Chapter 9: Too Late for Regret

Six months passed after Adrian left Thorn Pack.

I never heard from him again.

I didn't ask about Blackwood territory, Selene, or Rowan.

I had finally learned that peace sometimes required leaving the past untouched.

My life in Thorn Pack had changed completely.

Ash never pressured me to accept him as my mate.

He gave me space to heal, and slowly, the walls I had built around my heart began to fall.

One morning, I stood beside the lake overlooking Thorn territory.

Ash walked toward me carrying two cups of coffee.

"You always come here when you're thinking too much," he said.

I smiled.

"Maybe I like the view."

"Or maybe you like avoiding me."

"That too."

He laughed and handed me a cup.

For a while, we stood in silence.

Then I looked at him.

"Ash."

"Hmm?"

"I think I'm ready."

His expression changed.

"Ready for what?"

I reached for his hand.

"For us."

His fingers tightened around mine.

He didn't celebrate.

He didn't demand an explanation.

He simply asked, "Are you certain?"

I nodded.

"For the first time in my life, I'm choosing someone because I want to, not because I'm afraid of being alone."

Ash lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles.

"Then I'll spend the rest of my life making sure you never regret that choice."

My wolf stirred warmly inside me.

For years, I had believed love meant enduring pain.

Now I understood that love was supposed to feel like coming home.

That afternoon, a messenger arrived from Blackwood territory.

He handed me a sealed letter.

I recognized Adrian's handwriting immediately.

I opened it slowly.

Elara,

I know I have no right to ask anything of you.

I finally understand that I confused your patience with weakness and your love with something I could always return to.

Selene and I never completed the life I thought fate had promised me.

She left Blackwood after realizing that Adrian had only chosen her because he was afraid of losing what fate offered him.

Rowan is safe.

He has asked about you many times.

I don't expect forgiveness.

I only wanted you to know that I regret everything.

I folded the letter.

For a moment, memories flooded through me.

Adrian at eighteen.

Our first kiss beside the lake.

Our bond ceremony.

Rowan's first cry.

Ten years of laughter, arguments, birthdays, and promises.

It had once been my entire world.

But memories were not reasons to return.

I handed the letter to Ash.

"Do you want me to destroy it?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"No."

I took it back and folded it carefully.

"Some things don't need to be destroyed. They just need to stay in the past."

I walked to the lake and let the letter fall into the water.

The current carried it away.

Just like everything else I had spent years trying to hold onto.

That evening, the Thorn Pack gathered for a ceremony.

Ash stood beside me before the entire pack.

The Moon Goddess rose above us, bathing the clearing in silver light.

When Ash offered me his hand, I took it without hesitation.

Our wolves touched through the bond.

There was no fear.

No competition.

No woman waiting in the shadows.

No child being asked to choose between parents.

Only two people choosing each other freely.

I looked toward the moon and smiled.

Once, I had thought fate had punished me by giving Adrian another mate.

Now I knew fate had simply opened a door I had been too afraid to walk through.

Across the mountains, Adrian had finally realized what he had lost.

But regret arrived too late.

I had already found something he could never take from me again.

Myself.

I leaned against Ash's shoulder as the pack celebrated around us.

For the first time in ten years, I wasn't someone's second choice.

I wasn't someone's Luna because of a title.

I wasn't someone's mother being kept for convenience.

I was simply Elara.

And I was finally free.

THE END