Chapter 35

Harper POV

Turning over, I try to bury my face in my pillow, but my thoughts and the scenes from tonight’s dinner run freely through my mind.

They’re too loud, too heated, too much. It’s not just the fact that my father said my punishment was right, it was also the fact that he still doesn’t care. I guess I hoped that he would change his mind when he saw how upset and hurt I was, but he didn’t change.

He never will.

Another thing I can’t get out of my head is how, after my father pathetically apologized, Logan moved on with dinner like nothing happened.

I thought about it the entire time we ate, and as I watched him talk with my father and stepmother, I noticed he wasn’t hostile toward them. I’ve told him what happened, and he knows how I feel about it, so why did he still interact so casually with them?

The only thing I can think of is that he’s trying to be helpful by not ignoring them. I had the thought, when he was asking my father random questions about my childhood, that he was trying to get my father and I to be on good terms.

That wouldn’t happen, though. My father has done too much and hurt me too badly for me to forgive him so easily.

Is Logan just good at hiding his true feelings? I surly thought he would be angry, on my behalf, like I’ve seen other mates act, but he wasn’t. Other than standing at my back during the argument, he was mostly silent.

Groaning, I sit up, scrub my hands down my face, and climb out of bed. I shove my feet into slippers and throw on a hoodie Logan let me borrow before leaving my room and making my way up to the terrace I found the other day.

Maybe some fresh air will help me clear my mind.

When I reach the terrace, the clear night sky and twinkling stars greet me. There are no clouds in the sky, giving me the perfect view. So, instead of standing there, I crouch and then lay on the ground, staring up at the sky.

The moon shines brightly in the sky, a glaring reminder of the part of me that’s missing. Even though my wolf never spoke to me, it was comforting to have her within my soul. The emptiness that sits inside me is cold and dark, a constant ache that doesn’t go away.

“Is there any way to get you back?” I whisper, blinking away tears as they fill my eyes.

It’s not the first time I’ve had this thought. I haven’t heard about anyone getting their wolf soul back after it’s been taken, but I’ve also never needed the information before now. However, now that I’m back, I might be able to do some research. Maybe I could go to the pack’s library or speak with the elders.

I turn my eyes on the moon again, hoping the Goddess can hear my heart and my silent plea.

I want my wolf back.

I want my life to be normal.

I want to be treated like a person, not an object to gain or throw out.

But mainly, I want to just be me.

“Am I interrupting something?”

Turning my head, I find Lucas standing in the doorway. He’s watching me with a confused and sightly worried tilt of his brows.

“No, I was just…” I sit up and he offers a hand to me. His hand hangs between us, and after a moment, he chuckles.

“It doesn’t bite.”

Heat floods my cheeks, and I take his offer, letting him pull me to my feet. However, I’m clumsy and my legs are apparently weaker than I thought, and I stumble forward.

“Woah. Careful,” Lucas murmurs, catching me against his chest.

“S-sorry.”

He shakes his head before stepping away and releasing me, “What are you doing out here?”

I glance up at him as he leans against the railing. Is he seriously doing this? After everything that’s happened between us over the last week, I thought he would want to avoid me or shout at me.

But Lucas does neither. He simply looks up at the sky.

“Thinking,” I answer.

However, as I step up beside him and lean on the railing next to him, I find myself calming down. Something in me eases with his presence. I feel better with him close, almost like my anger and pain are fading. In fact, they almost completely dissipate, and I’m finally able to breathe.

“Thank you, for what you said to my father tonight,” I whisper, turning my eyes to the sky as well. “I’m not sure if you’ll really punish him for what he’s done but thank you.”

“I will,” Lucas says, pulling my eyes to him. His head turns and bright blue eyes meet mine. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help more.”

Silence sits between us as I search his face, looking for… well, I don’t know what I’m looking for. All I know is that Lucas is here, and he did something no one else, not even my mate, has done. He stood up for me, promising to punish someone who hurt me.

“He never loved me,” I say softly, feeling the need to explain. “Ever since I moved here, when I was seven, my father has seen me as a burden.” I feel Lucas shift toward me, but I don’t look at him again. If I do, I might not open up, and I want to. I want to tell someone everything, and he’s the only one here.

“Before my mother died, I lived with her. I didn’t know anything about my father except that he was the Beta of a werewolf pack,” I tell him. “The only reason I came here was because my mother died. Before that, I was happy. My childhood was filled with adventures that my mother and I went on. Like the time we went hiking through the forest when I was five to look for injured animals.”

“Why were you looking for animals?” Lucas asks.

I smile, “My mother was a vet who worked with wildlife as well as house pets. Like me, she had healing magic, but unlike me, she had no interest in being a doctor. She loved animals, though, and became a vet. I would help her out at the clinic, learning how to use my healing magic alongside her… until she died.”

My vision blurs again from unshed tears, and a large, warm hand wraps around mine. I squeeze Lucas’s hand, taking a deep breath and continuing.

“When I moved here, I shifted for the first time,” I tell him. “My father already didn’t like that I was half-witch, so when I shifted and found out my wolf was mute, he was even more disgusted with me.”

Lucas moves again, making me look at him. Before I can react, he reaches out and cups my cheek, his thumb brushing softly under my eye to catch a fallen tear.

“There’s nothing wrong with being half-wolf,” he murmurs. Again, something in me warms up with his support and his touch. It highlights the unease and irritation I felt toward Logan earlier, but as I look up at Lucas, I find myself leaning into his touch.

I can’t help it.

Something about him is just so alluring. It calls to me, even though I know it shouldn’t.

And as I gaze up at him, I realize the once-annoying Lucas might not be so bad after all.