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What I Saw When I Touched You
What I Saw When I Touched You
ผู้แต่ง: Ethereal

Chapter 1

ผู้เขียน: Ethereal
I had reserved a table at Mooncrest a month in advance for the third anniversary of our Mate Bond.

That morning, the werewolf hospital confirmed that I was six weeks pregnant. I placed the report inside a gift box, planning to tell Ronan over dinner.

At six, I changed into his favorite red dress. I had just put on one pearl earring when he called.

“Rogues were spotted near the northern border. I won’t be home tonight.”

“Is it serious?”

“Just a routine patrol.”

“But today is our Bonding Anniversary.”

He paused.

“I’ll make it up to you.”

Then he hung up.

It was the first time in twenty-one years that Ronan had ended a call before I finished speaking.

When Maya found out, she insisted on taking me to dinner.

We had barely parked outside another restaurant when I saw Ronan through the window.

A young woman sat across from him.

She was the second face I had seen in his heart that morning.

I was a rare Moon Seer. When I touched someone, I could see the people who held the strongest emotional claim on their heart. It did not always mean romantic love—but a face never appeared without a powerful attachment.

From the day Ronan and I met at seven, through our wolves recognizing each other at eighteen, to the night he marked me as his mate, I had always been the only face in his heart.

Until that morning.

When I adjusted his collar, another woman had appeared beside me.

I had blamed the vision on my pregnancy.

Now she was sitting in front of him.

There were no border maps or patrol reports on their table. Only two dinners and a half-eaten slice of cream cake.

A little frosting clung to the woman’s mouth. Ronan leaned across the table and wiped it away with his thumb.

He had once done that only for me.

Maya reached for her seat belt.

“I’m going inside to ask the Alpha if this is what he calls a border patrol.”

I caught her arm.

“Don’t.”

“He lied to you on your anniversary, and you’re going to let him?”

“I’m not letting anything go.”

My hand settled over my stomach.

For my child’s sake, I needed to know who the woman was and why Ronan had allowed her so deeply into his life.

This was the last chance I would give him—not to choose me, but to tell me the truth.

If he had already chosen to protect her at the cost of our bond, I would not compete.

I would leave.

Ronan returned to the Alpha Residence at eleven carrying red roses.

“I’m sorry about tonight. The border situation was more complicated than expected.”

He wrapped his arms around me from behind. He did not smell of pine or soil from the northern forest.

He smelled faintly of sweet cream.

“Did you handle the rogues?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“No.”

He looked directly into my eyes as he lied.

“Don’t be angry.” He kissed my hair. “You’ll always be my only mate.”

I took his hand.

The other woman’s face was clearer now. Mine had begun to fade.

It did not mean Ronan loved her.

It meant his guilt, attention, and need to protect her were beginning to outweigh his loyalty to me.

His phone lit up.

Thank you for tonight, Dom.

The message was from Lydia Ashford.

His personal assistant.

I did not confront him. Ronan assumed I believed his story and soon fell asleep with his arms around me.

The pregnancy report remained unopened on my dresser.

Tomorrow, I would go to the Pack Administration Center and meet Lydia myself.

If Ronan had made her his priority, I would leave her the Luna title too.

Then I would take my child and leave Blackridge for good.
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  • What I Saw When I Touched You   Chapter 11

    Two years later, the Moon Council certified me as one of its senior Moon Seers.I had participated in six negotiations between Packs, helped recover eleven missing young wolves, and evaluated several cases involving coercive mates.My jewelry brand had grown as well. I created a complete lunar cycle after New Moon, and I called the final collection First Light.The studio now employed twelve designers, most of them women who had left controlling Packs or broken mate relationships. I never asked them to turn pain into art. I only gave them a place where their work belonged to them. Some designed paired pieces, while others created single rings, pendants, and cuffs. Completion had no required shape in my studio.Maya brought three year old Lyra to the gallery on the last day of my First Light exhibition.Lyra ran around the central display, then pointed at a silver necklace."Mommy, why does this one have only one moon?""Because one is enough."She nodded as if she understood, then noti

