My Husband Used the Wishing Willow To Make Me Stop Loving Him

In the fifth year since Ethan used the Wishing Willow to make me obsessively, madly in love with him, he finally got sick of it. He was sick of my nonstop check-in texts, of me hiring investigators to track his location over and over. Most of all, he couldn't stand the fact that every time I found out he was somewhere other than his office or our home, I'd show up and put a silver blade through every woman who got too close to him. After I nearly stabbed Barbara again, he didn't care that I was falling apart. He went straight to Barbara's apartment without looking back. I stood outside the door and watched him gently touch the cut I'd left on Barbara's arm, guilt all over his face. "I can't take Lydia's nonstop surveillance anymore. I really can't, Barbara." On the sofa, Barbara held up the Wishing Willow that had been tossed into a corner. "Remember the Wishing Willow? Why not try breaking it?" "I just want you to be happy." Ethan gave a tired, helpless smile, but he went along with her and picked up the Wishing Willow. He snapped it in half. "If it's possible, let Lydia leave my life for good." What Ethan didn't know was that the moment the new Wishing Willow broke, the demon's hold on my body was released. Just as he wished, that same night I drank the bond-breaking potion on my own and lost every memory of ever loving him. From that moment on, we had nothing to do with each other. Chapter 1 The nurse showed me a photo of me and Ethan and explained that he was my husband. She also told me I'd collapsed at the scene where he and his mistress were together. I took the photo and slid it under my pillow. The memory loss made the man in the picture a complete stranger. I didn't want to see him. I even turned down the nurse's offer to contact Ethan. "I'd like to check myself out. Can I do that now?" "Ma'am, you just took a bond-breaking potion. Parts of your memory are missing right now. I really think you should stay." "Your husband is upstairs. Are you sure you don't want to talk to him?" The potion has to be taken twice. The nurse had probably never seen a Luna try to walk away from her Alpha before. She instinctively wanted me to reconsider. I shook my head and started packing my clothes. The man I love is Samuel. I need to see him right now. After we received the Moon Goddess's blessing, we were supposed to get married. When she saw I wasn't changing my mind, the nurse started venting about the husband in the photo. "Word is your husband waited until you were asleep, then snuck out to go see his mistress." "Good thing you woke up in time. Otherwise, sweetheart, you'd still have no clue." "I just can't figure out what happened before you passed out. It must've been bad enough to make you drink the potion." I didn't say anything. I opened the mind-link. Nothing on the other end. Not a single reply. How could a man like this be my fated mate? My Samuel never needed me to call for him. He'd be at my side before I even had to ask. A man who ignores how I feel like this. How could I have ever agreed to marry him? Had I woken up inside some twisted fairy tale? When she saw I still didn't believe any of it, the nurse quietly wheeled me to the door of Barbara's room. Through the crack, I saw the same tall, broad figure from the photo. Except there was a woman leaning into his arms. "Lydia ran out and pulled that whole playing-dead act, and now that she got caught, she suddenly decides to faint. She's out of control." Every word out of his mouth was a blade. Nothing but disgust for me. Barbara, on the other hand, pressed her hand over his mouth. So natural. So familiar. "Ethan, it's me being here that's upsetting Lydia. It's my fault. You can't take it out on her." Her long pink nails tapped against Ethan's chest one by one. Gentle, but also something else entirely. "Lydia, is she still..." She suddenly held it in, swallowing the rest. Ethan gave her a helpless smile, his eyes full of exhaustion and impatience. "She's fine. The doctor said her vitals are normal." "I promised you a happy birthday, and she wrecked it again." "I'm sorry, Barbara. I'll make it up to you." The nurse said this man really was my husband. He cheated. He spent the first half of the night in my bed and the second half at another woman's apartment for her birthday. He couldn't stand seeing the other woman unhappy. Didn't even check on his wife before running off to take care of someone else. How could I have ever loved a man like this? It was all because of that Wishing Willow. I wasn't in the mood to watch these two put on their show. I needed to find Samuel immediately. I couldn't wait another second. The Wishing Willow's power was finally gone. This body, finally free, was going back to where it belonged. Before I could grab my suitcase and make it to the elevator, a pair of large hands pinned me in place. Ethan walked in and kicked the suitcase over first. "Barbara's waiting for your apology. You playing dumb?" "Or did your manners disappear along with all the jealous psycho episodes, Lydia?" Ethan's eyes were full of anger and disappointment. He still thought I was the same Lydia. The one the Wishing Willow controlled. The one who loved so hard she lost herself. The one whose possessiveness drove her mad. But even so, he'd walked into this room without asking a single question about my condition. Just as I thought. Once you've got someone, you stop caring, right? Or maybe he was just so sure I'd never leave him. That no matter how he treated me, he'd never have to feel bad about it. "Here, your favorite moonberries. Have some, then I'll take you to apologize to Barbara." The half-empty box of moonberries in his hand had clearly been picked