Chapter 2

I was with pup and low on energy, so that letter sat buried under a pile of documents for five whole days. It wasn't until I heard of Selena's death that I opened it.

After Kyle found out, he was convinced I had deliberately withheld the letter. I tried to explain it to him, but he didn't believe me.

From then on, we lived under the same roof as if we were two strangers. He no longer spoke coldly to me or looked me in the eye.

This went on until the day he died. On his deathbed, he had his Beta deliver one sentence to me.

"Layla, if there is a next life, please let me and Selena be together."

He had always believed that my existence caused the mistaken marking, forcing Selena to move abroad and get married. If she had stayed in Novey and married him, she wouldn't have died.

Kyle placed the blame for Selena's death on me.

I clutched my sleeve tightly as tears fell onto the back of my hand.

Fine. In this lifetime, I would let them be together.

I swore on the Moon Goddess that, in this life, I wouldn't fight for him anymore.

"Layla, have you changed yet? Father said we're going out for dinner." Selena's voice rang out from outside the door, filled with excitement she couldn't contain.

I wiped my tears, changed into clean clothes, and pushed the door open.

Kyle stood beside Selena, leaning down to fasten the silver chain clasp at the back of her evening gown. His movements were so familiar that it was as if he had done it a thousand times before.

When he saw me come out, his gaze swept over me lightly before looking away.

Just then, Mother came out of the master bedroom. She walked straight past me and headed toward Selena.

…

The whole way there, Selena walked in front with her arm linked through Kyle's. Father and Mother followed behind, talking about the details of the bonding ceremony.

I walked at the very back, like an extra shadow.

The restaurant was a private kitchen that specialized in werewolf cuisine. They said the chef was a retired warrior from the Silvermoon pack.

We found a round table tucked in a corner and sat down. Father then took the menu and started ordering.

"Let's get the ribeye steak, and some foie gras…"

Mother added from the side, "Put in extra wolfsbane sauce. Selena loves it."

I hadn't even picked up my knife and fork yet, and my stomach was already churning.

Wolfsbane was deadly to werewolves. A single touch could kill us.

But in modern werewolf packs, after over a century of domestication and refinement, trace extracts of wolfsbane could now actually stabilize the feral tendencies in werewolf bloodlines. It was a precious herb and medicinal agent, used only in high-end restaurants and by pack nobility.

However, I was the exception.

When I was six years old, my arm accidentally brushed against unrefined wolfsbane juice, causing blisters to break out all over. I also ran a high fever for three days straight.

After the healer examined me, he said I carried a rare recessive defect in my werewolf genes that caused an extreme rejection reaction to wolfsbane. If I touched it, my whole body would break out in red rashes, fever, and convulsions. In severe cases, it could kill me.

Everyone in my family knew this.

Yet when Father ordered, he didn't remember it at all. Mother didn't think of it either. They only remembered that Selena loved wolfsbane sauce.

Even Selena hadn't remembered. She was busy chatting and laughing with Kyle.

When the dishes were served, the steak was drenched in wolfsbane sauce, and the foie gras was mixed with wolfsbane bits. Everything smelled delicious.

Selena cut a piece of steak and said to Kyle with a smile, "Try some. This place's wolfsbane sauce is amazing."

I moved my plate aside, wanting to drink some water to settle myself. But the smell of wolfsbane drifted over, and my stomach clenched hard.

"She can't eat wolfsbane," someone suddenly said.

Everyone paused for a moment.

It was Kyle. He frowned, looking at the plate of foie gras in front of me, then looked at Father.

"She hasn't been able to touch wolfsbane since she was little. If she touches it, she breaks out in red rashes. Didn't you know this?"

The air suddenly went still at those words.

Then, Kyle pulled his gaze back and went on cutting his own steak. His tone carried no warmth at all, as if he had only spoken in passing.

Father's face stiffened for an instant.

Mother's expression didn't look too good either. In the end, she just laughed dryly and said, "We know, we know. We just forgot for a second…

"Besides, it's not like we're making her eat it. Why is she being so dramatic?"

Kyle didn't say anything more. He just called the waiter over and ordered two more dishes without wolfsbane.

Selena smiled as she glanced at him. "You're so thoughtful. Even I forgot."

The corner of Kyle's lips quirked up slightly. "It's because she's your sister that I even remembered."

With that, he picked up his knife and began to cut Selena's steak for her, carefully slicing it piece by piece.

Father and Mother exchanged a glance with satisfied expressions on their faces.

Sitting across from them, I lowered my head and ate my food.

This wolfsbane incident reminded me of something from my previous life.

Once, when Kyle took me to dinner at the home of a pack Elder, I accidentally ate some wolfsbane bits mixed into the salad. Right there, red rashes broke out across my whole body, and I struggled to breathe.

Kyle scooped me up and rushed out of the house, speeding all the way to the clinic. The healer said if we had been even ten minutes later, I couldn't have been saved.

Kyle was terrified. That was the first time I ever saw him so panicked.

He held my hand, saying he would remember this and not forget it for the rest of his life.

He did remember it, but so what?

As I sliced a piece of steak and chewed slowly, another memory suddenly surfaced in my mind.

When we were kids, the three of us took part in a training camp. One winter, Kyle was fooling around and fell into a hole in the ice.

I had been the first one to run over. I dragged him out of the freezing water and took off my own coat to wrap around him.

He was practically frozen numb himself, yet he still mumbled, "When I grow up, I'll marry you… I'll protect you for life…"

At the time, he was trembling from the cold. I had no idea if he even remembered what he said.

After he woke up and his fever broke, he was back to his lively self. The way he looked at me was the same as before, but the way he looked at Selena was different—it was warmer, more intimate.

It seemed he had forgotten me completely.

He forgot what he had said, but I remembered.

It turned out that, from the beginning to the end, I was the only one who took it seriously.