I Loved You Before I Knew Better

Arthur Black was the future Alpha of the Northland pack. He had been a cold-blooded black wolf since he was born. He was ruthless and merciless, striking fear and respect into the hearts of all the wolves in the pack.

The only wolf he ever showed his gentle side to was me.

Arthur would maintain a ten-foot distance from all the other she-wolves in the pack, and he would never speak to one by himself during pack meetings.

He was like a completely different wolf when he accompanied me to the Rockfall Mountains in Clamoria. He would take the initiative to hold my hand and hug me. He even kissed me under the moonlight, unconcerned about whether the other wolves saw us.

The other she-wolves in the pack would always say, "You're the only one who can tame that cold-blooded wolf, Ella Grant."

On my birthday, Arthur cancelled all the council meetings and ignored the provocations from the other packs in neighboring territories.

He shifted into a massive black wolf before asking me to get atop him. He ran over 300 miles without resting to the snowfields in the north.

Under everyone's scrutiny, he entered the snow wolves' territory and engaged them in a bloody battle to obtain a pink jewel necklace. He then personally looped the necklace, which cost a fortune, around my neck.

I still remember how the entire pack had howled in delight as moonlight dyed the land silver that night.

Arthur was covered in wounds. His fingers were stained with blood when he lifted my chin and stared into my eyes with an arrogant but loving gaze.

"I love you, Ella," he said.

That night, he swore to the Moon Goddess that he would be my mate for all of eternity. With the rest of the pack watching, he pulled me into his arms and captured my lips in a passionate kiss.

At that moment, Arthur was nothing like the cold and ruthless future Alpha of the pack that everyone knew him to be.

Despite how he claimed to love me, he wasn't in a rush to mark me. He also never said that I was his only lover.

It turned out that at the same time that he told me he loved me, he was having a clandestine tryst with another she-wolf in the forest near the border. He also called her "sweetheart"—such an affectionate endearment.

Arthur and I were together for seven years.

Everyone in the pack knew how much he loved me. He never once tried to hide his affections whenever we hunted together, and he was more than happy to show off our love to the other wolves.

During pack meetings, whenever anyone questioned our feelings for each other, Arthur would step forward to announce that he wouldn't accept anyone else but me to be his future Luna.

His actions led the pack to believe that his feelings for me were genuine. He wasn't just toying with me.

The Elders kept pestering us about when we would become actual mates, claiming that they were eager to witness our mating ritual.

Thus, during a full moon in early summer, Arthur sank to one knee in front of everyone in the pack and proposed to me.

I hesitated for a moment before I extended my hand, letting him slide the ring that was carved from a wolf's fang onto my finger.

The day after the proposal, Arthur brought me to meet his parents, the Alpha and Luna of the Northland pack.

I had been extremely nervous.

Arthur was the future Alpha of the Northland pack, after all, while I was just a normal wolf. The two of us existed in different worlds from the very beginning.

Surprisingly, Arthur's mother enthusiastically accepted me.

"Thank you for staying by Arthur's side, Ella," she said gently. "He's always been aloof since he was a pup, and he was always surrounded by wolves. He didn't have any she-wolf companions.

"At one point, I even suspected that there was something different about him because he only played with other wolves. I was worried about him being alone for the rest of his life, so I truly support the two of you being together."

I nodded bashfully.

That night, after we returned to Arthur's home, he pressed a light kiss to my forehead and made a promise to me.

"I swear that I'll love you for the rest of my life, Ella."

I was incredibly moved by his words and hugged him tightly. I then pushed myself up on my tiptoes and kissed him.

We spent the rest of the night wrapped up in each other.

However, our love wasn't able to stand the test of time.

Although Arthur swore that he would love me for the rest of his days, he never once said that I was his only one.

We had only been together for seven years when he brought me up to the other she-wolf, describing me in a flippant tone.

"I'm just fooling around with you. You know that the one I love is Ella. It's just that I've been with her for seven years. I need to experience something new after looking at the same face for seven years.

"I would have marked her a long time ago if you didn't seduce me. She'll definitely leave me if she finds out about us. I love Ella. She's going to be my Luna in the future. It's why we can never let her find out about what's going on between us.

"Don't be jealous. Didn't I abandon her to stay by your side tonight, sweetheart?"

My heart felt as if it was being stabbed as I watched him betray me while claiming that he loved me.