The Luna Who Stopped Caring

After my miscarriage, I changed all the habits that Pathseekers Pack Alpha Ronan found annoying.

I stopped asking about his whereabouts. When he didn't come home all night, I slept peacefully.

Even when I was injured in a Rogue attack and the doctor asked me to notify family, I simply answered calmly: "I don't have any family."

The nurse recognized me: "You're Luna Nyla, aren't you? Alpha Ronan is inspecting the office building next door. Should I go notify him?"

I shook my head gently. "No need."

Yet half an hour later, Ronan came anyway.

His posture was rigid, his voice cold: "Why didn't you come to me when you got injured?"

I lowered my eyes. "It's minor. No need to trouble you."

The understated tone inexplicably irritated Ronan.

Just as he was about to speak, voices from the Beta guards outside drifted through the door: "Alpha Ronan really cares about Vivian. When she got hurt by Rogues and injured her foot, he called in a helicopter and personally carried her on and off, didn't even let her feet touch the ground."

Ronan's heart clenched. From the corner of his eye, he couldn't help glancing at me, seemingly waiting for me to interrogate and argue like before.

But I didn't even flutter an eyelash. I simply leaned quietly against the bed with my eyes closed, resting.

It wasn't until I sat in his black SUV that he finally explained in a low voice: "Don't listen to their nonsense. I was just following protocol. Vivian is the performer I hired for the music festival. Of course I had to take care of her when she got injured."

I murmured a soft "Mm" and said nothing more.

Ronan suddenly erupted in anger: "You don't believe me? Are you still holding a grudge?"

"Nyla... I came to the hospital for you. What more do you want?"

I looked out the window, didn't even turn my head.

"I just didn't think it was serious enough to disturb you. Let's go home."

That phrase again, like an automated response, so dismissive.

Ronan slammed his fist on the steering wheel.

The harsh honk shattered the silence, startling the music academy faculty and students across the street who had just finished performing at the music festival.

One of the girls looked up.

The moment moonlight fell on her face, the air in the car froze solid.

Ronan couldn't help but speak:

"Vivian... what's she doing here?"

Ronan instinctively looked at me. After all, every time I'd seen her before, I'd lost control emotionally.

But I only glanced over indifferently, then withdrew my gaze without a ripple.

Ronan gripped the steering wheel tight, but his eyes drifted toward her.

In the deep winter night, the girl wore only a thin performance outfit, hugging her arms, her nose tip red from cold.

His hand was already on the door handle, concern practically spilling from his eyes.

I understood perfectly. I pushed open the door and got out, even giving him an excuse: "If you need to patrol the territory, I can walk home myself."

Before he could respond, I'd already turned and headed for the intersection.

Ronan caught up and grabbed my wrist: "I didn't know she'd be here. Why won't you believe me?"

I nodded. "I believe you. She's just a girl on her own, it's not easy. Even if things ended, it's normal to show concern. I understand."

Ronan stared at my face. No expression, didn't seem like sulking.

He felt something was very wrong.

Before, I'd had such a strong need to share and possess him. Even finding a single long hair on his shirt would make me interrogate him until midnight.

Now I was truly as he'd wishedno fights, no fuss, understanding and considerate.

Yet his heart felt stuffed with soaking wet cotton, so stifling he couldn't breathe.

I pulled my hand back and turned to leave.

When I reached the corner, I stopped and looked back.

By the SUV, Ronan had already removed his coat and draped it over Vivian's shoulders.

He cupped her face and lowered his head to kiss her deeply.

My body and soul felt inevitable pain, but I wasn't surprised by this scene at all. I should have expected it long ago.

And I would never again be like the first time I discovered his affair, questioning him like a madwoman: "Ronan! Have you no shame? I've been with you since I was eighteen. When we got married you said you'd love and cherish me forever, and now you're telling me you fell in love with someone else?"

Back then he'd laughed coldly after I drew blood: "You want to talk about shame? If you had any shame, would you have had sex with me the second time we met when you were eighteen? You're an orphan with no parents. I'm the one who brought you out of the orphanage. You should be grateful to me!"

Those words were like a poisoned blade, stabbing our years of sharing hardship together to pieces.

My phone vibrated, pulling me from the memory.

"Luna Nyla, we've confirmed your deceased biological parents were the former Alpha and former Luna of Ashclaw Pack. When would you have time to visit Ashclaw Pack? Your uncle, Ashclaw Pack Alpha Dean, very much wants to see you."

I pulled down my sleeve, covering the scar on my wrist: "Once I sever the mate bond with Ronan, I'll leave here and go to Ashclaw Pack."

