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For a moment, I wondered if my mate had been replaced by someone else.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.”
