บททั้งหมดของ Not His Destiny : บทที่ 21 - บทที่ 30

Luciana walks out without another word, her face tight and rigid. I can already tell this won’t end well.But it’s not my business.To me, Luciana is just another customer. She doesn’t control my world. I refuse to sit here imagining her running straight to Dante to report what happened. Right now, I’m too satisfied with the way I put her in her place.“Whoa,” Salvatore whistles behind me, reminding me I had an audience for that little scene.I turn and roll my eyes. “Don’t make it a thing.”I slip behind the counter. He follows, shrugging lazily.“I’m not making it a thing,” he says. “But you were saying something back there, hmm…” He taps his chin like he’s thinking hard.I stifle a laugh and lift my hands in surrender. “Okay, fine. I’m still hoping. Still willing to fight for this. What do you want from me?”He shakes his head and nudges my shoulder gently. “I’m just happy for you, Cici. Seeing you stand up for yourself like that…” He lowers his voice. “If Dante wouldn’t kill me fo

I was expecting the Puremoon Pack to storm onto our land in numbers, claws out and ready for blood. But nothing happened and no one came. No Dante either.He’s never around when I actually need him.I clean and disinfect Lia’s injuries, and send Mom to bathe and change. Then I sit on the edge of the bed and try to pull the truth out of Lia.“Tell me about the boy,” I start. “Cici!” Celeste shrieks from downstairs almost at the same time. “Where’s the food? It’s past dinner time. Are you trying to starve us?”She has a special talent for sounding like a spoiled child with no manners.I sigh and drop back onto the mattress, staring at the cracked ceiling.“You don’t have to go,” Lia says softly. One of her eyes is swollen shut. They really hurt her. All because of some boy.“Tell me already,” I snap, my patience thin. “What boy is this?” My anger comes out hotter than I intend. Lia flinches.“No one,” she mutters, shaking her head but my expression remains hard, and she can’t hold my g

We all stood by the boundary line dividing the Puremoon pack lands from Red Fang, waiting for Dante to come back with good news.I still haven’t told anyone about Mom’s part in this whole mess, and it’s really my fault. I should’ve locked the damn door. I don’t even know why I didn’t. The memory keeps circling around in my head.“Cici.” Elvira tugs on my sleeve.I’ve been deliberately ignoring her because I can’t handle one more thing right now. We left Lia and Mom at home. Lia’s bruises are dark and swollen, spreading ugly across her face. She won’t be able to go to school for days. And I’m terrified Rose and her little pack of vultures won’t let it go, that they’ll come looking for her, or worse.“Cici,” Elvira whispers again, tugging harder.“What?” I snap, whipping around to face her.She tilts her nose toward a small cluster a few yards away. I follow her gesture. Celeste, Andre, Bernard, and a handful of others huddle together, murmuring among themselves, heads put together. W

I go about my day like nothing happened. I don’t pack anything. I don’t even cook. I just shower, throw on clean clothes, and head straight to the restaurant. Today, the customers are scarce again. Just a few rogues drift in, here and there. The other pack wolves don’t show up at all, and this time, I know something’s wrong. Or rather I know exactly why.I sit there all day, lost in my thoughts. By closing time, pots of food sit untouched, steam long gone. With no other choice, I pack everything up and swallow another loss. I should be saving money, we’re going to need it now more than ever, but it keeps slipping through my fingers during these painfully slow days.Maybe this is what Robert tried to do before. Maybe someone finally succeeded in driving everyone away from my restaurant. All because I’m a rogue. Because I’m not Dante’s fated mate. It's always been like this, so I don’t know why it feels different now, why it bites deeper, why I feel like I’m slowly choking on it.As

The next two weeks are filled with people packing, selling their houses, their stores, and their farms to the Puremoon pack. They do it without joy, and the mood in the pack during the turning isn’t one of companionship. In fact, everyone goes their own way to turn and run wild under the cold moonlight, alone in the woods.Of course Dante follows my mom and me. It’s clear the hostility toward us is getting out of hand. Dante tries many times to explain that none of this is our fault and even swears death on anyone in the family who touches us. But just to be safe, he doesn’t let me or my sisters move around without either him or Salvatore close by.And obviously Dante and I aren’t speaking.When I came home in tears, shaking, my mom took me up to the attic room she shares with Lia and Elvira. She sat with me through the night as I recounted everything that happened. The quarrel with Celeste that sent me out of the house and walking the road to Dante's shop. The sight of him kissing L