Chapter Two

It's been 2 years. 

Two long, agonizing years since I'd left the Crescent Moon pack.

Two long years since Dimitri sent me away to the human world to be safe while he fights for our pack's survival.

I can still remember the way he looked at me that night, his eyes full of pain as he held me in his arms.

“Aurelia, you need to go. It's for your own safety.” He said, his voice shaking so emotionally I could hear the cracks in them. I could see the way his eyes filled as he cupped my face. “I can't protect you here, Reila.”

“I don't want to leave you.” Tears brimmed in my own eyes and I was crying now. “If you want to stay and fight then I'll stay by your side. I'll die with you if you die. Please, don't send me away.”

But Dimitri looked at me like I was breaking his heart over again. 

“You don't understand, Aurelia.” He whispered. “I'm asking you to survive. I need you to be safe, to be strong. I cannot lose you. Okay?” 

“Okay.” I finally agreed, still sobbing.

“Come here.” He drew me close and kissed me gently one last time before he sent me away. 

And I left.

But as I traveled with my mother to the human world, a part of me regretted ever leaving our world.

There was no way I'd go back but I did the only thing I could —

I waited.

I waited for Dimitri.

Waited for the moment he would come for me, to come here and take me home but 2 years passed and I was still in the human world, in New York with no sign of Dimitri or a single word from the pack.

I wonder every day why he didn't come for me. Wasn't the war over yet? 

Or maybe, he's too busy rebuilding everything he lost and keeping the pack together after what the witches did. 

Or maybe, he's waiting for the right time. Maybe, for now, it was better for me to stay away because he was protecting me.

But no. 

Aurelia Brentwood was not the kind of woman who waited around. Not without knowing why.

“Mom, do you think things have settled down in the pack?” I asked, breaking the silence that'd hung between us for far too long.

Mom, the ever calm.presence in my life, looked up from her book and her brow furrowed. One look at me told her how much I'd being struggling being away from Dimitri.

She exhaled softly and set down the book. “Honey, I don't know. But I think we've waited long enough.”

My hand nuzzled the coffee mug, wrapped around it tighter as a rush of emotions flooded through me, hope frustration and fear.

“We should go back.” I say, my voice firm.  “It's been 2 years, mom. We have to see if the pack is okay. I have to see if Dimitri is okay.” 

Mom sighs. “I understand, love but Aurelia, we don't know what happened there. We don't know if the pack is safe, or if Dimitri is even still alive.” 

“— But we can't keep hiding forever.” I argued, rising from my chair. “I need to know if he's still out there, mom. I need to know why it happened to him, to everyone.” 

“Fine,” Mom admitted defeat, her gaze softened but there was no hesitation in her voice as she added.  “I'll go with you.” 

The human world had been out of hiding for 2 years but there was no safety in it. 

The day we left the Crescent Moon pack, a piece of me had stayed behind in the pack. And 2 years later, that piece still ached like a wound that hasn't healed.

We packed our things and prepared to return to the world we've both avoided for far too long. 

The weight of it all, of what we left behind, pressed down on me with every mile we drove.

When we reached the border of the pack's land, a strange feeling of relief and dread rushed through me.

The trees were the same.

The earth was beneath me was the same 

Yet everything felt so different.

But one thing was clear.

The pack…

My pack… is still standing and it's quiet. Peaceful even. But too peaceful.

For the first time in what feels like forever, I let out a shaky breath.

Tears filled my eyes as we drove past the familiar streets. The homes that had once burnt down had been erected again. Crescent Moon was Crescent Moon again.

My eyes catch a glimpse of a familiar silhouette and my heart skips a beat because I see it.

I see him.

Dimitri. 

My heart skips a beat, my breath nearly stopping as I spot him standing in the clearing ahead with a woman. 

A woman.

My chest tightened and my pulse hammered too loudly. 

The woman was standing too close to him.

I pinched my eyelids to realize they were kissing.

What?

Sharing the same feeling of  I felt, mom pulled the car to a stop and we both watched. 

Dimitri and the woman pulled away and she smiled.

And Dimitri?

He looked different. 

He was more composed. It wasn't terrible but he was wearing a suit, something I'd never seen him wear before. 

He was standing tall, like the leader I remember he used to be. The leader he was. But also, not the same.

He hadn't seen me yet.

And I can't stop the bitterness and the jealousy flooding through me. 

Two years.

I waited two years for this?

I waited two years aching and wondered if he's okay only to realise the reason he hadn't come for me was because he was occupied with someone else?

It felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest.

I approached them slowly, my steps heavy as I tried to swallow the heavy lump in my throat.

Don't cry, Reila.

Don't you dare cry.

I muttered to myself as wars brimmed in my eyes. 

Before I could reach them, Dimitri finally saw me.

His face went pale and his eyes widened in disbelief. 

“Aurelia…” he said in a soft voice. “I… I didn't think you'd come back.” 

“Is this why you haven't come for me all these while?” My voice trembled as I whispered. “Was this why you left me in the human world?”

“Aurelia…”

“For two years, I've waited. I thought we were mates. I thought we were everything to each other. And now, I find you with —”

I didn't finish the sentence. 

I couldn't.

He exchanged looks between me and the woman standing beside him and his face tightened.

“This is… This is Scarlet. She's my —” he said, his voice unapologetic.

His words hang in the air, and for a moment, nothing made sense but then he continued, his voice full of regret and duty.

“I had to accept her as my mate, Aurelia. For the pack. For everyone. I had no choice.”

I felt like I'd been slapped across the face.

The pain is unbearable, a deep, hollow ache that consumes me. 

“You… you chose her?” I whisper.

Dimitri's face crumbled. “No, Aurelia. I didn't choose her. But I had to.”

I couldn't look at him anymore.

I turned away and ran from the clearing.