I was born with a curse. I can't distinguish the scent of werewolves, nor can I sense the connection to a fated mate. I can only rely on the moonstone amulets I craft by hand to identify them.

My Alpha mate, Ethan Sterling, never seemed to mind.

Until the day of our bonding ceremony.

He suddenly received a mind-link from his childhood sweetheart, Jessica Vance.

Jessica was in a difficult labor, her life hanging by a thread. She was crying, demanding he come to her at once.

My voice trembled with desperation. "Ethan! If you leave now, we will sever our mate bond!"

But he left anyway. To gain more speed, he shifted into his wolf, ripping the moonstone amulet I had carved for him from his chest and racing into the distance without a backward glance.

A year later, Ethan returned. By then, I was pregnant and celebrating our pup's blessing ceremony with another Alpha. An Alpha who wore the very moonstone amulet Ethan had discarded.

Ethan lost his mind, claiming I was his mate, but no one in the pack believed him.

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1

"Elysia, Jessica is fading. She's in labor, and it's critical. I have to go."

"Ethan, wait." I pleaded, but he had already snapped the communication crystal shut, turning to leave without a moment's hesitation.

I grabbed his arm, my voice trembling. "But this is our bonding ceremony. All the pack members are watching."

His brow furrowed, his face a mask of agitation. He pried my fingers, one by one, from his ceremonial robes. "Elysia, don't you have any compassion? Jessica needs me right now. We'll postpone the ceremony. I'll make it up to you another day."

Tears streamed down my cheeks, smudging the blessing marks the pack elder had painted on my skin. But I still couldn't let go.

The guests below were stunned, a dead silence falling over the sacred grounds.

Just moments ago, Ethan had been kissing me in front of all of them.

The moment he received Jessica's message, he transformed. The tenderness from a second before vanished without a trace, and he was determined to leave.

He had chosen Jessica again. For years, her name had been like a silver thorn lodged between us, impossible to remove.

Time and time again, I had bitten my tongue, but today was our bonding ceremony.

"Ethan," I said softly, forcing my trembling voice to steady, "I've stayed silent every other time you chose her. But this is a once-in-a-lifetime event. You swore to the Moon Goddess that you would always cherish me. For the sake of our bonding ceremony, please stay. I'm begging you."

He hesitated, his tone softening slightly. "Elysia, I'll never forget what the Thorne Pack has done for me all these years, nor will I forget the vows I made to you. But Jessica and I grew up together. She sacrificed so much for me. I wouldn't be who I am today without her. It's a debt I can never repay."

"She's in danger now. I can't just stand by and do nothing."

A knot of pain twisted in my stomach.

Jessica and Ethan had struggled out of the barren borderlands together, she by his side as he rose to become the pack's strongest Alpha.

Her own mate had even sacrificed himself in battle to help Ethan.

I knew Jessica held a special place in his heart, but I was the mate he was supposed to be bonding with at this very moment.

A sharp pain shot through my chest as I choked out the words, "She has the pack's best healers, the best care. She doesn't need you, but I do."

He gave me one last look, his eyes cold and resolute.

Then, he turned and sprinted toward the edge of the woods.

To gain maximum speed, he tore off the moonstone amulet from his chest that hindered the flow of his power and shifted into his wolf. The amulet traced an arc through the air before landing on the grass, scattered with moonflowers.

I stumbled after him, shouting at the back of his massive wolf form. "Ethan! If you leave now, we will sever our mate bond!"

For a heartbeat, his massive wolf form paused, but in the end, he didn't turn back, vanishing into the edge of the forest.

The cold wind whipped at my ceremonial gown and veil, carrying away the last shred of my hope.

He was gone. Just like every time before, whenever Jessica needed him, he would always abandon me.

I remembered the time we were ambushed while patrolling the territory's border. He nearly died protecting her. But after Jessica was brought back to safety by our packmates, she focused only on her own recovery and never once came to see him.

But I had given up a chance to be promoted to Rune Master just to stay by his side in the healing chamber.

I brewed herbs for him with my own hands, cleaned his wounds, and spent countless sleepless nights fighting back the poison of the wolfsbane.

The scars from the wolfsbane burns are still on my hands.

When he woke up and learned everything I had done for him, he pulled me into his arms, his heart aching for me.

He said his life was mine now, that he could disappoint anyone else in the world, but he would never disappoint me.

And yet, with a single message from Jessica, he had abandoned me at our bonding ceremony.

In the end, the ceremony was left unfinished. I forced a smile, apologized to every guest, and returned all the blessing gifts one by one.

Shortly after, I fell gravely ill. By the time I finally awoke, two days had passed.

Once I recovered, the entire pack was abuzz about the upcoming Moon Goddess Festival. My runework was the centerpiece of the exhibition.

The pack's council hall, transformed into an exhibition space, shimmered under opulent moonstone crystal chandeliers.

The moment I stepped inside, I could feel gazes turning toward me.

One of my rivals raised an eyebrow. "Well, well, Elysia. Isn't your mate with you today? I thought you said you wanted to share every success with him."

I mumbled that he was out with friends, hoping the lie sounded natural, but my unease must have shown. Soon, the whispers began.

"I heard her mate ran out on their bonding ceremony."

"Yeah, can you imagine? The nerve of her to even show her face here."

"She's such a workaholic. Finishing a whole set of blessing runes in three days just makes the rest of us look lazy. No wonder no Alpha can stand her."

