Chapter 1
“Lyra, I couldn’t feel your wolf at all. Why is that?”
Lucius leaned against the obsidian altar, carrying a scent of fir and rainstorm of an Alpha that used to make my head spin.
“She fell asleep,” I said flatly.
“Really?” He didn’t buy it, his pheromones probing the air around me.
With a “Wolf-Lock”, I had insulated my emotional core, which was why he couldn’t feel her.
Silence stretched between us.
After a long moment, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, his voice tinged with restless irritation. “I get the feeling that since the re-marking... Your attitude toward me has become incredibly cold.”
“You’re being sensitive, Lucius.”
Hearing the very words he used to say to me made his breath hitch. His chest rose and fell heavily.
“Before we renewed the bond, I swore to the Moon Goddess that I wouldn’t let Selene interfere with our life anymore. I promised you I’d keep my distance from her.”
“So, what more do you want from me?”
His patience had always been thin to me. As a genius Healer Alpha, he was accustomed to holding the power of life and death in his hands. He wasn’t used to being ignored.
“How many times do I have to say it? If Selene’s father didn’t save me when I was only a pup, I wouldn’t be standing here, let alone becoming an Alpha of the pack. I owe them that much. Don’t you get it?”
I looked into his eyes, flashing with an amber-gold light, a sign of his rising temper.
“I remember it. You’ve told me about it many times. I’ve already lost count.”
And because of that “debt,” I had to endure everything.
He used his supreme authority to keep Selene, a weak omega who couldn’t even fully shift on a full moon, at the Healing Tower as his assistant.
And she often showed up in our private den. Even on the night of our Moon Covenant anniversary, the dining table would be tainted by her provocative pheromones.
They shared every little detail of their lives via the mind link, while my own calls for help were mostly ignored.
Then one day, I came home early from gathering herbs. I ran into a shocking scene: their bare bodies tangled together on my white wolf-skin rug.
At that moment, Andrea’s scream of agony shattered my heart.
I demanded a Bond-Break.
I endured the searing pain of having his mark flayed from my skin and gave up being a Luna to become a rogue, just to sever the mate bond that sickened me.
But then, my mother’s Wolf Core suffered a catastrophic rupture. She was the pack’s only Guardian of Ancient Memory.
Ironically, as the gifted Healer Alpha, Lucius was the only one who could help her.
So, I went to him. I begged.
However, to my surprise, he took advantage of it and turned it into a deal.
“Lyra, you know how many wolf souls I have to mend every day,” he said, looking down at me.
“But, since she’s your mother, I’ll give her priority. I’ll exhaust my bloodline strength if that’s what it takes. On one condition... You’ll still be my mate, the Luna, with your prestigious bloodline.”
“So... Do you admit that what you did was wrong?” he gazed at me with his amber eyes.
I looked back into his eyes in total shock. Under that dominant gaze, I slowly sank to my knees. I bared my scarred neck and let him tear into me again.
Yes. I let him mark me again, despite what he had done with Selene.
But a shattered wolf spirit could never be stitched back together. Even sleeping on the same white fur, we were worlds apart.
Just like tonight.
“Lucius! You’re still here. I knew you wouldn’t leave Selene behind!”
Selene’s friends waved from a distance. They huddled around her. She was tipsy, and her head lolled back to expose her “vulnerable” throat as they walked toward us.
“Selene’s silver fur is so rare. What if rogues attack her on the way back? You used to escort her home all the time, right? With your intimidating Alpha aura, no one would dare to hurt her.”
They shot me sideways glances, their voices dripping with the kind of condescension that came from knowing what was on the Alpha’s mind. “Luna’s bloodline is so powerful, surely she can find her way back safely, right?”
Lucius looked at Selene, who was leaning into her friend’s arms and releasing a “damsel in distress” scent. Then he turned to look at me with a cold, indifferent expression.
I was familiar with that look, which he pretended to be caught in a dilemma.
It turned out that no matter how many times we went through this, his hesitation still cut like a silver hunting knife, hurting me deeply.
But this time, I didn’t snarl or shift. I only raised a hand in a dismissive wave. “Of course, I can manage. I’m heading home now.”
The pack patrol passed by. Lucius helped Selene into the transport headed for the Healing Tower. He rolled down the window, looking at me with a gaze that felt like pity.
“Go back to the den and wait for me. Tomorrow I’ll do the final bloodline infusion for your mother. We need to discuss the altar details tomorrow night.”
However, Lucius’s scent never drifted toward our home that night, and I wasn’t surprised at all.
He stayed at the tower.
Fortunately, I wasn’t like before. I didn’t sit by the window, staring at the moon through the night like a fool.
Andrea was asleep, but I was awake, waiting for the sunrise.
