2

Though it was only one winter, I've been gone for too long.

This den where Karen and I once shared countless secrets and tender moments now felt completely strange.

The day Karen and I confirmed our mate bond, we hunted together and kept a deer bone as a memento.

Now, the bone was gone.

In its place were Lyra's complex and strange star charts.

In the corner, the little nest I had woven from moonlight vines to soothe his wild wolf spirit was gone, replaced by a cold, smooth black obsidian platform that Lyra supposedly used for meditation.

Even the air was filled with the bitter smell of soul-calming herbs that Lyra often used, which made my wolf spirit uncomfortable.

"Elara, you finally decided to come back?"

Lyra walked out from the inner room, wearing the tribe's most luxurious mink fur, with a necklace of glowing wolf teeth around her neck—that was Karen's trophy, once promised to me as a coming-of-age gift.

"During your absence, I stayed here to help Karen with tribal matters. Your power is weak, and you've made a huge mistake. You no longer deserve to live beside the Alpha."

"Karen has prepared an abandoned ice cellar at the edge of the tribe for you. You should learn to be grateful."

Karen walked over silently, habitually standing beside Lyra, as if they were the true destined mates.

I looked at the ice cellar Lyra mentioned and couldn't help but laugh at myself.

It was dark and damp, rarely saw sunlight.

Only wolf cubs who had made serious mistakes would be locked in there.

But even this was better than the Cliff of Sinful Wolves—that place of hunger and constant danger.

At the Cliff, dozens of banished wolves killed each other for even a bit of rotten meat.

Every time I woke up frozen in the night, it felt like I was swallowing ice daggers, the cold piercing through my bones into my body.

But those physical tortures weren't the worst.

The worst was when I was poisoned, wishing for death.

A nearly insane evil wolf tried to drag me into his ice cave...

I fought desperately, stabbing him with a broken icicle to escape.

When I rushed out of the frozen cave, I saw a bottomless cliff in front of me that nearly swallowed me.

Reborn after near-death.

Every moment at the Cliff of Sinful Wolves, I was on edge, never daring to relax for a second.

In comparison, although the ice cellar was cold, at least it kept out those malicious gazes.

For me, this was already luxury.

"Elara, I've been using your meditation platform. You don't mind, right? After all, it helps me better understand the Moon Goddess's guidance."

Lyra's voice was soft but carried an undeniable sense of superiority.

I knew she was crushing what little dignity I had left with a different tactic.

With my old temperament, facing this kind of provocation, I would have lunged forward showing my claws.

My conflict with Lyra had started the moment she "dropped from the sky" as the "chosen prophet" of the tribe.

I hated that fake holy aura around her, but she always cleverly gained Karen's trust and the tribe's reverence.

The night the Moon Soul Flower was stolen, all evidence pointed to me.

She "found" the remains of petals in the stone cave where I usually meditated. At the tribe's judgment meeting, she tearfully accused me of "jealousy" and "blasphemy."

Karen, who had been intimate with me in bed the night before, looked at me coldly.

"You defiled the Moon Goddess's gift. You're not worthy to be my mate. From today on, you're no longer a member of the Silver Moon tribe."

But I had never gone near that forbidden area.

That night, I waited miserably outside our den for Karen, hoping for a chance to explain, but he never showed up.

What came instead was the enforcement team led by Karen himself, and that cold silver chain.

"Your wolf spirit has been corrupted by darkness. Go to the Cliff of Sinful Wolves to purify your sins. Use your pain to appease the Moon Goddess's anger."

Only then did I understand that I had no power to fight Lyra.

It wasn't that I was weak—Karen's heart was completely captivated by Lyra.

He had forgotten and abandoned everything we once had.

Now, I had no right and didn't dare show any dissatisfaction with Lyra.

"The Alpha's decision is the Moon Goddess's guidance. The ice cellar... is fine. I'll behave myself."

I lowered my head, my voice weak, as if it would disappear with a gust of wind.