Although I couldn't say no to Cathy's request to sleep with her tonight, the tiredness on my face was noticed by Abbey. She refused Cathy's request for me and took me to the room on the far right of the corridor on the third floor.
This was the room I lived in before I got married. It was a 10-meter square room with a bed placed against one wall, and the opposite was a floor-to-ceiling bay window. I liked to sit there when I'm bored, as I could pick up a book to read or study. Sometimes, I would love to enjoy the warmth of the sun showering my body, looking out the window and saying hello to the passersby.
Next to the bay window was a desk, which was full of gadgets I put on before I left. There was a lamp in the shape of a cherry tree, a pen holder in the shape of a villa, and a group photo of the family. The books on the table were still neatly arranged according to my needs. There were even a few more crystal balls with their perspective holder.
"These crystal balls were bought by your father at the market that day." Abbey stroked my long hair as before and said in a loving voice, "He said you always like to collect some cute accessories. When you come back, you can take it with you if you like it."
I used to hope to had a home that was entirely my own, and I was looking forward to it after I got married.
But it was only now that I realized that I had a home. I didn't realize it before as it had been blinded by my inner prejudice.
Aaron, Abbey, Moore and Cathy, they were my family! We were a family!
I was moved to tears.
"Thank you, Abbey, I thought when I got married..." I wouldn't be part of the family anymore.
But obviously, there was always room for me in this home.
Abbey gently wiped my tears, "We'll always be there with you."
For a split second, I wanted to tell her the grievances I had suffered on Hale's side. I couldn't control my sadness and wanted to fall into her arms and cry.
At this moment, Cathy's loud voice came from the stairwell, "Irene!! Come down and eat! It's dinner time!"
"Cathy!" Moore's annoying voice sounded after, "The whole pack can hear your voice even if you didn't transform to your werewolf form!"
"Boohoo! By the way, I'm going to sit next to Irene later!"
"Sorry but no sorry as Irene is going to sit with me! She was close to me!"
"Not you, me!"
The bickering downstairs kept going along with Aaron's shushing sound mixed in between, but it was useless. The sound had moved from downstairs to the courtyard. Through the bay window, Cathy could be seen chading Moore all over the courtyard, just like before.
"Your soon to be Alpha brother was still childish." Abbey was ill-at-ease by her children's playfulness, but her eyes were full of love.
I suddenly realized that this was a warm and happy reunion and that I shouldn't bring up unhappy things to make them sad.
"Irene?" Abbey called my name, "Did you just want to say something?"
"No." I shook my head quickly, trying to forget those things and convince myself to just enjoy the moment.
In any case, I had now left that place and come to my family.
"Then let's go down to eat."
Abbey was so understanding, which was why I loved her so much. She was the mood reader of the family who always stopped the conversation at the right time, which made us feel at ease. This lets the others feel comfortable too.
I was most grateful to her.
The table at the kitchen was already full of various delicacies, such as ceviche, charcoal-grilled pork trotters, smoked steak, Italian pasta and more, all of which I love to eat.
Even though I was the one who cooked at Hale's side, the smell of the kitchen fumes made me lose my appetite every time.
It had been a long time since I sat quietly at the table and waited for someone to cook for me.
What's more, Aaron cooks by himself. The pack was busy enough for him to run, which meant he managed to find time to cook for me.
My eyes started to get wet again.
But I didn't want to be too provocative to ruin the mood. I quietly wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and raised the biggest smile. When I saw Aaron holding a bowl of mushroom soup, I wanted to take over when Aaron stopped me.
"No!" When Aaron raised his face, he was dignified, "This soup is too hot, it is dangerous for you to hold."
"That's right!" Moore ran up beside me and took over the hot mushroom soup and placed it on the table in one rush. His fingers were burnt to red, but Moore showed no sign of painfulness. Instead, he showed me his five fingers.
"Look! Isn't it hot!"
Like before, I took his hand and blew twice on the scalded area, "Is this not so hot?"
Moore let out a cute laugh.
Cathy rolled her eyes from the side, "Hmph, hypocritical."
Seeing that they were about to quarrel again, I had to stop it, "Let's start eating."
