Chapter 2: The Man Who Came Back

No sooner had Ilsa left than I heard Kane's voice coming from outside the house.

I sat up a little straighter in bed, my heart suddenly pounding. I hadn't expected him to come here. Not after everything.

Seven years ago, he had hated me so much that he couldn't even stand to breathe the same air.

He had stood outside my door for three days straight, demanding answers. I could still hear his voice in my head – raw, hoarse, cracking with fury and heartbreak.

"Selene! Come out! Tell me why! Who is he? Who is the man you kissed under the old oak?"

I had watched him from my bedroom window. He didn't sleep. He didn't eat. He just stood there, waiting.

On the third day, I finally went to the door. I didn't open it. I stood behind the wood and spoke through the crack.

"I don't love you anymore, Kane. It's over."

I heard him suck in a breath. Then silence.

I thought he had left. But when I looked through the peephole, he was still there. His hands were balled into fists at his sides. His face was white.

Then he punched the stone pillar at the entrance of the building. Once. Twice. Three times. The pillar split down the middle. I saw blood on his knuckles.

He never laid a hand on me. He never threatened me. But after that day, the sight of me repulsed him.

If he saw me in the forest, he turned around and walked the other way. If he passed by my house, his face would twist like he'd smelled something rotten. He stopped going to the Moon Spring – the place where we had spent every summer evening since we were children, lying on the grass and watching the stars.

If someone mentioned my name in front of him, he shut them down cold.

"Why are we talking about Selene?" he would say, his voice flat and hard. "She makes me sick."

The day he left for the North, I stood in the pouring rain to see him off one last time. I didn't go close. I stayed at the edge of the crowd, hoping he wouldn't notice me.

But he did.

He looked right at me. His eyes were empty. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out the matching couple's rings I had given him – silver bands engraved with our initials. He threw them at my feet. Then he took the photo album – the one filled with every picture we had ever taken together – and he smashed it on the ground.

He smiled at me. A cold, cruel smile.

Then he turned and walked away without looking back.

So no. I hadn't expected him to come to my house ever again.

But now, seven years later, he was standing outside.

Through the crack in the door – my mother hadn't fully closed it after Ilsa left – I could see him. He was holding Vivra's hand. She was beautiful. Tall and golden, with the kind of effortless confidence that came from being an Alpha's daughter.

"Auntie," Kane was saying to my mother. His voice was different now – deeper, colder, more controlled. "Are you still upset about what happened seven years ago? Is that why you won't let Selene help us pick the venue and the rings?"

He paused. "Look, I don't have feelings for Selene anymore. I've moved on. We grew up together – if we can't be mates, we can at least be friends."

My mother didn't answer. Her face was stone.

Vivra stepped forward, smiling brightly. "Auntie, Kane has told me everything about him and Selene. Sure, Selene cheated on him back when they were young. But we were all young once, right? He's forgiven her. It's ancient history."

She laughed – a light, tinkling sound. "Besides, I should thank her. If she hadn't betrayed Kane, I never would have found him. He's the best thing that ever happened to me."

"So please, Auntie, don't hold a grudge. It was actually my idea to have Selene help us. We've been away from the pack for seven years. We don't know the territory anymore. And Selene's our age – I trust her taste. She'll pick something beautiful, I'm sure."

Seven years ago, all I had wanted was for Kane to forget me. To move on. To be happy.

But now, hearing him talk about the betrayal so calmly – like it was just a thing that happened, like it didn't still burn – and hearing that he had told his new partner everything about us, every detail of our life together... my chest still ached.

A dull, spreading pain. Like someone was pressing their thumb into a bruise.

My mother's face went red. Her lips trembled. I knew she was about to say something she would regret.

"Get out," she finally said. Her voice shook. "Both of you. Get out of my house."

Vivra's smile faltered. "Auntie—"

"I said get out."

Kane didn't move. He just stood there, looking past my mother, toward the hallway where my bedroom was. Like he was trying to see through the walls.

I sat up in bed. My head spun for a moment. I took a breath, steadying myself.

"Mom," I called out. "Come help me into the chair. I want to talk to them."

There was a long silence. Then I heard my mother's footsteps, heavy and reluctant, coming toward my room.

She pushed the door open. Her eyes were wet. But she didn't argue. She just walked to the dresser, grabbed my lipstick and a wig, and put a little color on my face. She knew what this meant to me.

"Thank you, Mom," I whispered.

She didn't answer. She just lifted me into the wheelchair and pushed me out the door.