After I left, Carlson stayed by Selena's side for more than 24 hours.

When Selena finally opened her eyes and exclaimed excitedly that she could see again, he looked at the silvery eye on her face that once belonged to me and somehow wasn't able to feel any joy. Instead, he felt an indescribable irritation that only seemed to get increasingly worse inside of him.

The scene from the operating table earlier flashed repeatedly in his mind.

I hadn't been administered a single dose of anesthesia during the surgery, and yet, when the scalpel sliced through my flesh, I had simply bit down on my lip and passed out just like that without even making a sound. I never even whined or begged him for mercy to go easy on me.

It was getting dark out, and Selena still hadn't stopped yapping. Carlson found her too noisy and hurriedly made up an excuse before strolling out of the healing center.

The cold night wind managed to clear his mind a little, somewhat.

He was sure that I was just being stubborn and prideful with him.

Following my old habits, he thought that I would most definitely be hiding in our secret hideaway cave on the back of the mountain, feeling absolutely aggrieved and crying my heart out after suffering so much.

All he had to do was just soften his tone a little with me the same way he'd always done in the past, say a few comforting words to me, and I would obediently give in, lower my head, and follow him home, just like I always did.

With such thoughts occupying his head, he suddenly realized that he'd unintentionally made his way to the cave at the back of the mountain.

"Stop making a fuss, Ayna," he said, calling out into the cave. However, the moonlight shone into the cave through the entrance, and he saw that the cave was empty. There wasn't anyone hiding inside at all.

Carlson's heart suddenly dropped into his stomach.

He still stubbornly went inside the cave. It still had the same layout as before, with a small bed, a worn-out tire seat, a weather doll with a funny face drawn on it, and a superhero figurine that we had found somewhere in the woods.

He couldn't help smiling as he looked at the things inside the cave. However, when his gaze landed on the cave's stone wall, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

There had originally been two little figures holding hands etched into the rocky wall there, which I'd carved stroke by stroke about ten years ago. One of the figures was me, and the other was him.

But now, the figure representing him in the wall had been angrily scratched out by a rock, and the deep, glaring cut marks had completely disfigured the carving's face and hands beyond recognition.

The only figure left was the one that represented me, and she looked very lonely by herself.

An immense sense of unease immediately threatened to drown Carlson. He rushed out of the cave and began searching for me high and low everywhere in the pack, trying to pick up my scent.

Finally, he noticed a tiny figure in a fox fur coat at the watchtower in the far distance. The coat had been a birthday gift from him last year.

His tense body relaxed at once, and his fear was then replaced with anger and annoyance at being fooled.

He thought that he should have expected that I would pull this hard-to-get trick on him after all. Who was I trying to fool with my pitiful act, still climbing up the watchtower in the chilly, biting cold despite being newly blind in one eye?

Carlson immediately strode up the steps and spoke in his usual condescending manner.

"Are you done throwing your tantrum? Hurry up and go home to rest. As for the announcement, I can always explain to the pack—"

The figure suddenly turned around to look at him in confusion.

"Alpha? Were you… Were you talking to me?"

Carlson finally got a good look at the face under the moonlight.

It wasn't me.

Instead, it was a teenage pup, Amber Clawe, who was responsible for gathering wild fruit and produce in the pack. She was looking at him with a fearful and bewildered expression on her face.

Carlson froze to the ground. He swallowed thickly and asked, "It's you? Why are you wearing Ayna's clothes?"

"Ayna gave it to me," Amber replied timidly.

She'd only just finished answering him when a warrior rushed over to the watchtower and reported urgently, "Alpha! We just came back from doing a headcount, and none of us has seen Ms. Radolf anywhere. Someone saw her leaving the pack after the surgery last night."

The cold wind swept across Carlson's face like a ruthless blade.

He stood rooted to his spot, his mind completely blank.

"Alpha, Ms. Radolf has only just had an eye removed, and she's at her most vulnerable state now. Should we send someone to go after her?" the warrior asked hesitantly.

Carlson immediately snapped back to his senses and balled his hands into fists. His tone was resolute, yet it was tinged with a hint of panic that he didn't even realize was there.

