“Griffith, we never truly understood each other. I didn’t know you well enough back then, so I never saw your betrayal coming. And you never knew me, which is why you assumed I would be just like you.”
I glanced down at him. He was frozen speechless. “That’s why we were never meant to be,” I added.
After that, Talasha told me that Griffith never appeared outside the city walls again.
Not long after, her informants brought back news–Griffith, drowning himself in alcohol day after day, had been overthrown by
his own subordinates. He was no longer the Alpha of the Avalora Pack. Now, he wandered from place to place, child in tow,
nothing more than a rogue.
“I heard they even broke his hands and feet. He’s just a beggar on the streets now!” Talasha said with smug satisfaction.
I only smiled. But I didn’t feel much of anything–not joy, not pity. To me, he was nothing more than a stranger.
A week later, Talasha and Stran’s wedding took place as planned.
Watching her in her wedding dress, radiating happiness, I hesitated, then finally gave in to my lingering doubts.
“Talasha, are you sure you want to marry Stran? After all… his fated mate isn’t you.”
A small sense of guilt lingered in my heart. By Moon Goddess’s decree, Stran’s true mate should have been me. Though I had told
Talasha the truth from the very beginning, and I had never wavered in my commitment to never betray her, I still couldn’t help
but worry.
She was walking into a marriage unblessed by fate–just as I once had.
Talasha gently ran her fingers through my hair. “Ellia, I have faith in you, and I have faith in Stran.”
Then she grinned. “More than that, I have faith in myself.”
Seeing her confidence, I finally let go of my doubts. Talasha was capable and powerful. Whatever challenges came her way, she
would face them head–on.
That, in itself, was a revelation.
After the wedding, I left the Lumina Pack territory–the city that had sheltered me through the lowest point in my life.
1/2
Chapter
It was time to learn how to fly, just like Talasha. To find my own strength.
