Chapter 3

I was in too much pain to speak.

When I looked at Drake, a trace of despair finally rose in my eyes.

So this was what my future and my life were worth to him. Less than a scratch on Scarlett’s skin.

Fortunately, the head healer arrived in time, so Drake no longer had to choose.

The moment the healing ward doors closed, whatever remained between us felt as if it had been cut clean.

From then on, we owed each other nothing.

When I woke, Drake was standing beside my bed with a cold expression.

“Awake? Scarlett needed more than a dozen stitches. None of this would have happened if not for you. Her room is upstairs. When you feel better, go apologize to her.”

I looked at him as if he were a stranger.

“I did nothing wrong,” I said quietly, while my heart sank little by little.

“If you refuse to apologize, don’t come back to the territory. And there is no need for another marking ceremony.”

After saying that, Drake left in anger.

He never noticed that his threat no longer had the power to hurt me.

He still thought I was the homeless rogue he had picked up from a human town three years ago. He still believed Blackwood territory was the only place I could survive.

He did not know that three days ago, the Alpha and Luna of the Frostvale Pack had already found me.

He did not know that the private pack flight waiting for me was not an exile.

Because the treatment had been done in time, I could move once my hand was set. Drake never came to my room again. He even pulled the healer away, waiting for me to surrender first.

A bitter smile touched my lips.

I changed my private pack flight back to the Frostvale Pack to noon the next day.

Late that night, my healing ward door opened.

Scarlett walked in with gauze still wrapped around her hand, but the smile on her face was one I had never seen before.

She slowly came to my bedside and looked down at me.

“Selene, still awake?”

Her voice was as soft as moonlight, but the malice in her eyes was almost overflowing.

“Then again, with a broken hand, how could you sleep?”

I said nothing and only looked at her.

Scarlett sat down in the chair beside my bed and crossed her legs.

“Do you know Drake stayed in my room all night?”

“He said his heart hurt whenever he looked at me. He said I was too weak and needed someone to take care of me.”

She tilted her head and smiled at me.

“You were injured this badly. Did he come to see you even once?”

My fingers curled slightly, but my face showed nothing.

“I figured it out a long time ago,” Scarlett said, leaning closer and lowering her voice.

“As long as I look weak and pitiful enough in front of Drake, he will always choose me.”

“So what if you block attacks for him? So what if you get hurt again and again?”

“You don’t cry. You don’t make a scene. He doesn’t even see you.”

She stood and patted my blanket, her tone light as if she were discussing the weather.

“Oh, right. Drake said once you’re better, he’ll send you away.”

“He said my emotions have been unstable lately, and I can’t be upset.”

“So you leaving sooner would be better for everyone.”

When she reached the door, she turned back again and looked at the cast on my hand.

“One more thing. Can that hand of yours still paint?”

“If it can’t, then what do you even have left?”

Her smile deepened.

“No family. No pack. No completed mark. Not even the one skill that made you useful.”

“Selene, without Drake’s protection, where can a rogue like you go?”

The door closed softly behind her.

The room fell quiet again.

I stared at the ceiling and swallowed every word Scarlett had said.

Scarlett thought she had cursed me.

But every word only made me calmer.

Because the homeless rogue she was mocking no longer existed.

At noon the next day, even with a thick cast on my hand, I boarded the private pack flight to Frostvale territory without looking back.