Chapter 2

Celeste POV

Days rolled into weeks, then bundled into months, but the wound in my heart remained fresh.

Keeping to his words, Wulfric left.

Off to college, like he couldn't stand to see my face.

He reached out to Ragner and their parents, but never to me. He didn't even ask how I was doing. How I was picking up the pieces that he had broken.

Didn't he want to know that I was always looking at our older pictures? Sneaking into his room to inhale his scent and feel his presence before it disappeared completely? Perhaps he would be interested to know that I hadn't had a proper sleep in months because I would always dream of that night he coldly rejected me.

Ragnar was my pillar through all this.

He'd come to my room playfully badgering me to eat and drink water.

Some days, he was even successful in dragging me out to run. Feeling the wind brushing against my fur and dirt between my paws provided a brief sense of relief.

But it didn't help that he looked so much like the person who was causing me the pain.

Nixie wasn't willing to let go either, she was so sure that our mate would come back for us.

Then we overheard a heated phone call between him and Ragner that changed everything.

I was just outside Ragner’s room, his door slightly ajar as his voice came through.

“Just send her one letter, she can't stop talking about you, how can you be so heartless?”

Wulfric ’s voice came from the other side, smooth and velvety.

“No, I've moved on Ragnar. There's someone else…she's in the same major as me, she's kind and pretty. I think we'll work out,”

My heart took a nosedive, here I was, foolishly pining over him and he had already moved on with someone else so fast?

Was the pain of a severed bond supposed to be so painfully one-sided? Did he feel nothing from cutting me off?

From that day, I decided that I would move on with my life.

With or without Wulfric.

I was no longer reclused to my room and was now interacting with my friends once more. Ragnar was so happy. He took me wherever I wanted to go to, stayed by my side through everything.

Then one day in the afternoon, I had a picnic with him and the sun high over our heads. While we were having the picnic, I leaned close on the pink checkered cloth and kissed him on the lips.

It was an impulsive decision, I thought he would push me away; perhaps I had misread the signs again.

But instead, he had his fingers on my neck, pulling me in for a deeper kiss. By the time we pulled apart, I was catching my breath and my heart was pounding against my ribs.

His eyes had a mix of joy and hesitation.

“Are you sure about this?” He said, “I'm not looking to be a replacement for my brother,”

I gasped, “I have never and will never see you as a replacement for him. You're the one who was with me in my darkest hours. I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't because of you. That has nothing to do with him,”

He smiled and kissed me again, this time even harder than before.

Nixie was unsure about Ragnar, she still wanted me to wait for Wulfric .

Her loyalty to him was worrisome because all wolves were reflections of their person’s innermost desire, which means a foolish helpless side of me was still waiting for him.

Pathetic.

I put my foot down with Nixie, even though it hurt.

Wulfric was our past, and Ragnar was our future.

After Ragnar became alpha of Darkfang, he made me his official Luna and chosen mate.

Our life seemed happy and complete.

But, as it always was for me, the happiness did not last as long.

Soon, I took in with child, and Ragnar nearly went mad with joy.

He told anyone and everyone that I was carrying the future heir of Darkfang, so I tried to cautioned him a bit. There was always a 50% that the child would be a girl and, as such, would not have the right to take over from him.

But he was bent on believing that it would be a boy.

“I can feel it in my bones, Celeste, the future alpha King is within you.”

Then came the gender reveal.

He invited friends and family to the pack house, organized a huge party, and ordered a mountain size cake with the coloring inside showing whether we were having a boy or girl.

My heart was racing inside my chest as we both took the first slice together and pulled it out.

Then it stopped, my heart, time everything stopped.

It was a girl.

At least, that was what the strawberry flavor within said.

An overwhelming silence crushed the entire crowd that came to see, I tentatively turned my head over to my mate, his face unreadable.

Then he broke into a smile and said; “well, this is just our first try it's not like we won't have other kids,”

Everyone else seemed to be holding their breath too and relaxed after he said that, including myself.

But I didn't like the way he said it though, I told him afterward that even if we hoped to have a boy later, we should still cherish our other children. He nodded and gave me a quick apology, pressing a kiss on my forehead.

While his enthusiasm noticeably died off,he was still looking forward to the birth of our daughter.

Unfortunately it never came.

I was walking alone in the garden one day, it was my third month and I was already picturing what my little girl would look like in her onesies.

Then my stomach was struck with this sharp pain that made me fold on the ground. By the time the servants heard my cry, blood was already beginning to run down my thighs.

And that was how I lost my first pup.