ACE’S POV
The moment her slender fingers touched my chest, the pain shifted.
A
The sharp burn I’d been fighting for years dropped a little, like someone loosened a tight rope inside me. The sting across my ribs cased, and the pressure in my back stopped dragging. It didn’t disappear, but it wasn’t choking me anymore.
Then my heartbeat kicked up too fast.
Not from the pain but from her.
The warmth of her hand and how close she stood pulled a reaction out of me I couldn’t control. My chest rose against her touch. She had so much effect on me.
That was the first.
No doctor or healer had ever figured out I was cursed at first glance. Not one. Even the witch I once consulted took hours before she pieced anything together.
But this woman, she touched me once and figured it out as if she could see straight through my skin.
A part of me feels so certain she was the same girl I rejected and exiled six years ago.
She looked breathtakingly beautiful.
She was wearing a scrub, telling me she had just come out of surgery, but even in something so plain, she stood out. Her brown hair was pulled into a loose bun, a few soft strands falling around her face. Her honey- brown eyes matched her hair.
She wasn’t wearing makeup. Her face held this clean, natural beauty, soft lips, and the kind of effortless glow that made it hard to look away.
When I saw her last night, I felt something I had never felt before. And when I saw that stupid beta, Ethan, holding her hand and touching her back like she belonged to him, I almost lost it right there.
They were acting like a couple. And that sat wrong in every part of me.
But the Charlotte I rejected had a dark round birthmark on her cheek. Everyone in the pack called her ugly. I can still remember the way her eyes dropped when I used that same word on her the night I took her virginity.
I didn’t mean it. She was never ugly, even with the mark. I only wanted to hurt her because she slapped me.
But that look on her face that night had stayed with me. It has followed me for years, haunting me non stop.
But if she truly is my Charlotte, which every part of me believes she is, then where did her birthmark go?
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Chapter 7
“Yeah right, your Charlotte, Arix mocked in my head. He had been snapping at me since last night, coming in and out, restless.
She couldn’t have removed it with cosmetic surgery. That mark wasn’t small, it sat right on her cheek. Even the best surgeon would leave a scar. There was nothing on her face now. Nothing.
And to make it worse, why does she act like she doesn’t know me?
How can she look at me with those calm eyes and behave like we’re strangers?
There’s no way she forgot what I did to her. No one forgets that kind of pain, especially when the one who caused it is staring you right in the face.
She pulled her hand away and the pain slammed back into me so hard I growled before I could stop myself.
How the hell was that possible?
Her fingers barely touched my chest, yet the moment her touch disappeared, everything rushed back.
“What did you do?” she repeated calmly, as she settled into the chair across from me. I moved to sit at the edge of the bed, trying to mask the pain tearing through me.
“How are you so certain I did something wrong?” I asked, genuinely curious, a little amused despite myself.
She lifted her eyes to mine. “The moon goddess doesn’t curse people without a reason. And you’re an Alpha, so whatever happened must have been serious.”
I shook my head. “I promise you, I didn’t do anything no one else has ever done. I have no idea why the moon goddess is punishing me this harshly.”
She opened her mouth, ready to argue, when her stomach rumbled so loudly the room went quiet for a second.
I couldn’t help it, I chuckled. “Your secretary said you were heading out for lunch. Do you mind if I buy you lunch?”
She hesitated, clearly wanting to refuse, but her stomach betrayed her again.
Then her phone chimed. She checked the message, sighed softly, and finally nodded.
“Fine. But only because I’m hungry, and I need my energy for my next surgery.”
She reluctantly got into my car, and I drove us to a quiet fine–dining restaurant a few miles from the hospital.
Even though it was late afternoon, the place still carried that soft golden glow, big glass windows letting in warm sunlight, tables set neatly with silver cutlery, white napkins, and small candles that weren’t lit yet. Everything looked calm.
I pulled out a chair for her and she sat, her eyes scanning the empty room.
“How is this place so empty?”
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I took my seat opposite her and rested my elbows lightly on the table. “I bought out the restaurant for an
hour.”
She didn’t look impressed. Not even close. Her face stayed plain, as if what I said was completely normal or completely unnecessary.
Don’t women usually feel honored when you buy out a restaurant for them? I asked myself.
“She’s not your regular woman,” Arix muttered in my head.
I ordered a plate of creamy chicken Alfredo, and she ordered the same.
Of course she did. I did it intentionally.
Years ago, when I was dating Moon, I started noticing her younger stepsister, Charlotte. She was always trying to disappear into the shadows whenever I visited. Hiding behind walls. Peeking at me with those wide eyes before running off the moment I tried to look her way.
But one day in their mansion, I heard her crying. Really crying. Moon had taken her food because she said Charlotte “misbehaved.”
