Full Circle
Returning to work, I discovered the controversy had subsided. My landlord called to report someone had been waiting outside my apartment for three days.
I hurried back to find Karl sitting at my doorstep, cigarette smoke mingling with his distressed Alpha scent.
Discarded cigarettes formed a small mound at his feet. When he saw me, he stood unsteadily.
“Isabelle…”
I frowned in distaste. “What now?”
“Natalie has been handled. She won’t trouble you again. I didn’t expect her to become so… unhinged.”
“But isn’t this entire situation your creation? Without your betrayal, none of this would have happened.”
I interrupted him and locked my door, leaving him outside.
After that day, Karl began appearing regularly near my home.
Every evening after work, I would find something at my doorstep–sometimes wildflowers from the mountainside, sometimes hand–carved wooden figurines.
I discarded each offering without hesitation.
Winter solstice approached again. Nate invited me to dinner, and I prepared to meet him.
At the crossroads near my apartment, instead of Nate, I found Natalie.
Few pedestrians walked the snowy streets. A vehicle’s engine roared aggressively as Natalie, her eyes wild with rage, accelerated toward me.
“Go to hell, Isabelle!” she screamed.
The headlights blinded me. A figure lunged forward, pushing me clear of the vehicle’s path.
Blood splashed across the snow, and I gradually lost consciousness.
When I awoke in the hospital, Nate sat vigilantly beside me. Seeing me stir, he immediately
called for the healer.
After confirming I would recover fully, relief washed over his features.
Once the healer departed, Nate hesitated before speaking.
1/2
Full Circle
+30 Bonus
“Karl died instantly,” he said quietly. “Natalie succumbed to her injuries shortly after.”
I remained silent, fragments of memory surfacing.
“I’m sorry, Isabelle…” Karl had whispered before his eyes closed forever.
This ending seemed predestined from the start.
Eight years ago, he had sworn a sacred oath to the Moon Goddess. Eight years later, he finally paid the price for breaking it.
On the day I was released from the hospital, Nate escorted me home with mysterious excitement.
“Close your eyes,” he instructed, his voice warm with anticipation.
“Why?” I asked, clutching his arm for balance.
“Trust me.”
When he removed his hands, I gasped at the transformation before me.
My apartment overflowed with winter blossoms, and at its center stood a magnificent evergreen tree decorated with crystalline ornaments that caught the moonlight streaming through the windows.
I turned to find Nate kneeling before me.
He took my hand and pressed his lips to my palm with reverence.
“May I be your companion beneath the moon’s light?”
Tears welled in my eyes as I nodded without hesitation.
“Yes.”
The following winter solstice night, I embraced my new beginning, running freely beneath the full moon with my true mate by my side.