Abbey followed my words too, "We should. Enough, both of you."
The atmosphere at the dinner table was the same as before. Cathy, who talked a lot, talked about the interesting things about the pack when I was away. For example, the boy next door wanted to show her his adult physique, but he tore his clothes when he turned into a werewolf. When he went back, he was beaten by his mother; Or, her good friend Amy who lived in the east seems to had a boyfriend, and she was ignored by her recently; Or recently, Cathy wanted to learn to draw and was pestering Abbey to sign her up for a drawing class.
Moore laughed at her as always when it came to this, but this time Cathy decided to ignore him because of my presence, and keep joking with me.
We all laughed when we saw Cathy's smug smile.
After dinner, Abbey insisted on letting me rest on the side, but I wanted to stay and clean up the dishes, so she gave up and went to the kitchen with the bowls.
Aaron walked up to me at this point he was eyeing me throughout dinner time.
Although I put up a good act, I was afraid I still couldn't hide my true self from him.
"Irene." Now he finally found the opportunity to ask me, "You seem to had lost a lot of weight."
"Is it?" I deliberately pretended to be natural, and nipped a little flesh on my arm, "I weighed it before I set off, turns out I gained two pounds!"
"How was your time at the Gemini pack? Are you used to it?"
Look how wise the Alpha of the Cancer pack was. He asked questions so well. I've been married for two years I should get used to it, but he was questioning me as if it was the first day of my marriage, and his tone was full of distress and reluctance.
I didn't dare to look at him, so I could only secretly wipe out my tears before they fell out by holding a plate to cover, "Of course, the environment over there is not much different from here."
"Then why didn't Hale come with you?" Aaron's tone dropped a few degrees when it came to the point, obviously dissatisfied with Hale.
But I didn't want him to find out about my stressful life, and I didn't want him to be unhappy with my mate.
"He wanted to come, but there's been an art exhibition going on recently, and he's too busy to deal with it. By the way, he did ask me to bring you some of the paintings he painted by himself, but... I'm sorry Aaron, I forgot. I went to bed late and forgot to bring it."
Honestly, I felt very nervous when I made up the lie, and I kept clutching the corner of my clothes, trying to calm my rapid heartbeat.
Aaron looked at me silently for a long time, his poker face made me confused whether he believed my poor acting skills, but finally, he stopped questioning me.
"If you're not happy there, remember to tell me as I won't let anyone bully you." He said.
With tears in my eyes, I nodded vigorously.
Moore suddenly came in and grabbed my hand and ran out, "Irene, come on, let's have a wolf race!"
"Hey, no intense exercise after dinner! Rest awhile first!"
Aaron shouted from the back, but the kids were excited and didn't care what the elders said. Moore dragged me to the forest, and Cathy was already waiting there.
It was night time when the sky was already dark, and the cold moonlight shone through the gaps in the leaves and showering the avenue which was covered with golden fallen leaves, like a layer of silver light, and the breeze passed through the forest, making people feel comfortable.
But Moore wasn't impressed by the scenery.
He drew a white line on the ground and said, "Let's start here and see who runs to the birch tree on the edge of the canyon five kilometres away first!"
"Sister, I beat him in the last wolf race!" Cathy raised her chin and said proudly.
"That doesn't count! I was sick that day though! I won't lose to you this time!"
This was a game we played when we were young. When the werewolf inside us was not awaHaleed, we ran in human form. After the werewolves awaHaleed in their respective bodies, we transformed into them and played with them as a sort of bonding activity.
So much so that when Moore mentions it, Editha throbbed inside of me.
"Wow! It's been a long time since I ran happily in the woods! I want to play too!"
As soon as she finished speaking, I saw my hands begin to grow slender claws, my bones started to displace, and my body began to lengthen.
Moore immediately called out from the side, "Sister fouled! She wanted to sneak away."
He immediately got down on the ground and arched his back. His eyes turned red in an instant, letting out a long howl under the night sky.
Cathy completed her transformation in the blink of an eye and was ready to go.
I did the countdown, "3, 2..."
At the moment when I shouted "1", three wolf shadows were like an arrow shot into the sky, so fast that even the shadow was like an afterimage, and the alarming leaves swirled in the air, accusing the rudeness of these werewolves.
