Chapter 2

The next morning, Sable came to the Ravencroft estate.

The moment she stepped into the main hall, she wrinkled her nose.

“Lenora, this place is still so stuffy.”

She looked around, then laughed.

“If I had to live here for three days, I’d probably forget how to run in wolf form.”

I leaned back on the sofa and said nothing.

Cassian had come with her.

He hadn’t even changed out of his black suit jacket. Clearly, the moment his pack meeting ended, he had personally gone to the gate to receive her.

Sable strode over to me.

“Oh my God, why do you look so awful?”

As soon as she said it, she patted her mouth as if she had only just realized.

“Look at me. I’ve spent too much time outside. I’m too blunt.”

“You’ve been Luna for so many years, Lenora. All those rules, all those worries—of course your complexion would suffer.”

“I took medicine,” I said. “That tends to happen.”

Cassian’s face shifted.

Sable blinked.

“You mean the moonvine contraceptive?”

“I was only joking the other day. I said if Lenora had a pup, Cassian would never come out to patrol with me again.”

“I didn’t expect him to actually send the healer with it.”

Her eyes lowered, and her voice softened.

“Lenora, you’re not mad at me, are you?”

I shook my head.

“What would I be mad about?”

She tugged at Cassian’s sleeve.

“See? Lenora won’t even talk to me properly now.”

“She used to climb walls with me and teach me to ride. If anyone bullied me, she’d be the first one to charge out.”

She laughed with open, careless brightness.

“After becoming the Luna of Ravencroft, she’s like a different person.”

Cassian frowned.

“Lenora isn’t well. Stop provoking her.”

That was what he said, but his tone softened when he looked at Sable.

Sable tilted her face up toward him.

“Sometimes I wish you weren’t Ravencroft’s Alpha.”

The hall suddenly went quiet.

Then she laughed again.

“Then I could steal you away to the Silver Coast. Red Canyon. The northern snowfields.”

“No elders. No meetings. No pack politics.”

Cassian smiled too.

“Sable, you’re still as wild as ever.”

I lowered my eyes.

I used to be an excellent rider too. In wolf form, I could track prey for dozens of miles.

I was the one who taught Sable to ride for the first time.

I was the one who took her out to learn how to identify traces left behind by rogues.

But later, everyone praised her for being bright and free.

They only called me dull and boring.

I had never liked this estate with its locked gates and high walls either.

A sharp cramp suddenly pulled low in my abdomen.

The teacup in my hand slipped and shattered on the floor.

Only then did Cassian snap back to himself.

“Lenora, what’s wrong?”

He reached out to support me.

I avoided him.

“It’s nothing.”

His expression darkened.

“Who told you to drink it?”

I looked up at him.

“You sent the healer with it. Was I supposed to refuse?”

Cassian froze.

Sable hurriedly tugged at him.

“Don’t be angry at Lenora. She’s been stuck in the estate too long. Of course she overthinks.”

“I’m not like that. When something upsets me, I just shift and fight it out.”

Cassian stared at me, his voice hoarse.

“Lenora, you could have made a scene.”

“When I told you to drink moonvine before, you threw the bottle straight at the wall.”

“When I had the healer prescribe calming draughts, you said they were bitter and refused to touch them.”

“You were supposed to fight me on it.”

I had almost forgotten that I used to be that alive.

Cassian gave a cold laugh.

“You agreed to become the Luna of Ravencroft.”

“You enjoyed the status of the Alpha’s house and the respect of the pack, and now you act as though I’m the one who wronged you.”

“A few days ago, Sable and I went to the pup shelter in the southern territory. She saw orphaned pups shivering in the cold and took off her leather jacket on the spot.”

“She even said if she had the silverware and jewels in this estate, she would have sold them for food and medicine already.”

“And you? You sit here in the estate and complain about your life.”

For a second, guilt flashed across Sable’s face.

After all, I had paid for the construction of that shelter.

I simply had not appeared in person.

I only nodded.

“Of course.”

Cassian abruptly stood.

“I don’t want to look at you when you’re like this.”

He took Sable and left.

The moment the door closed, a violent pain tore through my abdomen.

Blood slid down the hem of my skirt.

Maeve burst into tears and ran to call the healer.

The healer arrived quickly.

After examining me, his face went white.

“Luna, you’ve lost too much blood. The pup… the pup couldn’t be saved.”

I nodded.

“I know.”

Maeve sobbed, “Should I ask the Alpha to come?”

I shook my head.

“No need.”

Ten years.

This was my first pup.

And the last thread tying me to the Ravencroft estate.

Now it was gone.

Good.