Chapter 2

His words were like an ice-cold blade, stabbing into my already frozen heart.

But strangely, it didn't hurt as much as I expected. Instead, I felt an almost numb sense of calm.

My grandfather owed a debt of gratitude to both the Blackwood and Frostfall pack.

After my parents died, grandfather feared that when he passed away, I would have no one to rely on. So he used this favor to secure a mating promise from both families.

Even though my wolf had awakened and I realized that Alpha Kaelen Frostfall was my true mate, I didn't tell anyone about the mate bond. I couldn't bear the thought of being forced into a loveless arrangement when my heart belonged to Damien entirely.

On my eighteenth birthday, under grandfather's nervous gaze and the watchful eyes of both pack elders, I trembled as I reached into the ceremonial vessel marked with both family crests.

I drew the lot that would decide my fate.

The Blackwood pack lot.

No one knew that both lots in that vessel belonged to the Blackwood family.

Back then, my heart and eyes were full of him.

This Alpha I had fallen for at first sight – how could I let a fifty-fifty chance decide my future?

So I played the biggest trick of my life, gambling away all my courage and dignity.

I thought I had won.

It wasn't until later that I accidentally learned the truth.

Damine had left but then returned. Through the crack in the door, he glimpsed me with trembling hands, secretly switching the lots.

He thought he saw me putting the Blackwood lot into the vessel and taking out the Frostfall one. From his angle, it looked like I was ensuring I would draw the Frostfall crest - ensuring I would be mated to Alpha Kaelen, my true mate.

He never realized I was doing the exact opposite.

When I drew the Blackwood lot later that morning, Damien believed it was pure chance that had thwarted my plan. He thought I was devastated to be stuck with him instead of my true mate.

That's why he was so angry, so contemptuous.

He said, "Sera, you tried every trick to avoid me as your mate. I can see how much you despise being tied to me."

And I just kept my head down.

What could I explain?

Should I say I wasn't trying to escape Alpha Kaelen, but desperately trying to get closer to you?

Or should I say I loved you so much that I was willing to scheme and betray the fairness grandfather had fought for me?

My pride wouldn't let me speak such shameful truth under his disgusted gaze.

Over these years, he'd had other she-wolves around him.

Those bright or charming figures would appear for a while, then quietly disappear.

I thought they gave up on their own. I never imagined Damien blamed it all on me.

In his mind, I was a jealous and vicious she-wolf who would stop at nothing to possess him.

The sharp pain in my arm came in waves, making my temples buzz. I suddenly felt extremely tired. Even lifting my eyes to look at him was difficult.

Damien seemed momentarily stunned by my silence.

But Elara's light cough from the cold reignited his anger.

He stepped forward, actually trying to grab my hand.

"Sera! What game are you playing now? Think this will make me feel guilty? Make me..."

His words stopped abruptly.

His gaze locked onto my hanging left arm.

Without proper treatment, my arm had swollen terribly. The skin showed a frightening purple color, nearly twice its normal size. The emergency bandages I'd wrapped around it were soaked through with blood, oozing pus and blood.

Shock flashed quickly through his eyes.

As if burned, he stumbled back two steps, almost roaring.

"Where's the Pack Healer? Are you all dead? Get over here!"

The Pack Sentinel rushed over in panic.

Damien was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling. He stared at me intensely, looking furious, or maybe something else.

"You're cruel to others, but even crueler to yourself! Look what you've done to yourself, Sera. I must have terrible luck to get tangled up with you!"

So this was it. My ten years of devotion, the mate bond I fought so hard for – to him, it was just bad luck.

I barely tugged at the corner of my mouth.

My cracked lips immediately beaded with blood. All I could taste was the metallic bitterness.

How strange. Hearing those words, that numb area in my chest didn't even ripple.

I suddenly realized I seemed to be forgetting him, bit by bit.

Forgetting the sound of my heart pounding like drums when I first saw him.

Forgetting how he looked running toward me, sweaty and laughing after winning a challenge.

Forgetting his impatient but still handsome profile during our forced courtship meetings.

Even forgetting... what it felt like to love him.

It was as if those seven days of bitter cold in the crevasse had not only frozen my body, but also those burning memories and feelings I'd cherished for ten years. They were being frozen, sealed away, and stripped from me, piece by piece.