Chapter 2

Alexander left the check of thirty thousand and walked out without looking back.

Watching him leave, I suddenly realized that the man who used to talk about justice at every turn, who'd once stood up to the Elders over a single ordinary wolf's rights, was long gone.

And this engagement had no reason to continue.

The next day, I went straight to the Pack Affairs Office and filed to cancel the bonding ceremony with Alexander.

The moment I walked into Alexander's office, I saw something absurd.

Alexander, the man with severe germophobia, was kneeling on one knee, cradling Claire's ankle, carefully massaging her foot.

The way he looked at her held a tenderness I had never once seen directed at me.

The second Claire spotted me, she pulled her foot back and put on a flustered act.

"Selena, please don't get the wrong idea. I just twisted my ankle. Alexander was kind enough to check on it."

Then she tugged at Alexander's sleeve, eyes red.

"Alexander, you have to explain. I really don't want to lose my trainee healer position because of this..."

Alexander patted her shoulder gently.

"Don't worry. She's here to apologize to you."

He looked up at me, voice turning cold on contact.

"Didn't I tell you to bring something to the Healing Temple? Why did you show up empty-handed?"

"Do I have to teach you how to apologize?"

I didn't waste words. I put the bond dissolution contract on the desk in front of him.

"Sign it."

"This engagement is over."

Alexander blinked. Then frowned.

"What are you pulling now?"

"You know my mother has always approved of you as her daughter-in-law. She'd never agree to us dissolving cancel the bonding ceremony"

"You're doing this just so my mom comes back and scolds me, right?"

Hearing that, I almost laughed.

So he still remembered he had a mother.

Too bad he'd never see her come back to yell at him again.

I looked at him. Voice soft.

"Your mom is never going to yell at you again."

Alexander's expression shifted. "What do you mean?"

"Go home and see for yourself."

He waved me off, annoyed. "Stop being cryptic."

"So your mom died. How long are you going to keep making a scene about it?"

"Get out. I'm not dissolving the bond."

Claire's eyes went red right on cue.

"Selena, I'm so sorry..."

"I really didn't know your mother was allergic to moonfern. If I'd known, how could I have used that compound on her?"

Her shoulders trembled. Every word dripped with hurt.

"When she came in that day, I asked if there was anything I should be aware of. She didn't tell me a thing."

"I just followed standard treatment protocol. How was I supposed to know she'd have a reaction that severe?"

"I never meant to kill her."

She sounded so sincere. Like she was the real victim.

I looked at her. Inside, I was ice.

The person she was talking about was my birth mother, Margaret.

At least, that's what she believed.

She had no idea that the person who actually died at her hands was Alexander's mother, Isabella.

And the most absurd part was that Alexander didn't know either.

He thought Claire had killed my mother. That's why he was covering for her so desperately.

When he saw Claire crying harder, Alexander immediately pulled her into his arms.

"Don't cry. This wasn't your fault."

Then he turned his cold eyes on me.

"Selena, she's already explained everything. What more do you want?"

"She had no way of knowing your mother was allergic to moonfern. How could it be deliberate?"

"The woman's dead. How long are you going to hold on to this?"

I looked at him, and suddenly the whole thing felt laughable.

Every single time Isabella went for treatment, she told the healer about her moonfern allergy.

Even if she'd forgotten once, the temple's medical records would have it on file.

So Claire knew. And she added moonfern to the compound anyway.

And Alexander, not only was he making excuses for her, he'd taken Isabella's body, believing it was Margaret's, and handed it to Claire as a research specimen.

"Dead people can't feel anything."

"Letting Claire study her is the last value she has."

He'd said it like it was nothing.

I couldn't bring myself to imagine what would happen the day he found out that the body he'd surrendered, the one Claire had been dissecting, was his own mother.

When I didn't respond, Alexander spoke again, voice hard.

"I'm telling you, this thing with your mother ends here."

"Stop going after Claire. And don't think you'll squeeze another cent of compensation out of me."

I was quiet for a moment. Then I slid the dissolution contract across the desk again.

"Alexander, the bonding ceremony. I've already filed to cancel it."