Chapter 2

Half a year ago, none of this had happened yet.

Back then, I still believed with my whole heart that if I tried hard enough, I could thaw Kayden's heart.

Until that night of pounding rain.

Kayden had gone to patrol the border and hadn't come back. Thunder rolled outside, louder with every strike, and I sat on the edge of the bed, my heart hammering in my throat.

In the end, I couldn't hold back. I opened the mind link.

[Kayden, are you safe? The rain's too heavy. When are you coming home?]

Almost instantly, the Alpha's coldness came back through the link.

[Checking up on me again? Ella, you need to learn to be independent. A Luna can't be some startled rabbit, jumping at every little sound.]

[I was just worried about you…]

A wave of hurt washed over me.

[I don't need that kind of useless worry.]

Kayden cut the connection.

I pressed a hand to my chest and sat there in the dark the whole night.

The next morning, the rain had stopped, and footsteps sounded outside the door.

I threw it open, overjoyed—but it wasn't Kayden. It was unfamiliar pack soldiers.

They told me the Alpha had taken Beta Lydia to the far western border. He wouldn't be back for two days.

Only then did I understand. He was punishing me.

Punishing my weakness. Punishing my "dependence."

Then came the autumn hunt.

The warriors of the Frostmoon Pack moved through the forest, hunting.

I was wolf-less. All I could do was stay at camp and help process the kills.

A beast that hadn't quite died suddenly thrashed to life, its claws slicing open my arm.

The blood had barely welled up when Kayden returned with Lydia and their kills.

I looked up, clutching my bleeding arm—and saw Kayden stride straight past me to Lydia.

"A scratch?"

His brow furrowed as he stared at the shallow red line on Lydia's calf, his voice carrying a rare note of panic.

"Alpha, I'm fine. Just a branch that caught me."

Lydia smiled, her eyes flicking toward me with a smug little glance.

Only then did Kayden turn his head. His gaze swept over my sleeve, already soaked red, and he turned to the soldier beside him.

"Take her back to get bandaged."

From start to finish, he never took a single step toward me.

That evening, I sat alone in the cabin, cleaning my own wound with shaking hands.

The antiseptic hit the open flesh, and I shuddered from the sting.

I looked in the mirror at that pale, hollow-eyed girl and felt nothing but ice.

So this was it. When you're not the one someone loves, you don't even have the right to say it hurts.

After that night, a bottle of healing salve appeared by my bed.

The soldier said he'd made it on a whim.

But the ointment carried the scent of silvermoon grass—and in the entire pack, only the Alpha knew how to make it.

So what?

A salve that came too late can't heal a wound that's already scarred over. It can't thaw a heart already frozen solid.

What killed the last of it was the fever, deep in winter.

I burned at 39 degrees, my whole body on fire, curled under the blankets, teeth chattering so hard I couldn't stop.

When you're at your weakest, you reach for the person closest to you. It's instinct.

I scraped together my last bit of strength and opened the mind link.

[Kayden… I feel awful…]

A few seconds of silence. Then Kayden's impatient voice.

[I'm handling pack business. Ella, stop leaning on me all the time. It's just a fever. Have the healer give you something.]

[But I—]

The connection was cut again. One-sided.

I burned until I passed out. I don't know how long it was.

Somewhere between waking and dreaming, I heard a few pack members talking low outside the door.

"The Alpha's gone to Moon Lake with Lydia. I hear it's beautiful this time of year."

"But isn't Ella sick?"

"The Alpha said she needs to learn to be independent. Can't go running to him every time she gets sick. She's going to be Luna, after all."

They laughed and walked off.

I lay under the blankets, burning up, and yet I felt so cold.

I stared at the ceiling, my eyes dry and aching. Not a single tear would come.

After that, I never reached for Kayden through the mind link again.

He went on patrol—I stopped asking when he'd be back.

He took Lydia to events—I smiled and stepped aside.

I became the Luna he'd wanted. Independent. Sensible. Not clingy.

But he never knew—I hadn't learned to be independent. I'd just stopped expecting anything from him.