Beranda / His Mate in One Life, His Regret in the Next / Bab 1 - Bab 9

Semua Bab His Mate in One Life, His Regret in the Next: Bab 1 - Bab 9

9 Bab

Chapter 1

After the banquet, Mother found me standing alone in a corner. Tears shimmered in her eyes."Tessa, I knew you were a good and sensible girl."I said nothing.All I could think about was my death in my previous life. Mother had received word that I was dying, yet she had refused to visit me even once.I looked up as Ivy approached. Nathan was still across the room, speaking with his father."I'm sorry, Tessa," she whispered, her eyes already red. "Mother told me about North Ridge. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have to go."When we were little, Pine Hollow was attacked by a rival pack. While escaping, my parents carried Ivy to safety but left me in the car.The attackers took me, then abandoned me beside a road when I became too much trouble. A kind human woman found and raised me.My parents only brought me home years later, when Pine Hollow's decline left them needing two daughters for two alliances. Otherwise, they might have forgotten me forever.Ivy covered her mouth and began

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Chapter 2

A knock sounded before Ivy entered wearing a silver circlet covered in moonstones and diamonds, the ceremonial crown of a future Luna. She turned in a circle, making her skirt flare around her."Look, Tessa. Nathan had this delivered for me. Do you think it suits me?""It's beautiful," I said with a nod.Mother appeared in the doorway and beckoned to her."Ivy, the kitchen made cannoli for you and Tessa."Ivy steadied her circlet as she walked over and leaned against Mother. Mother pinched her nose before offering me the plate."Why aren't you eating, Tessa? Isn't this your favorite dessert?"Cannoli was Ivy's favorite dessert. Mine had always been apple pie.Ivy called apple pie cheap human food and never let the cooks make it for me. For five years, I had eaten her desserts, drunk her wine, and worn her rejected dresses."I like apple pie," I said.Mother frowned in obvious disapproval."Tessa, you really should improve your taste. Cheap food like that has no place at an Alpha family

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Chapter 3

As the ceremony approached, Nathan visited more often, always claiming he had brought Ivy another gift. Yet whenever I looked up, I found his gaze lingering on me.One afternoon, he arrived with a box of apple pie that was still warm from the oven. He offered it to Ivy."I passed the bakery on my way here."Ivy frowned and pushed the box back."I never eat cheap human food."Nathan went still, then glanced at me without thinking.He had passed the shop and remembered how often I stared at apple pies in bakery windows. After becoming his mate, I baked them many times. He never tasted one.By the time he realized what he was doing, he had already bought the entire pie."If Ivy doesn't want it, you can have it," he said.He held out the box as if offering me something no one else wanted.I looked at it and lifted my chin toward the kitchen."You can ask a maid to put it in the food waste bin."Then I turned and went upstairs without looking at him again.Nathan stared at the box, probably

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Chapter 4

There were no flowers or decorations waiting for me that morning. My suitcase stood by the front door, where Mother had told me to leave it.“Come downstairs as soon as you're dressed,” she said. “We can't keep them waiting.”She left before I could answer. Through the open door, I heard her calling for someone to help with Ivy's veil.Nathan arrived while I was putting on my shoes. He asked where Ivy was, then hurried upstairs without waiting for the maid to show him.When I came out of my room, he was holding her in his arms.“You're going to crush my dress,” Ivy said, laughing.He loosened his hold but kept her hand in his.“Sorry. I just wanted to see you.”In our first life, this was the morning Ivy had left for North Ridge. By evening, she was dead. Nathan must have remembered too. He kept looking at her as she talked about their mating ceremony, smiling at everything she said.I went downstairs to collect my suitcase.“Tessa?”Ivy had seen me. She lifted her skirt and followed m

