Chapter20
Clara’s POV
“Enough!” I shouted, stopping the two Alphas before they could attack. “This is an art gallery, not a place for you to display your primal instincts.”
I looked at the terrified guests and took a deep breath.
“Kael, if you really have something to say, follow me to the lounge,” my voice was cold and calm. “Let’s settle this once and
for all.”
“Clara…” Asher looked at me with concern.
“It’s okay,” I gave him a reassuring look. “Some things need to be said.”
In the gallery lounge, it was just Kael and me.
He sat on the sofa, looking haggard, completely stripped of his former arrogant Alpha demeanor.
“Clara, I know nothing I say can make up for the pain I caused you,” his voice trembled. “But I have to tell you, I saw the little
wolf carving.”
He took the familiar wooden carving from his pocket.
“Fifteen years ago, you were the one who saved me, not Selene,” his eyes welled with tears. “You were my moonlight girl, and
1…”
“And you spent three years torturing me,” I finished his sentence coldly. “Yes, I know.”
“You knew?” Kael looked at me in shock.
“I always knew,” I said flatly. “I was the one who saved you in the forest fifteen years ago. But so what?”
“So what?” Kael stood up excitedly. “Clara, it means we were fated to be together! You’re the one I was meant to protect for my
entire life!”
“Fated?” I couldn’t help but sneer. “Kael, do you think you love me?”
“Of course! I love you! I’ve always loved you!”
“No,” I shook my head. “You love a fantasy. A perfect image of a ‘moonlight girl. You never truly knew me.”
“I did! I know you love moonberry tarts, that you like to plant herbs in the garden…
“Those are just surface–level habits,” I cut him off. “Do you know my real dreams? Do you know why I love to paint? Do you know what my deepest fears are?”
Kael opened his mouth but couldn’t say a word.
“Three years of being mates, and you never once cared about who I was,” my voice grew colder. “You just built a perfect ‘Luna‘ in your head and forced me to fit into that mold.”
“And when that image conflicted with your interests, you didn’t hesitate to sacrifice me.”
“Clara, I…”
“Do you ever think about our pup?” I asked suddenly.
Kael froze.
“You wouldn’t,” I sneered. “Because in your eyes, that child was just a tool. An excuse to keep me imprisoned.”
1/2
Chapter 20
+25 BONUS
“No!” Kael shook his head in agony. “I know I was wrong now. I want to make it up to you…”
“Make amends for what?” I stood up. “For three years of pain? For our lost pup? For my shattered heart?”
“Clara, please give me a chance….” Kael suddenly dropped to his knees. “I will spend the rest of my life earning your forgiveness.”
Looking at the man kneeling before me, I felt nothing.
There was a time I would have given anything for him to treat me with such sincerity.
But now, it was too late.
“Kael, do you know what your biggest mistake was?” I looked down at him. “It wasn’t that you hurt me. It’s that even now, you don’t understand that you can’t win back love with pain and tears.”
“I can change!” he cried desperately. “I’ll become the man you want me to be!”
“The man I want?” I shook my head. “The man I wanted was someone who respected me, protected me, and truly loved me from the very beginning. Not someone who remembers to change only after he’s already hurt me.”
Desperate tears streamed down Kael’s face.
He suddenly pulled out a silver dagger, the traditional werewolf tool of penance.
“If my death is what it takes to earn your forgiveness…” he pressed the tip of the dagger to his chest. “Then I will atone with my life.”
“Stop it,” I watched him coldly. “Don’t play these childish games.”
“This isn’t a game!” his hand trembled. “Clara, I truly love you!”
With that, he plunged the dagger into his chest.
Blood instantly gushed out, staining his shirt.
But I just watched him, my expression unchanging.
“You think you can move me with self–pity?” my voice held no warmth “You think a little blood and a grand gesture can erase three years of torment?”
Kael curled up on the floor in agony, looking at me with hope in his eyes.
He was waiting for me to soften, to show concern.
He would be waiting forever.”
I looked at him one last time before walking away, leaving him with one final sentence: “Kael, stop this useless act. The Clara who loved you died a long time ago.”
