Chapter 2
It was an old wooden cabin in the northern woods.
Before the Ashford Pack grew from a wandering band of twenty-odd wolves into a great clan
controlling the northern Appalachian foothills, Damian and I had lived there.
We had been so poor that all we owned was a pot of dry oats and a bottle of herbal wine.
Damian would lie to me and say, “I hunted deer for someone all night. I already ate.’
Then he would pour both portions of oats into my bowl.
When I got up for water in the middle of the night, I would see him standing alone at the sink, drinking cup after cup of cold water to fill his stomach.
Our Imprinting ceremony had been held in that very cabin.
There had been no Elder. No banquet. Only an iron ring that cost less than thirty dollars.
Later, we moved into the stone manor the Ashford Pack had renovated at great expense, but I
secretly bought the cabin anyway.
I used to imagine that when we grew old and passed the Pack to the next generation, we would move
back there and let the forest fold our remaining years into its arms.
I never imagined that on the day my bond with Damian finally reached its end, I would be standing
in front of that cabin again.
I opened the door.
On the sofa, two bodies were tangled together.
The matching linen sleepwear I had hidden in the deepest part of my closet, the set Damian and I
had once worn together, was now on Damian and Isabelle.
My mind went blank. I nearly lost control as I shouted, “Damian Ashford, how dare you bring her here? You know this place is ours-”
Before I could finish, Isabelle raised her hand and slapped herself across the face.
With her cheek already swelling, she stepped in front of Damian and glared at me through tears.
“Mrs. Ashford, I was the one who begged him to bring me here. I only wanted to know what the
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Alpha’s life was like when he was young.”
“If you’re upset, I can kneel and apologize. I only beg you not to hurt him again.”
Damian’s heart ached for her. He cupped her face and gently blew on the red mark again and again.
Then his eyes turned cold, and he looked at the guards behind me.
“Teach her a lesson.”
Two hands as large as fans pinned my arms down.
The first slap sent the back of my head crashing against the wooden door.
The second and third made my ears ring until I could barely hear.
I did not know how long they hit me before they finally let go.
I collapsed onto the floor.
Damian looked down at me calmly.
“Why do you insist on asking for pain? Your body hasn’t recovered. You should have gone back to rest. Instead, you came here to humiliate yourself.”
Иaughed bitterly.
“Go back? Do I still have a home? Is that place still my home?”
My eyes burned red. Blood and tears dripped onto the floor together.
“Damian, why did you have to bring her here?”
“You can take her anywhere else. Anywhere. Why did you have to dirty this place?”
“The thirty-year-old Damian has rotted beyond saving. Why did you have to destroy the
twenty-year-old Damian too? Why did you have to ruin the only memory I had left?”
For a brief second, something trembled in Damian’s eyes.
Then heavier anger swallowed it.
“Rotten?” he said coldly. “How am I rotten? Selena Lane, don’t forget that without me, you would have spent your entire life in this broken cabin in this broken forest.”
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“Don’t forget that the money you used to buy this cabin came from my account. This place, every
board and every plank in it, belongs to me.”
“I can do whatever I want with it.”
He laughed in fury.
“You said I dirtied this house by coming here? Then I’ll blow this damn place up tonight, and it still
won’t have anything to do with you.”
He ordered the guards to drag me outside.
Packets of pine resin explosives were fixed to all four walls of the cabin.
With a single command, the little house that had carried every bit of our happiness from ten years
ago turned to ash in a sky full of fire.
Tears rolled down my face.
Damian stared at the tear tracks on my cheeks, and most of his anger suddenly faded.
His voice dropped low and cold.
“Selena, how many times do I have to tell you before you understand?”
“I gave you the status of Luna. I let you live in the grandest stone manor in all of Appalachia. I let you wear a million-dollar moonstone necklace. That cloak on your shoulders is the finest custom piece from the human world. Haven’t I treated you well enough?”
“You are thirty now. You are not that young girl anymore. Did you really expect me to keep loving you as if nothing had changed?”
“I give you the dignity of a Luna and a life of luxury. All I need is for you to turn a blind eye and accept Isabelle and that pup. Is that so hard?”
I met his eyes and said each word clearly.
“Yes. It is.”
“Damian, you erased everything between us with your own hands.”
“Sever the Imprint.”
Anger and irritation rose in his eyes.
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He stared at me and said flatly, “Sever the Imprint? Impossible. Even if I no longer love you, you are still the most important person in my life. I will not sever it.”
Then he continued, word by word.
“Selena, I have never wronged you. If I owe anyone, I owe Isabelle. I failed to give her a proper
status sooner. I made her follow me with no name and no place during the best years of her life.”
“I wanted to leave you some dignity. I didn’t expect you to be this unreasonable and force the scene to become so ugly.”
He turned, dropped to one knee before Isabelle, and took out a moonstone diamond ring the size of
a dove’s egg.
His gaze was full of tenderness.
“Isabelle, blame me for meeting you too late.”
“In this life, I cannot give you the official title of Luna, but I want to give you an Imprinting ceremony that every wolf clan in North America will attend. I want all wolfkind to know that the
woman I love most is you.”
Isabelle covered her mouth as her eyes reddened. Still, she turned away in sorrow.
“I can’t accept. I love you enough to give up my pride and remain your hidden Omega.”
“No,” Damian said firmly. “I have to make it up to you. I have to let everyone know that you are the
woman I love most.”
Isabelle turned to me and smiled.
“Unless she becomes our Imprinting witness. In front of every wolf clan in North America, she must admit with her own mouth that the woman who is not loved by the Pack Leader is the third
party. She is the real outsider.”
I faced the malice in her eyes without expression.
When Damian saw that I remained silent, his voice turned cold.
“Selena, don’t forget. Your parents’ remains are still buried in the family cemetery I bought for
you.”
“You don’t want them to end up like this cabin, do you?”
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It felt as though a piece of my chest had been carved out. Every breath tasted of blood.
I slowly nodded.
“Fine. I’ll go.”
Isabelle broke into a tearful smile and threw herself into his arms.
Damian carried her away to order her wedding dress and reserve the temple for the ceremony.
Before leaving, he paused. For once, his tone was almost gentle.
“Selena, it is only a ceremony. It will not shake your position as Luna.”
I said calmly, “Alright.”
He looked at me for a long moment, and a faint smile finally appeared on his face.
“You don’t need to take care of Isabelle during this time. Rest well. When her child is born, the
three of us will take him to a ski resort in Colorado for a few days. Consider it my compensation to
you.”
I still answered calmly, “Alright.”
Only then did he leave, satisfied.
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