Chapter 4

Carter walked forward, following behind me.

He didn’t say anything.

The moonlight was bright, stretching our shadows long across the ground.

I glanced at him sideways.

The blood on his jaw had already dried, and the bruise at the corner of his mouth looked especially dark under the streetlight.

“Does it hurt?” I asked.

He paused for a moment, then shook his head.

I didn’t ask anything else.

Carter wasn’t like Harvey.

If Harvey got even a small injury, he would make sure I knew—so I’d worry about him, fuss over him, revolve around him.

Carter never said a word.

He had always been like that.

The illegitimate son of Black Moon Pack, with no family protection.

The only reason he survived within the pack was because he fought for every inch of ground with his own fists.

In tenth grade, I once saw him in a fight.

One against seven.

Two of his ribs were broken.

He didn’t make a single sound.

“Emma.”

That night, beneath the moonlight, he suddenly spoke while staring at me.

“Hmm?”

“Those people…” He paused, his pupils deep as if they could swallow someone whole. “They won’t come looking for you again.”

I stopped walking and turned to look at him.

His expression was calm, like he was commenting on the weather.

But suddenly I understood—

The group that blocked him tonight hadn’t appeared by accident.

They were targeting me.

And Carter knew.

I opened my mouth, wanting to ask something.

But I swallowed the words.

It would be useless anyway.

He wouldn’t tell me.

Just like that year in tenth grade.

When I pulled him down from the school rooftop, he hadn’t said anything either.

He simply sat there, watching the sky grow dark.

Watching the sun rise again.

After a long time, he finally said one sentence.

“Emma… no one in this world needs me.”

I told him,

“I do.”

He turned to look at me.

His eyes were so red it was frightening.

That was the first time I had ever seen that expression on his face.

Later, he changed.

From someone quiet and withdrawn—

into the reckless man who seemed to care about nothing.

But I knew.

Deep down, he was still the same person.

The boy who sat on that rooftop, asking why the world didn’t want him.

“We’re here.”

Carter’s voice pulled me back to the present.

I looked up.

Someone was standing in front of my apartment building.

It was Harvey.

He stood there, frowning.

His gaze landed on Carter, then shifted to me.

“You got into another fight?” he asked Carter.

Carter didn’t answer.

He leaned lazily against the streetlight pole.

Harvey didn’t wait for a reply.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind him.

“Emma, do you even remember your condition?” he said in a low voice. “What if you got hurt?”

“You can be angry with me all you want. You can even break up with me.”

“But you cannot risk your life like this.”

I didn’t speak.

Carter suddenly let out a short laugh.

“I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”

Harvey’s head snapped up.

His eyes turned cold.

It was the look an Alpha used on wolves beneath him.

Anyone else would have lowered their head immediately.

But Carter didn’t move.

Not even a little.

He simply looked at Harvey.

There was still a faint smile on his lips.

But his eyes were colder than ice.

“If something happens, it’ll be too late,” Harvey said slowly.

Carter didn’t respond again.

He shifted his gaze away from me and turned toward the apartment building next door.

Under the moonlight, his back was straight.

As if nothing had happened at all.

Harvey took a deep breath.

Then he reached into his pocket and handed something to me.

A silver necklace.

The pendant was engraved with the crest of Black Moon Pack.

“You dropped your medicine at the shooting range,” he said. “There are herbs inside to stabilize your wolf spirit.”

I reached out and took it.

The moment my fingers brushed his palm, his eyes softened slightly.

“Emma, today was my fault,” he said quietly. “You already slapped me, so let’s call it even.”

I lowered my head, refusing to look at him.

I didn’t say anything.

“Do you really have to be like this?” he said with a bitter smile. “Fine. Just pretend I never came.”

“But take the medicine,” I felt his gaze linger on me. “Your wolf spirit is unstable. The full moon is coming.”

After saying that, he turned and strode away.

I stood where I was, watching his back disappear at the corner of the street.

Then I lowered my head and looked at the silver crest.

In my previous life, I wore this necklace for three years.

Until the day I was pushed into the forest.

A branch snapped the chain, and it fell into the grass.

Left there—

together with my life.

I clenched the necklace tightly.

The metal dug painfully into my palm.

Then I took out my phone and opened Carter’s contact.

But I didn’t send anything.

Just as I was about to put my phone away—

the screen lit up.

[Look up.]

I raised my head.

At the entrance of the apartment next door, Carter was standing there.

The moonlight illuminated half of his face.

From more than ten steps away, he was looking at me.

The glow of the phone screen reflected in his eyes.

Standing beneath the moonlight, looking at his face—

I suddenly remembered that day in tenth grade.

The wind on the rooftop had been fierce.

He sat on the railing and asked me,

“Emma… if someone died for you, would you remember him?”

I said,

“Of course I would.”

He smiled.

It was the first time I had ever seen him smile.

Then he said,

“Good.”