Chapter 9
ree days after the trial ended, Blackwood Pack’s caravan stopped outside the Moon Temple again. Crystals, jewels, and the deeds to Kane’s private lands filled the entire stone staircase before the temple. He even sent the key to his Alpha private vault, saying that if I was willing to return, everything in Blackwood would be mine to
command.
I had the attendants return everything. But I kept the Moonspring deed.
I converted the Moonspring into a public facility. Any she-wolf carrying a healer’s emergency stamp could soak in the Moonspring immediately, free of charge. The spirit of the pup who had been turned away at those gates became, in the end, a shelter for every pup to come.
After the gifts were returned, Kane came himself. The guards said he stood outside the temple for days, from dusk until the moon set.
“Will you see him?” an attendant asked me.
I turned a page of the prayer book.
“No.”
I never knew which day he finally gave up and left. And I didn’t care.
Three weeks later, I was alone in the prayer chamber for an overnight vigil. The last word of the prayer had barely left my lips when the stained glass window behind me suddenly swung open.
A gust of freezing wind swept in, carrying shards of ice. A figure crashed heavily to the floor.
Kane braced himself on one knee, breathing ragged. His body was covered in frost, his black robes stained with blood. He looked up and held out what he’d been protecting against his chest.
I raised an eyebrow.
A Silvermoon Bloom.
This flower only grew in the deepest part of Death Valley, where freezing mists that suppressed a wolf’s healing ability lingered year-round. Even an Alpha who set foot there could end up frozen solid beneath the canyon walls.
Seven years ago, Kane had crossed that place too. He’d stood beneath the moon altar with that same flower in his hand and made me a promise. I’d taken the flower, taken off my robes, and followed him.
“Evelyn.” His voice was raw, scraped raw by the cold. “I brought it back again.”
He struggled to his feet, his eyes bloodshot.
“On the way here, I thought about a lot of things. These seven years, I wronged you.” Tears streamed down his face. “I was too arrogant. I hurt you. I hurt our pup.”
He stepped forward, all but begging as he held the flower out to me.
“Come home. This time, I’ll make it right.”
I looked at the flower and didn’t reach for it.
“Kane. Leave before I call the guards.”
The last trace of color drained from his face.
1/2
+15 Bonus
“Even if I do it all over again, it’s still not enough?”
tared at his desperate face and let out a quiet laugh.
He’d broken the rose with his own hands, then asked why it had wilted.
I said flatly, “Looking back, I think two things were the most fortunate. One was meeting you seven years ago.
A bright light burst in Kane’s eyes. He stumbled toward me, raising the Silvermoon Bloom in my direction.
I stepped back and avoided his hand.
“The other is that time finally wore away every last bit of love I had for you.” I paused. “You sharpened my devotion to the Moon Goddess. Beyond that, you are nothing.”
His fingers went rigid.
“I’ll give you thirty more seconds. After that, I’m calling the guards.”
Kane’s hand slowly lowered. There was no anger in him, no more pleading. Just the dead silence of someone completely spent.
The Silvermoon Bloom slipped from his frozen fingers.
He turned and walked out of the prayer chamber, his steps unsteady and stiff.
I pulled my gaze back and looked out the window.
Dawn had broken.
