Chapter 3
932 Words
I hadn’t even made it to the door before someone grabbed my wrist.
“Stop.”
“Let go.”
“I said no!” The force of Alpha command shook the entire room until the walls seemed to hum.
Nadia sobbed beside him. “Kieran, she just wants some air…”
“Stay out of this.” His eyes were locked on me. “Sera, what the hell do you want?”
“To take Lila up the mountain, find a sunny slope, and bury her there.”
“And then what? You’re done with me? Done with becoming Luna?”
“I am.”
He gave a cold laugh, pulled a black card edged in silver from his pocket, and shoved it into my hand.
“There’s half a million dollars on it. Lila’s illness can’t wait. Overseas blood-purification therapy costs three hundred thousand. You could sell blood until you die and still never scrape together enough. Take it. The password is your birthday.”
I stared at the card.
Then I laughed.
“Kieran, when is my birthday?”
His face changed.
“You don’t remember,” I said softly. “The card you gave me three years ago used Nadia’s birthday as the password, not mine.”
“That was because hers was easier to remember—”
He stopped halfway, freezing at his own words.
“So what about this card?” I asked. “Is the password hers, or mine?”
The room went so quiet I could hear Nadia’s fingers curl into the blanket.
“Kieran, let’s sever the Mate Bond.”
His pupils shrank to pinpoints.
“Have you lost your mind? Do you know what that means? It’ll tear your soul apart. Your wolf will fall into hibernation. You’ll never find another destined mate for the rest of your life!”
“And me?” His voice cracked. “Did you ever think about me?”
“I did. Every single day for three years.” I looked at him. “You were the one who never thought about me.”
“I’ve already been living alone.”
I lifted my eyes to his.
“In these past three years, was there a single day when you treated me like your mate?”
“You treated me like a guilty wolf. Like a pawn you could throw away whenever you wanted.”
“My sister died, and it hurt. But all you ever asked was when I’d pay off the blood debt.”
“I didn’t hurt Nadia.”
I had said those words for three years.
One thousand and ninety-five times.
He gripped my chin.
“Say that again.”
“I. Did. Not. Hurt. Nadia.”
His hand froze in midair.
That was when I saw the dark red leather cord around his wrist.
The one I had bought with the first money I ever made selling blood.
He had worn it for three years.
Never once taking it off.
So he was willing to wear anything from me.
Just not believe me.
I pried his fingers away one by one and held the wooden box tighter.
“I don’t want to repay anything anymore. I just want to take Lila home.”
This time, he didn’t stop me.
Nadia said softly, “Let her go. She’s just overwhelmed.”
Overwhelmed.
What a perfect word.
My sister was barely cold in the ground, and to Nadia, I was simply being dramatic.
“Sera.”
Kieran spoke behind me, his voice quiet.
“If… if Lila really is dead, I’ll help you arrange the funeral.”
“No need.”
I didn’t look back.
“Kieran, for the rest of my life, I don’t want to owe you a single thing.”
Outside, in the wind and snow, Ethan draped his coat over my shoulders.
“I’ll go with you.”
“No. Thank you for catching me at the bottom of the cliff. Thank you for taking care of Lila for me. But the rest of this road… I want to walk it alone.”
Something flickered in his amber eyes.
“All right. Come back whenever you need to.”
Holding Lila, I walked up the mountain step by step.
The old wound in my knee tore open again.
Blood seeped into the snow, leaving a red bloom with every footprint.
I walked until dawn.
Until I reached the sunny slope.
I knelt and dug through the frozen earth with my bare hands, bit by bit, until two of my nails split.
The small hole was just big enough for the wooden box.
“Lila, we’re home.”
I covered it with soil and patted it firm.
Then I took out my phone and looked one last time at the message she had left me.
[Sis, stop kneeling for them.]
Okay.
Your sister will listen.
“You said you still owed me one trip home. Now we’re both home. We don’t have to keep walking anymore.”
I cried until my throat went hoarse.
Leaning against the stone beside her grave, I watched the sun climb over the mountain.
Light fell across the snow, bright and glittering.
“Lila, from now on, I’ll stay here with you.”
Behind me, a line of controlled, heavy footsteps pressed into the snow.
Like a wolf pack closing in.
I turned around.
Alpha Kieran stood at the foot of the slope with every warrior of the Blood Moon Pack behind him.
“Sera. Good. You’re here.”
“Come back with me.”
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD