Library

Home / His Wolf Chose Her, I Chose Goodbye / Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

Lahat ng Kabanata ng His Wolf Chose Her, I Chose Goodbye: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

11 Kabanata

Chapter 1

Serena quickly withdrew her hand, as though she had only just noticed the candles and anniversary cake on the table.“I’m sorry. Am I interrupting?” She lifted her phone with an apologetic smile. “I was supposed to have dinner with a colleague, but an emergency came into the clinic and he stood me up.”Rowan barely hesitated. “Since you’re here, join us.”I looked up at him. When we used to go on dates, even a server checking on us one time too many had annoyed him. Now he was already on his feet, pulling out the chair beside him for Serena.She did not sit immediately. Instead, she looked at me. “You don’t mind, do you, Maeve?”Rowan was still holding my hand, his thumb brushing lightly over my mate ring, as though inviting the woman who had saved his life to our anniversary dinner was too reasonable to debate.I looked at the wolf shadow behind him and shook my head. “I don’t mind.”Rowan called the server over and ordered grilled sea bass, wild mushroom soup, and a vegetable salad.

Chapter 2

Rowan stared at me for several seconds. His grip tightened sharply around my hand.“Because I invited Serena to dinner?”His wolf shadow tore itself away from the scent Serena had left behind and reappeared at my feet, pacing in agitation.“Maeve, there has to be a limit to jealousy. She saved my life in that avalanche. She is new to Northcliff and has no family here. What is wrong with me looking after her?”I said nothing.Rowan forced down his anger and softened his voice. “I handled tonight badly. I’ll book the restaurant again next week, and it will be only you and me.” He bent and kissed my fingertips. “What I feel for Serena is gratitude. You are my wife and the only mate I have ever acknowledged. No one can change that.”If I had not seen his wolf, perhaps I could have believed him. But it returned to me only when Rowan was afraid of losing me. Whenever a real choice had to be made, it still went to Serena.I lowered my eyes. “You’re right. I overreacted.”Relief loosened Rowan

Chapter 3

After Serena’s address was exposed, strangers lingered outside her home for days. Rowan moved her into the Alpha residence for her safety. He did not tell me until Pack Security was carrying her luggage into the west wing.“It’s temporary,” he said, pouring me a glass of water as if he were explaining an ordinary pack arrangement. “She’ll leave when the attention dies down. The west wing is near the safe room and has been empty for years. It won’t affect us.”I nodded. I would be gone in two days anyway.The house quickly filled with traces of Serena. White slippers appeared between ours in the entryway. Her clinic schedule was pinned beside our photograph on the refrigerator. The hallways sometimes carried the faint scent of her medicinal herbs, and the kitchen began timing dinner around her shifts.Rowan used to ask where I was the moment he came home. Now he first asked whether Serena had returned from the clinic. In the mornings, he drove her to work on his way to pack headquarters

Chapter 4

Rowan returned early the next morning and placed a dark blue gown in front of me.“The rescue foundation launches this afternoon. Word of yesterday’s incident has spread, and public relations wants us to appear together.” He paused, his voice gentling. “If you attend, I’m willing to let the conservatory matter go.”I stared at the gown that represented my position as Luna and almost laughed. He had opened my private space without consent, and Serena’s crew had destroyed my mother’s legacy. Yet he spoke as though they were generously forgiving my misconduct.I accepted the dress. “I’ll go.”It would be the last time I stood beside him as Luna of Northcliff.The launch was held at the foundation’s headquarters. A massive metal wolf emblem hung over the main stage against a set designed to resemble the avalanche site. Rowan held my hand as we entered, shielding me from the reporters and warning me to watch the steps.He still looked like the perfect mate.When Serena walked onstage as the

Chapter 5

Rowan returned the next morning with a prepared apology.My wrist was wrapped in thick gauze, and the wound behind my shoulder had throbbed all night. The family doctor had recommended stitches, but the guards had not been authorized to let me leave for the hospital.Rowan’s steps faltered when he saw the blood seeping through the bandage.“I used too much force last night,” he said hoarsely. “That was wrong. When the press conference is over, I’ll take you to the hospital myself.”I read the statement he handed me. It said that, driven by jealousy toward Serena, I had abused my Luna access to sabotage foundation equipment and create a serious public safety incident. Once I signed it, I would have confessed to everything.“Do you truly believe I did it?”Rowan looked away. “All the current evidence points to you.”“That wasn’t my question. Do you believe it?”Silence filled the room. His wolf shadow appeared between us, watching me restlessly but never coming to my feet.“What I believ

