I felt the look on my face shake along with my heart.

But I drew a deep breath, calmly looked at her, then turned my head and kept walking.

Wisteria would not give up and ran after me, still talking next to my ear.

“Alpha told me, you don’t move at all in bed, like a dead fish, just looking at you is boring.”

“Can’t blame him either. After all, what man can bear such a boring mate?”

“Have you talked enough or not!”

I could not take it anymore, and without thinking, I directly reached out my hand, wanting to hit her.

At that moment, however, the ground suddenly shook hard; the stone columns around us were old and worn, and they broke apart at once.

“Ah!”

Wisteria screamed, tightly holding my arm, her nails digging into my skin.

Several big rocks fell down, just blocking our only way out, trapping us in a small gap.

“Help! Lucius! Hurry and save me!” Wisteria wildly hit the rocks.

And a broken stone pillar pressed against my leg, I only felt stabbing pain.

Soon after, Lucius’s worried shout came through the stones.

“Wisteria! Rosalie! Can you hear me?”

“Lucius! I’m trapped!” Wisteria seemed to catch a last hope, crying out in fear. “It’s about to fall here, save me!”

Then, a Beta’s frightened voice sounded. “Alpha! There’s no time left! We can only pull one person out before everything falls down; it must be fast!”

The air seemed to turn still at that moment.

I leaned against the stone wall, listening to Wisteria’s broken pleading, listening to my Alpha husband’s silence at that moment.

“Save Wisteria first.”

Just a few words, clear, cold, cutting off the last bit of love I had for him.

When Wisteria was pulled out, she turned back and gave me a mocking look.

Then the place where I was fully fell apart, and I was swallowed by darkness.

At the moment I fully lost consciousness, I prayed to the Moon Goddess.

Moon Goddess, if you permit it, please let me see my father’s spirit again. I was too tired.

When I opened my eyes once more, my whole body ached, and my leg was covered in thick plaster.

A man sat by the bed, his eyes dark, his face tired; it was Lucius, who had once been full of spirit.

When he saw me wake, he suddenly grabbed my hand, his voice rough. “Awake?”

I pulled my hand away with dislike and turned my head aside.

“Don’t touch me.”

His hand stayed in the air, stiff as he said, “Wisteria is young, and she is a healer. I must first make sure she is safe. And, we need her; only then can we save your father’s life, right?”

I listened to his big reasons, only feeling my stomach turn.

“Lucius, if she were not a healer, would you save me first or her?”

Lucius paused, then hesitated and said, “Of course you…”

“Do you dare to swear in the name of the Moon Goddess that what you say next is true?”

The room became terribly quiet.

He said nothing.

This brief moment of pause made me feel more sick than anything else.

At that time, the room door was pushed open, and Wisteria, wrapped in a light shawl, weakly leaned by the doorway.

“Alpha… I think I am pregnant.”

Pregnant?

Lucius, who had promised he would love me for his whole life, let this woman, who watched my father die without helping, become pregnant.

I softly closed my eyes, and the tears at the corners of my eyes finally could not be stopped and fell down.

One week later, I was discharged from the hospital and went back home, coming back alone to an empty house.

Lucius stayed caught up in the happiness of becoming a father for the first time, staying beside Wisteria every day and paying no attention to me.

I slowly started to pack my things in the room, and I did not know how much time had passed before Lucius suddenly pushed the door open and walked in.

“Rosalie, don’t forget there is a shared charity auction of the northern packs tonight.” He frowned as he looked at me. “Wisteria said she wants to get along well with you, just bring her with you, and you two build your relationship.”

“Not going,” I said coldly.

As soon as I spoke, Lucius stepped forward and held my shoulders, forcing me to face him.

“You are the Luna of our pack, don’t make me lose face. You have to go.”

I looked into his cold gray eyes and nodded without any feeling.

Fine, I only treated it as the final time completing the duty of this Luna.

At the auction, Lucius, trying to please Wisteria, offered bids for several valuable pieces of jewelry.

Until the last one, when Lucius shouted an extremely high price, I finally could not stop myself and stopped him.

“The defense project in the north needs money, or it may not hold against the next attack of rogue wolves.”

Lucius’s movement of lifting the sign stopped.

“Rosalie, don’t spoil the atmosphere. I know what I’m doing.” His tone sounded unhappy.

Wisteria’s face looked wronged. “Alpha, then forget it, the pack’s defense is truly more important. I can accept a little discomfort; it’s fine.”

“Fifty million.” Lucius looked at me in a provoking way and raised the sign again.

One strike made the decision.

Under the jealous eyes of everyone, that priceless necklace was put onto Wisteria’s neck.

She leaned against Lucius, and Lucius lowered his head to look at her, his eyes full of deep affection that made people feel uncomfortable.

I could not continue watching, stood up, and went to the restroom.

When I stepped out, Wisteria stopped me in a corner of the hallway.

“Luna, Alpha gives me everything I ask for. Are you mad?”

“I am not mad. I just don’t care anymore.”

What I said was true. My bags were already ready, and I could leave whenever I wanted.

Wisteria’s face changed, turning dark and tense. “So you mean I am not even worth being your rival?”

I did not feel like explaining her wrong idea. I turned around and walked away, but after a few steps, I felt a sudden shove from behind.

In the next second, everything in front of me spun, and then severe pain hit.

Only then did I understand that I had been pushed down the stairs.

