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Three Wolves, Three Pearls, One Goodbye
Three Wolves, Three Pearls, One Goodbye
Bruce

Chapter 1

Bruce
Only three days remained before my eighteenth coming-of-age.

I lifted my skirt. Beneath the skin at my ankles, a few tiny silver scales had already surfaced.

By the fate of the merfolk, if no land-bound mate fed me a Tide Pearl on my coming-of-age day, my legs would fuse together into a tail forever, and I would never set foot on dry earth again.

The three Tide Pearls my mother had left behind on her deathbed had once been treasured and separately guarded by Alpha Lucas, Beta Kane, and Gamma Aiden.

They had stood before the entire pack, eyes red with rivalry, fighting for the right to be the one to feed me the pearl.

But before my coming-of-age day even arrived, not a single one of those three pearls—the ones that could keep me on land—remained.

They had all been given away, one by one, to the lone wolf mother who had arrived at the pack three months ago with her pup—Chloe.

And my heart had already gone cold through it all.

I removed the deep-sea conch pendant from my neck and reached out to my brother Sebastian, far away in the deep sea:

"Brother, come to the base of the sea cliffs on my coming-of-age night. Take me home."

I put the conch away, and just then the cabin door swung open.

Gamma Aiden walked in carrying a bowl of steaming herbal broth.

Aiden was the youngest chief healer in the pack.

He hurried to the bedside, brought the broth to my lips, and gently blew on it:

"Evelyn, drink your brew. I added licorice for the chill—once you drink it, your legs won't hurt anymore."

Seeing me still silent, he frowned slightly, then reached out to smooth the hem of my skirt:

"Still sulking with us over the Tide Pearl?"

"Evelyn, I am the chief healer. This whole business about pearls turning you into a tail—it's nothing but psychological suggestion from old sorcery."

"Besides, you've leaned on us since you were a child. You can barely take a step without us. How could you ever bear to leave the Silverwood Pack?"

I looked down at the faint ripples in the bowl and said nothing.

In my mind, unbidden, the day the first Tide Pearl was destroyed surfaced again.

That was three months ago, when Chloe came forward with a bloodstained wolf badge, claiming her late husband had died in the avalanche trying to save Lucas and the other two.

From that day on, they treated Chloe and her son as their closest kin.

Half a month ago, late one night, Leo suddenly spiked a fever and began convulsing, barely able to breathe.

Chloe knelt on the floor clutching the child, sobbing her heart out, yet saying:

"I heard deep-sea Tide Pearls have miraculous healing powers, that they can cure any illness..."

"Never mind... Leo's life isn't important. Evelyn still needs her pearl. We absolutely must not delay her important affair."

Aiden, who guarded the first Tide Pearl, looked frantic.

Lucas and Kane urged him from the side:

"Leo is the orphan of our savior. We cannot stand by and watch him die!"

"Besides, there are three pearls. Kane and I still have ours. Evelyn only needs to eat one!"

Aiden looked at my pale face. A flicker of guilt passed through his eyes as he patted the back of my hand:

"Evelyn, be good. Losing this one won't hurt you."

"Saving a life comes first. Tomorrow, Kane will bring the second one."

Seeing me frozen in place with reddened eyes, Aiden, right in front of me, raised the stone pestle and brought it down hard.

With a sharp crack, the first Tide Pearl my mother had left me shattered into white powder, which he stirred into warm water and fed into Leo's mouth.

"Evelyn?"

Aiden's gentle voice pulled me back to reality.

Seeing my cold expression, he ruffled my hair and coaxed me with a smile:

"Drink your brew. Don't let your thoughts run wild."

"When you were little and the cold poison flared up, scales appeared on your ankles too. Wasn't it always me who pressed the brew down? This time will be the same."

"Once the coming-of-age ceremony passes and Lucas, Kane, and I settle the score, whoever becomes your mate will protect you for a lifetime of peace."

I didn't argue. I simply took the bowl and drained the bitter broth in one gulp.

Seeing me drink the brew, Aiden assumed I had forgiven them. He carried the bowl out, his steps light.

He left so reassured, so certain I could never leave them.

He didn't know that a person whose heart has died no longer has the strength to waste on arguing.
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  • Three Wolves, Three Pearls, One Goodbye   Chapter 9

    The deeper we swam into the deep sea, the gentler and calmer the surroundings became.I followed my brother Sebastian through the deep ocean trenches, the vast migrating whale pod swimming alongside us, their deep, long songs rippling through the currents.Buoyed by the seawater, the seventeen years of wind, frost, and agony suffered on dry land were smoothed away inch by inch in the deep sea's nourishment.We passed through glowing coral forests and returned to the majestic, vast Deep-Sea Court.The merfolk had long been waiting before the deep-sea stone palace. Seeing my brother and me return, conch horns sounded, and glowing fish gathered into flowing ribbons of light.Sebastian led me to the Tidal Sacred Spring at the center of the court.Warm spring water surged, washing away the last trace of wolf-pack scent from my body.The faint scars on my caudal fin healed completely, and the new silver scales gleamed with a cold luster.The elders of the court placed a crown carved from dee

