Chapter 2

Before leaving, there was only one person I wanted to say goodbye to. Once I did, nothing would keep me here.

“Back to visit Shelter Mother again, are you?” The keeper of Moonrest Cemetery recognized me and greeted me with a smile.

Every year around this time, I came to see Shelter Mother, the elder who had taken care of me at the rogue shelter. Every homeless wolf there had called her Mother.

I placed a bouquet of moon lilies before her grave.

“Shelter Mother, I’m leaving.”

A gentle wind brushed past me, and the woman in the photo still looked as kind as ever.

I left Moonrest Cemetery and wandered through the streets without direction. Sweetness drifted from the bakery nearby, and I suddenly remembered the cakes Drake used to buy me long ago.

They had only been cheap cream cakes, but back then they had tasted truly sweet.

My phone began vibrating nonstop.

“Happy birthday.”

It was a message from the Frostvale Pack, followed by a large moonstone transfer. Even when I refused to return, they still sent blessings on every holiday and special day.

Two hours earlier, Scarlett had updated her MoonNet feed with two movie tickets.

Without realizing it, I had walked to the old site of the rogue shelter.

It had been rebuilt into Luna Park and was still crowded even at night.

“Selene.”

Scarlett saw me and ran over, a smile hidden in her eyes.

“You’re here too? I was feeling upset today, so Drake insisted on bringing me out.”

Her sudden closeness made me uncomfortable on instinct.

Then a strange smile flashed across Scarlett’s face. She grabbed my hand and fell backward.

A motorcycle roared toward us and sent both of us flying.

From Drake’s angle, it looked exactly as if I had pushed her under the wheels.

Drake’s face darkened visibly the entire way.

Scarlett’s forehead and leg were bleeding heavily, but he never once looked at me, even though my face had gone pale. My right hand had been crushed under the motorcycle, and it no longer felt like part of my body.

When we were taken to the pack border healing ward, the healer told Drake there was only one healer on duty tonight.

“Treat Scarlett first. A girl can’t be left with scars,” Drake snapped the moment we arrived.

Scarlett’s forehead and leg looked frightening, but anyone with basic sense could tell they were only surface wounds.

The healer glanced at my twisted right hand and hesitated.

“Alpha Drake, we can treat Miss Scarlett’s injuries, but this young lady is hurt much more badly. If her hand is not treated in time…”

“Treat Scarlett first.”

Drake’s order allowed no argument.

My face had gone almost transparent.

If I lost this hand, I would never again be able to paint battle totems onto the fur of my wolf form. The markings strengthened a wolf in battle and belonged to the Frostvale bloodline, a secret craft my birth mother had only just begun teaching me.

Drake glanced at me impatiently.

“Selene, your wolf heals fast. What is a small injury like this to you? Stop pretending. Scarlett is only an Omega. She is much weaker than you, and she needs treatment more.”

It felt as if a silver blade had pierced straight through my heart.

He was right that my healing had once been strong.

A month ago, when the Moonfang Pack attacked Blackwood territory, I had burned through all my wolf energy to stand in front of Drake. I took a fatal strike from the enemy Alpha for him.

After that battle, my wolf energy was nearly drained and had fallen into a dormant recovery state. Even now, my healing ability was gone. I could not summon even a trace of wolf power.

This injury was no different from one suffered by an ordinary human.

But he had forgotten.

He had forgotten all of it.

He only remembered that Scarlett was an Omega, weak and in need of protection.

He had forgotten who took the claw for him under the full moon. He had forgotten whose wolf energy was still asleep, slowly trying to repair itself.

Scarlett dragged her “injured” body toward him and leaned weakly against his chest.

“Drake, can I be treated first? My hand hurts so much…”

“Selene, why do you keep targeting Scarlett?”

Golden wolf-light began to rise in Drake’s eyes.

“Don’t forget, you were once a rogue. If I hadn’t taken you in, you would have died at the border.”

“From today on, Scarlett is my family. Don’t even think about hurting her again.”

“If not for you, she would never have been injured. Your skin isn’t even broken, so stop acting.”

He shoved me aside with one sweep of his hand.

I fell onto the cold stone floor, my right hand hanging at a twisted angle by my side.

Only then did he finally realize something was wrong.

“Selene… are you okay?”

I did not answer.

Not long now.

Soon I would be gone, and none of this would matter anymore.