Chapter 3

Transfer Memo: [Rent for The Luna's Sanctuary]

My hands shook so badly I almost dropped my phone.

That was the sanctuary guarded by generations of Lunas. It held the wolf relics my mother cherished most. It was my only spiritual home.

I drove like a maniac to the Sanctuary.

Before I even got out of the car, I saw Gideon ordering workers to shatter the century-old wooden doors, carved with our pack's most sacred totems.

"Stop!" I lunged forward like a madwoman. I spread my arms wide, blocking the steps.

The Mark on the back of my neck started bleeding from sheer anger and despair.

Gideon pushed Vivian behind him.

Seeing my bleeding neck, seeing me willing to tear our soul bond apart rather than submit, his pupils shrank.

His mate instinct made him take a step forward.

His voice carried a trace of panic. "Cora, your mark..."

"Didn't you say anything is for rent if the price is right?" He forced himself to stop, using coldness to hide his pity. "I already paid. Vivian needs a sacred place for Toby's first shift ceremony."

"This is my mother's sanctuary! It's the Luna's territory!" My teeth chattered with rage.

"Cora," he warned, his voice dangerously low, "Don't make me use my Alpha Command."

"Gideon, if Civian's spirit is watching, seeing that I can't even borrow a decent venue... he'll think he died for nothing..." Vivian cried her fake tears, hitting Gideon's weak spot perfectly.

Sure enough, hearing that name brought a flood of guilt to Gideon's eyes.

His voice was so low only I could hear it.

But it was so vicious it made me tremble.

"I'm the one who arranged Mia's surgery slot," he whispered, his lips brushing my ear. "If you don't behave..."

Ice shot through my veins.

My daughter's pale face from her last shock flashed in my mind.

My legs felt like lead.

Stiffly, I moved out of the way.

"Yay! We can go in!" Toby cheered and ran inside.

His eyes swept over the treasures in the hall.

They landed on my mother's favorite oil painting. It was an 18th-century portrait of a wolf ancestor, completely priceless.

"This painting is so lame!" He grabbed the frame, ready to smash it on the floor. "I'm putting up my superhero poster!"

My mind went blank. I threw myself at it.

To protect the frame, my head slammed hard into the marble display stand. Instantly, my vision went red with blood.

"Cora!" Gideon panicked and tried to catch me.

I shoved him away. I stood up, my face covered in blood. I pulled out the "Asset Transfer Agreement" I had prepared long ago and shoved it in his face.

"The rent isn't enough." My voice was ice cold. "Sign it."

When Gideon read the documents, his face turned ashen.

It wasn't a deed transfer. It was a mate rejection.

"You..." He trembled with fury. "You had this ready all along?"

"Sign it," I repeated. Blood dripped from my forehead to my eye.

Gideon slashed his name across the signature line, then threw the pen and documents on the floor.

Vivian smugly looped her arm through his. She strutted past me in her heels. "Thanks for your generosity, Cora." She dragged out her words. "I'll make good use of this place."

I crouched down and picked up the papers.

Looking at his signature on the mate rejection, I held the oil painting and laughed through my tears.

Finally.

It was finally over.

Two months later, it was time for Mia's surgery.

I knelt outside the operating room, pressing my hands together, praying to the Moon Goddess. Please protect my daughter. Let her survive this.

The surgery had been going on for three hours.

Just when I thought everything was fine, my phone rang. Another money transfer text.

Right then, the OR doors burst open.

The doctors, still wearing bloody gloves, rushed out.

My hands and feet went numb.

I grabbed the last doctor's white coat. "My daughter's surgery isn't done! Where are you going?!"