A Fleeting Dream, a Lifelong Regret

Kaia's POV

I remained by Alpha King Raul Wolfgrim's side for five whole years. He was ruthless on the battlefield, but everyone in the pack knew just how much he doted on me.

He was the kind of werewolf who would pull me into his lap and just hold me while the pack elders were arguing during pack meetings.

He would also bury his face in my neck, whispering words that only I could hear, making me blush and my heart race.

"Your scent drives me absolutely crazy…

"You belong to me…

"You're all mine."

Five years of extreme pampering from him was more than enough to make me a fool in love. And I was foolish enough to believe that this would continue forever.

However, yesterday, Raul returned from the borderlands with another she-wolf by his side, Eva Grayback.

Less than 24 hours later, she was wearing the Moonstone necklace that Raul's grandmother had left to him. And just 48 hours later, the pack began betting how long it would be before Raul forced me to hand over the Luna Queen's Crown.

Apparently, Raul and Eva had grown up together, but they lost contact during the war. Years later, Raul found me, barely hanging on to a thread in the snow in the woods. The moment he caught my scent, he firmly believed that the Moon Goddess had finally brought back his long-lost fated mate to him.

The only problem was that I couldn't remember a thing about my past.

I couldn't recall my family or my pack. I had lost all my memories from before I joined the Bloodmoon pack.

So I stayed by Raul's side, letting him love and pamper me however he wanted, as if I were his oxygen.

Now, his real fated mate was back. And I had already planned to leave before Raul told me to.

However, I didn't think that Eva would approach me first.

With no one else watching her, she dropped her shivering, pitiful act and gave me a blatant once-over, sizing me up.

"So, you're Kaia Raedwulf," she said. "I heard that you've been lying in my fated mate's arms for five years because of how similar your scent was to mine. Don't you think that you're a little too shameless for doing that?"

Her words hurt me more than I thought they would. The reason was that I'd actually asked myself the very same question before, but I never knew the answer.

She stepped closer, a wide smile on her face, then tore open my collar. The marks marks Raul had left on my neck and chest were still there, not yet faded, now fully exposed.

A horrible look of jealousy immediately appeared in her eyes.

"Stop thinking of yourself as the Luna Queen," she warned me dangerously in a loud growl. "You were nothing but a temporary stand-in. You're just an impostor who got lucky because Raul made a mistake."

I suppressed the pain surging in my chest. I didn't know whether what she said was true, but I had never once intended to steal the title from anyone.

I straightened my back and turned to the door.

"I get it," I replied quietly. "I've been meaning to talk to Raul—"

However, I was suddenly yanked back forcefully by my hair, and my head was then slammed hard against the back of the door. I immediately began to see stars.

Eva's face then appeared right before my eyes, her once pitiful eyes now glowing darkly and dangerously as she glowered at me.

"What? Going to tell tales to Raul now? Did you really think that he'd still take your side just because you'd been whoring yourself to him for the last five years?"

She dug her claws into my chin. It hurt so bad that I frowned.

"I want him to hurt you. I want him to resent you. I want him to humiliate you in front of the entire pack. I want you to watch him choose me while you can only fall to your knees and beg…"

The next second, she grabbed my hand and slapped herself in the face with it. The entire room reverberated with the sound of the slap.

My irises narrowed in shock as I stumbled back. "You're crazy."

She hissed in pain. However, the look in her eyes just glowed even more menacingly.

"I've been rehearsing this countless times ever since I was on my way here. I've also contacted Raul via mind-link. Wanna guess if he's going to take your side or mine?"

Before I could react, the door was harshly thrown open, throwing me off balance and crashing into the wall.

I hissed and grabbed my aching shoulder as Raul sauntered into the room. He walked right past me and went straight to Eva, helping her up from the ground.

"Alpha King… I just wanted to befriend Kaia… I don't know what I said to make her attack me all of a sudden…"

Her eyes filled with tears as they began streaming down her cheeks. The very hand she'd used to dig her claws into me earlier was now trembling against Raul's chest.

"She yelled at me for ruining her life… She said she was going to make me disappear from the pack…"

I froze to the floor, feeling a cold, icy gaze on me.

"Kaia Raedwulf."

This was the first time Raul had ever called me by my full name instead of "dear", "darling", "honey", or "my mate".

Instead, he said it coldly and without emotion.

"Apologize," he ordered.

I opened my mouth, about to tell him that she was lying.

I wanted to tell him that I'd planned on leaving anyway.

I wanted to ask him how he could still look at me as though I was just a mere stranger after everything we'd been through together for the past five years.

However, all the words died in my throat, and it eventually, dissolved into a barely audible sob.

"I won't."