Chapter 5

Serena collected herself fast. She stepped forward and handed over a gift.

"Nora, congratulations." Her hand was smooth and well-kept, nothing like it had been back then.

Ethan finally found himself. He reached out and grabbed my arm. "Nora, how are you carrying a pup?"

I pulled my arm free and moved behind Cain, frowning. "Ethan, does it make you unhappy that I'm pregnant? Or were you hoping I'd spend the rest of my life alone and miserable?"

I didn't say the rest. The part where I would've eventually had to beg them for scraps, become the kind of She-Wolf everyone looks down on.

Serena stepped in and pulled at Ethan's arm, mildly annoyed. "Ethan, we should be celebrating for Nora. She's pregnant now. She has someone to rely on."

Ethan's expression turned hard. He shook her hand off. "What's there to celebrate? What do you know about it?"

Serena's face flushed. She pressed her anger down and stood to the side.

The guests who had heard pieces of my history with Ethan started making noise, laughing and redirecting the conversation.

Diana began calling everyone to their seats.

When I slipped away to the restroom, Ethan followed me.

He looked at me with a complicated expression and finally said, "Nora, I want to talk."

I looked at him flatly. I almost said no.

At this point, I didn't think we had anything worth talking about. All those feelings had turned to ash. I couldn't cry over him again even if I tried.

I watched the door to the restroom open and close. In the end, under the pressure of his waiting gaze, I followed him out to the back garden.

The first thing he said was, "Nora, you told me multiple specialists confirmed you couldn't have pups. If I'd known back then, maybe I wouldn't have—"

I paused. Then I felt like laughing.

So his love had been a transaction all along. Because I supposedly couldn't have pups, he was entitled to cheat and openly take a new Luna.

If he'd known the infertile one was him — would he have allowed her the same freedom to find someone else?

I looked at the leaves hanging from the tree and spoke quietly.

"Ethan, is that what you came here to say? Does any of it matter anymore?"

Ethan frowned. He was silent.

I started to turn and leave. He suddenly grabbed my hand, and his eyes went red.

"Nora, it's not like that. I didn't expect it to go this way."

"Back then I only held the Bonding Ceremony to settle Serena down. I hadn't registered it officially. I just wanted to give you time to calm down and accept the pup."

"But then you set that fire. Serena lost the pregnancy. She was so devastated, I had no choice but to stay with her—"

"Nora, why are you so ruthless? If you'd just been willing to give a little, we loved each other. How did we end up here?"

He crouched down and buried his face in his knees, crying in short, choked sounds.

I yanked my hand away, disgusted at who I used to be.

His version of "giving a little" meant a lifetime. It meant forever ranking below the She-Wolf who'd stolen my place, being everyone's joke.

"Ethan, don't bring any of this up again. I don't want my mate getting the wrong idea."

"Nora, I don't believe you'd actually bond with someone else. If you're willing, I'll end things with Serena right now. You're the only one who ever truly cared about me."

Ethan's voice broke as he said it.

I was already walking back toward the hall. I was done talking.

I hadn't come here to make him feel small. And Ethan wasn't an impulsive person. I didn't believe for a second that his intensity today meant anything like genuine feeling.

He just wanted more than what he already had.

I'd heard things over these past few years. Serena had grown increasingly dominant inside the Calloway Pack — overriding decisions, cutting herself into the Pack assets. Under the strain of it all, Ethan's standing had been slipping. There had been public incidents. A video of the two of them arguing outside the legal office went widely shared.

Of course. A She-Wolf calculating enough to engineer her own pup's conception was not going to be content with a supporting role.

Ethan Calloway had met his match.

And Serena knew exactly what kind of man she'd bonded herself to. So she fought every day to stay in control of it all.

When I got back to the main hall, everyone was talking warmly.

Under Serena's perfect makeup was something restless and raw. The moment she spotted me, she walked over.

Six years, and the borderlands She-Wolf who'd been sponsored from nothing now wore expensive clothes and carried herself with an edge. But the anxiety in her eyes was impossible to hide.

She lowered her head and came to stand in front of me, her expression a plea.

"Nora, I know you've always been the lucky one. I'm only asking you not to contact Ethan anymore."