A Regret in Red

"One more time."

I tried to steady myself from shaking, reaching out to touch Damian's sweat-soaked chest.

His Alpha scent still hung in the air, a blend of cedarwood that captivated me and something untamed that I couldn't quite name.

"Aurora." His voice was low and rough as he pulled me into his arms. "You're different today..."

"Different how?" I pressed even closer, letting my lips brush along his jawline.

"Passionate," he said.

I didn't answer. I simply let him draw me back into that intoxicating darkness.

When everything was over, I slipped from his embrace, about to walk barefoot into the bathroom.

Just then, my phone rang. My father's voice came through.

"Aurora, have you thought about the engagement?"

I glanced at Damian, who was still asleep—the Alpha of the Blackmoon Pack, CEO of the most powerful pack group in Northland.

The moonlight carved out the sharp lines of his face. His breathing was still uneven from all the excitement. My fingers brushed over the fresh scratches on his chest.

Three years.

It had been three years since my father sent me to Damian "for discipline" when I turned twenty-one. We had been maintaining a hard-to-define relationship since then.

"I agree," I replied quietly.

"Good. About the Risingdawn Pack…" My father's voice barely hid his excitement.

"But I have one condition," I cut him off.

"Whatever it is, just say it. I'll make it happen," he said.

"I'll tell you when I get back."

After hanging up, I quietly got out of bed and slipped into a silk robe.

Damian turned over behind me, murmuring my name with the lazy contentment of someone who had just been satisfied.

I didn't turn around. As I reached the door, my gaze landed on a freshly opened envelope on the cabinet.

It was titled Clara's Health Assessment Report.

My fingers trembled as I opened the envelope. It was a detailed medical record with notes on old injuries dating back five years. Everything was laid out, even her preferred painkillers.

'Why did Damian have Clara's health report? Who's Clara?' I thought to myself.

The questions gnawed at me.

The next evening, Damian left work early for a business meeting. I followed the trace of his Alpha scent to a nearby cafe.

From a distance, I saw something that made my heart stop. Damian was pulling a girl in a white dress into his arms, gentler than I had ever seen him.

"Does it still hurt? Why don't you wear something warmer when it's cold at night?" he asked.

The girl rested her head on his chest. He stroked her hair, like she was made of something fragile.

I clenched my fists so tightly, my knuckles turned white.

Three years of memories flooded back.

I was a young, up-and-coming designer in the world of Werewolves, bold and outspoken.

Damian was the most powerful Alpha in the Blackmoon Pack, taking the group to third place among all the packs in just two years.

Three years ago, my father forced me to work at Damian's company, threatening not to let my mother be buried in the Pack's ancestral grounds unless I agreed.

Officially, I was there so Damian could "discipline" me.

Back then, I already had a reputation in the design world and hated being controlled. But for my mother's last wish, I had no choice.

I was a rebellious young wolf back in those days, always challenging his authority—spilling his coffee, questioning his decisions in meetings, and shredding his confidential files. I remembered how fiercely I resisted at first, and how he used his overwhelming Alpha presence to make me surrender, leaving me utterly lost in him.

No one else knew about our relationship. Nobody would've guessed two people with such different personalities would end up together like this.

On stormy nights, when thunder woke me, he would hold me close and soothe me quietly. After my mother died, nobody had ever been this gentle with me.

I started to believe in him. I thought maybe this was fate. After all, I had talent as a designer, and he was the strongest Alpha.

I thought he cared about me.

So, I started to change.

I tucked away my thorns, tried to be gentler. I thought that was love.

I even secretly prepared for a bonding ceremony.

A white dress, a delicate floral crown, and a silver ring studded with a gemstone I had designed myself to symbolize eternity.

On his birthday, I waited to tell him the news excitedly.

But he never showed up. Not even by midnight.

Then, I saw the news.

The Pack's Alpha personally welcomed his old flame home. In the photos, he was gently carrying the luggage of a girl in a white dress and guiding her into his car.

The comments all said how perfect they looked together, that they should have been mates from the start.

My phone slipped from my hand and fell on the floor.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

If Damian already had a destined mate, what was I? Just a secret lover he could call whenever he pleased?

My hands were shaking as I tried to call Damian for an explanation, but he never picked up.

After the last call failed, I put down my phone. Then I stormed into his study, a room he had never let me enter.

The walls were covered in Clara's photos.

From childhood to adulthood, Damian had preserved every stage of her life.

A waltz under the moonlight, a graduation photo from the Pack Academy...

All it took for one's heart to wither was an instant.

Tears poured down my face as I smashed all the birthday decorations I had prepared. I tore the white dress meant for the bonding ceremony to shreds.

The next day, when Damian returned, he simply told the staff to clean up—as if all I had done was nothing out of the ordinary for me.

I watched as the white dress I had poured my heart into was thrown out like trash.

Maybe Damian would never know what it was. He would never know I had once wanted to spend my life with him as bonded mates.

Suddenly, the driver's voice brought me back to reality. "Miss Aurora, where would you like to go?"

"Home." My voice was icy as I opened my eyes, a new resolve forming in my heart. "Take me back to my father's place."

Two hours later, I arrived at my family's estate.

Mr. Thorne, my father, sat in his leather chair while my stepmother, Elena, stood gracefully by his side.

"Aurora? Why are you back?" Elena frowned. "It's late. Is something wrong?"

I looked straight into my father's eyes. "I'll marry the Alpha of the Risingdawn Pack, but I have one condition."

My father's eyes sparkled with joy. "So you're finally willing to become the Alpha's mate? What's your condition?"

"From this day forward, I sever all ties with the Snowfang Pack." My voice was cold. "Including our blood ties."

My father sucked in a deep breath. "Aurora! Do you know what you're saying?"

My stepmother put on her sweetest voice. "Aurora, you're your father's daughter. How can you say something like that?"

I turned to her, my lips curling into a cold smile. "Elena, you know exactly what you did to marry my father. No point pretending to be a loving stepmother now, right?"

"You…" Elena's face went pale.

"And you, Father." I looked sharply at him. "You drove my mother to her death for the sake of the company. Now, you're selling your daughter for profit. You know the Alpha of Risingdawn Pack is gravely ill because of a deadly poison, but you're still sending me to him. What a great show of familial love!"

Mr. Thorne shot up from his seat. "Aurora, you…"

"What? Did I say something wrong?" I smiled even brighter. "It doesn't matter. I won't be your daughter much longer. There's nothing left to hide."

Before I finished, the door quietly swung open.

A familiar figure appeared at the doorway.

Clara, standing there in a white dress, so fragile she looked like she might collapse at the slightest breeze.