Chapter Two: That Morning, She Didn’t Come Back

Ronan’s POV

Eileen’s hand slipped from my shirtfront, leaving behind a few tiny wrinkles.

For that brief moment, she had grabbed me without thinking—just as she used to reach for me instinctively whenever she missed a step on the stairs or jolted awake from a nightmare.

I saw the anger in Vivian’s eyes, as well as the shock on everyone else’s face.

Then I let her go.

Kane crouched low inside me, his gaze fixed on her. A frustrated, restrained growl rumbled in his throat.

“Our mate.”

Ever since she walked through the door, I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off her.

I watched her stand there, awkward and helpless. I watched her refuse to settle fully into her chair. I watched her keep her head lowered. She wouldn’t even look at me for more than a second.

We had never completed the mate bond, nor had either of us formally rejected the other. But ever since she left five years ago, I had been unable to sense Luma through the bond.

The day before, just before I left work, I had barely finished closing the test report for the propulsion system when Gavin placed a leave request on my desk.

“It’s Beth’s twentieth birthday. I’d like to take tomorrow off and spend the day with her.”

I signed it, but he didn’t leave. Instead, he cautiously held out an invitation.

“She likes a lively gathering, so I thought I’d invite a few friends over. They’re all people you know. Would you like to come by as well?”

“I don’t have time.”

He took the invitation back and started toward the door.

“You really are impossible to invite anywhere. Her lawyer friend has already agreed to come, and you’re still busy.”

Wait. Beth… Her best friend was… Eileen.

How had I forgotten?

The tip of my pen stopped against the paper, releasing a small blot of ink.

“What time?”

Gavin froze for a moment, then turned around with a grin.

“Don’t tell them yet,” I instructed quietly. “I may not come.”

The next day, I arrived half an hour before the agreed time.

Gavin was busy hanging balloons for Beth. I chose the seat directly facing the private room’s door and draped my coat over the back of the chair.

The door opened several times, and each time, I looked up.

But when Eileen finally appeared, I didn’t move.

She was carrying a cake, the ends of her hair slightly disheveled. A hurried flush still colored her face from rushing over. When her eyes landed on me, that touch of color slowly faded.

She turned as if to leave.

My grip tightened around the glass. Fortunately, Beth hurried over to greet her.

Gavin kept talking beside me, and I answered now and then, but my peripheral vision remained fixed on Eileen. Whenever she looked at me, I raised my glass. Only when she lowered her head could I let myself watch her for a little longer.

Vivian brought up Hector. I saw Eileen’s hand disappear into the folds of her skirt, and I saw her glance at me.

I should have stopped Vivian.

But in that moment, I was despicable enough to want to hear how Eileen would answer.

Then she stood. The legs of her chair scraped across the floor with an ear-piercing shriek.

I rushed after her, almost without hesitation.

Now we stood facing each other in the hallway, the side lighting casting our shadows across the floor.

“Eileen.” I lifted my head and looked away. “Why did you choose him back then?”

The hallway was silent. Her fingers slowly tightened around the strap of her bag until her knuckles turned white.

“What could he give you that I couldn’t?”

She raised her head abruptly. Her lips parted, but then her eyes dropped again.

I remembered the night before she left.

After taking a shower, she had sat on the edge of the bed wearing my shirt and carefully removed the bandage from the back of my hand. The gauze had stuck to the wound, and she had frowned anxiously as she worked at it. By the time it finally came away, her entire body was damp with cold sweat.

Even after she fell asleep, she kept hold of that arm.

The next morning, I went out to buy breakfast. When I returned, there was no one in the apartment.

I searched the bathroom first, then the kitchen. Her hairband was still on the vanity, and her charging cable hung from the bedside table. I called her over and over like a madman, but every attempt ended in the same dead, unreachable tone.

Later, I drove straight to Silver Crown, but I still couldn’t find her.

After that, someone told me she was going to marry Hector—the Beta who had once served as her father’s personal guard. Hector had then become Silver Crown’s new Alpha after being elected by the council as the former Alpha’s son-in-law.

“If you had already decided to leave me,” I said, looking at her, “why did you still hold me while we slept that night?”

Eileen’s eyelashes trembled.

I waited for her to deny it, or to admit it. I would have accepted even a single sentence telling me that she had already stopped loving me then.

But she only stared at me as her eyes slowly reddened.

Kane suddenly rose inside me.

“Luma?”

Its voice broke through my thoughts.

Eileen pressed a hand to her chest. A faint ring of gold surfaced around her pupils, then vanished almost immediately. She took half a step back until her shoulders met the wall, her breathing growing heavy.

Kane lunged toward that trace of presence and called out twice in quick succession.

There was no response.

“I heard her when I caught Eileen just now,” Kane said, pacing restlessly inside me. “And now she’s gone again.”

I looked at Eileen once more.

She was struggling to slow her breathing. The moment she noticed me approaching, she shook her head.

“Let me stay like this for a while.”

I stopped and didn’t touch her again.

Luma had once been even fiercer than Kane. If she couldn’t catch her prey, she would pounce and bite its ears. If she felt wronged, she would make an even bigger fuss and refuse to stop until she received an explanation.

I had never seen her this weak—not even strong enough to leave behind a complete response.

“What’s wrong with your wolf?”

Eileen’s grip on her bag strap tightened further.

“Eileen?”

She looked up at me. I reached out and steadied her by the arm. This time, she didn’t pull away immediately, but she still didn’t answer.

Only after her breathing gradually steadied did she say quietly that she wanted to find Beth.

I didn’t press her.

By the time Beth came to take her away, Eileen was able to stand upright. She even managed a strained smile and murmured an apology.

I watched them leave, the coldness of her arm lingering in my palm.

Kane was still searching for Luma.

I stood there for a while, then took out my phone and called the assistant at home.

“Look into the Silver Crown wedding from five years ago again. And investigate Hector. How did he go from being a Beta guard to becoming an Alpha?”

“Second Master, the information we sent you before—”

“I want to know what happened after she went back.”

I stared in the direction Eileen had left.

“This time, don’t give me just a wedding announcement.”