I Returned You to the Woman You Loved

The night I accidentally ended up in bed with my adoptive brother, Adrian, he had just broken his engagement to his childhood sweetheart, Ivy. Adrian was the Alpha of Blackwood Pack. Ivy was the late Beta's daughter, and the woman he had always intended to make his Luna. To protect my reputation and preserve his authority as Alpha, he was forced to complete a mate bond with me. Everyone said he treated me well. But every year on Ivy's birthday, he sat alone in his study until dawn. In the third year of our marriage, Ivy died of wolf-spirit failure. Only then did Adrian learn from the letter she left behind that she had seen us together that morning. The sight had haunted her for the rest of her life. He decided I had destroyed her. He severed our mate bond, drove me from the pack, and used his influence to close every road that might have kept me alive. Before I died, he sent me only four words. "You deserve to die." When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the night his wolf lost control. This time, I tore myself out of his arms, knocked on Ivy's door, and placed him in her hands myself. I smiled at the shock on his face. “Adrian, I won’t love you anymore.” Chapter 1 Ivy's eyes were still red when she opened her door. "Wren? What are you doing here this late?" "Adrian is drunk." I took her hand and forced my voice to remain steady. "He keeps calling your name." In my previous life, Adrian and Ivy had ended their engagement that very evening. I had stayed behind to look after him. Then his Alpha wolf had broken through his control, and we had slept together. The following morning, Ivy saw us in the same bed. Adrian had nearly marked me during the night. To protect my reputation and the standing of Blackwood's Alpha, he later completed a mate bond with me. Three years afterward, Ivy died. In the letter she left behind, she confessed that the sight of us together had become a nightmare she could never escape. Adrian blamed every part of her death on me. I would not repeat the same mistake. "Where is he?" Ivy asked. "Upstairs." I led her to Adrian's bedroom and waited outside as she entered. Alcohol had stripped away the discipline that normally held his Alpha wolf in check. His aura rolled through the upper floor in suffocating waves, driving every lower-ranking wolf in the house into instinctive submission. Yet the instant Ivy approached him, the agitation inside him eased. Adrian caught her around the waist and dragged her into his arms. "Don't leave me." Tears slipped down Ivy's face. She held him just as tightly. "All right," she whispered. "I won't." I closed the door for them. I stood outside the closed door for a few seconds longer than I needed to. In my previous life, I had spent years wishing Adrian would hold me the way he was holding Ivy now. I had mistaken duty for tenderness and convinced myself that one day he might look at me the way he looked at her. This time, I had placed the woman he loved back in his arms myself. It still hurt. But I turned away before either of them could open the door. Back in my own room, I pulled a box from the deepest corner of my closet. Blackwood patrols had found me at the border when I was fourteen, orphaned and half-starved after a rogue attack. Mrs. Blackwood had formally adopted me into the family and brought me into the pack house. From then on, I had called Adrian my brother and believed this place was truly my home. Inside the box lay the first fountain pen Adrian had given me, a platinum clasp that had fallen from one of his old bracelets, and the portrait I had secretly drawn of him when I was sixteen. I fed all three to the fire. In my first life, everyone called Adrian a good husband. He kept my car fueled and called a physician when I was ill. But every year on Ivy's birthday, he locked himself in his study and remained there until sunrise. I had refused to understand what that meant. Now I did. The care he gave me came from duty. The woman he could not release was the one he loved. Flames curled through the last portrait until his face blackened and disappeared. In this life, I had returned him to her with my own hands. At last, I could release myself too. The next morning, I found Adrian in the kitchen. He had fried Ivy's eggs sunny-side up, toasted bread, and made a fresh pot of coffee. "Ivy, come eat." His gentleness left me momentarily disoriented. In my previous life, he had once made hot tea when my cramps were so severe that I could not get out of bed. I had taken that small kindness and used it to deceive myself for years. "Wren, eat with us," Ivy said, waving me over. I had barely sat down when Adrian picked up his coffee and moved to the chair beside her. His gaze remained cool and guarded, as though he believed that if Ivy had not appeared last night, I would have taken advantage of his condition and climbed willingly into his bed. I picked up a slice of toast. "I need to get to school." "You haven't eaten anything," Ivy said. "I'm not hungry." I put on my backpack and left the pack house. I spent the day at business school completing an application for a trade internship with Southern Pack. In my previous life, I had abandoned the same opportunity for Adrian. This time, if my application was accepted, I would leave Blackwood territory. That evening, Mrs. Blackwood summoned everyone home for dinner because the family had an important announcement. She was the one who had adopted me all those years ago. But after living twice, I no longer mistook her house for a place that would always belong to me. Adrian was standing near the front entrance when I arrived. The moment he saw me, he frowned. "Why are you here?" "Mrs. Blackwood asked me to come." I tried to pass him. He raised an arm across my path. "Wren, we need to talk." "About what?" "Last night." He lowered his voice. His golden eyes held no warmth. Even without an Alpha command, his presence made the air around us feel heavier. "I was drunk, but I didn't lose my memory. I know you entered my bedroom." "I was the one who brought Ivy to you." "I know." He paused. "That doesn't mean I've changed my opinion of you." He clearly believed bringing Ivy to him was only a new way to capture his attention. "I love Ivy," he continued. "She will be the Luna of Blackwood Pack. Finish your degree. Build a life of your own. Stop imagining there can ever be anything between us, and don't use the fact that we grew up together as an excuse to get close to me." The familiar pain in my chest surprised me with its sharpness. In my previous life, he had looked at me the same way after discovering the letters I had hidden. With disgust. With suspicion. As if my love had never been a feeling, only a carefully designed trap. "Don't worry." I stepped back. "It won't happen again." At dinner, Ivy raised her