I had just forced myself through the pain and tried to get up when I saw Wisteria pull off the necklace from her neck with one hand, crying in a weak and pitiful way.

“Lucius, help me! Luna, she…”

Three seconds later, Lucius rushed over, went straight to Wisteria, and only after that did he look at me.

He turned and tried to rush down the steps to lift me up, but paused when he heard Wisteria speak in complaint.

“Alpha, Luna, she got mad, it’s all my mistake…”

“She kept telling me to remove the necklace you gave me, and even tried to do something to me, I accidentally pushed her…”

Lucius’s movement toward me stopped.

“Rosalie, you truly make me feel more and more disappointed.” His face was cold. “Wisteria is your father’s lifesaver, is the mother of my child, how could you!”

“I…” I tried to speak, but was quickly cut off.

Wisteria’s eyes were wet with tears as she held onto Lucius’s sleeve. “Please don’t blame Luna, it’s all my mistake…”

“She acted first! Wisteria set me up!”

I finally couldn’t hold back my feelings, breaking down and crying out loud.

“She is carrying my flesh and blood, how could she ever do anything to you in this situation!”

While saying this, Lucius lifted Wisteria in his arms, his actions soft like he was holding the only precious thing in the world.

“Lucius, my leg is bleeding…”

I lowered my head and saw the bright red blood slowly soaking out of my dress.

Lucius lowered his gaze and glanced at me. Hesitation passed through his eyes, but it was quickly broken by Wisteria’s weak voice.

“My stomach hurts… the baby, will the baby be safe?”

Lucius did not look at me again; he carried Wisteria and turned away without stopping, coldly leaving his final words behind.

“You don’t have to go home tonight, think it through, figure out how to be a generous Luna, only then can you return.”

Blood kept running from my forehead, forming a pool of red on the ground.

In the empty corridor, no one answered my soft cries for help.

My awareness slowly faded, and I suddenly remembered the day we bonded. Lucius softly kissed my forehead.

“Rosalie, I will protect you for my whole life.”

So the whole life he mentioned was only a short five years.

Again, I woke up in a bed in the treatment center.

“Awake now?” Lucius’s low voice came from my side. “How did you get brought back by ambulance? So eager to catch my notice that you wouldn’t even walk back yourself?”

I chuckled at the man who once vowed to the Moon Goddess to guard me forever. “Wisteria shoved me down the stairs. My leg broke again. I don’t even have a wolf spirit, how could I return by myself?”

Lucius’s face turned tight, and he seemed more hesitant when he looked at me.

“About what happened this time, just let it go. As Luna, you should also learn to be more open-minded later on.”

“Wisteria is pregnant with my child, and she also saved your father’s life. Can’t you even accept her?”

I shut my eyes, no longer wanting to keep arguing.

At that moment, I suddenly realized something.

The way he now looked at Wisteria, full of light, was exactly how he used to look at me five years ago.

I had no wolf, and Wisteria looked weak and helpless. Both of us could meet his need of “wanting women to rely on him.”

From the start to the end, what he loved was the she-wolf who could satisfy his need to protect, not me as a person.

The day I left the hospital was also my birthday, and Lucius arranged a banquet for me in the pack hall.

During the banquet, Wisteria entered elegantly in a pure white gown, like a soft white bloom, while purposely showing the necklace around her neck.

“Happy birthday, Luna.” She carried the present box in both hands, her smile bright and charming.

I quietly accepted the present, not even caring to open it.

When the music for dancing started, Wisteria shyly pulled on Lucius’s sleeve. “I have never been to this kind of dance… Alpha, will you guide me?”

Lucius turned to me. “Rosalie, it’s fine if we skip this once. Next year at this time, I will be with you…”

“No need.”

Lucius frowned and gave me a look that said, "You are throwing a fit again," then took Wisteria's hand and walked onto the dance floor.

Fine. Even then, he still did not understand that I had already chosen to leave.

All night long, Wisteria held onto Lucius and would not step away, at one moment asking him to feed her by hand, then asking him to ease the pup bothering her belly.

And I, the main one, was left forgotten in a corner.

Whispers from the guests nearby reached me from every direction.

“The Luna without a wolf, in the end, cannot beat the new lover who can have pups.”

“This child holds both healer and Alpha blood; a mother’s place rises with the child. I believe Luna’s role will soon be taken.”

I did not want to keep watching this poor show, so I left in silence with a blank expression.

As soon as I sat in the car and told the driver to go, Wisteria suddenly ran in front of it.

She looked at me, then tapped on my window in panic. “Luna, today is your birthday. Don’t be mad, I will return Alpha to you now…”

Wisteria cried softly, her frail body moving unsteadily in the night.

“Luna, do not be this way. I simply love Lucius too much. I do not want to hurt you…”

While she talked, she curved her lips at me, showing a cold, mocking smile that only I saw.

Then, without warning, she let go of the hand on the car door and fell straight backward.

Almost at the same time, Lucius, in wolf form, rushed forward from behind.

He saw Wisteria falling in front of my car wheel, and my car had started to move.

To him, I, this jealous mate, was trying to take the life of his cub and his loved one.

Lucius released a wolf howl that rang through the night, his big wolf body hitting hard against the side of the car.

Under the strength of the angry Alpha, the car rolled over roughly!

Heavy pain covered my awareness in a moment, blood moved from my forehead into my eyes, and my vision became completely red.

Those guests spoke the truth.

The Luna without a wolf, in the end, could not defeat the new lover who could give birth to his pups.