Chapter 3

3.

Sebastian can leave if he wants. Leo can bond with whoever he pleases.

I'm done agonizing over it.

"Yeah."

I nodded. Turned toward the house. But Leo called out again.

"Mom!"

This time his voice held something urgent.

I thought he had something to tell me. Looked at him, confused. His little face was still composed, but his eyes were bright.

"Dad taught me how to control my claws today."

I saw.

I was about to nod and acknowledge it. Then I remembered something. How things used to be.

Before, no matter what Leo did, I'd ask him about it when I got home. Pour praise all over him.

Like when he awakened an acute sense of smell.

I'd tell him he was amazing. That now he could help me find lost keys.

Every time, Leo would hold his face stiff and say the same thing.

"This is just basic werewolf instinct, silly Mom. Your bloodline is too weak. You'll never understand."

But I could always see that smug little spark hidden beneath his attitude.

Today, he mastered his claws. And I gave him nothing. Barely reacted.

No wonder he brought it up himself.

But―

Something ached in my chest. I pushed it down.

"Mm. Keep working on it."

The bright expression on Leo's face dimmed instantly.

He let out a cold little snort. Turned to Elena.

"Auntie Elena. Am I impressive?"

"Of course. You're a born Alpha." Elena smiled, full of praise.

Leo asked if she'd take him into town for ice cream. She nodded. He grabbed her hand and walked right past me.

"I'm getting three. One for Dad. One for you. One for me."

He said it like he meant for me to hear.

Before, I would've locked myself in the bedroom and cried in secret.

Now―whatever.

---

I walked into the house. Put the pawn money in the drawer.

Started packing.

First thing I did was pull out Sebastian's and Leo's clothes.

I'd just set them aside when Sebastian walked in.

He watched what I was doing. His voice dropped low.

"Those old clothes. The territory has tailors. No need to bring them."

I stared at him. Confused.

Then it clicked. He misunderstood.

Sebastian stepped closer. That crushing presence of his pressing down on me.

"Faye. We leave tomorrow," he said.

I know.

He said that the day his blood awakened.

Three days to wrap things up in the human world. Then back to the territory.

In my first life, I was still thinking at this point: Sebastian's become Alpha. He has to take me and Leo with him. We're all leaving. What loose ends could there be?

Later I found out.

I was the loose end.

And the people he was taking? Leo and Elena.

Leo, I understood. He was Sebastian's blood.

But Elena―

I never figured out why.

In my first life, Sebastian explained. Elena saved him once. He owed her a promise.

And Elena said her family had fallen. She was a lone wolf seeking shelter. Wanted to join the Silvermoon Pack.

"Elena has nowhere to go. The pack laws are strict. The only way for her to enter the territory is as a sworn vassal."

So I became the one left behind in the human world.

In my first life, I fought with Sebastian over this. Screamed at him.

Then Leo's words gutted every illusion I had left.

"What would you even do in the territory? You can't protect yourself. You want the entire pack to assign guards to a blood-diluted waste?"

Sebastian raised Leo on the law of the strong. The weak are prey.

Leo believed I'd only become a joke if I stayed as the Alpha's mate.

Better to give the position to someone who could actually fight beside his father. Elena.