Chapter 4

The next day, I arrived at the cabin separately from Leno.

Every vase in the cabin was filled with fresh roses—it used to be my favorite flower.

In the years Leno had been exiled from the pack, he had nothing to his name. Yet every morning, he would pick fresh roses to greet me with at the cabin.

When Leno saw me arrive, he excitedly said, "Flora, look what I brought you."

I walked into the cabin and revealed Elisa standing behind me. Her eyes were red-rimmed as she stood at the door, staring at Leno with grievance. Tears began streaming down her cheeks, and her tailored clothes made her protruding belly even more noticeable.

He slammed the door in Elisa's face in anger and sat across from me, breathing heavily.

"Why did you bring her here?" he demanded.

"She has something she wants to say to you," I said.

"I have nothing to say to her!"

Leno glared at me, panting hard. He was clearly furious at me.

I stayed silent and didn't respond.

After returning yesterday, Leno asked his Beta about what had happened over the past decade. Upon learning about Elisa, he immediately denied any intention to hold a mating ceremony with her.

He even found the moonstone brooch I once gave him and started wearing it whenever he went out.

When Elisa found out, she approached me this morning and asked to go to the cabin with me.

Of course, I agreed—after all, Elisa was my boss now.

Elisa sat on the grass outside the cabin, sunlight filtering through the forest and casting a glow on her face—her face almost seemed to glow.

I had to admit—she was truly beautiful. Especially the way she silently cried in the sunlight—it felt like I was looking at myself 20 years ago.

"Flora, look! I picked all these roses this morning. Do you like them?" Leno asked excitedly.

"Sorry, but I don't like roses anymore."

Ever since I learned of Leno's cheating, I had stopped liking roses.

His father had been the pack's Alpha. He seduced Leno's mother, had her bear his child, and only then told her he'd already had a Luna. After bringing them back to the pack, he ignored them completely.

Leno and his mother were left to suffer bullying in the pack.

He used to say he hated his father the most. He swore he would establish his own pack, become an Alpha, and stay loyal to his Luna forever.

But ironically, he had become the very thing he'd once despised.

His expression darkened with sadness, but he quickly collected himself and started talking to me again about the past.

Elisa sat just outside the window, perfectly centered—she only had to slightly turn her head to see him.

Leno kept his body turned away from her, but every time he got emotional, his gaze would involuntarily drift toward Elisa outside the window—his eyes full of unhidden admiration. After all, he was still in his 20s, and he hadn't yet learned how to hide his emotions.

Every day after that, Leno brought me all kinds of gifts to the cabin. Precious gemstones, rare weapons—every item had once been a promise he made to me in that very cabin.

I was the youngest daughter of the Black Wolf pack's Alpha. I had used the Black Wolf pack's resources to help him recruit talent and build his pack.

As such, he had promised to give me every gift in the world I ever wanted.

Yet the moment I refused to break our mate bond, he immediately turned to compete for the Black Wolf pack's resources.

When I questioned him, all I got in return was his condescending mockery and his disgusted gaze as I sobbed in front of him.

Elisa followed us every day, clearly seething with rage, yet always looking at Leno with tearful, pitiful eyes.

Leno's glances at her grew longer and longer, and the struggle and pity in his eyes became increasingly obvious.

I saw through his internal struggle—and so did Elisa. She looked at me smugly without saying a word, but the smile on her face said it all.

"Flora, what do you even have to compete with me?" she mocked.