Chapter 2

Damon let go as if my skin had burned him.

I stumbled one step, steadied myself, and brushed my sleeve with open disgust.

Tsk.

That guilty look on his face was hard to watch.

Serena Vale lifted the curtain and walked in with a sweet smile.

“Evelyn, we haven’t seen each other for two years. You look well.”

I looked up and smiled back.

“Compared to you, I do look much better.”

After that, I ignored Serena’s stiff face and walked out.

I went down the path and reached the courtyard I had not lived in for two years.

The white oak wreath from our oath ceremony was still on the door.

A black mourning garland covered most of it.

Behind that locked door was the room where Damon and I had spent our first night.

Old things made people remember old nonsense.

I did not remember much from the night of our ceremony.

I only remembered Damon lowering his head to kiss me.

His breath was hot.

His hand stopped at the side of my neck.

For one moment, I thought he would bite me.

But he stopped.

“Evelyn,” he said, voice low, “you are human.”

“An Alpha’s mark could hurt you.”

I did not understand what a mark truly meant back then.

To me, it was just a bite.

Painful.

Dangerous.

Maybe even deadly.

So when he pulled back, I believed him.

I even thought he was being gentle.

That night, he still held me.

He still kissed me.

He still slept beside me until dawn.

I thought that was enough.

That year, Damon treated me well.

When I wanted to visit the human town, he took me there.

When I said I wanted honey cakes from the human market, he bought them.

When the pack ladies mocked my human blood, he told them to mind their tongues.

For a while, I thought this life was not bad.

Until Serena Vale came back.

She was Damon’s childhood sweetheart.

A pure-blooded she-wolf.

The kind of woman every elder wanted as Luna.

Only then did I begin to understand.

Damon had not refused to mark me because he feared hurting me.

He had only saved that mark for the right she-wolf.

At first, Serena did not dare go too far.

She had just arrived and was living under someone else’s roof.

So she had to pretend to be soft and harmless.

Three days after she arrived, she called Damon away in front of me.

That day, Damon finally had a free afternoon and stayed with me in the garden.

He picked a gardenia and tried to pin it into my hair.

He tried for a while, but only pulled my hair loose.

I was laughing and calling him clumsy when Serena’s maid came.

“Alpha Damon, Lady Serena’s wolf is unstable.”

“She says only your scent can calm her.”

After speaking, the maid knelt hard on the ground.

Her voice was full of tears.

I looked up at Damon.

His hand paused.

He looked at me with difficulty.

I said nothing.

I only took the gardenia from his hand and held it between my fingers.

“What do you think?”

I smiled and looked at him.

He hesitated for a moment.

“Evelyn, I’ll be right back.”

Watching him leave, I tossed the gardenia into the pond.

The fish tore the petals apart.

My maid Nora spoke up for me.

“Miss, Lady Serena is not as harmless as she looks.”

I clicked my tongue.

“She cast the line. Damon likes biting the hook.”

“Who can stop him?”

“Let’s go back. This is boring.”

I turned and walked toward my room.

Damon was gone for two hours.

When he came back, the sky was already dark.

He held my hand and explained.

“Evelyn, I only went because of our childhood bond.”

“Don’t think too much.”

“There was nothing between us before.”

“In this life, I care for you most.”

After saying that, he bent down and kissed my forehead.

I raised my hand and pushed him away.

Then I asked with a smile, “What if Serena’s wolf becomes unstable every time she wants you?”

He held my hand at once and spoke solemnly.

“How could that happen?”

“Next time, I will refuse her.”

He lowered the bed curtain and pressed me beneath him.

The next day, Damon and I had lunch together.

For the first time, he only ate a few bites before saying he was full.

Then he went to the study.

After he left, Nora pouted and muttered under her breath.

“Of course he’s full.”

“If I had drunk a whole bowl of sweet soup and eaten six cakes before lunch, I wouldn’t be hungry either.”