“I don’t need your moonstones,” I said, shaking my head.
“Why? These are the most precious ones, a thousand times better than that common stone from back then!”
“Liam, do you remember that rainy night? You said moonstones could bring a wolf strength and comfort,” I looked at him calmly. “But just today, you called them tokens of the weak. Which is it?”
“I haven’t changed!” he shook his head desperately. “Elena, my love for you has never changed!”
“Love?” I laughed softly. “Was it love to hold a bonding ceremony with Seraphina?”
“Was it love to know she hired a witch to cripple my awakening, yet you turned a blind eye and let her destroy me?”
Liam’s face went white.
He finally closed his eyes in pain. “Elena, back then… if I had told you the truth, if I had just asked you to wait while I used the Croft family’s power to strengthen my pack… would you have waited?”
“Never.”
“Why?”
“Because someone who truly loved me would never have let me suffer that kind of pain,” I looked him straight in the eye. “He wouldn’t choose another she–wolf for his precious pack, not even as a political ploy.”
“The problem was never what Seraphina did. It was what you chose to do. You chose to help her lie. You chose to propose to her.
You chose to throw me out of your life.”
My words completely broke him. “You’re right… I don’t deserve you…”
“Liam, I don’t love you anymore, and I don’t hate you anymore. I just want you to get out of my life, forever. I hope the Moon Goddess guides you to a new beginning.”
With that, I turned and walked away without a backward glance.
A month later, I received news: Liam’s pack had collapsed due to internal conflict and external invasions. He was killed in the final challenge for his throne.
A guard brought me his last possessions–a shattered moonstone and a short letter:
“Elena, I finally understand what love is. It’s just too late. May you always be happy, my moon.”
I took the shattered moonstone to the edge of the lava fields near our den.
“What’s Mommy doing?” Adrian asked, running over.
“Mommy is saying goodbye to the past,” I said, tossing the stone into the molten rock and watching it melt away.
“What’s the past?”
“The past is just a story that’s already finished, my love. Now, Mommy is going to write a new one.
”
“A story with Daddy?”
“Yes. A story with Daddy, and with you.”
Back in the den, Damien was handling pack business. He immediately put down his papers when I walked in.
“All taken care of?”
་འགའ་
“Yes. It’s completely over.”
“Good.” He kissed my forehead. “From now on, there is only our future.”
Outside, the moonlight poured down like water, bathing our family of three in its glow.
+15 Bonus