"What should we go after her for? She's just doing this to force me to submit to her. She can go ahead and suffer for a bit with that stubborn demeanor of hers!"

He paused for a moment as though he'd only just thought about something. He then cocked his eyebrow and feigned composure as he said, "Send out an invitation to every pack in the vicinity and invite them all to my and Selena's marking ceremony."

He figured that I wouldn't be able to stay away from him if I knew that he was going to be holding a marking ceremony with another she-wolf. He was so sure that I wouldn't be able to get over him because I'd loved him for 15 years.

However, he never heard a single word from me over the next few days. He busied himself preparing for the marking ceremony, personally selecting everything from the tiny flower bouquets to the embellishment on their garments, and yet, I still hadn't said anything, even until the date of the ceremony itself.

Carlson was beginning to get restless.

The marking ceremony was held with extraordinary grandeur at the Moon Altar.

There was a path lined with rose petals that stretched out for a mile, fine wines and hors d'oeuvres flown in from human society, a bridesmaid troupe in the hundreds, and even a number of major human celebrities were in attendance.

Members of the surrounding packs watched with envious eyes, whispering marvels at the wealth and power of the Alpha of Moonshadow Tribe.

The horn sounded, and the marking ceremony officially began.

Carlson stood on the platform and silently activated his mental link, frantically searching for my figure in the dense crowd below him, but he couldn't find me.

He couldn't see me anywhere. He also couldn't smell my familiar scent anywhere either.

"Carlson?"

Selena's gentle voice interrupted his thoughts just then.

She wore an elaborate Luna robe as she slowly walked down the aisle toward him while being escorted by her maid of honor.

Carlson instinctively reached out to steady her. The fabric brushed against his palm, and he lowered his gaze, his eyes landing on the buttons on her cuffs.

His fingers then froze at once.

This wasn't my handiwork.

I once told him that the buttons on sleeve cuffs were too troublesome and cumbersome, and I would always make alterations to the sleeves every time I made him something.

He finally realized belatedly that I had already decided to leave the day I agreed to make the ceremony garments for him the other day.

This hadn't been a spur-of-the-moment thing after all. I'd already been thinking about it for a while before that.

"Alpha Carlson, do you take Selena Fang to be your mate?" the officiant asked, his voice echoing around the Moon Altar. "In sickness and in health, in strength and in weakness, will you always share her glory, never to leave her for life?"

Never to leave her?

These words stabbed Carlson right in the heart like red-hot needles.

Many years ago, that adorable little white wolf pup covered in mud tugged on his sleeve and asked him innocently, "Carl, will you still never leave me even if you find yourself a mate next time?"

Carlson's breath caught in his throat, and his chest hurt so badly that he couldn't breathe.

"Carlson? What's on your mind?" Selena asked, reminding him once more.

He managed to draw himself out of his memories. However, when he lowered his head and looked Selena in her eyes, he felt all of his blood run cold at that moment.

He was staring at my eye.

My unique silvery eye, which could only belong to a white wolf, was now on Selena's face, and it looked strangely incongruous with the rest of her features.

He stared at the eye and suddenly realized that all the sound seemed to have vanished from his ears. His mind was now filled only with the image of me on the operating table—covered in blood and biting down hard on my lips, trying not to make a sound despite the excruciating pain.

"Carlson? Carlson!"

Selena's smile had frozen on her face, barely concealing her embarrassment.

It wasn't until the officiant reminded Carlson again that he finally apologized.

Just as he was about to say, "I do", the large LED screen behind them flickered for a bit. The screen that was supposed to be playing a cute video of his and Selena's wedding photos suddenly changed.

Several large wolves were seen pinning down a she-wolf in a dimly-lit cave, their crude panting and howling echoing loudly throughout the altar.

The moment Carlson saw the face on the screen, his pupils dilated immediately as a mixture of shock and rage filled his eyes.

He was just too stunned to say anything at all.

The she-wolf in the very center of the video was none other than Selena, now dressed in pure white—his fated mate that he was about to mark!