Chapter 4

• Ruth's Point Of View
• "What are you afraid of? That's your mate."
• Since I left the hotel room, Lunette had been nagging me.
• "Shut up, Lunette. You have no idea who he is." I looked around nervously. Fortunately, I had woken up early and didn’t run into anyone on the way.
• "Of course I know who he is," Lunette muttered. "He is your mate. I wouldn’t be wrong about that."
• Lunette's words only added to my unease. She was right. She wouldn't mistake a mate. And my body’s reaction last night had confirmed that Kaelus was the one.
• But that was exactly what made everything worse. Kaelus was known as a playboy. Even if I did end up marrying him, I wouldn’t find happiness.
• I had even heard that the Moon Goddess cursed Kaelus, and after he killed his first mate with his own hands, he was destined to have no children. Even though he kept changing women around him, he still didn't have a child.
• If anyone found out he was my mate, it would be like I had betrayed the entire Frostscarred pack.
• My thoughts were in chaos, and I hurried back to my room.
• I spent several days in fear, but fortunately, Silas never came to see me again.
• Just when I thought Silas had given up, I discovered that Eleanor was gone, and I couldn't sense her presence at all.
• I immediately knew something was wrong and started searching everywhere. Eventually, I found Eleanor by the lake. She was tied to a tree and looked thin and weak.
• "Eleanor, who did this to you? I'll get you out of here right now!” I was about to untie the rope that tied Eleanor up, my face filled with a look of distress.
• "Stop." Silas's voice came from behind me. I turned around and saw Silas standing behind me, his expression blank, his eyes cold.
• Then, two guards moved in and surrounded Eleanor closely.
• "Silas, let go of Eleanor!" I shouted at him, furious.
• Silas shook his head slightly. “Absolutely not, because I'm going to give her to Alpha Tim."
• I stared at Silas, eyes wide with disbelief. “How could you do this?”
• "Eleanor volunteered to sacrifice for you. If you don’t go, it will be her," Silas said, and half-knelt in front of Eleanor and asked, "Eleanor, tell her. Did you volunteer?”
• Eleanor nodded and said, "I volunteered, Silas. Please don't make things hard for Ruth."
• At that moment, I understood why Eleanor had disappeared.
• She had been willing to sacrifice herself for my freedom and happiness, and she didn’t even want me to feel guilty for it.
• "How could I let you take my place?" I couldn't hold back my tears and rushed forward to untie her ropes.
• Eleanor weakly resisted and said, "Ruth, please go. I can handle it."
• Her bracelet fell to the ground. I bent down to pick it up, but a large hand beat me to it.
• Silas played with the bracelet for a while, and then he said, "Eleanor, I didn't expect you to still keep the bracelet I gave you."
• I also recognized the bracelet too. Silas had bought it for Eleanor on my tenth birthday. He had claimed it was a gift that came with the cake, but Eleanor had loved it and always wore it.
• In fact, I could feel that Eleanor had always loved Silas. In her heart, he was the most reliable man in her life.
• Eleanor cried out weakly, "Silas, give me back the bracelet, please!"
• "You'd better not keep this broken bracelet. Otherwise, Alpha Tim might get the wrong idea about you.” Silas threw the bracelet on the ground.
• "Silas!" I realized something was wrong and shouted hurriedly, "What are you doing? Give the bracelet back to Eleanor!"
• But Silas ignored me and stomped on the bracelet, grinding it into the dirt again and again.
• I wanted to stop him, but was stopped by Silas' men. I could only watch the bracelet being ravaged under his feet. I didn't dare to look at Eleanor's expression. I knew she must be heartbroken.
• After a while, Silas finally lifted his foot. The bracelet had been torn into pieces and was covered with dirty mud.
• I hurried forward to pick up the broken bracelet and held it tightly in my hand. Pain and hatred surged in my heart. "Silas, you are such a bastard!"
• Silas sneered. “Ruth, this is what Eleanor should do.”
• "I don't need Eleanor to sacrifice herself for me. I’ll go see Alpha Tim! Just let Eleanor go!”
• "This is my good sister. I'll give you fifteen minutes to dress up. Stop playing tricks and wear normal clothes." Silas saw that I was relieved and then showed a very satisfied smile. But I thought his smile was extremely vicious.
• I ran to Eleanor. The guards didn’t stop me this time. I helped her undo the rest of the ropes. Seeing her skin covered in wounds, I said, heartbroken, “Eleanor, you shouldn’t have done this.”
• Eleanor gave a weak smile. “Ruth, I just want to protect you.”
• Silas clapped his hands. "Very good. You two can chat slowly. We don't have many days of tender time together."
• Then he turned and walked away.
• I didn’t know where the courage came from, but I suddenly shouted at his back, "Silas, you know Eleanor loves you!"
• Silas paused for a moment and walked away even faster.
• Eleanor looked at me with concern, and I quickly pulled myself together. "Eleanor, I'll be fine. Take care of yourself."
• I handed the bracelet back to Eleanor and hurried back to my room.
• I knew I had to go meet the old man from the Irontusk pack today. If I didn’t, Silas wouldn’t let me off easily.
• So I had no choice but to change clothes and head to the Packhouse.
• Silas and the Alpha of the Irontusk pack were already there, along with the last person I wanted to see, Luna Moira.
• As our eyes met, Luna Moira's face lit up with a smug and malicious smile.
• Yes, she had won.
• My brother no longer loved me at all; he saw me only as a tool to be used.
• I sat down in the empty seat with a cold expression.
• "Ruth, why don't you say hello to Alpha Tim from the Irontusk pack?" Luna Moira began to pester me the moment I sat down.
• I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and turned to look at the old man who had been staring at me with a disgusting, lecherous gaze. I said coldly, “Nice to see you, Alpha Tim.”
• "Ruth, it's been many years since I last saw you. You’ve grown up." Alpha Tim said with a smile, completely unfazed by my coldness, smiling and patting my shoulder.
• I sneered inwardly. His oldest child was older than I. How could he say something so disgusting?
• When I didn’t respond, Silas frowned disapprovingly, and Luna Moira quickly put on a fake caring expression.
• "Ruth must be hungry. Let the Omega servant bring the food, and we can eat and chat."
• Soon, the prepared food was brought out, and Alpha Tim placed a piece of meat in my bowl, saying, "Eat some meat. You're too thin. I don't like women who are so skinny."
• I almost couldn't resist throwing that piece of meat in his old face. I didn’t know if it was because of his disgusting comment or the greasy smell of the food, but a wave of nausea rose sharply in my stomach.
• I couldn’t hold it back. Luna Moira shrieked and jumped to her feet. “Ruth, what are you doing?!”
• I vomited, and it all landed on her.
• She screamed, yanked off the coat soaked in vomit, and flung it aside in a panic.
• I was so uncomfortable, I held onto the chair and kept retching.
• After a while, the nauseous feeling slowly eased, and I felt my stomach cramping. What the hell was wrong with me?
• Luna Moira stood nearby with a look of disgust on her face, clearly having no intention of helping me.
• I weakly lifted my head, and to my surprise, I caught a glimpse of a black tattoo on Moira's forearm. An evil-looking black snake.
• What was that?