And over the years, lulled by his sweet words repeated day after day, I withered into a gaunt, hollow-eyed she-wolf whose inner wolf had gone so quiet I sometimes forgot she was there at all.
I never imagined that within five or six years, every one of his elder brothers would die, and the Thornwood Pack elders would offer Finn the Alpha title on a single condition: accept the secondary bloodline succession, and the territory was his.
Once he became Alpha, he simply slotted Edith into the role of his Luna and raised her pups as his own.
By the time I dragged myself to his territory gates, Finn had long since forgotten that my daughter and I existed.
So much so that when we died miserably in my past life, he didn't shed a single tear.
If anything, he was relieved he wouldn't have to write up divorce papers after all. Relieved the mating bond would simply rot away with my corpse, no Moonfire Ritual required.
This time, no matter what it took, I would change my daughter's fate and my own.
Hildegarde and I knelt at the gates of the Silvercrest compound. The territory sentries couldn't bear the sight of us and reported our arrival five or six times. Two hours later, my father finally came out.
"Reduced to this sorry state, and NOW you remember you have a father?"
He stood in the archway, shoulders filling the frame, his aura pressing outward like the weight of a coming storm. The scent of ancient pine and frozen granite rolled ahead of him. He held no weapon, but his claws had half-extended, the tips catching the light.
"Your daughter knows she was wrong. Beat me, kill me, do whatever you see fit."
"I regret not listening to you back then. I put my trust in the wrong man."
Tears streamed down my father's weathered face. He didn't strike me. His claws retracted. He threw nothing to the ground because there was nothing to throw, but his hands were trembling when he pulled me to my feet.
"You were so heartless back then. You severed your own blood-bond and abandoned your pack for a man. But since you know you were wrong, cut those ties clean and come home where you belong!"
"As long as you sever that cursed mating bond completely, you are still a daughter of the Silvercrest bloodline, and this territory is still yours."
He told me to change out of my rags, but I shook my head.
His expression shifted. "Don't tell me you still intend to have dealings with that man?"