The pack house door slammed shut.
Leaving only my daughter’s tiny body curled into a ball on the cold stone floor.
I knelt beside her, knowing it was futile, but still trying again and again to pick her up.
It was useless, all useless.
The pack’s healing center had long been closed. Without Kieran’s command, no one dared help my child.
The blood at the corner of my daughter’s mouth had already congealed.
She moved her eyelids slightly but couldn’t open her eyes.
Only the small packet of pain–relieving herbs in her arms, what little Willow hadn’t taken, made a faint rustling sound.
The healing gemstone she had worn around her neck was gone, lost somewhere in the struggle.
Only a thin mark remained on her skin, evidence that she was once a treasured child, protected and loved.
I don’t know how long I knelt there, how long I cried.
ゆ
I only knew that the pain in my chest had numbed, and my tears had completely dried up.
Just when I thought everything was over, Kieran came down.
His custom leather boots made sharp sounds against the stone floor.
Kieran walked to the center of the hall, staring at my daughter’s motionless form, his eyes dark and unreadable.
“Haven’t you played enough?”
“Is this how Scarlet taught you to fake sympathy?”
“You don’t actually think I’ll soften my heart just because you’re playing the victim?”
“Dream on!”
Kieran’s icy voice rang out, each sentence like a blade repeatedly stabbing my heart.
I wanted to ask him: Are you even a wolf?
How dare you maliciously doubt my pup?
