Rocco stopped packing and slowly turned around.
“With me?” Rocco sneered. “Scarlett, do you think this is a vacation?”
“I’m going to bring my Luna home.”
The color drained from Scarlett’s face.
“But Rocco, Caterina has already… She’s about to bond with someone else…”
“So what?” A crazed light gleamed in Rocco’s eyes. “She is my Mate, a union witnessed by the Moon Goddess! Nothing can change that!”
He zipped up the suitcase and headed for the door without a backward glance.
“You can wait here for the good news.‘
“And when I bring Caterina back, you can get the hell out of my life!”
Meanwhile, I was in my family’s pack, beginning a new chapter.
“Caterina, this child is simply perfect!”
An elegant woman walked into the main living room of the Silver Moon Packhouse, her smile as warm as a spring breeze.
She was Damon’s mother, Isabella, the former Luna of the Blackwood Pack, who still carried herself with an aristocratic grace.
“Luna Isabella,” I said, standing to greet her politely.
“Please, call me Isabella,” she said, taking my hand, her eyes full of warmth. “Damon told me what you’ve been through. That’s
all in the past now. You’re family.”
Her warmth left me a little flustered.
“Thank you for your understanding.”
“Caterina, you don’t have to be so formal,” Damon said, walking into the room and catching our conversation. He frowned slightly. “We’re family now.”
His tone was gentle, but I could sense a hint of displeasure.
“Okay… Damon,” I corrected myself.
Isabella smiled, satisfied. “See? Much more natural. You two need to act like real mates.”
After dinner, Isabella led us out for a walk in the garden.
“You two have a chat. I’ll go tidy up the kitchen,” she said with a sly smile before leaving.
Moonlight spilled onto the garden path, and the air was filled with the sweet scent swaying gently in the night breeze.
moonflowers lining the stone path,
We were walking when a small, fluffy wolf pup suddenly darted out from the bushes, heading straight for me.
Before I could react, Damon moved like lightning, stepping between us and shielding me with his body.
The pup hit him with a soft thump and then sat on the ground, looking dazed.
“Are you alright?” he asked, his hand gently resting on my shoulder as he checked me over.
“I’m fine. What about you?”
1/3
“The little guy doesn’t pack much of a punch,” he said, crouching down to gently check on the dizzy pup. “He must have gotten separated from his mother.”
The pup blinked its big, innocent eyes at us and let out a few soft yips.
“What a little troublemaker,” I couldn’t help but smile.
It was the first time I had genuinely smiled since coming home.
“Caterina.”
Caterina! His voice exploded in my mind–urgent, desperate, and possessive.
Only one person used such a forceful method.
Rocco.
I flinched, and Damon instantly sensed something was wrong.
“Caterina? What’s going on?” His voice was filled with concern.
“It’s nothing,” I said, shaking my head. In the mind–link, I responded coldly, “We have nothing to talk about.”
Caterina, please! Rocco’s voice was practically begging. I’m already at your territory’s border. I’m under the great oak tree, the
place where we first met!
