I took a dash. As fast as I could, that blurry eyesight was all I could see. My ears were ringing and there was a temporary stillness. It took me a few seconds to regain my senses, and I was suddenly afraid of the outcome.

When I opened my eyes, I heaved a sigh of relief when I sensed the familiar silky fur of Lupin. He was in my arms, safe and sound.

Heartbeats still drummed wildly in my chest, and I collapsed to the ground. Pain coursed through my body as the aftermath of using the power of my wolf's spirit forcefully.

“Scarlett?”

I heard Lupin’s growl and snapped my head toward the approaching Violet. I narrowed my eyes and glared at her.

Lupin was quite restless in my arms. He tried to get out of my embrace, but I held him tighter. I was afraid if he got close to Violet and she hurt him again.

“Violet, what’s the meaning of this?!” I raised my voice at her.

She tried to touch Lupin, and I would never forgive her for this. Lupin wasn’t just an ordinary wolf to me, but also a family. Probably the last family member that I have left in this world.

He was already old, but I have been taking care of him and making sure that he was healthy. After he lived with us werewolves for a long time, I think our werewolves counterpart had affected him somehow. Besides his intelligence, he was also stronger than normal wolves.

It was just that his condition worried me a bit lately. He had gotten sick a few times. Luckily, before I left the house because I was angry at Ryan, he had already recovered from his recent sickness.

Ryan also treasured Lupin greatly. That was why I was relieved to leave him at the house with him.

“It attacked me, Scarlett…” she trailed off, and bit her lips. “I think he has rabies because he suddenly became aggressive with me.”

“Watch your mouth, Violet.” I berated her angrily.

However, she suddenly came close to both of us. “Be careful, Scarlett!”

Her scream seemed to have triggered something in Lupin. He jumped out of my embrace and swiped his paw at Violet aggressively.

I was stunned. Lupin slipped out of me easily because I had lost any strength to hold him back.

“Lupin, calm down. Good boy, calm down. I am here!” I also yelled at Lupin to stop. Violet had evaded his sudden attack, and now he was growling at her. From his stance, he was ready to lunge at her again any moment.

I noticed that there was something wrong with Lupin. His eyes were red and the fur in his body stood up. He acted as if he didn’t hear me at all. The Lupin I knew would instantly come to me if I ever called him. Even if he was unwilling, he would still come.

My pupils constricted. He acted as if he didn’t know me at all, and all of this happened in just a few hours after he had just previously comforted me.

“Get out of here, Violet!” I was frustrated that Violet looked like she didn’t want to leave.

This time, she couldn’t evade fully as Lupin lunged toward her. His paw scratched her left arm.

A look of annoyance crossed her face, and she immediately shifted. I was in trepidation as the two wolves fought. Or it was more like Violet in her wolf form playing and teasing Lupin instead, which angered him further.

The fight got worse as Lupin became more aggressive, and I watched in horror as Violet slammed Lupin against the wall.

I instantly stood up. An awful premonition loomed over as Violet lunged toward the fallen body of Lupin.

“No, no, no!” I forced my body to move despite the excruciating pain, but as soon as I arrived, it was too late.

Violet had delivered a fatal blow to Lupin’s stomach and head. Blood was pouring out like waterfalls. I couldn’t process what was happening for a while until I panicked and crouched down to cradle Lupin’s body.

His eyes were a bit unfocused, like he was sick. However, as I watched life gradually slipping away from him, his eyes cleared up a bit. He licked my hand as if to comfort me, and I sobbed.

Violet was really ruthless with her blow; she was clearly delivering a death blow, intending to kill. Tears poured from my eyes and I couldn’t breathe.

After a while, Lupin’s body turned cold. He died, leaving me alone.

“I am sorry… I didn’t mean it. I-I was just…”

That was when I also snapped. As if I just received a burst of energy, I shifted to my wolf form and lunged toward her.

The force threw her body far to the other side of the room. I trotted toward her in a menacing stance, and she finally screamed loudly, “Ryan, help me! Scarlet is going to kill me!”

She was screaming at her phone. Ryan arrived in just seconds, in his wolf form. He didn’t confirm what was happening at first, but he instantly smashed his bigger body against me. I didn’t expect his action, and my body fell near Lupin’s.

“Scarlett…” He shifted and was about to come to me. Guilt swirled in his eyes. However, Violet hurriedly snaked her arms around his, sobbing quietly.

I felt a bit numb as my body couldn’t sustain the wolf form anymore. Slowly, I crawled toward Lupin, a hollowness occupied my heart.

