I Am Just Alpha’s Shield to Protect Her Chapter 04

I Am Just Alpha’s Shield to Protect Her Chapter 04

The next morning I packed, booked a flight, and checked out.

There was one thing left before I was completely free.

My grandmother’s ring.

The hotel lobby was busy. Families at the front desk, luggage carts rolling past. I sat on a couch near the elevator and waited for Lucas to come down.

A group of girls nearby weren’t even trying to keep their voices down.

“Did you hear? The whole tutoring thing was never about feelings.”

“Seraphina said she was in it for the money. The Starfang Pack was paying her, so she let everyone think she and Lucas were a thing.”

“And now that Lucas picked his actual fated mate, she can’t handle it and she’s being all clingy.”

“God. Desperate and embarrassing.”

I stared at the paper cup in my hands.

So that was what I looked like to everyone.

The elevator chimed. Lucas stepped out with Seraphina.

I stood up and put myself in his path.

“Give me my grandmother’s ring.”

The easy look on his face dropped. He glanced at my bandaged hand.

“Does it still hurt? You can’t even say hi before you start in on me?”

“Did you let her spread those rumors? The ones saying I was only around for the money?”

“What rumors?”

Genuinely impatient.

“That I was paid to be your cover. Give me back my grandmother’s ring. I’m not your fated mate. That ring doesn’t belong on your hand anymore. Give it back and we’re done.”

Something shifted behind his eyes.

“You’re seriously this upset over some gossip? I thought you were smarter than that.”

Seraphina peeked out from behind him.

“Oh, Miss Taylor, please don’t be mad. I wasn’t trying to start anything, I promise…”

She stepped forward as she said it and, with perfectly manicured fingers, slid the platinum ring off his hand.

“Here, see? No need to stress—”

“Give it to me.” I stepped forward.

Seraphina made a startled sound, one foot sliding back dramatically, and the ring flew out of her fingers.

It bounced down the stone steps outside. The rain had it in seconds. We watched it disappear into the storm drain.

My whole body went cold.

I shoved her. Not hard. But I shoved her.

She pulled out ten one-hundred-dollar bills and held them out to me, then let them slip from her fingers into the mud.

“Oops, sorry, they fell. You can pick them up yourself.”

It was a blatant humiliation. I looked at her smug face, bent down, scooped up the muddy money, and slapped it right back into her face.

Seraphina shrieked and stumbled backward, falling onto the ground.

Lucas rushed to steady her, then turned and roared at me:

“Are you crazy?! If you’re angry at me, take it out on me! Why are you bullying her?”

“Bullying her? She threw my grandmother’s ring into the mud and nearly washed it down the drain — and you call that bullying?”

Lucas handed the umbrella to Seraphina and walked up to me.

His tone softened, carrying a hint of condescension.

“If the ring is lost, I’ll buy you a better one. But she meant no harm — she’s just attached to me.”

I looked at his face.

This face I’d loved for three years.

It looked like a stranger’s.

“Lucas.” My voice was quiet. “You know what that ring meant to me. You know. And this is what you’re saying to me.”

I turned around.

“I loved the wrong person for three years.”

I walked into the rain without looking back.

He didn’t come after me.

Behind me, I heard him sigh. The patient, tired sound of someone waiting out a tantrum.

Let her cool down.

Cool down?

I wasn’t going to feel anything about him ever again. Not grief. Not anger. Not a single thing.

From now on, we’re done.