The surrounding scenery seemed to had accelerated a thousand times and kept moving backwards. All I could hear was the whirring of the wind and the constant howling of Editha because she was too excited.
Five kilometres distance was as short as 500 meters distance for a werewolf to go, which made me couldn't fully enjoy the thrill of the gallop.
We all stopped by the canyon after the run. Moore and Cathy were arguing about who was the first. I looked at the endless canyon in front of me. The moonlight fell below. Knowing how deep the canyon is, I shouted down, listening to the echo swaying and reverberating.
This was the voice of freedom.
Werewolves should live in the vast land, running between the trees and basking in the comfort of the wind, where the moonlight brought by the Statue of Liberty, instead of being confined to the small grocery store, doing handicrafts and worrying about their livelihood.
Once again I would like to thank the Goddess of the Moon for her love and relief from my breathless life.
Even if it was only for a while, I was completely healed.
On the way back, Moore and Cathy were too tired to argue anymore. When we got home and Abbey saw the three of us were dirty, she felt distressed and helpless and quickly drove us to take a shower.
I took a long-lost flower bath, sat in front of my desk and wiped my hair, remembering the funny things from the past, and couldn't help but smile. When I inadvertently glanced at the phone screen, the smile stiffened.
It showed that Hale had called me over twenty calls.
Thanks to the Moon Goddess for not letting me bring my phone, so as not to spoil the good mood just now.
I really wanted to ignore Hale's calls, but if I didn't, he'd be furious at home, or maybe would call Aaron directly, and the misfortune I'm hiding would be revealed and everyone would worry about me. I couldn't stand anyone sabotaging Moore's succession convention! Alas, I had to take a deep breath before calling back. "Oh, my dear wife." The snarky voice sounded again, "How's it going over there? had you met a lot of men who can serve you as comfortably as I do..." "Hale!" I interrupted him reluctantly. "I told you I was with Aaron's family all the time!" I didn't want to argue with him, so I held my palms to calm myself down, "I just went out with Moore and the others for an exercise, and I forgot to bring my phone. That's it. Now, do you had anything else to ask?" "Look at what you said,'" he imitated my tone of voice disgustingly, "Look how cold-blooded and ruthless you are! I am your husband, the mate given to you by the Moon Goddess, and it is only right and proper for me t
Brooklyn's POV: The people outside were still waiting for me. I couldn't stay in the bathroom for too long. I didn't want Hale to make excuses for my lateness. I quickly sent a message to Hale and put on my dress, and was about to go out when Hale's phone came again. This time, I picked it up immediately, and yelled at the phone in a low, suppressed voice, "What else do you want?" Forgive me for not controlling my tone. Hale was very happy to hear my frantic voice. Through the phone, he smiled and said nothing. As the ceremony was about to start, he just wanted to congratulate Moore on his adulthood. I knew, he just wanted to make sure I was unhappy. But thankfully, he finally stopped pestering me this time and hung up quickly. I walked out of the bathroom in my dress, and both Emma and Abbey were amazing at me, and even Cathy was full of praise. I was a little embarrassed by their praise. The time soon came to evening. The setting sun on the horizon dyed half of the sky red, a
Devin' POV: I'm here today for the coming-of-age ceremony of the Alpha heir to the Cancer pack, but it wasn't until I saw the woman standing by the river that I realized the source of the scent I've been searching for was here! What about Lucy? My child's mother, where had she gone? Did she give up on me and our daughter? Was absurd! It was totally absurd! I could not accept it! The Goddess of the Moon was definitely fooling me! I couldn't wait to immediately go up and grab the woman and ask why I could smell the scent from her body! But now that the little werewolf's coming-of-age ceremony was about to begin, I should be patient and stand silently beside the pre-arranged fire ring. As a result, the torches handed over by others stood quietly and silently. When night falls, the werewolves in the woods hold torches and scatter on both sides of the fire ring. Ahead waw the unreachable grand canyon and the vast and boundless world. The silver glow of the moon falls in the canyon a