One of the chefs whispered that it was her favorite meal.
After that, I started paying attention to her.
And I noticed she always brightened up whenever that creamy chicken Alfredo was served.
Now, sitting in front of her again after six years, I got my confirmation from the way she tasted the food.
I had intentionally brought her here because they served the best version of her favorite dish.
And watching her enjoy it, I knew she was my Charlotte.
“You still haven’t answered my question, Alpha Virel,” she said, dabbing at the corners of her lips with a napkin.
“You can call me Ace.”
“That would also mean you’d have to call me Charlotte, and I don’t want that. I don’t like you.”
For some reason, that stung more than it should have. It was fine if she didn’t like me, but saying it out loud like that hurts.
“I insist you call me Ace,” I said, letting the words linger as I chugged down the water in my glass, trying to hide the flicker of something I couldn’t name.
“Six years ago, I rejected my mate. I was in love with someone else, someone I believed would end up being my true mate. But the moon goddess had other plans. She paired me with a girl I didn’t like.”
I didn’t take my eyes off her. I waited for something, a twitch, a flicker, a hint of recognition. Nothing. Her face stayed calm, almost empty, like she had no memory of what I was talking about and I was talking about
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Chapter 7
her.
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I went on. “That girl murdered my unborn pup. She poisoned my wife’s food and almost killed the woman I loved. I punished her. Rejected her. Exiled her from my pack. A few days after the exile, the pain started. These marks followed.” I motioned to my torso. “At first they healed after a few days, but as the years passed, they stopped healing. And the pain,” I let out a breath. “It only got worse.”
“So the moon goddess cursed you for rejecting your mate?” she asked, her tone flat, almost emotionless.
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m not the first to reject my mate. It doesn’t make any sense that the moon goddess is punishing me for something others have done too.”
“Rejecting one’s mate isn’t normal,” she said softly, her eyes serious. “You have no idea what the girl must have gone through because of what you did to her.” She took a deep breath. “Did you ever try to find her?”
I chuckled, but it was hollow, humorless. “I’ve been searching for the past four years. After I found out she was set up, the chef confessed that my former mate wasn’t the one who poisoned the food. But before we could get the full confession, she was killed in prison.”
“Was it worth it?” she asked quietly, almost cautiously.
“Excuse me?” I said, raising a brow, not sure I understood her question.
“The woman you rejected your mate for, is she worth it?”
That question stayed in my head longer than I wanted. Was it worth it?
Back then, I was a fool in love, blind and stupid. But the words that came out of my mouth were far from the truth.
“She’s my Luna now,” I said flatly. “I guess she’s worth it.”
I paid the bill and we left the restaurant. The drive back to the hospital was silent the entire way. She looked out the window, lost in her own thoughts, and I kept my eyes on the road, trying not to think about how that question kept echoing in my head.
Back in the consultation suite, she went straight to work.
She asked me to sit, then she put on gloves and started running tests. Her hands moved over my chest, my back, my shoulders, checking, pressing, scanning.
Every time she touched me, the pain eased.
Not fully, but enough to make me breathe normally for the first time in days.
I tried hard not to react, not to show how good her touch felt. The tingles. The warmth. The strange way my wolf pushed forward like he wanted more.
I focused on the ceiling, pretending nothing was happening.
“Am I going to live?” I finally asked when she stepped back, pulling off her gloves.
Chapter 7
She looked at the test results, then at my chest, then straight into my eyes.
“This isn’t a regular medical condition, Alpha,” she said calmly, “You might live. But you might also end up dead.”
Not the answer I wanted.
She folded her arms. “One advice? Try harder to find the girl you rejected. And when you do, don’t try to force her to forgive you. Don’t manipulate her. Don’t push her.”
Her voice dropped lower.
“Earn the forgiveness. That’s the only chance you have.”
I cocked a brow. “Are you a witch now? How do you know that is what I have to do?”
“Not a witch,” she said quietly, “but someone who can see things. And I’m never wrong.”
She said it with so much calm confidence that it made something tighten inside my chest. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from her as she packed up the equipment.
My head wasn’t helping.
Is she really pretending not to know me?
Is she punishing me for what I did to her?
If she truly remembers me, why is she being so kind?
The questions refused to stop.
If she really was my Charlotte, she wouldn’t be acting this soft with me. Not after everything I did. She would scream, fight, spit at me, something. But she didn’t. She treated me like any other patient, maybe even better.
Before I left, she told me to return in a week for another check–up.
That week was the strangest week of my life.
No new cuts appeared.
The regular pain that burned through my body every day slowed down.
I didn’t even touch the medications my doctors brought.
All because of one woman’s touch.
Friday finally came, the day Charlotte was supposed to come sign the partnership deal with my company.
But what I discovered that day turned my entire world upside down.
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