The person on the other end paused: "You and Alpha Ronan have been through so much together all these years. You don't necessarily have to leave Pathseekers Pack."

I answered calmly: "I don't love him anymore. I just want to leave here forever."

When I returned to the residence and opened the door, I saw our wedding photo on the wall.

The man in the photo smiled brilliantly, his nose affectionately nuzzling my forehead.

That was taken when we loved each other most.

I grew up in Pathseekers Pack's orphanage.

When I was eighteen, the director wanted to make me the companion of a violent, widowed old werewolf.

While climbing the wall to escape the orphanage, I met Ronan, my fated mate.

We fell in love at first sight. Ronan took me away from the orphanage.

Back then, he was still the Alpha heir, not yet Pathseekers Pack's Alpha.

But he promised me he'd become Alpha as soon as possible and make me the honored Luna, so no one in Pathseekers Pack would ever dare bully me again.

In the first three years after our marriage, Ronan trained desperately. Every time he went on dangerous missions or fought off Rogues, he'd tuck my photo into his breast pocket.

I handled the household, being his most reliable support at home.

Later, Ronan successfully became Alpha. His prestige grew higher and higher, and all kinds of people started surrounding him.

Until I found a lipstick mark that wasn't mine on the inside of his shirt collar.

"A young woman was injured in the leg by Rogues. I helped her to the hospital and it got smudged by accident!" He irritably yanked open his collar. "Nyla, can you stop being so paranoid all the time?"

"It's because I'm afraid of you betraying me! Ronan, we said we'd be together forever, not even one day less!"

We began fighting endlessly.

I checked his mission records, his communication logs, even secretly followed and monitored him when he went to work.

It was as if Ronan did it out of spitehe really started having affairs.

He cycled through woman after woman. My body and soul suffered unimaginable torment. At his worst, Ronan deliberately displayed scratch marks left by other women on his back to provoke me.

"Satisfied?" he sneered. "Didn't you want to investigate? Now you've found out."

I felt like I was losing my mind. I knew I should let go, but I couldn't.

After all these years with Ronan, we'd already grown into each other's flesh and blood.

Separating would be bloody and raw. Staying together was mutual torture.

But a year ago, he suddenly became well-behaved, suddenly changed his attitude, distanced himself from all the women around him, keeping only one young woman.

I sent people to investigate. The moment I saw Vivian's photo, I collapsed.

The face in the photo looked exactly like me at eighteenpure and clear.

Ronan would rather love a substitute than love me again.

That night, I lay in the bathtub and slit my wrists with a special dagger I'd bought from a witch.

When Ronan broke down the door, his fingers were trembling.

He held me and rushed to the hospital, his eyes frighteningly red: "Nyla! Have you lost your mind?! We'll live well together. I promise, from now on it's only you. I won't see anyone else!"

Lying in the hospital bed, I just felt tired. So tired I couldn't even cry.

And it was that very day that a Beta guard from Ashclaw Pack found me and handed me a yellowed file.

"Nyla, we've discovered you're the lost daughter of Ashclaw Pack's former Alpha and Luna. Years ago, Rogues attacked Ashclaw Pack. Your parents sacrificed themselves protecting the pack. You also went missing in that attack. Later, your uncle became Ashclaw Pack's Alpha. All these years, he's never stopped looking for you."

I gripped that file, my fingertips ice cold.

After the Beta guard left, I was drawn as if possessed to the window.

In the garden below, Ronan was holding Vivian tightly in his arms.

"I'm sorry, Vivian. She's emotionally unstable and has attempted suicide before. She's been hurt psychologically... I can't leave her at a time like this."

"But trust me. Once her condition stabilizes, I'll give you an answer."

The two kissed inseparably, like a pair of star-crossed lovers.

In that moment, I felt the connected flesh being torn apart, ripped into a huge hole. The pain was so intense I couldn't make a sound.

On the seventh day lying in that hospital bed, I suddenly understood.

I had to leave Ronan and personally sever all of this.

For seven straight days, Ronan didn't return to the territory residence.

I didn't ask. I just started having someone draft divorce papers and organizing my personal belongings.

Ronan and I had several properties. I usually lived in the one on the outskirts.

But I had some things stored at the house Ronan and I shared in the city center.

I decided to go there to retrieve them, but on the way, I suddenly felt pain.

I knewRonan was having another affair.

When I reached the city center house, I heard a woman's delicate laughter and a man's suppressed panting inside.

