Chapter 2
942 Words
The fall lasted longer than I expected.
My shoulders, back, and knees slammed into the cliffside over and over again.
The pain stole every sound from my throat.
Then—
Thud.
I crashed into something soft.
Snow.
Not a sheer drop.
A massive snowbank piled against the mountain.
My body rolled downhill until a stunted pine tree finally stopped me.
Someone dug me out of the snow and lifted me onto their back.
“Sera! Can you hear me?”
As consciousness slipped away, I recognized half of a familiar face.
When I opened my eyes again, a patchwork tin roof filled my vision.
A diesel heater rumbled loudly in the corner.
“Don’t move.”
Healer Ethan entered carrying a steaming bowl of wolfsheart herb tea.
Six years had passed, and he looked almost exactly the same.
Sun-bronzed skin.
Light amber eyes.
Ethan was the healer at Silvermoon Town’s Lone Wolf Refuge.
He was also an old friend from the orphanage.
Three years ago, after the Rogue attack, he had been the first person to reach the bottom of the cliff.
“You’re lucky.” He checked my injuries. “The snowbank broke your fall.”
“Three cracked ribs. Dislocated left shoulder. And your old knee injuries have reopened completely. Two infections, too.”
He frowned.
“When was the last time you changed those bandages?”
I said nothing.
After Lila got sick, I hadn’t dared spend a single dollar on myself.
The door burst open.
A young warrior rushed in.
“Ethan! Alpha Kieran brought fifty warriors and sealed off the mountain. They’ve surrounded this place too!”
“Tell them she isn’t here.”
Ethan’s voice remained calm.
Then he turned back to me.
“Sera. Tell me what happened.”
“Lila died.”
“I know.”
A shadow crossed his face.
“She listed me as her emergency contact. I handled everything afterward.”
He reached beneath the bed and pulled out a small unfinished wooden box.
LILA.
The name was written across the lid in crooked red marker.
“She went to compare prices herself.”
His voice softened.
“She said to pick the cheapest option. She didn’t want to make things harder for her sister.”
My nails dug into my palms until blood welled up.
The box was so light.
Light as a kitten.
When she was alive, she always complained she could never gain weight.
Now—
I could carry all that remained of her in one hand.
Ash whimpered inside me.
Lila had been the last child to arrive at the orphanage.
The older kids bullied her constantly.
I used to stand in front of her and tell her:
You’ve got me now.
From that day on, she called me “Sis.”
Years later, when I was eighteen, I met Kieran at the pack’s Bonfire Festival.
The scent of pine and cedar hit me like a storm.
Ash went absolutely wild inside my head.
MATE! MATE!
He crossed the crowd and walked straight toward me.
Those crimson eyes were impossibly bright.
“I found you,” he said.
I thought I had found my home.
Turns out even the Moon Goddess can make mistakes when she writes the names of destined mates.
A furious voice came from outside.
“Ethan! Hand Sera over!”
“She’s not here.”
“Bullshit! I tracked her scent all the way to your door. You think I’m blind?”
The door flew open.
Kieran stormed inside, eyes redder than the Blood Moon itself.
His gaze landed instantly on the wooden box in my arms.
“What’s that?”
“Lila.”
For a fraction of a second, he went still.
Then he laughed.
“What, last time it was the foster mother. This time you brought props?”
He strode toward me.
“Let me see your latest act.”
He reached for my wrist.
“Kieran, please.” Nadia was wheeled into the room by a maid, tears already shining in her eyes. “She’s just grieving…”
Then she looked at the box.
“Sera, put that away. Pretending it’s your sister’s ashes isn’t fair to Lila.”
“It’s real.”
Nadia’s expression crumpled.
“You can’t joke about family like this…”
She grabbed Kieran’s sleeve.
“Kieran, she keeps staring at me. I’m scared.”
“Sera.”
His voice turned cold.
“Apologize to Nadia.”
I laughed.
Actually laughed.
“My sister’s ashes are in my arms.”
“And you want me to apologize to her?”
“I’m not making a scene.”
“For three years, every time I knelt, I chose to kneel.”
“But I’m done.”
“Lila sold blood to help pay the blood debt you demanded from me.”
“She got Silverblood Syndrome from those silver-coated needles.”
“She died alone.”
I looked him straight in the eye.
“Kieran, one apology isn’t enough to repay what you owe me.”
The room fell silent except for the drone of the heater.
“Enough.”
His voice lowered.
“I’ll pay the medical bills. The funeral costs too.”
He paused.
“But first—apologize. Then come back with me and we’ll hold the Bonding Ceremony.”
“No.”
I climbed out of bed, holding the wooden box carefully against my chest.
“I’m taking Lila up the mountain.”
“She always wanted to see the snow.”
Outside the window, the eclipse had reached its darkest point.
The entire sky looked like a giant eye closing shut.
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