보관함
검색
홈 / The Alpha’s Rejected Luna: His Regret / Chapter 7

공유

Chapter 7

작가: Cece West
I only needed him to grieve for my mother for one second.

But in that second, he was beside another woman, waiting for the results of their baby’s examination.

I hung up.

The staff member approached again and asked gently, “Should we still leave time for him to speak?”

I picked up the pen and crossed out that section.

“No.”

“And don’t include my mate’s name.”

Mom was buried in the town where she had been born.

The cemetery stood beside a pine forest.

On clear days, you could see the mountains in the distance.

After the funeral, I stayed until it grew dark.

I rested my forehead against the cold headstone.

Finally, I said the words I hadn’t dared say.

“Mom. I don’t want to be with him anymore.”

Wind moved through the treetops.

No one answered.

But slowly, I let go and stood up.

After returning to Blood Moon territory, I went straight to the Alliance clinic.

The doctor examined my mate mark, then reviewed my bloodwork.

“Are you sure you want to begin treatment?”

“Yes.”

“The treatment will gradually deactivate the mark and weaken your mate sense. You may experience pain, low-grade fevers, and temporary instability in your wolf form.”

I nodded.

She didn’t write the prescription immediately.

“Does your mate agree?”

“He’s already asked me to end the relationship twice.”

The doctor looked up.

I placed the two documents Jake’s lawyer had sent me on her desk.

She read them and was quiet for a moment.

“I’m not asking because he has the right to decide whether you receive treatment. Some Alphas react strongly when they feel the connection weakening. You need to consider your safety in advance.”

I gave a small smile.

“He probably won’t notice.”

Only after I said it did I realize the words no longer hurt.

The doctor gave me an information sheet and explained the medication and follow-up care step by step.

“Medication alone cannot permanently sever the bond. You’ll also need to formally reject it before an Alliance-recognized witness.”

“I know.”

“If your pack withholds your application, you can apply for a protected departure. But your pack membership, your position as Luna, and your mate bond are three separate things.”

“Then I’ll end all three.”

She looked at me for a long time.

Then she handed me an appointment slip.

I didn’t waste any more time.

Over the following days, I sold the house Mom had left me, dealt with my investments, and arranged long-term care for her grave through the cemetery office.

The real estate agent asked why I was in such a hurry to sell.

“I’m moving.”

“Where to?”

“I haven’t decided.”

It wasn’t a lie.

All I knew was that I couldn’t stay here.

The Alliance departure officer reviewed the documents I submitted.

Jake’s messages demanding that I publicly retract my evidence.

The notice suspending Mom’s doctor’s authorization.

The videos left behind by the people who blocked my gate.

The two documents demanding that I give up our mate relationship.

She didn’t promise to punish anyone for me.

She only asked whether I needed assistance leaving safely.

I said yes.

When the approval arrived, I sat in Mom’s empty house and stared at it for a long time.

It stated that I could complete my departure formalities at the designated crossing without further clearance from my original pack.

At midnight, the Alliance registry would cancel my pack membership.

And I had already scheduled a witnessed bond severance before my departure.

Jake was still waiting for me to bow my head.

I had finally obtained something that didn’t require his permission.

***

After I signed the blood oath and left the pack house, the taxi didn’t take me straight to the airport.

First, I went to an Alliance office outside the territory.

The elder on duty verified my identity and led me into a quiet room.

There was no altar.

No crowd of witnesses.

Only a glass of water, a box of tissues, and documents on the table for me to confirm.

He asked whether I was being coerced.

I said no.

“Do you understand that once the bond is severed, your former mate will no longer be able to track your location through it or establish a mate link with you?”

“I understand.”

“And is this still your choice?”

I looked out the window.

In the distance, the lights of Blood Moon territory stretched across the hillside.

Every year I had lived there, I had believed I would grow old there.

“Yes.”

As I spoke the words rejecting Jake as my mate, my chest seized.

It felt like a thread buried deep in my flesh was being slowly pulled free.

I gripped the edge of the table.

For a moment, my vision went black.

The elder didn’t rush me.

He only placed the water within reach.

The medication had weakened the bond.
이 작품을 무료로 읽으실 수 있습니다
QR 코드를 스캔하여 앱을 다운로드하세요
이전 챕터 다음 챕터

최신 챕터

  • The Alpha’s Rejected Luna: His Regret   Chapter 40

    I lowered my head.At last, the tears fell.“I still miss you so much.”“Sometimes, when I finish cooking, I reach for an extra bowl without thinking.”“And I still want to call and ask what to do when the sheep won’t eat.”I wiped my face with the back of my hand and gave a small laugh.“Though you probably wouldn’t know, either.”The wind stirred the paper around the flowers.I sat there for a long time.No calls came in.No one told me to hurry back.No one needed me to manage their feelings first.Before leaving, I took out a photograph and held it in front of her headstone.In it, I stood on my own porch, my hair blown loose by the wind, holding a lamb that had escaped through the fence.Beth had called my name just before taking the picture.I hadn’t had time to arrange my face.I had simply laughed.It wasn’t a polished photograph.There was mud on my shoes.My sleeves were rolled to different heights.Behind me sat a pile of feed I hadn’t finished unpacking.But I loved it.“Th