Chapter 6

The press conference began without Maeve.As the delay stretched on, reporters demanded to know whether the Luna’s absence was an admission that she had tried to hurt Serena and whether the Blackwood Pack intended to use Alpha authority to shield her from investigation.Rowan sat in the waiting room, growing angrier by the minute. He sent another message.[Everyone is waiting. Stop being difficult.]No reply came.Serena approached with reddened eyes.“Perhaps I should explain everything myself. Maeve acted impulsively. I don’t want the whole pack attacking her.”“This has nothing to do with you.” Rowan pressed his fingers to his temple. “She promised she would come.”For seven years, no matter how fiercely they argued, Maeve had always kept her word. Rowan waited for her to give in and clean up their conflict as she always had.Then pain ripped through his chest without warning.He doubled over as Maeve’s presence drained from the mate bond. The wolf inside him howled with such despai

Chapter 7

Serena arrived at the foundation with swollen, tear-streaked eyes.“I don’t know why she took Maeve’s pass. Maybe she was angry about the way Maeve treated me and wanted to defend me.”Rowan said nothing. He played the audio the technicians had recovered.Serena’s own voice instructed her assistant to arrange an accident that “wouldn’t really hurt anyone.” If the evidence led back to Maeve, the Pack Council would decide she was no longer fit to serve as Luna.All color vanished from Serena’s face. After a long silence, she clutched Rowan’s sleeve and began to cry.“I only wanted to stay beside you. I was the one who endured that night on the mountain with you. I dragged you from the snow. Can you honestly say you feel nothing for me but gratitude?”“Yes.” Rowan pulled his sleeve from her hand. “I have never loved you.”Serena stared at him. Then she laughed through her tears.“But I never forced you to doubt Maeve. I never ordered you to imprison her.” Her gaze held his. “Every time,

Chapter 8

I looked down at the wolf shadow by my feet.Seven years earlier, it had followed me down an entire street and convinced me that Rowan would always put me first. Now it had returned, but I felt no joy.Callum did not presumptuously step between us. He only asked, “Do you want me to stay?”“Yes.”At my answer, he remained beside me without trying to speak for me.I faced Rowan. “This is my home. I’m not going back with you.”The hope on his face went still.“I know what happened now. Serena arranged the accident, and I gave the evidence to the police. I’ll repair the conservatory and restore everything of your mother’s that can be saved.” He moved closer, urgency roughening his voice. “I will never doubt you again. No one will ever come before you. Maeve, we can start over.”“No.”I raised my bandaged hand. “Serena stole the pass and sabotaged the equipment. But you were the one who suspected me, injured me, restricted my freedom, and tried to force me to confess.”“She did not control

Chapter 9

When news of the investigation into Serena spread, public anger turned toward me. People accused me of using my former Luna status to punish the woman who had saved Rowan’s life. Abuse flooded the studio’s accounts, and two new clients suspended their contracts.The following day, Rowan called a press conference broadcast throughout the territory.He did not hide behind a public-relations officer. He stood alone before the cameras and released the access footage, the system data, and the recording of Serena instructing her assistant.A reporter asked, “If the evidence is this clear, why did you decide Ms. Quinn was responsible?”Rowan was silent for a moment. “Because I favored Serena.”“I did not investigate. I did not listen to my wife’s explanation. She was injured in the accident, yet I used an Alpha command to restrict her freedom and tried to force her to accept blame for something she had not done.”The room erupted.A Pack Council representative moved to stop the broadcast, but

Chapter 10

Serena’s case went to trial two months later.She admitted that she had ordered her assistant to steal my Luna access, but insisted that the falling emblem had been an accident. She asked Rowan, as the man whose life she had saved, to petition for leniency.At the hearing, she demanded through tears, “Have you forgotten what you promised in that ice cave? You said that if we survived, you would protect me.”Rowan met her gaze calmly. “I will repay the fact that you saved my life. Protection is not permission, and Maeve’s suffering will not be the currency of my gratitude.”He paid for Serena’s continuing medical care and basic living expenses, but refused to interfere with the court. She was convicted of sabotaging public equipment, stealing identity credentials, fabricating evidence, and making false accusations. Her healer’s license was permanently revoked, and after serving her sentence, she would be banished from Northcliff.Before she left the courtroom, Serena asked him one last

PREV

NEXT

I-scan ang code para mabasa sa App

DMCA.com Protection Status