“What’s happening here?” Ryan finally demanded.

I turned toward him. Something sparked slightly inside of me. He would care about Lupin, right?

“She killed Lupin, Ryan, she killed Lupin!” I choked as I screamed and pointed toward Violet.

There was a look of disbelief that crossed his face. He seemed to just realize what I was holding, Lupin, who was coated in a pool of blood. It dyed my clothes red, but I didn’t care.

There was redness in my eyes as I sent a hopeful look at him. The guilt he felt earlier increased my hope. He must still care about me even though it was just a little, right?

His head snapped toward Violet. He frowned and asked her in a stern voice. “Is that true?”

Violet stopped sobbing, and she was stunned that Ryan’s tone was no longer as soft. Instead, he had an accusing look in his eyes.

I could also see and sense the grief that passed through his eyes. It was brief and genuine.

Violet stuttered, “It’s not like that…”

“It’s exactly like that. You killed Lupin!” I said coldly. “You can smell this entire room. There were only the three of us. Lupin is my companion, and I would never hurt him.”

Ryan’s frown deepened. Violet looked like she panicked after seeing him so cold, and she instantly explained herself. “Ryan, you have to believe me. Lupin was attacking me and I was just defending myself. When I came out of my room, I sensed that something was pouncing on me.”

She took a deep breath and her words became more eloquent. “You know that my eyesight isn’t fully recovered. I had to defend myself and it was later that I found out it was Lupin—”

“After that, Lupin still continued to attack me. I think that he has rabies.” Violet showed him her arms that had a laceration on it, the sleeve was shredded into two parts.

I waited for him to speak, but then the words that left his mouth stunned me.

“Since it was Lupin that started it first, it means that Violet did it out of self-defense. She didn’t mean to do it. Scarlett, can you forgive her?” He said to me, gesturing toward Violet with a softened look in his eyes.

I froze, too shocked to react to his cold-hearted words. So, not only me, he also has replaced Lupin, huh?

For a moment, I wondered if my mate had been replaced by someone else. However, seeing that pair of blue eyes that I used to love so much, I knew that it was still him.

Suddenly, I felt that his eyes became sickening for me. The way he looked at Violet… it was the same way he used to look at me. With those eyes, too.

I didn’t react to him, hugging Lupin’s body tighter. Violet was whining something about her whole body hurts and I heard the door click, then it was closed.

A sob escaped my lips. In the room, there was only me and Lupin’s cold body now. I gathered my strength and dragged his body outside.

Behind this house, there was also a cemetery where my brother’s bones were buried. After we moved in here, we put his body near us, in our pack, where he had always wanted to belong.

I used my hands to dig a hole beside my brother’s grave. Some staff of the house who are also the pack members saw me, and they offered to help.

“Let me do it myself.” I told them. Probably I looked like a ghost right now, coated in a dry blood and digging the ground for my wolf’s grave.

They looked at each other, and when I said the same thing for the second time, they finally relented. After they left, I looked at the body of Lupin for the last time and buried him beside Austin.

“Brother…” I sobbed after I finished. Rain washed over, as if listening to my pain. “Lupin misses you, right? That’s why he went first?”

“Why did you two leave me alone??” I choked on the water that entered my throat. My tears merged with the rain water, and I sat there for a while.

Through my blurry eyesight, I looked at the two mounds. A thought crossed my mind, and it was as if everything became clearer. I whispered to them, “I will be reunited with the two of you, at least.”

My wolf's spirit was getting weaker each day and I could feel it now. Originally, I didn’t feel it much because after I became Luna; I didn’t need to fight so much anymore. The pack has a lot of warriors that could fight the rogue werewolves, and I didn’t need to do it myself.

Only in the past few months have I begun noticing it. I thought that it was because I hadn’t trained much because of Luna’s work. When I went to the doctor to check, I realized that everything was too late. Now, my body’s condition deteriorated faster.

“Scarlett?” I vaguely heard a voice, and I almost thought it was a hallucination if only his figure didn’t come closer.

“What are you doing here in the rain? Let’s go back. You will be sick!” Ryan’s angry voices grew clearer in my ears.

He closed the gap between us and was about to scoop down to embrace my figure, but I evaded him. I didn’t want to be touched by the hands that had touched Lupin’s murderer.

“Scar?” He froze.

“Don’t touch me.” I crawled away from him, using every bit of the strength left in me.

He looked stunned. His movement paused before he closed the gap between us again, his hand gripping mine tightly.

“What did you say, Scarlett? I am your mate!”