I held a glass of moonflower wine, a polite smile fixed on my lips, but my trembling fingers betrayed how I truly felt.

I wanted to defend myself, to shout back, but my curse meant I couldn't even tell who was speaking.

I was born with a curse. No matter how long I've known a werewolf, their scent is always foreign to me.

Before, Ethan would always stand by my side.

He would tell me through our mind-link, "That's an elder from the Silvermoon Pack, and that one is an envoy from the Redfang Pack."

With him there, I could face anyone with grace.

Now, he was gone. I couldn't distinguish who was mocking me and who was pitying me.

Muttering an excuse, I slipped away to a quiet meditation chamber off the main hall. But even there, the voices leaked through the walls.

"Who is she kidding? Elysia bragged about her hand-sewn ceremonial gown with three thousand moonstones, and now it's nothing but trash."

"Who knows where Ethan went? He's probably found someone new by now."

I forced myself to focus on the rune diagrams in front of me, but my vision kept blurring. I wanted to believe Ethan hadn't abandoned me, that he really was just out with friends. But what if he never came back?

Suddenly, the door creaked open. A tall Alpha stood there, the moonstone amulet on his chest glowing softly in the light.

I recognized it instantly. It was the one I had carved for Ethan myself, a one-of-a-kind piece. It looked plain on the outside, but I had poured all my heart into the details of every rune.

My heart clenched. His name escaped my lips in a whisper, "Ethan."

He seemed to pause when he heard the name, but he didn't answer.

I dropped the rune diagrams and stumbled toward him, wrapping my arms around his chest. "You're finally back."

For a moment, his body tensed, but when he looked down and saw my tear-streaked face, his voice softened. "Yes."

When we reached my front door, the Alpha with the amulet hesitated on the threshold.

I turned to look at him. What was the point of dredging up the past? He was here now. That was all that mattered. So, I reached out and pulled him inside. "Are you tired? I can prepare some calming herbs for you."

I went to the kitchen to prepare the calming herbs, but when I turned, I saw he was already skillfully grinding them in a stone mortar.

For a moment, I froze. As the pack's Alpha, Ethan was always swamped with work and rarely did any chores at home.

In fact, he was rarely home. Each time, he would drink the potion I'd prepared and then leave in a hurry, always saying there were pack affairs to handle. But every time he returned, he carried the faint scent of Jessica on him.

Now, here he was, quietly preparing the herbs, handing me the ground powder with a gentleness and consideration that made me almost unable to believe it was him.

"You don't have to help," I said softly. "I'm used to doing it alone."

He glanced at the herbs on the counter. "You've been under a lot of stress lately?"

I followed his gaze to the herbs, which had sedative and calming properties.

Remembering how Ethan had always disliked the bitterness of herbs, I explained, "This is for me. I'll make you something else."

Even though he was back, I couldn't get over how he had abandoned me at the bonding ceremony. My tone was colder than I intended.

To my surprise, he just smiled. "If you need it, I can drink it with you. You don't have to make something special for me."

The warmth in his voice startled me. The knife slipped, slicing open my fingertip. Blood welled up instantly, the pain sharp and deep.

"Don't move," he said sharply, his voice laced with a tension and urgency I had never heard from him before. "Where's the advanced healing salve?"

I pointed it out to him, and he quickly retrieved it, carefully tending to my wound.

A powerful Alpha aura enveloped my hand. The coolness of the salve, combined with his power, healed the cut before my very eyes.

The feeling… it was overpowering, yet incredibly reassuring.

Once, I'd burned myself with a searing hot rune-carving tool and sought comfort from Ethan.

He had frowned, told me I was always so careless, and said I should go find a healer myself. I remember he didn't even look up from the hunting knife Jessica had given him. After that, I learned to endure pain on my own.

Now, his fingers brushed against my skin as he gently blew on the wound, trying to soothe the sting.

His warm breath ghosted over my hand, and my heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Ethan had never been this gentle before. Was this really him?

That night, after we finished the herbal infusion, I made up the bed for him in the guest room and then returned to my own.

We had been together for three years, but Ethan always insisted he was a traditional wolf.

Nothing could happen between us before the bonding ceremony, so we had always slept in separate rooms.

I was about to get into bed when I suddenly remembered a custom amulet that was due the next day.

I would have to pull an all-nighter to finish it. I tiptoed to my workshop.

The toolbox was in a drawer. As I passed the guest room, I couldn't resist a glance inside.

The door was slightly ajar.

He was awake. Our eyes met.

He wordlessly shifted over, making room for me beside him.

I understood the gesture, and my cheeks flushed. I explained in a small voice, "I have work to finish for tomorrow. I'm just getting something and then I'll leave."

He noticed the carving knife in my hand, stood up, and pulled a pair of gloves from his pack.

"I saw the old scars on your fingers earlier," he said. "You must get cut often. This pair of finger guards is made of dragon hide. It won't dull the sensation in your fingertips, and a knife can't pierce it."

He put them on for me himself. They were a perfect fit.

He smiled again, a gentle, genuine smile that softened his entire face. "I had them made for you. I hope you like them."

My body went still as a current of warmth, confusion, and a bittersweet yearning surged through me.

"I love them," I murmured. "I couldn't be happier."

Maybe the Moon Goddess was finally taking pity on me.

Maybe Ethan had really come back to love me.