Two weeks from now was also the day I would leave the Nightfang household.
After a moment, I lifted my head and offered a faint smile. "Of course. I'll make sure to prepare a grand gift."
Satisfied with that answer, she turned and left, content.
I watched her retreating figure, took out my communicator, and dialed a number as I continued walking toward the cold-storage vault.
I waited outside the cold-storage vault for a while before the appointed worker arrived. I rewrapped the remains of the pups I had retrieved and placed the bundle into their hands. My voice was so level it barely carried any inflection at all.
"In two weeks, deliver this to the Moon Feast. Hand it to Caelan Nightfang personally."
"This is my gift to him."
Once everything was handled, I returned to the Nightfang estate alone.
I had barely stepped through the old keep's doors when my communicator chimed.
I opened it. A message from Everett Ashvale.
"Ungrateful girl, you think mating into another pack means you can ignore your own blood? How many years since you've set foot in this house? Tomorrow is my Pack Feast. You will be there!"
Every word dripped with accusation and command.
I glanced down at the screen and typed back three words.
"Understood. I'll come."
It was true. I hadn't gone back to that house in a very long time.
After all, that place had only ever belonged to Chloe Ashford.
And I was nothing more than someone in the way.
This was something I had grown used to long ago.
For as long as I could remember, Chloe had been the treasure Everett and Eleanor Ashvale held in the palm of their hands. No matter how hard I tried to please them, their eyes never lingered on me. Everything I did couldn't even compare to a single playful whine from her.
Later, when I grew older, I learned of the mating pact between our pack and the Nightfangs. Caelan Vale was my intended mate. I had been naive enough to believe that once I was mated to him, I would finally have a home that was truly mine. So I gave him everything, held nothing back. But all I received in return was his coldness and contempt. In his eyes, from beginning to end, there was only Chloe.