through. The ones left were small and shriveled. Obviously Barbara's leftovers. I still didn't say a word. But I took the box from his hand and dropped it straight into the trash. From the moment the Wishing Willow's power took hold, I'd been trapped inside this body. Like another soul had taken over. Falling madly in love with Ethan. Skipping school for him. Getting into fights. Even rejecting my fated mate, Samuel. Everyone cursed me. Said I'd betrayed the Moon Goddess. Said I deserved to die. But I loved him anyway. Threw myself into it like fire. Until the fifth year. My possessiveness, my jealousy, my constant need for reassurance pushed Ethan away. He's the one who wished for blind, obsessive love. And he's the one who hated it once he got it. Maybe he was so used to my outbursts by now that throwing away the berries barely registered. He just opened the wolf spirit link again. "Go on. Feel it for yourself. See if I did anything with Barbara besides talk." "Or maybe you already know we're clean, and you just get off on tormenting her." I still didn't speak. The memories were gone. Whatever he was going on about, I didn't care. My indifference finally set him off. Ethan started tearing the room apart. Didn't even take ten minutes. The whole room was destroyed. Standing in the wreckage, Ethan looked up, face blank. "Happy now?" "Good. Then sit tight. I've got a pile of pack business to deal with. I don't have time for this." The door closed. I stopped the nurse before she could rush over and tell him the truth. I turned around, walked into the bathroom, and locked the door. Because I'd just gotten a text from Samuel. "Lydia, I'm giving this one last shot. Three o'clock, the usual spot." "I hope this is the last time you stand me up." I stared at the message. At this man I'd hurt so deeply, who still hadn't blocked me. I leaned against the bathroom wall, trying to figure out where I could clean up and get the sweat off my skin. I had to be clean before I went to see him. My love had already suffered enough. That's when the door handle started turning. Someone had a key. Chapter 2 Ethan was chatting with Barbara, her cashmere shawl draped over his left hand. "That fishtail gown looks amazing on you. Makes you look so tall and elegant." Barbara smiled and took the compliment. "But it's a little breezy. Definitely needs a shawl, right?" "And one more thing. A moonstone necklace. It's on Lydia's neck. Hang on." He turned around and pulled the moonstone necklace, the one that belongs only to a Luna, right out of my cotton flannel shirt pocket. Didn't even try to hide his contempt. "Lydia, this is what you owe Barbara for ruining her birthday." "Pull something like this again, and I won't let it slide so easy." For years, this body had stopped wearing anything beautiful just to keep tabs on Ethan. The second he wasn't home on time, this body would jump out of bed and tear through every corner of the city looking for him. In the beginning, Ethan was touched by that kind of devotion. One year. Two years. Three. By the fifth, the pressure finally broke him. He let Barbara in. Disgusted by me? If he hadn't made that insane wish, would any of this have happened? "Where are you going with that suitcase?" I ignored him and kept walking toward the elevator. I had three hours until Samuel's time. I needed to get to the park. He was waiting for me. But Ethan suddenly grabbed my suitcase like something had snapped in him. He even brought up my medical chart. "You went after Barbara. That's the only reason I went to her place last night. Quit making a scene." "Get back in bed. And stop using your body as some kind of bargaining chip." I shook his hand off and kept walking. My phone buzzed. Samuel had sent a photo of himself standing in the park. Black suit. Tall and striking. Holding a bouquet of red roses. My favorite. Ethan saw the smile on my face. Something tightened in his chest. He reached for my phone. The next second, Barbara pointed at the empty cup in the bathroom and let out a sharp laugh. "Ethan, honey, this time Lydia didn't just hurt herself. She took a bond-breaking potion too." "We both know she's just using it to guilt-trip you into coming home." Ethan stared at the empty cup in disbelief. He even picked it up and smelled the traces of potion inside. "Lydia, I've told you a thousand times. Barbara and I are clean. Clean. Why do you keep doing this?" "Or do you just want to control me so bad that nothing's off limits, as long as you know I love you?" I glared at the two of them blocking my way, ready to let them have it. "You think you're worth it?" "I already drank the whole..." A crash and a scream came from where Barbara was standing. Ethan dropped everything and scooped her off the floor. The path was finally clear. I got in the elevator and left. Chapter 3 Halfway out, Ethan sent people to drag me back. "You put wolfsbane in her medication?" "I have never crossed the line with Barbara. Why do you keep going after her?" Ethan grabbed a fistful of my hair and dragged me to Barbara's bedside. Ever since he'd let Barbara into our lives, that woman had set me up over and over. And somehow, Ethan, who could normally see through a woman's games from a mile away, went completely blind. Once, over a bag of expired wolfsbane, Ethan locked me in solitary for three days. Back then, this body curled up in the corner, shaking with pain, my head playing Ethan and Barbara together on a loop. Fear had its hands around this body's heart for three straight days. I nearly went into shock in that room. None of this, the man standing in front of me had any idea about. Or maybe he saw it and just didn't want to deal with it anymore. After all, he was really starting to get annoyed. "This