  • What I Saw When I Touched You   Chapter 10

    After Lyra's first birthday, Ronan requested one private meeting through my representative.He had respected every Council restriction during the previous year. He had never appeared at my home or studio without permission, and he had never used his visits with Lyra to send private messages to me.I agreed to give him twenty minutes.We met in a conference room at Moon Council headquarters. Ronan arrived early. He had not brought flowers, gifts, or anything connected to our former Mate Bond.He had lost weight. Only a pale scar remained where my mark had once rested on his neck."Thank you for seeing me," he said."You have twenty minutes."Ronan studied me for a long moment."Lydia left Blackridge.""That was her choice.""I haven't blamed everything on her. I know I was the one who betrayed our Mate Bond."I said nothing."I believed that being fated mates meant you could never leave. I treated your patience as something I owned, and I called your pain jealousy. You told me that you

  • What I Saw When I Touched You   Chapter 9

    Seven months later, I gave birth to a daughter at the Silverpine werewolf hospital.She arrived five days early, but her cry filled the entire floor. The nurse placed her in my arms. Her small hand closed around my finger, and her silver gray eyes opened briefly before drifting shut again.I named her Lyra Vale.I chose Vale because it was the name I had been born with, not because I wanted to erase Ronan from her life. His identity remained on her bloodline record. I simply refused to let the first word attached to my daughter be the name of a Pack that had nearly cost her life.Maya waited outside the delivery room and cried harder than I did when the physician announced that we were both safe. She entered with white tulips and immediately denied it."I was not crying. The disinfectant irritated my eyes.""I can't smell any disinfectant.""It was here earlier."I decided not to expose her lie.Under Moon Council regulations, my representative sent Ronan the health report, bloodline r

  • What I Saw When I Touched You   Chapter 8

    I did not return to Blackridge for the Mate Bond dissolution hearing.My attorney submitted the hospital records, Ronan's false border schedule, the Moon Lake photograph, and our communication history. The evidence showed that Ronan had repeatedly abandoned a medical appointment after learning I needed him and had made himself unreachable while I faced a threatened miscarriage.He requested another meeting before the hearing.I selected No on the response form.Maya watched me sign it from the sofa in my studio."You don't want to see him regret everything?""No.""You loved him for most of your life.""That is why I know what he would say. He would talk about our twenty one years together, our fate, and how he never meant to hurt me." I handed the form to my representative. "None of that changes the fact that I protected our child alone in a hospital."I was not responsible for teaching Ronan why he had been wrong.The hearing lasted three hours.My attorney called after it ended and

  • What I Saw When I Touched You   Chapter 7

    The Luna Office officially closed during the third week after Serena left.The medical program for young wolves lost its director, and two assistance programs with neutral Packs were suspended. Blackridge did not collapse, but its members finally saw how much responsibility Serena had carried.Reports that once arrived organized on Ronan's desk began to pile up. Two partner Packs demanded new negotiations because Serena had personally built the agreements, and her departure had weakened their trust in Blackridge.Several families also requested transfers to Silverpine. They did not accuse Ronan of abusing them, but they no longer trusted an Alpha who had ignored his pregnant Luna's medical crisis. Ronan approved every request because refusing them would only confirm their fears.A Pack Council elder confronted Ronan during a meeting."Alpha, when will you appoint a new program director?"Ronan looked at the empty Luna seat and gave no answer.Lydia entered his office after the meeting

  • What I Saw When I Touched You   Chapter 6

    A physician examined me again on my second day in Silverpine."The baby is stable," she said as she put away the monitor. "The dissolution may continue to affect you for some time. You cannot shift, and you must avoid any intense emotional pressure from the former Mate Bond.""The Moon Council has blocked his calls through the Bond.""Good. You need rest more than anything else."Maya rented an apartment for me in the center of Silverpine. It was not large, but the windows overlooked a public garden. Young wolves played downstairs every day, and sunlight crossed the living room from morning until late afternoon.I placed my clothes in the wardrobe and stored the pregnancy reports and Council documents in the bottom drawer of my desk.I kept only the possessions that had belonged to me before Blackridge or that I had chosen for myself. I left the ceremonial Luna jewelry behind. Those pieces had never been gifts in the ordinary sense. They belonged to an office I no longer intended to ho

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