A searing pain tore through my back.
The taste of blood surged into my throat, and I spat out a mouthful.
The silver dagger was buried in my body, and blood kept pouring from the wound, yet I barely seemed to feel the pain. All I did was shield the child in my arms.
Elara wrapped her hand around the hilt and slowly pulled the dagger out of my body.
In that instant, darkness swam before my eyes and I nearly lost my footing, but my arms never loosened around him.
Every werewolf watched the scene in silence.
"Enough." Kieran finally spoke. His eyes flicked to the blood at the corner of my mouth, and a trace of reluctance flashed through them. "Audra, I'm giving you one last chance. If you kill this child with your own hands, I can pretend none of this ever happened. You can still be my Luna."
My breathing stopped for a beat.
He wanted me to kill my own child?
"And if I refuse?" I shot back through clenched teeth.
"Then we sever the mate bond." Kieran paused, and his voice turned even colder. "From this day on, you'll be fit for nothing but life as the pack's slave."
It felt as though my heart had been ripped wide open.
Just then, Elara walked up to me with a soft laugh and pressed the bloodstained silver dagger into my hand.
"It's actually very simple, Audra." She bent down to look at me, her voice gentle. "As long as you kill this child yourself, you'll still be Luna, and Kieran will forgive you too."
The child in my arms stirred faintly, and the hand holding the dagger began to tremble at once.
Kieran stood there watching me. The chill in his eyes seemed to lessen, as if everything could go back to the way it was the moment I did it.
Slowly, I raised the dagger.
The smile on Elara's face deepened.
The next second, the silver blade slashed through the air.
Blood splattered.
Elara let out a shrill, agonized scream.
The dagger ripped across her arm, and blood instantly soaked through her dress.
I opened my eyes and cried out hoarsely, "No one is going to make me harm my own child!"
Kieran's face changed at once. "Elara!"
Then he turned to me, his eyes full of hatred. "Seize her!"
Several werewolves rushed forward immediately.
Kieran picked up the silver dagger from the ground, his voice colder than ice. "Since you insist on protecting this bastard… Then I'll send him to his death myself."
As I watched him come toward me step by step, my heart pounded violently in my chest. "Don't come any closer!" I screamed.
A sharp pain suddenly tore through my chest.
At that moment, a silver-white light suddenly appeared across my body.
Everyone present froze in shock, and even Kieran came to a stop.
Stunned murmurs broke out. "What was that just now?"
"Was that the White Wolf Mark?"
"Was she telling the truth? Is she really a White Wolf?"
"But doesn't she not have a wolf?"
I lowered my head and looked at my body.
The mark had only appeared for a moment, but I knew it had come from my White Wolf.
Under the weight of unbearable grief, the seal placed on me all those years ago seemed to have loosened, if only slightly.
Kieran strode over to me, grabbed my wrist, and for the first time, uncertainty appeared in his eyes.
"What was that just now? Are you from the White Wolf Tribe?"
I said nothing.
The vow I had made back then tightened around my throat like chains.
Elara immediately clutched her wound and leaned toward Kieran. "Kieran, you actually believed her? How could someone without a wolf possibly belong to the White Wolf Tribe?"
"Then again… maybe it's not impossible." She spoke again at an unhurried pace. "Some mongrel wolves are born with a trace of White Wolf bloodline in them."
That faint trace of hope in Kieran's eyes died away little by little.
"So you really did go mate with some mongrel wolf, and that's how you ended up giving birth to this thing?"
As I listened to those filthy accusations, my nails dug deep into my palms, yet I couldn't force out a single word.
Kieran suddenly let out a self-mocking laugh. "I was a fool. I almost believed you again."
Elara clearly sensed the shift in Kieran's mood. A flicker of panic crossed her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by venom.
She suddenly grabbed Kieran by the collar, rose onto her toes, and kissed him with fierce passion.
Kieran seemed stunned for a brief second, but when his eyes landed on me, whatever hesitation remained was quickly smothered by anger.
The next second, he reached up, gripped the back of Elara's head, and kissed her back even harder.
In that moment, physical agony and emotional devastation crashed over me at once.
I closed my eyes in pain.
At last, I understood that the Kieran I had once loved was long gone.
When I opened my eyes again, there was nothing left in me to hold on to.
"Kieran. I willingly sever the mate bond between us."
