Chapter 4

The next day, news quickly spread throughout the werewolf community that the Alpha King Alex had fought with Alpha Kings form other packs at a party to protect a she-wolf named Victoria.

It was the first time he got into this kind of mess.

Elders from our pack and other packs gathered outside my door. They wanted to ask for more information.

I slipped away through the back door.

Our pack has grown rapidly over the years. With Alex’s companying rising, he has not only been wealthy but also known for being the new Alpha King.

I still ran into some werewolves on the street.

One of them asked me about Alex and Victoria.

I had no intention to answer at all, but she kept pressing.

“What do you want to know? One of them broke the sacred bond between the Luna and the Alpha King. The other intentionally seduced someone who had a chosen mate.

She rolled her eyes at me and said, “Wasn’t you the one who broke up with the Alpha King Alex when he was at his weakest point? Then he returned and you used every single trick you knew to let him make you the Luna Queen.”

I didn’t say a word.

“Now that the Alpha Kind Alex has found his true love and a real mate bond, you still refuse to give up being the Luna Queen. This is all your fault. Don’t you think you are bullying Victoria?”

I stopped and stared at her angrily.

“Me? Bullying her? May I ask what kind of special connection you share with Victoria to ask me such questions? Do you think I wanted to be the Luna Queen for Alex? Do you see it as some kind of privilege?”

The she-wolf was a bit embarrassed. Her face turned red.

“I am only her friend! Everyone in town knows the Alpha King Alex loves Victoria!”

“I am the one who messes things up? Are you sure? May I ask which pack you belong to? Does the sacred werewolf mate bond mean nothing to you at all? I would like to go ask your Alpha King, why you would dare to challenge the mate bond?”

She took a step back.

“But everyone knows your mate bond with the Alpha King Alex isn’t working. If you don’t love him, then break the mate bond with him!”

I was about to say something, when I felt a severe pain in my heart. I couldn’t help but clutch my chest.

She laughed at me.

“Hey! Stop acting! I was only suggesting you breaking the mate bond with The Alpha King. And now you’re putting on a show in the middle of the street? How desperate are you? Just say it, you won’t give up the Luna Queen’s title!”

I felt something coming out of my mouth. I wiped it and there was blood.

I coughed and more blood came out.

“I am not acting. I am just sick… I don’t have too much time left. That’s way I am coughing up blood. Tell Victoria. She can do whatever she wants! I don’t care.”

The werewolves around me suddenly became silent.

But Victoria’s friend had to keep going.

“I know it. You are just pretending! You are playing the victim to get our sympathy! Guess what? In your dreams! You are too low to be the Luna Queen!”

She turned around and left.

I watched her figure going away.

This she-wolf was just as annoying as Victoria.

Words of what happened on the street quickly spread through the werewolf community.

To my surprise, Alex gathered all the wolves in our pack and spoke up.

He said he would never take the initiative to break the mate bond with me.

“No one should ever harass my Luna Queen again! You have my word. Otherwise, I will exile the wolf out of our pack!”

That night, I also hear that Victoria’s friends was exiled from her pack.

But I could still pick up other werewolves’ voices about me in the community.

“Our Luna Queen is way too disgusting. If she never liked the Alpha King Alex, why did she agree to be his chosen mate? It’s not like someone ever forced her!”

“Exactly! They say she left the Alpha King Alex when he was poor. She is really cruel!”

“But Alex is such a good Alpha!”

“Yeah! He protected her so much! But she doesn’t deserve the title.”

I also hear other voices, too.

Someone said, “Maybe there is more to their story?”

Yes.

But no one else knew what the “more” was.

That part, I kept it to myself.

I thought about the past a lot lately.

I remembered when my mother-wolf caught the wolf venom. The Healer told me that such infections suggested a pattern in the blood. So either I or my pup would be at greater risk of being infected by such deadly venom.

My mother-wolf went hunting in the mountains. She accidentally got the wolf venom grass on her wound.

She also lost a lot of blood.

She felt into a coma for many days. When she woke up, the first thing she said was about Alex.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be Alex’s chosen mate.”

I was a bit shocked.

I knew exactly what my mother-wolf was worried about.

“If Alex knew about this, he would never mind.”

I was half saying it to my mother, half to myself.

My mother-wolf took my hand.

“You’re an honest wolf. So is him. You two were childhood sweethearts. Alex always saved the best part of what he hunted for you.”

She added, “He had no one to help him, but he still treated you so well. Remember, back then? He would even go hungry and give you the food! For a werewolf, he started to take care of others too early. I knew you’d be happy with him.”

“Then why you just said I shouldn’t be with him?”

She sighed.

“Because he is too kind. I am afraid he would be devastated once you were gone.”

My mother was right.

The infection from the deadly wolf venom was like a curse to me.

It would be something to separate me and Alex for good.

That same year, the she-wolf who had raised Alex fell ill.

I saw that Alex became so anxious. I couldn’t help thinking, if Alex and I trull become bonded, and I am going too, will he even want to go on living?

That day, I stood on the cliff in the pouring rain for hours.

I was thinking of Alex.

I knew I couldn’t bear to leave him.

But if I stayed…….

I was sure he would be hurt by me in the end.

That was already ten years ago.

I brought deer meat to my mother-wolf’s grave. Deer meat was his favorite.

I knew that once I have been infected by the deadly venom myself, I wouldn’t be able to visit anymore.

How did I get infected?

It must have been that day.

Alex and I had planned to go hunting together and he would always protect me from the deadly grass.

And Victoria called him.

He left immediately.

I was there, alone in the mountain, trying to find my way out.

That was my first time in that mountain, so I easily got lost and ran into the wolf venom grass.

Maybe that was just destiny. Or just my curse.

When he decided to leave me alone, I got infected.

I went to Alex’s company after.

I wanted to get back the moonstone my mother-wolf had given me.

I remembered my mother-wolf liked Alex so much, so she had found two matching moonstones for us. One was carved with Alex’s name, the other one with mine. She hoped that would be a sign to keep both of us safe.

Both moonstones were carved into wolf shapes.

Alex insisted to take the one with my name on it. He said that moonstone would always remind him of me.

I kept the one with his. I wore that moonstone around my neck all the time.

I knew Alex kept my moonstone on his office desk, like a family photo to display the little statue of mine at work.

I didn’t want him to throw it away after I was gone. So, I needed to have it back.

When I arrived at his company, Alex’s assistant was just talking to him.

I couldn’t help hearing what they were talking. I have werewolf’s ears.

His assistant was telling him someone heard I said I was dying.

But when he saw me, he sent the assistant our away.

I walked over to where the moonstone should have been, but it wasn’t there.

Something replaced it.

A pick gemstone. And it still got Victoria’s scent all over.

“Alex, where is my moonstone?”