Kaelen looked at my bewildered expression, and a flicker of disappointment crossed his bottomless eyes.
He didn't press the matter, only tossing out a cold sentence. "It was nothing. It's better that you've forgotten." Then he turned and left.
I was sent back to the Moon Shadow Courtyard.
Everything that had happened in the dungeon was a mystery shrouded in darkness. The only certainty was that I was still alive, a fact that was enough to displease certain people in the courtyard.
"Well, well, look who's back," it was Clara. She and a few of her followers blocked my path. "I thought you would have become the newest addition to the Alpha's collection in the attic."
I ignored her and walked straight towards my room.
"In the end," one of the girls behind her concluded with contempt, "a half-blood who can't even shift is completely unworthy of being our Luna."
The girls behind her let out a suppressed titter of laughter. The timid Lisa stood at the edge of the crowd, looking at me with worry but not daring to speak.
"Are you finished?" I asked calmly.
Clara was taken aback for a moment.
"If you're finished, then move," I said, looking her straight in the eye and enunciating each word. "It seems you don't know much about the southern wolf packs. Have you not heard that I am the daughter of a 'curse'?"
"So what?" Clara provoked deliberately. "I don't believe you'd dare curse me!"
"Fine. Then I curse you to be forever stuck between human and wolf during your next shift—with the head of a wolf and the legs of a human, never able to change back."
My words made Clara's face turn deathly pale, then flush with rage. "You monster!" she shrieked, raising her hand to slap me.
Just then, the courtyard gate was pushed open.
It was Kaelen's second-in-command, Drake.
Clara's raised hand froze in mid-air. The expression on her face instantly shifted from anger to terror, and her face went white.
Drake walked directly to me, holding the old shawl I had thrown from the tower.
"The Alpha has commanded me to return this to you," he said, handing me the shawl.
I was stunned and took it instinctively. Everyone in the courtyard was stunned, especially Clara, whose face was a mask of disbelief.
"In addition, Miss Aila," he said, "the Alpha requests your presence in the council hall."
Under Clara's jealous, fiery gaze, I wrapped the recovered shawl around myself and silently followed him.
I was led to the council hall. It was empty except for Kaelen, who stood with his back to me before the massive floor-to-ceiling window.
"You're here," he said without turning, his voice cold.
"You wished to see me, Lord Alpha?"
"It's nothing," he said, slowly turning around, his fingers twitching almost imperceptibly. "I just wanted you to see what you will have to face as the Luna of the North."
He gestured towards the window. Following his gaze, I saw Rosalind leading a squad of guards in a combat drill on the training grounds. She was agile and heroic.
"Do you see?" Kaelen's voice held a barely detectable note of mockery. "That is the kind of Luna the North needs. A warrior who can fight by my side, not a… half-blood who can't even shift."
Just then, Rosalind seemed to finish her training and looked up, seeing us by the window. A brilliant smile bloomed on her face, and she hurried towards the main building.
A moment later, she appeared at the entrance to the council hall.
"Kaelen," her voice held a girlish coquettishness. "Did you see my drill just now?"
"I saw," Kaelen's reply was brief and cold.
"So… how did we do?" she asked, walking to Kaelen's side and trying to take his arm, but he subtly moved away.
A flash of embarrassment crossed Rosalind's face, but she quickly recovered and turned her attention to me, as if only just noticing my presence.
"Oh, this must be our guest from the South?" she asked, her tone condescending.
I said nothing. Kaelen made no move to introduce me.
Into this awkward silence, Liam walked in with a smile.
"Brother," he said, naturally handing me a cloth pouch of southern herbs. "Aila, Physician Ilian asked me to give this to you."
I gave him a genuine smile. "Thank you, Liam…"
Before I could finish, a hand shot out from the side and intercepted the pouch.
It was Kaelen.
"She is my concern, not yours," he said, looking at Liam, his voice like ice, a clear declaration of ownership.
The air in the council hall seemed to freeze.
Kaelen's gaze turned to me, his lightless eyes filled with a warning. Then, he suddenly reached out and pulled an equally shocked Rosalind into his arms, his arm wrapping tightly around her shoulders.
"We… have matters to discuss," he said, dismissing Liam and me.
Rosalind was stunned for a second, then leaned into Kaelen's embrace, looking at me with defiance.