I closed my eyes. The chilly rain was starting to penetrate my bones, and I was shivering.

“Stop this nonsense at once. Let’s go back and stop throwing a tantrum.” He barked at me.

I struggled to free my hands from his. As soon as I heard his words, something in me snapped. Does he think that grieving over the death of a family member is called throwing a tantrum now?

“Ryan,” I gritted my teeth and then closed my eyes. “Let’s break our mate bond. Reject me.”

“Scarlett, stop being so unreasonable.” His chest heaved up and down, and I could feel his grip tightening on me. It hurt, but then the cold numbed my pain.

I let out a bitter laugh, and he frowned at me.

“Let’s find some place to talk first.” He muttered as he dragged me toward the small gazebo near her.

“Why are you so pale?” He tried to reach for my face, but I turned away. His outstretched hand turned to a fist, and a flicker of rage crossed his countenance.

“You don’t need to care, Ryan. I am going to die soon, anyway.” I said nonchalantly.

He clutched my face roughly and forced me to look at him. “Scarlett, why are you like this? Don’t curse yourself like that because you are angry.”

The way he uttered that was really hilarious. But I didn’t like it that he was pretending to care about me when he actually didn’t. Was he doing it out of pity? Or maybe it was just his conscience. He could tell himself that he had done his best to take care of me.

So that after he discarded me, he wouldn’t feel guilty. The condition of my body was deteriorating, but he didn’t seem to care at all.

I heard that some werewolves got lucky that they found a second chance mate after their first one died. This might be the case for Ryan. Perhaps Violett was his second chance mate.

Our mate bond was weakening because I and my wolf's spirit were dying and it made their bond become stronger instead? My brain made up a scenario I couldn’t get out of my mind.

“You don’t believe it?” I tilted my head, then snorted. “You don’t need to believe it, anyway.”

When he was surprised, I pulled my hands out of his grip. The warmth that he provided was instantly gone, replaced by extreme coldness. However, I wouldn’t protest. This was better than his words of sweet nothings that were now woven in a tapestry of lies.

I stood up and turned around, ready to go through the rain, anywhere away from this man.

“Scarlett, enough of it.” He pulled me roughly, his arms snaked around me in an embrace.

I froze, and my mind instantly relieved that the scenario where Ryan’s body was tangled with Violet, their lips dangerously close until they were only less than an inch apart from touching each other.

My stomach churned, and I had the urge to throw up whatever contents inside. It was sickening; he was incredibly sickening. If I used to yearn for his touch, now I just couldn’t wait to get away from him.

He turned my body around and his face went closer to mine. When he was about to kiss me, I turned my face away. That action seemed to provoke him, that he froze and then clutched my face to look at him.

“Maybe I should remind you that we are mates. You seem to have forgotten.” His eyes were like an endless abyss, staring at me.

Oh, so according to him, I was the one who had forgotten that I have a mate? It was he who had forgotten, entangled in another female werewolf while I was still alive.

His face became closer again, and I could smell the familiar scent of Violet from him. I turned my head away again and pulled myself from his embrace.

I went to the edge of the gazebo and vomited all the contents inside my stomach. Ah, I also forgot the fact that I was pregnant. Suddenly, I felt incredibly sorry for this baby that would never be born.

“Is my touch that repulsive to you?” Ryan glared at me as I wiped my mouth. I didn’t eat anything last night; unexpectedly some blood was mixed between, and I had hurriedly wiped any traces of it before Ryan could see.

The rain washed it away. Ryan walked closer to me and then he sniffed.

My pupils constricted. After losing my heightened senses as a werewolf, I forgot that they could easily identify blood from its smell.

A flash of concern passed through his eyes, and it was quickly gone. “Are you feeling unwell?”

He reached his hands toward me, but I snarled at him and said persistently. “I said, don’t touch me.”

“But you are sick, Scarlett.” He insisted. “Let me take a look at you.”

I couldn’t stand his pretense anymore. Why bother pretending like he cares when he doesn’t? He didn’t even ask about Lupin after I was done burying him.

It was until I couldn’t control my hand, and a resounding slap echoed through the gazebo, muffled by the rain. He looked at me with a face full of disbelief and anger.

“You are dirty, so don’t touch me.” I glared at him. “It’s not because I am sick that I vomited, it’s because you are sickening me.”

“Fine. Don’t regret it.” He growled at me, then marched toward the rain. His figure was quickly gone from the sight, swallowed by the heavy rain.

I collapsed to the floor, vomiting again whatever was left inside my stomach, which was mostly blood.