Wandering for Beauty: Leaving the Wolf Who Doesn't Love Me

Suddenly, Courtney interrupted, “Sorry, Lucinda. Vernon is still young and doesn't understand. What’s more, his dad and I often have dinner together, so maybe he thinks it’s like what he always did before.”

With a brief nod toward them, I turned to look at Dominic. My voice, once filled with simmering anger, was then laced with indifference when said, "Yes, you're right. A child needs a father figure. Maybe you should spend more time with them, Dominic."

Then I chose to leave, but then Dominic chased me.

“Lucinda, wait. You’re upset about that, I understand, but he is just a child,” Dominic explained in an apologetic tone.

“Of course, I understand. They must've been through a lot. So, you better have dinner with them instead of me now," I answered calmly.

But Dominic seemed dissatisfied with my answer and asked angrily, “What's that supposed to mean? What's your attitude?”

“I said I understand!”

Many people seemed curious about our argument. Somehow, I felt like I was the third person between Dominic and Courtney, so I decided to leave and went back home in a taxi.

After arriving at the Moonriver Pack, my wolf urged me to shapeshift. So, I directly agreed.

Then, she ran and howled through the forest as fast as we could.

She must be in great pain at that moment.

After all the anger, I returned home and decided to lock myself in the study and finish the project that was sent by my clients.

At 11, I heard Dominic got home but he didn’t do anything. So, I thought we started our silent treatment as always.

On the next day, I purposely went out after Dominic went to work.

After breakfast, I decided to go to the park because I felt bored with the situation at home.

But lucky me, I saw Courtney with her friends still chatting there. Then, because of my wolf’s hearing, I could hear all of the conversation clearly.

“Luna Lucinda is just too sensitive. Maybe because she just had miscarriage, so she is psychologically tired.”

“Yes, you should not feel upset about it, Courtney.”

Then, Courtney said in tears, “But you said that she already knew about my relationship with Dominic before I got married, right? I am afraid that she misunderstands that.”

“As far as I know, she is just aware that both of you are childhood friends.”

“Yeah, no one told her that Alpha Callahan used to pursue you before you got married and even came to your husband’s Pack to meet you.”

What?

Dominic used to pursue Courtney before she got married to her mate?

But a month after Courtney’s marriage, he pursued me and proposed to me.

I indeed did not know about their story before moving to the Moonriver Pack, since I came from another Pack. But I did not expect that Dominic and Courtney used to be in love like that.

***

Since I was a Beta’s daughter of the Saturnfest Pack, my family and I were invited to the Alpha's celebration of the coming age.

Usually, we were deliberately introduced to expand connections and also looked for a mate. After all, 16 years old was the mature age for a werewolf when usually they would get their own wolf and start meeting their mate.

I still remembered Dominic’s 16th birthday party banquet. It was a grand event, filled with laughter, dancing, and the excited energy of teenagers.

That night was also a special night for me, because it was the first time my wolf encountered her mate, Dominic’s wolf.

I felt an inexplicable bond, a magnetic pull toward him. However, to my dismay, Dominic seemed oblivious to the connection, ignoring the reaction entirely.

At the time, it did not make sense to me. But not long after, he pursued me and proposed to me, so I never thought about it anymore.

Then, after I moved over to the Moonriver Pack, I got to know if Dominic had a childhood friend who was a Beta’s daughter like me.

Later, I knew that her name was Courtney. But she moved over to the other Pack after marrying her mate.

The thing that I did not know was that Courtney’s decision shattered Dominic's heart. Then, he tried to pursue her and came to the other Pack just to meet her.

Then, I totally believed that he failed to get her back, because a month after Courtney’s wedding, he turned his attention to me.

I was even shocked when I saw him come to my Art School and bring a bouquet of flowers to propose to me.

But I had been in love with him from the moment I saw him at his 16th birthday banquet, so when he began to pursue me, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world and directly said yes.

A year after, Dominic and I got married, then I moved to the Moonriver Pack, leaving behind my home in the Saturnfest Pack.

Actually, since I thought we were in love with each other, I never bothered about Dominic and Courtney’s friendship. After all, she already moved to another Pack.

But starting from that day, when I knew it was actually a love story, my heart broke into pieces.

No wonder when Courtney came back to the Moonriver Pack, Dominic started to give her all of his care.

I took a deep breath and gripped the nearby trees since it dawned on me that I had never been in his heart.

However, when I got home, I did not expect that Dominic would also be there. After all, it was still 11 in the afternoon while he always got home at 5 in the evening.

When he saw me, he suddenly called out my name, "Lucinda."

Then, he sounded like he was in pain when said, "My... my stomach hurts."

I just nodded and wanted to go to the study again, after all we were still in silent treatment and everything was not clear enough.

But suddenly he grabbed my hand and demanded, "Lucinda, why don't you care anymore? You used to be concerned when I was ill. You will even make porridge and give me medicine."

He was right, that was indeed the old me. I would always spoil him since I loved him so much.

But at that time, I did not even feel sad or anxious when he said that his stomach hurt. I thought, everything that I used to do in the past started to lose and gone.

Seeing me did not answer, Dominic was speechless.

His calm tone changed to anger. He shouted, “Lucinda, how long are you going to keep arguing with me about Courtney?

“When you are angry about the fire, I have explained and apologized.

“For that candy, it’s just a misunderstanding. As for last night, I told you that he is just a kid, so he slipped.

“I've told you repeatedly that there's nothing between us. So, if there’s something else on your mind, we need to discuss it instead of ignoring each other.”

"Oh, okay," I said calmly, a stark contrast to his anger.