Through the crack in the door, Vivian's performance outfit was scattered on the floor. Ronan had her pinned against the wall, thrusting violently.

The hand gripping her waist still wore our wedding ring on the ring finger.

I clenched my palms so hard they ached, slowly exhaled, and closed the door.

I didn't go in.

What would be the point of barging in?

To tear and claw like a hysterical woman? Or to cry and recount all these years of devotion like a resentful wife?

It was meaningless.

A man who'd already replaced me in his hearteven if I won him back, it would only be an empty shell.

I hurried downstairs, but Ronan, who'd chased after me, grabbed my wrist.

His breathing was still unsteady, his collar askew.

"What are you doing here?"

I pulled my hand back, face calm: "Passing by, wanted to get some things. The door wasn't open, so I left."

He stiffly made an excuse: "Vivian said she wanted a place to practice piano. I just lent her the key... Don't overthink it."

I didn't bother exposing this clumsy excuse and turned to leave.

Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass came from inside the house, followed by flames shooting up!

Ronan's expression changed drastically. He clamped my chin, frightening fury burning in his eyes:

"You did this?! Nyla, I thought you'd really come to your senses. Didn't expect you to use this kind of tactic!"

"Let me make this clearI'm the one who let Vivian stay here! If anything happens to her, I absolutely won't forgive you!"

He roughly shoved me aside and rushed into the fire.

I was about to leave, but suddenly rememberedthe marriage certificate and the belongings of my parents that the Beta secretary had brought me were still locked in the old safe in that house.

I grabbed a fire extinguisher from the hallway, smashed the glass, and climbed through the window into the heat wave.

Inside, thick smoke billowed. Ronan was carrying Vivian out.

Seeing me, his eyes turned cold: "What are you doing adding to the chaos?!"

I ignored him and headed straight for the bedroom.

Flames had already climbed up the curtains. The safe was next to the burning wardrobe.

"Nyla! Are you crazy?! Get out!" Ronan roared from the doorway.

I lunged toward the safe and turned the combination.

The moment the door popped open, the burning chandelier overhead crashed down with a thunderous crash!

Ronan instinctively shielded Vivian beneath him and retreated quickly.

I was thrown by the blast. Glass shards cut my skin, blood instantly soaking my clothes.

I gritted my teeth and pulled out the document pouch, clutching it tightly to my chest.

Smoke choked into my lungs, my vision gradually blurring.

Before consciousness sank into darkness, I heard Ronan's footsteps carrying Vivian out, and the faint sound of sirens in the distance.

When I woke again, I was lying in a hospital room.

Ronan was opening the document pouch I'd risked my life to protect. Inside was the marriage certificate.

"The marriage certificate? You risked your life for this?"

I reached out and took the pouch back.

Good thing Ronan hadn't seen my parents' belongings in the document pouch.

As for his questionwithout the marriage certificate, how could I process the divorce?

Ronan looked at me clutching the document pouch tightly, his brows furrowed: "All three of us would have been fine. You had to do this absurd thing to make me choose between you, to prove whether you're the most important?"

"I saved Vivian first because she was closer to me."

I stared at the hospital room's white ceiling and murmured a faint "Mm."

"Nyla." His tone softened, trying to explain. "Since I've already decided to return to our family, I won't have any more entanglements with Vivian. Vivian... her family's struggling. I'm just giving her some help, temporarily arranging housing."

Vivian wasn't doing well, so he helped her right into bed to have sex.

I finally lifted my eyes to look at him.

My eyes were like stagnant water, without a ripple, abnormally calm.

"I know. I understand."

This calm was driving him insane. He stood up abruptly, but caught sight of the large burn on my arm.

"Nyla, one injury wasn't enough? You need more injuries to tie me down?"

"Not anymore. I won't be foolish again."

He wanted to say something, but the encrypted communicator rang.

He quickly walked to the window to answer.

I couldn't hear the content clearly, only vaguely caught Vivian's tearful voice.

Ronan gave some low instructions, then turned to look at me: "There's an urgent pack matter. I need to go to work. Rest and recover."

With that, he turned and left.

Over the next several days, I stayed quietly in the hospital.

Ronan had people send supplements and flowers. The internal phone rang daily too.

I always had the duty nurse answer, only saying "Condition stable, no need for visits."

The day I was discharged, I went to settle the bill.

Just as I handed over the invoice, an old woman shoved me aside.

"My son-in-law is Pathseekers Pack's Alpha. Let me go first."

I frowned: "Please wait in line."

