuff he buys me."
"But yeah. It's her mating band."
Camille flashed me a satisfied grin. "A woman like that? Past her prime? She should just accept reality."
