Chapter 6
Lately, Evric had devoted himself entirely to Celeste. He hadn’t noticed that the once-vibrant garden I had cared for, a place once blooming with life, had long since fallen into ruin.
And yet, once upon a time, he had held me close and kissed me in the garden, thanking me for bringing warmth and color to his cold, lifeless pack house.
He remembered I once told him the garden was the most precious place in the world to me. So he took me there and we made love among the flowers.
Back then, my blushing face had been more radiant than any rose. But now, when he thought of my recent pallor, it struck him, my skin had turned paler than the whitest funeral flowers.
Somewhere along the way, Evric had stopped loving me.
And suddenly, it all made sense.
He realized why I wanted to leave.
Evric stumbled through the doorway, hollow-eyed. At the entrance, Alden stood waiting, clearly downcast, though he tried to pull himself together as Evric approached.
“Did Nerina tell you where she was going?” Evric asked hoarsely.
Alden shook his head. “She didn’t say a word. Just walked out with her suitcase.”
“No. I have to find her!” Evric muttered, voice rising. “I had everything planned, I was going to send her away from Ebonhart Pack with enough money to live comfortably. Why was she in such a rush? Why couldn’t she wait for me to make things right?”
Fuming, he pulled out his phone, ready to order someone to track me down.
But Alden immediately handed him a piece of paper I had left behind and sighed as he tried to stop him. “Evric, if you really want to make it up to Nerina, don’t look for her. This is the note she left you.”
Evric stiffened. His fingers trembled as he took it.
The handwriting was painfully familiar, but the words cut straight into his heart:
Evric,
You once promised to let me keep the bellflowers. You didn’t keep that promise.
So I’ll make a new wish:
I hope you never show up in front of me again.
We’ve known each other for four years, surely such a simple wish is within your power.
I hope you and Celeste grow old together.
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And I hope I can find happiness for the rest of my life too.
-Nerina
Reading the note hurt him deeply. I had known all along he would break his promises. At first, he complained my wishes were too small. But now, even this simple request was something he couldn’t fulfill.
He had brought this on himself. In the end, he pushed me so far that I never wanted to see him again.
Yet memories of our past affection were vivid, and how could I just give that up? How could I wish him and Celeste a
happy life, if that meant he would never come looking for me?
“Nerina, what a clever move. Even your blessing is just a way to keep me away from you.” he whispered, pained.
He thought back to that year.
It had started with a resentful rogue having plotted against him. On a pack hall team-building trip in the hills on the
outskirts of the city, he had been pushed off a cliff by someone.
By some miracle, however, he hadn’t expected to land in a bed of flowers.
It was a hidden patch of blooms deep in the forest, tended carefully by someone.
And I was the gardener in charge of them.
I had been pruning flowers when I found his blood-soaked body among the stems. Terrified, I still found the courage to
rescue him.
When he woke, he had been struck by how much I resembled Celeste. Unable to quell the turmoil in his heart, he paid handsomely to hire me as the pack house’s private gardener.
He had approached me with impure intentions. But I was just a naive, lonely orphan, untouched by the world. He didn’t even need to try very hard, just a little kindness, and I gave him everything.
So Evric had transformed me from a gardener into a bird in a gilded cage.
Year after year, he had me sign a contract, always promising more affection, more security, as long as I obeyed him.
And all the while, he knew the truth.
I was never anything more than a substitute for Celeste.
Now that she was back, my purpose had expired.
But even so, Evric couldn’t accept it. He hadn’t expected me to really leave. And now that I had, it felt like something vital had been ripped from his chest.
He wondered I was once such an obedient, innocent Omega who loved him so deeply, and how could he be so cruel as to treat me this way?
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