Chapter 4

Patience's POV

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could he say something like that?

"I just want to store it here temporarily for a few days." I stared at Kelsey, desperately seeking a denial, even a perfunctory reassurance.

But Kelsey said nothing. His lips pressed into a straight line, avoiding my gaze.

His silence spoke volumes—he was no different from Madison and Hattie.

"What if I refuse?" My voice trembled, yet held a resolve that surprised even me.

"When you were starting your business, you didn't even have a decent office. I stayed up night after night with you in that rental apartment, revising plans and cold-calling clients. When Madison had eye problems, I accompanied her to every hospital, using the connections from my parents to secure an appointment with the best eye doctor, saving her sight!"

"I treated you all as family, considering every decision with your interests in mind. But have you ever, even once, respected me as one of your own?"

Madison's face turned ashen, Hattie's lips curled in restrained anger, and even Kelsey's expression looked uneasy.

Hattie was the first to snap.

The mint pheromones from her neck flared, her wolf ears pricked in fury, and her nails dug into her palm, drawing blood.

She roared, "You helped us? Without the pack's wealth, that doctor wouldn't have treated her! And accompanying Kelsey in his startup? Please, Kelsey was the one supporting you! You're nothing but a wolf who can't even fight. Don't flatter yourself!"

I ignored her outburst.

These distorted claims were all too familiar, echoed repeatedly within the packhouse.

My eyes remained fixed on Kelsey, my fingers absentmindedly tracing the totem on the urn.

My voice, trembling with emotion I hadn't even noticed, asked, "I'm just asking to keep my parents' ashes here for three days—is that too much to ask?"

Kelsey's brow furrowed, frustration seeping into his cedar pheromones, like a branch buckling under snow. "Patience, stop making a scene."

"A scene?" I laughed bitterly. "And what if I insist on keeping it here?"

Madison's fir pheromones sharpened instantly.

She lunged at me like an enraged she-wolf, her claws slicing through the air toward my face. "I said no, and that's final!"

I didn't dodge—I hadn't expected her to actually strike me, not while I held my parents' ashes.

The sharp slap stung my cheek, pain radiating through my body, causing me to stumble backward.

My heel struck the stone bench with a dull thud.

But Madison wasn't finished. Seizing the moment of my imbalance, her claws, hardened like blades, aimed straight for the urn in my arms. "If you won't leave it, I'll tear it to pieces!"

In a split second, I instinctively shielded the urn with my chest and partially shifted.

Silver-gray wolf claws burst through my skin, just in time to block her attack.

The collision of claws sent sparks flying in the air, and even the moonstone cups on the stone table trembled and hummed.

"You dare to fight back?"

Madison's pupils shrank in shock. Her other clawed hand swiped toward my throat. "A lone wolf without a pack dares to cause trouble in the Ironclaw Pack?"

"Enough!" Kelsey finally interjected. "Patience, take the urn outside and stop provoking my mother. If anything happens to her, I'll never forgive you!"

His words were like a bucket of ice water, dousing the last spark of hope within me.

My hands, holding the urn, trembled ever so slightly.

In his eyes, my parents' dignity didn't even measure up to his mother's fleeting emotions.

Seeing I hadn't moved, a clear displeasure flashed in Kelsey's eyes, and his tone turned colder, "Are you still not leaving? Or do I have to drag you out?"

"Huh!" I laughed, a laugh filled with bitterness and self-mockery.

Lowering my head, I gazed at the urn in my hands, my heart feeling as if it were being carved by a knife—Mom and Dad, it seems I truly chose the wrong mate.

Three years ago, this man had asked me with a mix of anxiety and sincerity in his eyes, "I have no pack, no assets, not even a stable job. Will you mate me?"

Back then, I nodded.

On the day I learned of my parents' sacrifice, he had stayed silently by my side, wiping away my tears and promising to take care of me.

I abandoned my dreams and career to become an ordinary Alpha's mate, striving to be a good Luna.

I had thought that even without passionate love, we could at least respect each other.

But now, Kelsey was tearing away even that last shred of dignity.

He had probably forgotten that when he had nothing, the initial startup funds for his business came from the pension of my parents.

"Fine, I'll leave." I lifted my head, straightened my spine, and forced back the tears.

Once a werewolf warrior, I feared no bloodshed—I would not shed tears for someone like him.

Without another glance at those repulsive faces, I turned sharply and left.

"Wait!" Kelsey's voice called out behind me. I halted, and he continued, "You should apologize to Madison first!"

My heart froze completely, and my inner wolf whimpered in despair.

"Impossible."

I left the pack and went to the columbarium, completing the procedures for storing the ashes.

Gazing at the urn in the glass cabinet, I whispered a promise, "One day, I will find my brother. He must still alive."