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Chapter 5

Nathan stayed in front of the open door, waiting for me to answer. Behind him, Ivy stood halfway down the drive with her veil caught over one arm. The guests had stopped pretending not to listen.“You have a ceremony to attend,” I told him. “Move, Nathan.”“We need to talk before you leave.”“You had twenty years to talk to me.” I kept my voice low enough that only he could hear. “Yesterday you told me not to ruin Ivy's happiness. Go back to her.”He flinched, but when I stepped toward the car, he reached for the door again. The driver moved between us.“Miss Arden has asked to leave, sir.”Nathan looked past him at me. I got into the car and gave the driver permission to close the door. Through the window, I could see Ivy take Nathan's arm. He pulled away from her and followed the car several steps before we turned out of the drive.The steward was waiting at the North Ridge estate when we arrived that afternoon. Beside him stood a man in his early thirties, dressed in black. I look

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Chapter 6

By morning, Nathan had left two messages asking whether I had known about Silas before I left Pine Hollow. I answered while waiting for the finance team to bring the invoices.【I learned about his father's death when I arrived. Silas and I have agreed to a thirty-day courtship.】His call came before I had put the phone down.“You agreed to stay with him?”“I've agreed to get to know him. What happens after that is my decision.”“Tessa, you met him yesterday.”“And I've known you for more than twenty years. Knowing someone longer doesn't make them a better choice.”He went quiet. I ended the call when the finance clerk knocked and put my phone away.Nathan had intended to tell himself he was worried about my safety. After hearing my answer, he could no longer quite believe it. He had been frightened when he thought I was marrying the old Alpha, but learning that Silas was young and healthy had brought him no relief.At breakfast, he asked for apple pie before remembering who was sittin

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Chapter 7

Two nights later, scouts found rogue wolves gathering near an abandoned quarry on the route supplied to Mason. North Ridge's guards surrounded them before dawn and arrested six men. At the estate, another guard detained the clerk who had approved the false invoices.The clerk's messages showed how he and Mason had divided the payments. Among them was an exchange about my journey north. Mason had sold the original route and escort arrangements before I requested the change. The rogues had waited on the eastern road while my convoy traveled by another route.Silas sent the evidence to Pine Hollow that morning. By noon, Father had confirmed Mason's detention. With his accomplice in custody and the payments documented, Mason admitted selling transport schedules and using false emergencies to draw guards away from the convoys.I read the report at the council meeting. The road, the payment arrangements, and the plan to separate a convoy from its guards all matched what I remembered of I

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Chapter 8

Nathan returned to Silver Moon with a copy of Mason's confession. For three nights, he barely slept. Whenever he read the account of the planned ambush, he remembered another detail from Ivy's funeral: the surviving guard's explanation, Tessa trying to speak, his own refusal to hear her.Other memories followed. He remembered finding her asleep at a desk after she had stayed up to finish work he had left her. He remembered the gifts he had never opened and the meals she stopped asking him to share. When she became ill, he had assumed she wanted his attention. He had not even called the doctor himself.He opened their current message history. His last warning before she left was still there, followed by the unanswered calls he had made on his wedding night. He began an apology and deleted it several times. In the end, he sent a request to visit her again. She answered that she was working and did not wish to see him.Ivy noticed him reading the reply. “You went north because of her,

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Chapter 9

On the final day of the courtship, representatives from Pine Hollow and North Ridge met to review the alliance proposal. Mother and Father arrived early. Silver Moon had also sent representatives to discuss restitution for the transport losses, and Nathan came with the completed investigation.Mother embraced me as soon as she entered the council chamber. “Tessa, we're so proud of you. Everyone has been talking about how you exposed Mason.”Father shook Silas's hand and said he had always known I would distinguish myself. Neither mentioned the message about his father's death that Pine Hollow had received after my departure. By then they had been told about the new proposal, my work with the finance team, and the position I had been offered. Mother had written twice to remind me how much the alliance meant to our family.“Once everything is settled, you can speak to Silas about the northern trade routes,” she said now. “Pine Hollow could use better terms.”I placed the deed to the a

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