Brooklyn's POV: The man in front of me, Devin Black, was a well-known god of war among the werewolf tribe. Before I met Hale, I heard that he had fought single-handedly and defeated other races who tried to invade their tribe with one enemy and ten... Tall, mighty and reliable, if there was no match for the Goddess of the Moon, I was afraid that he would become the prince figure in the eyes of many girls. I could already hear my heart beating wildly as soon as he came to talk to me. But I already have a mate. Normally, it was impossible to be attracted to other Alpha werewolves! "Maybe the Goddess of the Moon made a mistake." Editha suddenly said in my mind, "Perhaps your mate should be a brave and fearless person like the god of war, not a villain like Hale who only rages on women." Editha already had a problem with Hale for a long time, and now she had a chance to complained, "Do you want to consider..." "Editha!" I hurriedly stopped her from going on. "I have a mate, and it
Devin' POV: I was actually behind that big tree, about 500 meters away from Brooklyn. But a werewolf's hearing was different from ordinary humans. We could heard sounds from a kilometre away. After the ceremony, I didn't go to the party held by the Aaron family but quietly went to the other side of the river while no one was looking. Originally, I wanted to take advantage of the time when no one was disturbing me, and think about this series of changes, facing the full moon. But not long after I arrived, I heard the voice of a woman crying. I stuck my head out and found it was Brooklyn. Her playful and smart yellow dress had been taHale off. She should have just transformed from a werewolf into a human form. At this time, she was naked, crying and shouting at the tree hole, her hair was wrapped around her cheeks, and her tears and snot were flying. Totally not the helpless and shy look just now. At this time, Brooklyn was embarrassed. She may have encountered some misfortune. She
Brooklyn's POV: I was so tired yesterday that I almost woke up after dawn. When I woke up, I almost couldn't open my eyes. I didn't see my family when I went downstairs, only a few servants were busy. "Good morning Brooklyn." An Omega came towards me. Her name was Emily. She was a cute girl with two pigtails and freckles on her face. Her mother was also an Omega, called Lydia, who worked as a servant in my house in her twenties. These years Lydia worked and served us was equivalent to watching me grow up. "Did you sleep well last night?" She pointed my eyes. I was stunned for a moment, only to realize that she should be saying that there was something wrong with my eyes. Maybe I cried too sadly last night, my eyes were still swollen. "I had too much fun yesterday." Emily kindly didn't ask any further but went to the bathroom to help me get a wet towel, and let me put it on my eyes to reduce the swelling. "Breakfast? Lydia made avocado sandwiches and mushroom bisque," Emily said
Brooklyn's POV: Margaret said her father, the pack on my grandfather's side, had a dangerous ritual to break the mate bond. But the price was that the werewolf who performs this ritual would become a wanderer. Such people were at the bottom class of the werewolf world and will be looked down upon. And, it is possible to never become a werewolf again. No, this was horrible! "You want me to be a wanderer?" I couldn't believe Margaret would make such an opinion, and stood up. "Do you think the proposal of being an Alpha, but never being able to turn into a werewolf, would be better than being tortured like this by Hale?" She was my biological mother! How could she make such a ridiculous suggestion! "My dear child, listen to me," Margaret stood up and tried to explain, "I didn't ask you to do this ritual right away, I just wanted you to think about it. It's very hard to spend a lifetime with someone who's not right for you. Although the results of this ritual were not satisfactory,
Brooklyn's POV: This time coming home finally made me realize that no one can help me save my marriage, my family! Nobody! The car was galloping through the woods, and I drove faster and faster until Editha shouted out loud, and I suddenly came back to my senses and stepped on the brake! Just an inch away, the car was about to hit the big tree in front. "Calm down, Brooklyn," Editha said with lingering fears. "There may be a turn of events. The Goddess of the Moon loves every one of her people." I leaned my head on the steering wheel, listened to the pounding heartbeat, and slowly calmed myself down. After a while, I looked up again, and wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes from the shock and sadness before restarting the car. "You're right, I'll find a way to repair my relationship with Hale." Editha should have wanted to say something but ended up in silence, and just sighed heavily. Thanks to the fact that I was racing, I got home 3 hours earlier than before. Hale w