The old woman shot me a look: "Who are you? My son-in-law is Pathseekers Pack Alpha Ronan! If you delay me getting medicine, can you take responsibility?"

Before she finished speaking, Ronan had already rushed over from the other end of the corridor with Vivian.

He pulled me aside and lowered his voice: "Vivian's mother has a bad heart and can't handle emotional stress. As Luna, you should let her go first. It's only right."

Vivian supported her gasping mother, eyes reddening: "Nyla, I'm sorry... My mom's old illness flared up. I was afraid she wouldn't use expensive medicine, so I said Ronan was my boyfriend... Please don't blame him. He's just soft-hearted, can't stand seeing elderly people suffer."

I quietly looked at the three of them.

So because Vivian's mother was sick, he left me injured and alone in the hospital?

Forget it.

None of it mattered anymore.

I nodded and turned to leave.

I'd only taken two steps when I heard Vivian's tearful whisper:

"Ronan, is Nyla angry? Will she do what she did last time again... I'm really afraid of affecting your future..."

Ronan's voice was soft but carried clearly:

"Don't overthink it. She grew up without parents. She can't understand your feelings."

My fingers clenched suddenly, knuckles white. Step by step, I walked through the hospital corridor.

Ronan's footsteps chased from behind: "Nyla, I'll take you home."

I didn't turn back. Instead, I quickened my pace.

Suddenly a rushing werewolf burst out and knocked me down. I fell hard to the ground, my arm burn seeping blood again.

The fall was brutal. Something in my chest seemed to shatter completely.

I bit down hard, nails digging into my palms, but tears rolled down beyond my control.

Since childhood, I'd feared Christmas most.

Watching the warm light through other families' windows, hearing the laughter insidethat envy was like a dull knife cutting flesh.

Ronan knew better than anyone that this was my deepest wound.

But now, to comfort Vivian, he personally tore this scar open again and again.

He rushed over and picked me up, voice suppressing anger: "Nyla! Do you have to be so stubborn?!"

Before he finished speaking, a thermos flew through the air!

Scalding soup splashed across my face.

Vivian's mother stood a few steps away, shaking with rage: "Shameless! Seducing my son-in-law?! I'll teach you to seduce!"

She rushed up and slapped me.

I was struck so hard my head turned, falling to the ground.

Then the cane came down heavily on my shoulder.

A dull thud as bone met impact.

Ronan grabbed Vivian's mother's cane before she could swing it again: "Calm down! It's not what you think!"

"Then what is it?!" Vivian's mother shrieked. "This mistress throwing herself at you, you think I'm blind?!"

I braced myself against the ground and stood: "Control your daughter! Who's the mistress is crystal clear!"

But Ronan whipped around, using a rapid whisper only we could hear:

"She has severe heart disease, she can't handle stress! Nyla, I'm begging you, don't make a scene right now!"

Then he quickly supported Vivian's mother: "You've misunderstood. Nyla is my friend. She's had psychological trauma, her emotions aren't very stable..."

He even pulled my medical records from his pocket.

Vivian's mother glanced at them and spat: "Brain problems? No wonder her parents died young, lacks proper upbringing!"

Ronan half-supported, half-guided her away. From beginning to end, he never looked back at me once.

I sat on the ground, watching their backs, unable to even cry anymore.

A kind head nurse helped me back to the ward and rebandaged my wounds.

"Luna Nyla," she asked carefully, "Do you need... to notify the Beta guards?"

I shook my head: "No need. Process my discharge."

Back at my home, I started packing.

My phone vibrated, the screen lighting up.

Vivian had updated her status.

In the photo she wore Ronan's jacket, leaning against his chest, caption: "Meeting you through the smoke of war, worth all the pain."

I calmly swiped past the screen and clicked "Unfollow."

Then I placed the divorce agreement I'd already signed on the table, making sure Ronan would see it the moment he came home.

Downstairs, the car the guards had reserved for me had arrived.

I got in and gave my destination: "Airport."

The car started, driving out of the residence gates.

Just then, a black SUV came from the opposite direction, passing us.

The back window was half-down. Ronan was turning his head talking to someone beside him.

Vivian leaned on his shoulder, smiling brilliantly.

The two cars sped in opposite directions.

In the rearview mirror, the home I'd lived in for so many years grew farther and farther away, finally shrinking to a dot.

Having sex with him at eighteen, exchanging wedding rings in the marriage hall at twenty, watching woman after woman beside him at twenty-eight...

All the scenes flashed before my eyes, then were left far behind.

It was all over.

Now, I was going to find my parents.

I was going to the Ashclaw pack they had protected.