Goodbye, My Alpha. I’m Gone

The Silvermoon Pack and the Shadow Pack had clashed in a fierce battle seven years earlier, and my brother, Sean, died a hero's death in that fight, giving his life to save Kieran, our Pack's heir. Today marked the seventh anniversary of Sean's death, so I prepared his favorite roasted rabbit legs and set off for the cemetery to bring them to his grave, but as I passed by the tavern within our territory, I could hear a lot of noise coming from inside. My hearing and sense of smell were both unusually sharp, so I could hear voices inside discussing me. Someone said, "After all, Sean died saving you, and you gave your word that you would marry his sister. You have been stalling for years now. You have been putting this off for years, and Sofia is not getting any younger, so what is your real plan here?" The instant that sensitive topic came up, the whole place went completely quiet. Then, I heard Kieran's own voice, "Sofia doesn't even have a wolf spirit. How could a low-rank wolf like her, with no spirit at all, ever be my Luna? Once I've gone through with the alliance marriage, I'll just keep her somewhere on the side, and that'll be that. As for Sean, he was far too naive if he thought one life was enough to buy his sister that marriage. Honestly, what a joke." My entire body trembled, and I could not help stepping backward, and the dry branch beneath my foot snapped with a c***k. Right away, Kieran's voice came from inside the tavern, demanding, "Who is out there?" I clamped a hand over my mouth and turned to hurry away, tears streaming silently down my face. Once my figure had disappeared around the corner, the tent flap was pulled open, the empty space outside making Kieran frown slightly. He wrinkled his nose, unable to shake the feeling that a familiar scent was still hanging in the air. The others around him noticed and started teasing him with laughter, "You won't marry her, but the second you hear a noise outside, you go running to check. Are you afraid it might be Sofia?" They all burst out laughing at that, and Kieran went back inside with a scowl, while by that time, I had already made it back to my own home. On the way, I had been running so fast and so clumsily that I stumbled and fell, hitting my forehead hard against the ground. A sharp stone cut my skin and left a scar right across my brow. When I got inside and caught a glimpse of that wound in the mirror, the tears I had been holding back finally spilled over. Seven years earlier, Sean had ended up with a very similar mark on his forehead after he went to save Kieran because I begged him to, but no, his wound had been bigger and much deeper. That was the third year I had been in love with Kieran, and also the tenth year that Sean and I had been each other's only family. In the late autumn of that same year, the Shadow Pack ambushed Kieran while he was on the road, leaving him badly injured and in a critical condition. The Silvermoon Pack had always been far weaker than the Shadow Pack, and the Alpha of our Pack back then had no idea what to do at all, so I went to Sean and begged him desperately to save Kieran. Sean was the strongest Beta in our Pack, and many people actually thought he was even stronger than the Alpha himself. Since he always listened to whatever I asked of him, he took five men and charged straight into the encirclement, fighting through everything until he gave up his own life to bring Kieran back alive. I told Sean I was sorry over and over in my mind, thinking how I would have given anything to trade my life for his, or to somehow turn back time and make it all never happen, but I made that same wish under the moonlight so many times, and the Moon Goddess never once heard me. Sean was gone forever, and he would only lie in that cold grave. The only thing I gained from his sacrifice was the title of the Alpha's Luna, something he had fought so hard to secure for me. Right before Sean died, Kieran asked him what his final wish was. Sean said he wanted Kieran to marry me, which was a terribly unreasonable thing to ask, because everyone in the Pack knew that Kieran already had someone else he truly loved, a mate who was away studying at the Wolf Alliance at the time, but Kieran agreed to it without a second thought. Then, Sean closed his eyes for the last time, and I became the Alpha's Luna. I had always let myself believe that Kieran felt at least some softness toward me and that he carried a real sense of gratitude for Sean and everything he had done, but today I finally saw the truth of how little he actually thought of me and how little he actually thought of Sean. He was free not to love me, that was his own choice, but that didn't mean he had any right to look down on me or speak about me with such contempt, and he certainly had no right to disrespect Sean, the man who had raised me and who had given up his own life trying to save his. Sean loved me, and that was exactly why he had been willing to brave the freezing cold and charge straight into that encirclement to rescue Kieran in the first place. Because Sean died, I had become so fixated on holding onto the identity of Kieran's promised Luna that I simply couldn't stand the thought of Sean's sacrifice being wasted. So, for seven whole years, I had been making myself small and bending over backward for Kieran, always holding onto that faint hope that he would eventually marry me. But now that I knew he thought so little of both Sean and me, there was no point in clinging to him any longer. Once I had gathered myself together, I took the roasted rabbit legs and headed for the cemetery, and there, all the emotions I had been forcing down finally broke free, and I sat there hugging Sean's headstone and crying for what felt like hours before I finally stood up and walked away.