Chapter 3: I Wouldn't Make the Same Mistake Twice

If Sebastian wanted to leave, let him. If Leo wanted to be close to Elena, that was his choice.

I was done obsessing over it.

“Mm,” I nodded.

I was about to head into the house when Leo called out to me again.

“Mom!”

This time, his voice was a little urgent.

I thought he had something to say.

I looked at him, confused, and saw that although his expression was stiff, his eyes were shining.

“Dad taught me how to control my claws today.”

I saw.

I was about to nod, to show him I’d heard.

Then I remembered.

Before, I would have gushed, praising him for every little accomplishment when I got home.

If he’d awakened his sharp sense of smell, I would have told him how amazing he was, how he could help me find my lost keys.

Even though Leo always put on a stern face and told me, “That’s the most basic werewolf instinct, Mom. ”

“Your blood is too weak. ”

“You wouldn’t understand,” I could still see the pride hidden under his childish bluster.

And today, he’d learned to control his claws.

But this time, I showed no reaction. I was cold.

No wonder he’d had to bring it up himself.

But…

Something in my chest gave a faint ache.

I pushed it down.

“Right. Keep at it.”

The light in his eyes vanished.

He gave a cold huff, then turned and asked Elena, “Aunt Elena, was I amazing?”

“Of course. You were born an Alpha,” Elena praised him with a wide smile.

Leo asked if she could take him into town for ice cream.

Elena nodded, and Leo took her hand, walking right past me.

“I’m going to buy three. One for Dad, one for you, and one for me.”

He said it loud enough for me to hear.

Before, I would have hidden in my bedroom and cried.

But now… I let it go.

…

I walked into the house and put the money from the pawnshop in a drawer.

When I started packing, I pulled out Sebastian’s and Leo’s clothes first.

Just as I was about to set them aside, Sebastian walked in.

He took in the scene and said in a low voice, “They’ll get new clothes in the territory. Custom-made. No need to pack those.”

I looked at him in surprise.

Then I realized. He’d misunderstood.

Sebastian walked up to me, his oppressive gaze settling on my body.

“Faye, we leave tomorrow,” he said.

I knew.

He’d said as much the day his bloodline awakened.

He said he needed three days to wrap up his affairs in the human world.

Three days later, he would return to the territory.

In my last life, at this exact moment, I was still clinging to the hope that since he was the Alpha, he would have to take me and Leo with him.

If we were all leaving, what “affairs” could he possibly have to settle?

Only later did I learn the truth.

His final affair was me.

The people he planned to take were Leo and Elena.

I could understand taking Leo. He carried Sebastian’s bloodline, after all.

But Elena…

I never understood why.

In my last life, Sebastian explained it away.

Elena had saved his life. He owed her.

And Elena claimed her family had fallen.

She was a rogue wolf, and she was seeking the pack’s protection.

“The Silver Moon Pack has strict rules,” he’d said.

“The only way to bring her into the territory was as a sworn loyalist.”

So I was the one left behind.

I’d fought him on it, of course. A huge, screaming fight.

But it was Leo’s words that shattered my last fantasy.

“What could you do in the territory?” he’d asked. “You can’t even protect yourself.”

“Is the entire pack supposed to assign guards to protect someone useless, someone with diluted blood?”

Under Sebastian’s tutelage, Leo had believed in the werewolf law of survival of the fittest since he was a pup.

He thought I should give the position of Luna to Elena, who could actually help his father fight, rather than embarrass the pack by being a weak mate.