is a hospital. Who's gonna get past the nurses and the healer on rounds to poison her?" "Or are you just looking for an excuse to punish me because Barbara told you to?" I ripped my hair out of his grip, spun around, and slapped Barbara across the face while she pretended to sleep. Then I spun again and slapped Ethan, who was coming to stop me. "Ethan, I don't want any part of whatever this is between you two. Can't you tell?" "Don't lie to me, Lydia. If you don't want any part of it, why is Barbara poisoned?" "Why do you always say one thing and mean another? You're rotten to the core!" Ethan's eyes had that stubborn, obsessive look, like he was going to nail me to the cross no matter what. Even though I could see him wavering. Just a little. But maybe it was about making Barbara feel better. What was true didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that I got punished. "Just apologize to Barbara. Nice and simple. Then I'll take you back to your room." Before I could slap some sense into Ethan's head one more time, the side effects of the bond-breaking potion hit. My wolf spirit started howling inside my body like it was losing its mind. I collapsed to the floor and started convulsing. Ethan panicked. His first instinct was to scoop Barbara off the hospital bed and carry her out of the room. On my phone, Samuel's messages kept coming in. "Where are you? Why aren't you here yet?" Then the last one: "I'm coming to get you." I dug my nails into the flesh of my inner thighs, trying to stay conscious. But the side effects were eating me alive. Cold sweat wouldn't stop. My eyelids got heavier and heavier. Samuel... BANG. I blacked out. And Ethan, standing in an empty park, finally felt the mind-link that had been silent for so long come roaring back to life. Chapter 4 First came the panic. A relentless wave of unease pouring through the body where the wolf spirit wouldn't stop thrashing. "Go see her. Please. Go see her now!" "She's in pain. The wolf spirit is in pain!" The wolf spirit inside him was surging, pacing, crying without sound. The mind-link that used to be warm and fierce was now frozen solid, carrying the sharp edge of something shattered. This was a sign that something had gone wrong with the Luna. Ethan's heart hammered in his chest. Something felt very wrong. He pressed down on the restless wolf spirit and, for the first time, actively used the mind-link to sense Lydia's condition. "Ethan, is Lydia still upset about the birthday thing?" Barbara let a few tears fall, playing hurt. "Is she faking sick again? Don't fall for it." Ethan, driven by the wolf spirit's reaction, instinctively pushed Barbara away. "Something's really wrong with her. I need to get back. Now." Barbara eyed the silver glow flickering on his marking spot. Her expression darkened. "Ethan, she literally just drank a bond-breaking potion to scare you." "This is just a minor potion reaction. You know how she is. If you rush back now, she's going to use this move on you for the rest of your life." Ethan thought about all the stunts Lydia had pulled before. He actually hesitated. "Besides, you were finally ready to teach her a lesson this time. If she throws a fit and you cave, she wins." "She'll think it worked. And she'll only get worse. You can't keep giving in." The memory of countless past tantrums and failed attempts at reasoning flooded back. Ethan cooled down. Right. She already drank the potion. Messing with the wolf spirit wouldn't be beneath her either, would it? But something in his chest still wouldn't settle. "And I already texted the hospital. They said she's fine." Barbara held her phone up for Ethan to see. With the hospital's confirmation right in front of him, he sank back into the chair and wiped his forehead. A flash of disgust and irritation crossed his eyes. "After all this time, she still got me." He turned off his phone in frustration. When they arrived at the park, there were no messages waiting. No missed calls. Nothing. If it had been the old me, I would've been blowing up his phone nonstop. Ethan had barely started dialing my number. Barbara walked up with a jacket, her cheeks slightly flushed. "Ethan, it's really windy out here. Put this on. Don't make me worry." For the first time, Ethan turned Barbara down. "Leave me alone. I need to call Lydia." Barbara's face froze. She couldn't hold it in anymore. "Why? You promised to come on this trip with me. Why are you still thinking about her? You said you'd spend time with me." "You don't even love Lydia anymore. Why do you still care?" "I don't love her?" Ethan turned and looked at Barbara. "When did I ever say I don't love her? I'm just tired of her being paranoid all the time. If she goes back to the way she used to be, I'll love her just the same." "Then what about me?" Barbara tilted her body to show the scratch on her arm, tears falling on cue. "You don't have any feelings for me at all?" "If you don't love me, why did you keep leading me on? Why did you give me all those mixed signals?" Looking at her tears, Ethan realized he didn't feel the urge to wipe them away. All he felt was panic. Why were there no calls? No texts? "You said it yourself. Mixed signals." Ethan turned away and dialed my number. The phone was off. He tried the hospital. After an agonizingly long series of rings, someone finally picked up. "Why did it take you so long to answer? Where's Lydia? Is she okay?" Ethan desperately wanted to hear the same answer as every other time. That she was fine. That she was busy with the IV. That she was being petty and refusing to pick up. But the hospital only said one thing. "You'll have to ask her yourself. A man in a black suit came and took her." The last thread holding Ethan together snapped.