In that instant, the blood pact felt like a poisoned whip, lashing cruelly at my heart. A tearing pain shot through me, making me nearly stumble, my face instantly draining of color.
I bit my lip hard to keep from crying out.
Kaelen's gaze was fixed on me. A flicker of cruel satisfaction for a successful revenge glinted in his bottomless eyes.
"If there is nothing else, Lord Alpha," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, "may I leave?"
"Of course," he said. "After all, a proper 'offering' should stay where an 'offering' belongs."
Liam watched me leave, his eyes filled with concern.
Back in the Moon Shadow Courtyard, I shut myself in my room. The cold scene from the council hall weighed on me like a mountain, suffocating me.
Perhaps… they were right.
I was just an offering. An offering… who didn't even have the right to feel jealous.
Just as I was about to draw the curtains, a glimpse of something on my windowsill caught my eye. Lying there was a single, almost crushed white wildflower.
Identical to the ones the unknown visitor had left before.
After the humiliation in the council hall, Clara's hostility towards me reached its peak. She seemed to have some tacit approval, and her actions grew bolder.
On a moonless night.
I was getting ready for bed when the door was slammed open.
It was Clara, followed by two tall female warriors from her tribe. Their eyes were cold and filled with murderous intent.
Without a word, they swiftly subdued me, pinning me to the floor.
"What are you doing?" I asked, on high alert.
Clara didn't answer. Instead, she walked to my bed and picked up the old shawl that had been with me since childhood.
"Still treasuring this ragged thing?" she sneered.
RIIIP—!
With a sickening tear of fabric, she ripped the shawl in two.
"Tell me," she sneered, her eyes glinting with malice, "if the owner of this thing were to 'accidentally' fall into the well in the backyard and drown, would it be time for the Alpha to find a new Luna?"
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Just watch me!" she said, wasting no more words. She gave a look to the two warriors. "Drag her out and throw her in the well!"
"Let me go!" I struggled desperately, but it was useless. I was dragged roughly towards the dark, ancient well in the courtyard.
Clara walked over and crouched down, pulling a dagger from her boot. She smiled, tracing a light, bloody line across my cheek with the tip of the blade.
"Before I send you on your way, I have to ruin this pretty little face."
Just as the cold blade was about to cut again.
"ROAR—!"
A savage roar, one that did not belong to this courtyard, erupted from the direction of the main building, so powerful the ground itself seemed to tremble!
The next second, a massive black shadow crashed through the wooden gate to the courtyard and burst in.
It was the black wolf!
But tonight, it was more terrifying than ever before. Its eyes burned with a crimson fire that promised total destruction.
"Wh-what is that monster?!" The two warriors holding me were scared out of their wits.
The black wolf ignored everyone else. It moved like a black bolt of lightning, lunging at them in an instant.
With a few sickening cracks of bone and piercing screams, the two warriors had their arms brutally ripped from their sockets before they even had a chance to shift!
Next, Clara shrieked. With a casual swipe of its giant paw, the wolf sent her flying like a rag doll. She slammed into a wall and was knocked unconscious.
The entire courtyard fell silent, the air thick with the smell of blood.
Having dealt with all the threats, it slowly turned and looked at me with its still-burning crimson eyes.
I thought it was my turn.
I stared at it, my heart a swirl of confusion and conflict.
Was it Liam? That was my first thought, the gentle prince. But how could he be so savage?
Could it be Kaelen? But just this morning, he had held Rosalind so intimately and dismissed me with such disgust.
Under my gaze, the giant black beast walked straight towards me.
It lowered its huge, fearsome head, and with its wet, hot nose, it gently, tentatively, nudged my cold hand.
Its gaze fell on the bleeding cut on my cheek, and a flicker of what looked like pain crossed its eyes.
Then, it extended its massive tongue and, with its scorching breath, carefully licked my wound.
After it was done, it pressed its great head tightly against my leg, a low, rumbling vibration like a whimper coming from its throat.
I struggled to my feet and limped towards my room.
It stood up too, following close behind me like a silent shadow.
I went into my room and closed the door.
It didn't leave. It lay down quietly outside my door, like a loyal guardian statue.
The next morning when I woke up and opened the door.
The space outside was empty. The black wolf was gone.
Everything last night felt like a dream. Only the cut on my cheek, which no longer hurt, and the collapsed courtyard gate reminded me that it had not been a dream at all.