Chapter 2

2.

I spent the morning writing a letter to my parents. I told them I was coming home to the Blackwood Lineage.

Then, I sought out Elder Magnus at the back of the mountain.

The Elder poured me a cup of herbal tea. He didn't try to stop me.

"You never truly belonged to the Silver Moon Pack, Elias. I support your choice. Leave in three days, after the Grand Assembly is over."

"I will."

On my way back to my quarters, I walked through a gauntlet of sneers and whispers.

The hatred that belonged to Caden was now mine, all because of Xaviera's favoritism.

I realized then how exhausting it was to love someone. You end up having to bleed for the person they actually love.

Eight hundred years was a long time. Long enough to finally kill my hope.

I used to be able to summon my silver blade and fly across these peaks. Now, without my Alpha Spark, I couldn't even call my sword to my hand.

The memory of Xaviera ripping the core out of me played on a loop in my mind.

When I was just a boy, I had been hunted by rogue vampires during a mountain trek with my parents.

Xaviera had appeared like a vengeful angel in green silk, her blade flashing as she saved me.

She had stroked my hair and asked if I was hurt.

Before we parted, I grabbed her sleeve. "Who are you? Where can I find you?"

"Silver Moon. I am Xaviera."

That image of her back as she walked away was branded into my soul. I trained until my hands bled just to earn a spot in her pack.

When I first arrived, Elder Magnus saw how I looked at her. He laughed and warned me.

"Your senior is a cold one, boy. Winning her heart will cost you everything."

He wasn't wrong.

Xaviera was aloof and arrogant. She barely looked at me.

To get even a glimpse of her attention, I became the strongest. I won every tournament. I became the youngest Alpha-ranked warrior in the history of the pack.

The day my Spark fully matured, the whole pack cheered. Xaviera finally looked at me.

I worked even harder. I baked her favorite treats, repaired her roof, and handled every tedious task she hated.

During a war with the Shadow Realm, I threw myself into the fray to save her when she was cornered.

She fell ill after that, and I was the one who knelt before healers to beg for medicine, staying by her bed for weeks.

From that day on, her gaze changed from distance to... pity.

It took four hundred years for her to agree to be with me.

It wasn't love. It was just pity for my pathetic, one-sided devotion.

Even when we shared a bed, she remained distant.

"I don't feel the spark, Elias. I don't think I'm capable of loving anyone."

I didn't care. While she slept, I would gently hold her hand and whisper to the shadows.

"I'm not greedy. Just being by your side is enough."

Slowly, her attitude toward me softened.

Just as I started to believe my persistence was paying off, Caden appeared.

And the fantasy shattered.

Xaviera fell for him. The woman who was once a frozen statue began to fuss over this newcomer's every scratch.

I remember confronting her with tears in my eyes. "You said you'd never love anyone!"

She looked guilty, but she didn't deny it.

She had always told me she only respected those stronger than her.

That's why it hurt so much. Caden was weak. I had worked for four centuries for a single smile, and Caden got everything by doing nothing at all.

Four hundred years to get close to her. Four more to learn to hate her.