Chapter 2

Lydia’s face twisted with fury, and the eyes that had been brimming with tears only moments ago instantly turned red. She grabbed a wineglass from the table and smashed it.

Shards scattered across the floor as she seized a jagged piece of glass and charged at me.

“You lunatic! You actually want to take my pup from me? I’ll kill you!”

Blake and his packmates rushed forward to stop her, but I moved faster.

I caught Lydia by the wrist, took the shard from her hand, and studied her face carefully.

She really did resemble me, especially around the eyes, but our personalities could not have been more different. Perhaps what Blake liked about her was the bold, uninhibited side of herself she displayed so freely—a side of me he had not seen in years.

After all, during all these years as Blake’s Luna, I had devoted myself to my duties and treated every wolf in the pack with patience and kindness. I had been so composed for so long that Blake had almost forgotten I had once been just as confident and bold as Lydia was now.

I tightened my grip, and Lydia’s face contorted in pain.

“Erica!”

Blake roared my name and forcibly pried my fingers away from her wrist before instinctively pulling Lydia into his arms to shield her.

He glared at me, his voice full of reproach. “Stop making a scene, Erica. She’s a mother. Of course she couldn’t tolerate a joke like the one you just made.”

I slowly rolled my wrist and looked up at him with a cold smile. “I’m the one making a scene? Blake, she was the one who showed up at the Full Moon Gathering, challenged me in front of everyone, and suddenly decided we were competing over who had won. Now that she’s lost, shouldn’t there be at least some kind of punishment?”

Blake swallowed, a complicated look flickering through his eyes.

He lowered his voice and spoke gently. “I’m sorry, Erica. I’m the one who put you in this humiliating position. Lydia only gave birth recently, and her emotions still aren’t stable. Whatever punishment you want to give her today, I’ll take it for her.”

With that, Blake released Lydia and walked toward me, then pressed the hand holding the shard of glass against his chest.

Lydia kept trying to stop him, but he did it anyway.

The sharp glass tore a long gash across his chest, splitting the flesh open in a gruesome line.

His blood filled my vision, and a bitter, self-mocking smile touched my lips.

Even after hurting himself, Blake managed to force a smile at me.

“Erica, are you satisfied now?”

“If you’re not, you can choose another place.”

Lydia burst into tears and shouted, “Why? You’re the Alpha of this pack! Why should you listen to an outsider like her?”

“That’s enough. It’s late. I’ll take you and the pup home.”

Blake turned to me with a helpless expression.

“The car is waiting outside. Go home first. The pup is still so young, and I don’t feel comfortable leaving them alone. I’ll come back as soon as I get them home.”

After saying that, he supported Lydia as they left, while her sobs and complaints carried far into the distance.

She fussed over Blake’s injury while continuing to belittle me, and Blake patiently soothed both her and the pup in her arms, as though he was afraid what had happened tonight might have frightened them.

Their shadows stretched longer and longer beneath the moonlight, while something inside me turned completely cold.

Seven years ago, Blake had fallen in love with me at first sight, and no matter how many times I rejected him, he had refused to give up.

During the war, he took advantage of the fact that I had been badly wounded and unconscious, carried me back to his territory, and had a witch erase my memories with magic.

He went to all that trouble for one reason: he wanted me to become his Luna and fall in love with him in return.

Every she-wolf in the pack used to envy me for having such a devoted mate.

Even though I had woken up alone in unfamiliar territory with no memories, Blake always kept me close. He showed me around his lands, prepared meals for me himself, and paid attention to every change in my mood.

Over those six years, I truly fell in love with him and believed he was the best mate I could ever have asked for.

I never imagined that, behind everyone’s back, Blake would have a pup with another woman.

The moment I learned the truth, a pain so sharp it felt as though it had pierced straight through my heart overwhelmed me, and somehow that agony awakened the memories that had been buried for years.

At first, I didn’t immediately decide to leave.

Six years of love could not simply disappear overnight, and some small part of me still held on to the hope that Blake would come to his senses and remember what our relationship meant to him.

The truth proved otherwise.

I had loved him so completely for so many years that eventually he became tired of it. Worse, he had grown so certain of my devotion that he believed he could hurt me however he pleased and I would still never leave.

That was why, even after Lydia humiliated me again and again tonight, he did little more than brush aside what she had done and make excuses for her.

I lifted a hand and wiped away the tear that had slipped from the corner of my eye without me noticing.

If that was the case, then leaving was the only thing left for me to do.

For six years, Blake had kept me inside a prison of his own making and cut off every possible connection between me and my brother.

My wolf told me that Connor had never stopped searching for me, but the distance between us had been too great for our mind-link to reach each other.

My wolf had known the truth all along, but the witch’s magic had suppressed her so completely that she had been unable to communicate with me.

Blake had even deleted every contact from my phone and made it seem as though I were a lone wolf with no family at all.

He monitored my movements constantly, and even my communication devices had been under surveillance.

Fortunately, once my memories returned, I could still remember Connor’s number.

That night, Blake came home and lay down beside me. As he always had, he gently patted my back to coax me to sleep.

“Erica, I know you’ve always been reasonable, so I know you’ll understand me. I’m an Alpha, and this pack needs a strong heir to carry its future, but with your health…”

He let out a quiet sigh.

“No one will ever take your place. I love you, and you’re the only Luna I want beside me for the rest of my life.”

I said nothing and simply closed my eyes.

Blake took my silence as surrender. He moved closer, wrapped an arm gently around me, and gradually fell asleep.

Once he was deeply asleep, I opened my eyes again and quietly used his phone to call Connor.

Perhaps six years of unquestioning devotion had finally made Blake lower his guard around me.

When I had first arrived in the pack, even something as simple as getting out of bed for a glass of water in the middle of the night would wake him immediately, and he would get up to accompany me.

Tonight, he never stirred.

The moment Connor heard my voice, he nearly lost control with relief and excitement.

I did not have much time and was afraid of waking Blake, so I quickly told Connor where I was before deleting every trace of the call.

The northern territories were thousands of miles away, so no matter how badly I wanted to leave, I had no choice but to wait patiently for my brother to arrive.

The next morning, two things were delivered to me.

The first was a stack of photographs Lydia had taken of Blake.

On the back, she had written, “See? Your mate stopped loving you a long time ago.”

The second was a Mate Bond Dissolution Agreement.

Blake had already signed it.

There was no mistaking his handwriting.

I stared at the photographs for a moment before letting out a quiet laugh, then lowered my head and signed my own name beneath his.

I went to the pack registry office and formally submitted the agreement to dissolve our mate bond.

An hour later, Blake received the notification and started calling me over and over again.