Chapter 2

"I'm disturbing them?"

I looked at Morgaine and suddenly laughed.

"In three years, I've worn through three pairs of boots. To atone for three 'dead' people, I sealed my wolf blood and crawled from the foot of the mountain to the Moon God's stone every single day. My forehead and knees were scorched raw by moonlight, scabbed over, then split open again."

I raised my scarred hands.

"Watching me suffer through that punishment—did you find it entertaining?"

Kael looked away.

"You were out of control back then. We were worried you'd hurt Layla. The avalanche was just to make sure you left for good."

So a single moment of "worry" was enough to cancel out three years of my suffering.

I didn't ask anything more. I turned and crouched in front of Milo.

I rolled up my sleeve, revealing the silver crescent mark on the inside of my elbow. On the back of Milo's hand was the exact same mark.

"This is the moon-mark passed between mother and child."

I held out my hand to him.

"Milo, I gave birth to you. Will you come with me?"

He slapped my hand away and lunged into Layla's arms.

"She's lying! Mommy, don't let her take me away!"

Layla held him tight, murmuring softly to soothe him.

I froze where I stood.

The first time Milo half-shifted at one year old, his wolf ears hadn't even retracted yet, and he'd thrown both hands out toward me, babbling something close to "mama."

When I learned he'd been killed by the black wolf pack, I sat holding his wolf-fang toy for three days straight, until I had no voice left to cry with.

I thought I'd be trapped in that grief for the rest of my life.

Now he stood right in front of me, alive—and yet he looked at me as if I were a stranger trying to steal his family.

I asked the contract silently in my mind.

"How much time is left?"

【Twenty hours.】

Layla suddenly dropped to her knees, striking her forehead against the stone floor again and again.

"Aurelia, I'm sorry—I wronged you. Punish me if you must, but please, let me keep Milo. I can't lose him."

She raised a hand to wipe her tears, and her sleeve slipped down.

A moonlight bracelet came into view.

It was the heirloom left by Kael's mother—one only ever passed to the Luna he had chosen. Kael once told me that once I formally took over the pack, he would fasten it onto my wrist himself.

The night of the avalanche, that bracelet had vanished from his chamber.

So it had belonged to Layla all along.

Layla noticed my gaze. Instead of hiding it, she brushed her hair aside, letting the bracelet catch the full moonlight.

"Enough!"

The elder rushed over, voice sharp with reproach. "Layla is already on her knees—how much further do you intend to push her?"

Kael immediately helped Layla up. Seeing her swollen, reddened forehead, his expression darkened.

"Apologize to her."

"I refuse."

Layla immediately clutched her stomach, leaning into Kael's chest.

"The cub... my stomach hurts so much."

Kael's grip clamped down on my arm.

"Back then, you spread rumors that she'd been consorting with outsiders, and she was hounded by the pack for it. Now you dare come back and provoke her further?"

"I never spread that rumor."

Besides, Layla really had kept contact with outsiders.

Kael wouldn't listen at all.

"If anything happens to the child in her womb, I will make you pay for it. Now go to the Moon God's stone and confess your wrongdoing."

He dragged me toward the stone shrine. As I struggled, my wide-hooded cloak was torn away.

The wounds across my arms, wrists, and knees were laid bare. Wolf-claw scars overlapped with wide patches of silvery burns—some scabbed over, others still weeping blood.

Kael stopped dead.

"These wounds..."

Morgaine sneered. "Deliberately making yourself look like this—trying to soften his heart, aren't you?"

The elder's face darkened too.

"Kael and Layla have already been recognized under pack law. No matter how pitiful you make yourself look, you won't win back the position of Luna."

Layla, one hand still on her stomach, gave me a gentle smile.

"There's a reunion feast tonight. Since you've come back, you might as well join us for a meal."

The hesitation in Kael's eyes quickly dissolved.

"Cover those wounds. If the pack sees them, they'll think we mistreated you."

He threw the cloak at me, then shoved me roughly into the carriage. My back slammed against the wall, and several old wounds split open at once.

I bit down on my lip and made no sound.

In the feast hall, Milo sat beside Layla, with Kael on her other side. I was seated at the far end of the long table.

Midway through the meal, Layla had someone bring out the wheel of fate.

"By old pack custom, whatever dish the needle lands on, that person must eat it—and then answer a question."

She didn't wait for my agreement before spinning the wheel.

It landed on lotus-braised meat.

I immediately drew back.

Lotus flower was a tonic for ordinary werewolves, but poison for me. Even a small amount would raise silver blisters on my skin; too much, and it could stop my breath entirely.

Layla pushed the plate of meat toward me.

"This is the most precious dish tonight. It seems the Moon God favors you."

"I'm allergic to lotus."

Morgaine frowned.

"Everyone here is humoring you, and you insist on ruining the mood. It's just one bite of food—stop putting on a show."

Kael set down his wine cup too.

"You've made a scene from the Moon God's shrine all the way to this hall. Isn't Layla humiliated enough for you?"

Layla lowered her head, tears falling.

"She probably still resents me for exposing those rumors. I shouldn't have invited her."

Seeing her cry, Milo immediately rushed toward me.

"Bad woman, don't you dare bully my mommy!"

He grabbed my chin, speared a piece of lotus-braised meat, and forced it roughly into my mouth.

"Mommy invited you to eat, and you still want to cause trouble."

He clamped my jaw shut with force.

"Swallow it!"