Chapter 8

She pushed up her sleeve to show me her arm — covered in bruises, green and purple. She said through tears that she couldn't take it anymore, but she couldn't file for a bond severance either. She had been the one to deceive him. If it went to the Pack council, both their names would be ruined.

I stood in the middle of my guards and watched her cry until she had no voice left.

I thought about the day she had knelt in front of me and begged me to give her what she wanted. And then passed out on the floor.

Back then, Ethan had slapped me and said I was cruel, said if anything happened to Serena he'd come after me.

She had her place as his Luna now. She had the status she'd wanted. So why was she regretting it?

Hadn't she always wanted to stand beside Ethan and build something great together? She'd never stopped chasing that.

What gave her the right to expect me to take back garbage she'd thrown away? Did I look like I ran a recycling service?

I called Ethan and told him to come collect his Luna.

Ethan showed up reeking of alcohol, unshaven. He looked at me, went still, and let tears roll down his face.

"Nora, you got more beautiful. You look different."

I smiled lightly. With love in your life, and no one to chase after, of course you looked different.

I looked down at Serena and kept my voice steady.

"Counselor Calloway, I expect you to keep your Luna in order. I'd appreciate her not coming here again to say strange things."

"If my mate hears about this, I can't promise he won't have you removed from Riverton entirely."

Ethan Calloway had been losing ground for years now. Cain only had to be mildly annoyed to buy out the Calloway legal office and end his presence in the territory.

Ethan stiffened. He yanked Serena up and started berating her, even as tears poured down her face.

In the autumn air, he shifted his weight awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, Nora. I'll handle her properly when we get home. Don't upset yourself. It's not good for the pup."

He stole a hungry glance at my belly.

"The pup's going to be kind and wonderful. Just like you."

In the end, Ethan dragged Serena away, stumbling. His sharp voice carried on the wind and then was gone.

Ethan wasn't going to leave Serena. At this point, they couldn't leave each other. Serena wasn't going to walk away with nothing. Ethan wasn't going to split his Pack's assets with the She-Wolf who had deceived him.

They hated each other and had to look at each other every single day. They would spend the rest of their lives in that cycle of fighting and screaming.

The oath he had made the day he bonded with me — to swallow ten thousand needles and die in agony if he ever betrayed me — had found its way into every meal he ate now. It wouldn't go down. It wouldn't dissolve. Every day he chewed on it in misery.

Six months later, I gave birth to a healthy pup, eight pounds. On the full-month celebration day, every notable figure in Riverton came. Cars lined the road from the bottom of the hill all the way up to Crescent Estate.

Ethan didn't come. Word was that Serena had fallen from an upper floor and broken her leg, and he was at the Pack Healer's clinic with her.

No one knew exactly how that fall had happened.

He sent a gift through an intermediary. It was a set of four small jade gourd figurines carved from deep green jade, auctioned from overseas.

The gourds were so detailed they looked alive. They brought back the memory of something he'd once said to me while we sat under a gourd trellis as kids.

"Nora, if we ever have a pup, let's call them Little Gourd. Because their mom and dad fell in love under a gourd trellis."

I kept my voice quiet.

"Mrs. Ward, your grandson's first birthday is coming up, isn't it? Take these for him as a gift."

Then I picked up my son and walked with Cain into the crowd, into the sounds of goodwill and warmth around us.

Cain's arm wrapped around me and our son, steady and full.

From that point on, every road ahead was clear.