  • Three Wolves, Three Pearls, One Goodbye   Chapter 8

    Lucas leapt from the high cliff rocks, crashing into the dark, furious waves of the deep sea.The heavy splash exploded across the bay, sending up a plume of white spray.Right behind him, Kane and Aiden, eyes red, jumped off the cliff without hesitation, crashing into the churning waves.Wolves have heavy bones and a natural fear of water, utterly unable to float in the deep-sea undercurrents.Cold seawater poured rapidly into their mouths and noses.Lucas's charred chest wound and the cuts on his wrist soaked in the seawater, blood quickly dispersing through the water.Kane's pierced right hand paddled weakly in the undercurrent, his wolf claws stiffening from the icy water.Aiden's lungs, burned by the poison grass, could not bear the underwater suffocation; he choked on water while coughing up dark red blood clots.But not one of the three tried to swim toward shore.In the rolling waves, they strained with all their strength, desperately swimming toward me.Lucas fixed his gaze on

  • Three Wolves, Three Pearls, One Goodbye   Chapter 7

    Sebastian's words shattered their last shred of hope.The three men collapsed kneeling in the freezing seawater, their faces indistinguishable between sea and tears.But they still did not leave the shore.Nor did I leave the bay immediately.After a mermaid comes of age and transforms, she must soak in the tidal springs of the coastal reef for three days to complete the shedding rite.Only by letting the Full-Moon Tide wash away the old skin and harden the new scales could my body withstand the tearing currents of the abyssal depths.Sebastian stood guard at the reef cave entrance with his trident, drawing a line for the merfolk and forbidding any wolf from coming a single step closer.Over those three days, a storm swept the coast.Fierce wind drove cold rain against the cliffs and the rocky beach.Lucas, Kane, and Aiden stayed by the rocks beneath the cliff without leaving, letting the rain wash over their wounds.Kane threw himself again and again into the cold pool's undercurrents

  • Three Wolves, Three Pearls, One Goodbye   Chapter 6

    Seeing the sleek silver tail unfurled beneath me, Lucas, Kane, and Aiden froze where they stood.This was the first time they had ever seen my true merfolk form.And the first time they truly understood that I no longer had legs, that I could never set foot on land again.Between them and me, our paths were destined to diverge forever.Lucas took a frantic step forward, wanting to rush into the water and grab my hand:"Evelyn... your legs..."Sebastian stepped out from behind the reef with his trident, the sharp gleam blocking Lucas and forcing him back to the shallows.Seeing this, Chloe trembled violently.She clutched at Lucas's trouser leg, crying:"Lucas! I know I was wrong—every fault is mine alone! But Leo is only five, he understands nothing, he's innocent! Please don't cast him out—punish me however you want..."Lucas raised his foot and kicked Chloe hard in the chest, his voice cold:"By my name as Alpha, I strip Chloe and her son of all status in the pack. They are exiled, l

  • Three Wolves, Three Pearls, One Goodbye   Chapter 5

    I swam into the tidal cave beneath the cliffs.Cold seawater washed over my body, gradually staunching the bleeding from the tears across my tail.My brother Sebastian was waiting by the rocks. He reached out and lifted me above the water, pressing deep-sea kelp against my battered caudal fin.Looking at my torn tail and the bruises across my back from the rocks, his eyes burned red:"Evelyn, you spent seventeen full years on land. Those three wolves swore back then they would protect you with their lives.""Yet in the end, not a single one of them fed you the pearl. They left you unable to ever stay on land again, and let you suffer such grievous wounds."The grievance and pain bottled up over three days finally burst their dams. I slumped across the cold rock, gripping my brother's arm, sobbing uncontrollably:"Brother... why did it turn into this...""They used to rather bleed themselves than let me suffer the slightest grievance... So why, the moment that woman appeared, did they a

  • Three Wolves, Three Pearls, One Goodbye   Chapter 4

    Midnight approached, and rain lashed the wooden windows outside, driven by howling wind.My leg joints issued waves of sour, aching creaks. Silver scales had densely covered both legs, and the edges of my feet had fully transformed into thin, cicada-wing fin membranes.Enduring the agony, I sat up from the bed and threw on that thin black cloak.Bracing against the wall, I moved inch by inch out of the cabin, toward the cliffside coast in the back hills.I only had to reach the sea cliff, and my brother would bring the whale pod to take me back to the deep sea.Yet just as I stepped onto the path behind the packhouse, the shrill horn of enemy attack suddenly sounded."Exiled wolves raiding the camp! Protect the pack!"Over a dozen vicious exiled wolves broke through the outer defenses and stormed deep into the pack.In the chaos, Chloe, who had been near the main hall, screamed and ran toward the back hills, running straight into me as I struggled along.Before either of us could react

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