Chapter 3

The room is warm.

I sit on a wooden chair lined with soft animal fur.

Everything around me is neatly arranged.

The wooden walls have been carefully sanded smooth, and the corners are stacked with enough firewood to last deep into winter.

I think of my own room, cold at this very moment.

After Aiden and Damon left, Liam did keep it maintained—but he is always distracted.

The leak in the roof never seems properly fixed.

Firewood is always only chopped when it is almost gone.

When it gets too cold, I no longer dare to complain so openly like before.

I only secretly press myself into Liam’s arms, afraid he might leave me too.

Then suddenly, I hear low voices from the inner room.

“What, are you softening up?”

“Let me tell you, if you regret this, don’t even think about coming back here!”

I freeze.

Quickly, I turn slightly to listen.

But then I hear Liam’s cold voice.

“No. I’m just worried she’ll go crying to the Alpha again, or cause trouble for Iris.”

“Don’t worry. She’s easy to pacify.”

My mind goes completely blank.

Aiden lets out a short laugh.

Footsteps fade away.

Someone crouches in front of me.

Liam lowers his eyes and uses a cloth to slowly wipe the blood and dirt from my knees.

His tone is still as gentle as I remember.

“Selene, from now on… I will be Iris’s mate.”

“You are the Alpha’s daughter. You can choose any outstanding male wolf you want in the pack.”

Something flashes through his eyes, and he even smiles slightly.

“Didn’t you say before… that you wanted to kick all three of us out and go find other she-wolves?”

That was just words said in anger, wasn’t it?

Why did it not matter before but now it suddenly becomes real?

Tears blur my vision as I look at him, shaking my head again and again.

“No…”

Liam stares at the tears at the corner of my eyes, his expression darkening slightly.

He reaches out slowly, wipes them away, and pats my head like he used to.

Then, in silence, he stands up to get water and medicine.

Suddenly Bang.

Something heavy is thrown at me.

I turn around and see Iris’s pup standing there, glaring at me with hatred.

He lifts a hot water kettle high.

“Bad woman! You bullied my mom! Get out!”

I instinctively raise my arm to block it.

But the movement makes the splashing water bounce back.

A few drops of boiling water land on the pup’s exposed leg and hand.

He freezes for a second.

Then bursts into piercing, heartbreaking cries.

At that moment, the wooden door is pushed open from outside.

A blast of cold wind rushes in.

A hand grips my throat.

Damon’s green wolf-like eyes lock onto me, and he lets out a cold, furious laugh.

“So you couldn’t bully Iris enough, and now you’re bullying her pup too?”

“Selene… you really never disappoint.”