Halfway home, someone stopped our car.

It was Caleb, the Gamma Byron had assigned to look after his first love, Cassia.

Caleb walked toward our car, his face etched with panic.

"Alpha, Cassia got hurt in a fight at the bar. She's asking for you."

Byron's brow furrowed immediately, and he got out of the car without hesitation.

"Cassia is hurt and needs me. You go home first. I'll pick you up for the observatory tonight."

I nodded. "Okay."

He seemed a little surprised.

"You used to hate it when I went to see her. Why so understanding now?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but he sneered before I could speak.

"Right, I forgot."

"We're about to have our bonding ceremony. I guess she's no threat to you anymore."

He got out of the car and walked away, his back hiding the pain I knew was in his eyes.

In truth, I had never really stopped him from caring for Cassia.

There was only that one time.

Byron's parents and I had personally witnessed Cassia kissing a strange, middle-aged wolf on the street.

Afterward, they went to a motel together.

Later, I used the Dycan King's intelligence network to find out that Cassia had been privately embezzling Pack funds.

She was not the innocent, harmless she-wolf Byron thought she was.

That was when I started desperately trying to keep Byron from getting too close to her.

But he knew none of this.

In my past life, she'd harmed herself, causing her wolf to weaken until she finally died. He grieved her for ten years.

If I had to choose, I would rather see him happy with Cassia than watch him endure endless torment and ultimately die for me.

I submitted my application for a travel permit.

As a core member of the Ironwood Pack, I needed official documents to travel freely to other territories.

Only then did I go home.

My adoptive mother, Marian Ironwood, had personally prepared dinner, a whole table of my favorite dishes.

I habitually took off my coat and draped it over Marian's shoulders.

"It's getting cold, Mom. You need to take care of yourself."

Marian looked at me, beaming.

"Althea, you're always so thoughtful."

"Did you tell the Dycan King that you and Byron have set a date for the bonding ceremony?"

"We've waited for this day for so long. You're finally going to bond with Byron. Soon, I'll be able to officially call you my daughter."