Chapter 214
Skye’s POV
I stared at my phone screen, my mother’s name flashing with an incoming call. With everything that had happened in the last few days, I’d completely forgotten to check in with my family.
“Who is it?” Adrian asked sleepily from the hospital bed.
“My mom,” I replied.
I accepted the call, bringing the phone to my ear. “Hey, Mom.”
“Skye, sweetheart! Are you okay?” Her voice was filled with worry. “Ethan told me about the final trial results. He said Alpha Adrian was badly injured.”
I glanced at Adrian, who was watching me with curious eyes. “Adrian’s fine now, Mom. He’s recovering well.”
“That’s good to hear,” she sighed with relief. “And what about you? How are you doing?”
“I’m okay,” I assured her. “I was thinking I might come visit you and Dad during the werewolf new year.”
In my mind, I recalled specifically telling Ethan not to mention anything about my kidnapping to our parents. They didn’t need that extra stress. But with so many witnesses at the final trial, there was no way to keep everything that happened
between Leon, Adrian, and me a secret.
My mother initially sounded excited about my visit, but then her tone changed. “Actually, sweetheart, it might be better if you don’t come back for a few months.”
I immediately understood what she meant. “Everyone at Frostshadow Pack hates me now, don’t they? Because Leon failed in the final trial and lost his memories about his mother because of me.”
“None of this is your fault, Skye,” my mother said firmly. “Don’t worry about what others think. This will all blow over eventually, and people will forget about it.”
“Maybe,” I said, not convinced. “But I still feel guilty. I just don’t understand why Leon is still my Second Chance Mate. I accepted his rejection four years ago. I don’t have feelings for him anymore.”
I looked over at Adrian, who reached out and pulled me closer, letting me rest my head on his shoulder.
My mother was silent for a moment before responding hesitantly. “There’s something I never told you, Skye.”
“What is it?”
“Leon being your Second Chance Mate… it might not have been the Moon Goddess’s plan. It might… it might have
something to do with me.”
I sat up straight, confused. “With you? What do you mean?”
“After Leon rejected you that night four years ago,” my mother explained, her voice strained, “I collected his blood–stained clothes from the hunting festival and some of your blood. I took it to a witch who helped me cast a blood curse.”
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“A blood curse?” I repeated, stunned.
I’d heard of blood curses before. Some werewolves used them to make others fall in love with them or to ensure their mate would love them forever. Lydia had once been falsely accused of using a blood curse to seduce Alpha Bodrigo.
I thought if Alpha Leon discovered you were his Second Chance Mate too, he would realize you were his only, his best choice, my mother continued. “The curse was completed the morning you ran away. I never imagined you would leave the pack. If you had stayed, you would be Frostshadow Pack’s Luna by now, and Alpha Leon would surely have won the Alpha King election.”
1 suddenly remembered the strange smell in the kitchen the morning I left. It wasn’t rotten eggs my mother had been dealing with. She had been working on the blood curse in our kitchen.
“Mom, why would you do that?” I asked, my voice soft but serious. “You can’t force feelings. When we try to fool fate, fate ends up fooling us instead.”
“I know I was wrong,” she admitted. “I just couldn’t bear to see you suffering. And selfishly, I wanted to keep you at Frostshadow Pack forever. Did you know that when I gave birth to Ethan, it was easy, but with you, I nearly died? The doctors advised me to give up, saying you probably wouldn’t survive anyway. But I refused to accept that fate. Skye, if you want to blame someone, blame me. I’ll confess everything to Alpha Leon. If he wants to punish someone, it should be me.
“I don’t blame you, Mom,” I said, understanding her intentions even if I disagreed with her actions. “I know you were just
worried about me. Let me be the one to explain this to Leon.”
“Many wolves in Frostshadow Pack are blaming you,” she warned. “They’re calling for Alpha Leon to sever the mate bond
with you.”
“That’s exactly what I want too,” I assured her.
After ending the call, I noticed my phone blowing up with notifications from werewolf social media apps. Most were Frostshadow Pack members abusing me on social media and demanding Leon break our mate bond immediately.
Adrian squeezed my hand. “Don’t pay attention to what those people online are saying.”
“Yesterday I thought I was going to lose you,” I told Kim, placing my phone face down. “Now nothing else matters to me. I’ll get the mate bond with Alpha Leon dissolved as soon as possible. Then these people will have nothing left to talk
about.”
The next morning, Adrian was discharged from the hospital. We returned to the hotel, both exhausted but relieved to be leaving the antiseptic smell of the hospital behind.
As we entered the lobby, the elderly hotel owner rushed over to us.
“Alpha Adrian, I’m so happy to see you’ve recovered!” she exclaimed, her weathered hands clasping together with joy. “I’ll prepare a special nutritional meal for you myself today.”
She turned to look at me, her eyes welling with tears. “Your love story is so touching. For a man to love a woman so much that he would sacrifice his own heart’s blood rather than lose his love for her!”
The old woman dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “This story is more moving than any soap opera I’ve watched recently.”
I smiled awkwardly, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. “Alpha Adrian’s wounds aren’t fully healed yet. We should get back to
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our room.”
“Of course, of course,” she nodded, stepping aside to let us pass.
Once we were alone in our room, I flopped onto the bed and groaned. “Great, we’ve officially become gossip fodder for every werewolf out there.”
Adrian chuckled as he carefully lowered himself to sit beside me. “Is that really so bad?”
“I guess not,” I admitted. “But it’s still weird having strangers invested in our relationship.”
Adrian was about to respond when a knock sounded at our door. I got up to answer it, finding Alpha Xavier standing in the hallway.
“I hope I’m not interrupting,” he said, glancing past me to where Adrian sat on the bed.
“Not at all,” I replied, stepping aside to let him in. “What’s up?”
Xavier entered the room. “I wanted to check on Adrian’s recovery, and to let you both know I’m planning to introduce you to some of our other allies tonight.”
