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Chapter 3

ผู้เขียน: Ethereal
When I returned from the Moon Council, Ronan was on the phone in his study.

“It’s fine. Just be more careful next time.”

His voice was unusually gentle.

“You’re still learning Pack affairs. Mistakes happen. Stop apologizing, Lydia.”

He ended the call and noticed me in the doorway.

“When did you get back?”

“Just now.”

I placed my bag on the sofa.

“What mistake did Lydia make?”

“She submitted the wrong meeting report. It’s already handled.”

“You suspended a patrol officer for a week when he filed the wrong border report last month.”

“That was different.”

“How?”

Ronan set down his phone.

“What are you trying to say?”

“I want the truth about your relationship with her.”

“She’s my assistant and my late friend’s sister. I promised to look after her. That’s all.”

“Did protecting her require lying to me on our Bonding Anniversary?”

“She was upset.”

“So you canceled our dinner.”

“It was one dinner, Serena.”

“The dinner isn’t the issue. You chose to deceive me so you could be with her.”

Ronan stood.

“You keep treating Lydia like she’s trying to take something from you. She lost her brother and came to Blackridge alone. I’m giving her a little extra support.”

“I’m not competing with her.”

“Then why can’t you let this go?”

“Because I need to decide whether this bond is still worth staying in.”

Ronan stared at me.

“What are you talking about? You’re my fated mate. You’re the woman I love. Lydia is only my friend’s sister.”

“I’m a Moon Seer.”

His expression slowly changed.

“When I touch someone, I can see the people who hold the strongest emotional claim on their heart. It doesn’t always mean romantic love, but it reveals where their loyalty and attention are being pulled.”

For twenty-one years, I had seen only myself in Ronan’s heart.

I held out my hand.

“Let me look again.”

Ronan immediately stepped back.

“That’s enough. Moon Seers are a legend.”

“If you’re certain nothing has changed, why won’t you let me touch you?”

“I’m not afraid.” He avoided my eyes. “I refuse to participate in an absurd test.”

“That tells me enough.”

I lowered my hand.

Ronan frowned.

“Lydia has not replaced you. You have our Mate Bond, your position as Luna, and the respect of Blackridge. She has none of that.”

“I don’t care what titles I possess.”

I picked up my bag.

“I care whether my mate is honest and whether he still chooses our bond. A title cannot replace loyalty.”

“I told you I love you.”

“Your choices say something else.”

I left the study.

Ronan did not follow. He still believed a fated mate could never truly leave, so he did not recognize my words as a goodbye.

That night, a notice arrived from the Moon Council.

The petitions to dissolve the Mate Bond, withdraw from the Blackridge Pack, and renounce all Luna rights have been approved. All three will take effect tomorrow at eleven p.m.

I printed the notice and placed it inside my bag with the three documents.

Tomorrow night, I would leave them for Ronan with my six-week pregnancy report.

Ronan believed that because I was his fated mate, we had an entire lifetime to repair whatever he broke.

After eleven tomorrow night, he would never be able to say that again.
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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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