  • The Alpha’s Rejected Luna: His Regret   Chapter 39

    I sat in front of her and slowly told her about the past year.I told her I’d bought a ranch.It wasn’t big, but it got wonderful sunlight.I told her about my neighbor, who was very direct and had informed me on her first visit that my sheep might be smarter than I was.I told her about the young French man I’d hired.He had been a good worker with an equally good appetite. Now he was interning at a much larger ranch.I told her I’d learned to repair a small section of fence.Though Beth hadn’t trusted it and had gone to check it again the next day.I laughed at that.Wind moved through the pines with a soft rustle.I paused.“Mom, I didn’t go back with Jake.”My eyes still burned when I said it.Not because I felt guilty.Because I could finally sit in front of her and tell her what I had truly chosen.“I know you used to love him.”“I did, too.”“But I don’t want to make excuses for him anymore.”I touched her name on the headstone.“And I don’t want to spend the rest of my life hat

  • The Alpha’s Rejected Luna: His Regret   Chapter 38

    He had lost a lot of weight.His once carefully styled hair had been cut short.His jacket looked worn. The sleeves were rolled back, exposing his wrists.When someone came to buy apples, he looked up and told them the price in an even voice.No one called him Alpha.No one rushed to explain themselves when he frowned.He handed over the change and said thank you.I watched for a while from behind the flower shop’s window.My chest didn’t suddenly tighten.There was no sense of victory, either.Only the clear realization that the man I’d once believed I could never escape was now simply someone making a life by the side of a road.He had lost his power because of what he’d done.Losing his legs was a separate act of violence. It wasn’t something to celebrate.The two things didn’t need to be confused.I didn’t have to save him.I didn’t have to watch him suffer to prove I’d survived.The florist wrapped my white roses and asked whether they were a gift.“For my mom.”“Would you like a

  • The Alpha’s Rejected Luna: His Regret   Chapter 37

    Before summer, Lucas finished his courses.He was offered an internship at a large ranch and came to tell me, hesitant.I was happy for him.“Of course you should go.”“What about this place?”“I’ll hire someone else.”He looked a little disappointed.“You answered too quickly.”I laughed.“Should I have started with, ‘What will I do without you?’”He considered that seriously.“You could say it once.”“All right.”I cleared my throat.“What will the storage shed do without you?”He finally laughed.Before leaving, he organized all my tools and wrote a simple maintenance checklist.He even made a special note about the sheep most likely to squeeze through the fence.“Don’t trust it just because it looks innocent.”I promised I wouldn’t.After he left, the yard was quieter for a little while.I didn’t feel abandoned.Someone could come into my life, do good things, leave warmth behind, and then go on to follow his own path.It could be that simple.A relationship didn’t have to last for

  • The Alpha’s Rejected Luna: His Regret   Chapter 36

    In spring, I planted a small herb garden behind the house.At first, it was a mess.Beth came over, took one look, and told me I’d crowded together plants with entirely different watering needs.No wonder none of them were happy.I crouched in the dirt with a hand trowel and started separating them.She stood beside me, giving instructions.Lucas passed and asked whether we were having a meeting.“An emergency meeting,” Beth said. “About Susan’s gardening skills.”I laughed and threw a glove at him.That evening, Claire arrived for a visit of a few days.She looked thinner than she did on video.When she saw me, she held me for a long time.Then she stepped back and looked at me.“You really are different.”“How?”She thought about it.“You used to talk like you were waiting for someone’s permission.”I stood by the door, momentarily still.At the main house, I had been so used to watching Jake’s face.If he approved, I continued.If he frowned, I began wondering what I’d done wrong.S

  • The Alpha’s Rejected Luna: His Regret   Chapter 35

    I held the phone without speaking for a long time.Once, he had shielded me from those boys in the snow. His ribs had broken, but he hadn’t let go.Later, he had stood so far above everyone that he thought no one could touch him.Now all of those images belonged to the past.I felt no satisfaction.I didn’t want to visit him, either.My attorney asked if I wanted him to pass along a message.“No.”After hanging up, I stood in the kitchen and listened to the faint metallic sounds of the tray cooling.Lucas knocked twice at the door.“Can I come in?”“Yes.”He smelled the bread and smiled.“Did I come at exactly the right time?”I handed him the knife.“Go ahead.”He washed his hands, then carefully cut the loaf into even slices.I watched for a moment.Suddenly, I remembered Jake’s first time in our kitchen, years ago.My mother had asked him to slice the bread.He had kept his head down, so afraid of getting it wrong.My eyes burned.Lucas noticed. His hands slowed.“Did I do something

더보기

다른 추천

좋은 소설을 무료로 찾아 읽어보세요
GoodNovel 앱에서 수많은 인기 소설을 무료로 즐기세요! 마음에 드는 작품을 다운로드하고, 언제 어디서나 편하게 읽을 수 있습니다
앱에서 작품을 무료로 읽어보세요
앱에서 읽으려면 QR 코드를 스캔하세요.
DMCA.com Protection Status