left hand, blushing. "Adrian and I are engaged again. We'll hold the formal mate ceremony in three months." A diamond glittered on her ring finger. Adrian enclosed her hand in his, his expression softening as he looked at her. As Blackwood's Alpha, he became the center of every room simply by entering it. Once, I had dreamed of sitting at his side as Luna. Now I only lifted my glass. "Congratulations. I wish you both happiness." Adrian glanced up. He seemed to be waiting for me to lose control. Instead, I finished my wine and ate the rest of dinner in silence. As I left the dining room, I heard him talking to Ivy in the sitting room. "After the mate ceremony, Wren will move out." "This is her home too," Ivy protested immediately. "She's the Blackwoods' adopted daughter, and she's twenty-two years old. She shouldn't still be living in the pack house. More importantly, she shouldn't keep building her entire life around me. She needs to learn how to leave me." I did not go inside. I did not tell him I had already learned. Instead, I opened the email that had just arrived. My application to the Southern trade program had passed its preliminary review. Adrian believed he was merely forcing me out of this house. He had no idea I was preparing to leave the entire Blackwood Pack. Chapter 2 Three days later, I was researching interpack commerce in the business school library when a memory struck me with enough force to make me stand. In my previous life, Ivy had died of a rare condition called wolf-spirit failure. By the time anyone diagnosed her, nothing could be done. That meant the decline of her wolf might already have begun. My knee hit the table. Coffee spilled across my open notes, staining the pages brown. I left the mess where it was, seized my phone, and ran from the library. "Ivy, are you free today? I want you to come with me to the Regional Pack Clinic." We met half an hour later in a cafe near campus. When I told her I wanted to see a healer, she laughed. "Why the sudden interest in an examination? Are you feeling sick?" I gave her the excuse I had prepared on the way over. "The school is working with the clinic to offer students free wolf-core screenings. I've always hated clinics. Will you come with me?" Ivy studied me. "It's really just a routine school examination?" I nodded hard. "Really. You can be screened too. Consider it part of your health assessment before the mate ceremony. You and Adrian are holding it in three months, so you'll need one eventually." Color rose into her cheeks. "Now you're teasing me too." A Blackwood guard entered the cafe. He nodded to me before addressing her. "Miss Ashford, Alpha Adrian asked when you would return to the pack house." Ivy sighed, although her smile made it clear she was pleased. "I'm only having coffee with Wren. Tell him I'll be back soon." After the guard left, she looked toward the door. "Adrian can be ridiculously possessive." I managed a small smile. Claiming I had an afternoon class, I arranged to meet her at the clinic two days later and left. Adrian's SUV was parked outside the school gates. The driver's door opened. He climbed out and came toward me with long, swift strides. Before I could speak, he seized my wrist and dragged me toward the side of the academic building. "Adrian, let go." His grip did not loosen. Alpha pressure settled over me. My wolf lowered herself instinctively, and breathing became difficult. Only when we reached a blind spot between security cameras did he release me. The motion was so abrupt that I lost my balance and fell hard onto the concrete. Pain burned across my knee and elbow. Adrian stood over me, his golden eyes cold. "This is my last warning, Wren. Stay away from Ivy." I pushed myself upright. "I haven't hurt her." "You would never hurt her directly." He gave a humorless laugh. "You pretend to care. Then you make her believe she owes you. Last night, you took her to my room. Today, you invited her to some wolf-core screening. Do you imagine that if you change tactics, I'll become grateful?" Even saving Ivy's life was suspicious in his eyes. "The school arranged a free examination. I only asked her to come with me." "Don't discuss last night with her. Don't say anything that might affect the mate ceremony." His voice hardened with every word. "Ivy has a soft heart. That doesn't mean I can't see what you're doing. Do not exploit her kindness again." "I'm not." My voice was quiet, but it trembled despite me. "I only asked her to come for a routine examination." Adrian looked at my face. After a brief silence, he asked, "Are you ill?" The question escaped too quickly to be calculated. I stared at him, then shook my head. "No. It's only a screening." His expression shifted slowly, as though he had remembered something, or was trying to decide whether I was hiding an illness. Then he crouched and examined my knee. The denim was torn, and blood had begun to bead along the raw skin. "Get in the car." "I have class this afternoon." "That wasn't a request." Alpha command entered his voice. My wolf obeyed before my mind could resist. He drove me to a nearby clinic, bought antiseptic, ointment, and gauze, then crouched in front of a bench in the parking lot to clean my injuries. His movements were not gentle, but they were practiced and precise. He had always treated my injuries this way. Those small acts of care had once convinced me that I occupied a place in his heart no one else could reach. After securing the final bandage, he said, "I'll go with both of you on Thursday." I looked down at my shoes and did not argue. My vision blurred for one humiliating second. Two days later, Ivy sat in the examination room trembling as the pack healer placed the test results on the desk. "This is early-stage wolf-spirit failure." Ivy went white. Adrian immediately took her hand. "What does that mean?" "Her wolf is gradually falling asleep," the healer explained, indicating several abnormal readings. "If she loses the connection completely, her human body will begin to fail as well. Once the condition reaches its final stage, there is almost no effective treatment." Adrian put an arm around Ivy. His fingers shook. "What stage is she in now?" "Fortunately, you caught it early. Treatment can begin immediately. At this point, her chance of a full recovery is roughly ninety percent." Ivy began to sob. Adrian pulled her tightly against him. He was the strongest Alpha in the region, a man capable of making decisions while everyone around him panicked. Yet his hands trembled as he held her. Ivy lifted her face from his chest and reached for me. "Wren, thank you. If you hadn't insisted, I might never have known until my wolf was completely gone." I squeezed her hand. "You know now. That's what matters." Adrian watched me over Ivy's shoulder. For once, there was no suspicion in his eyes. He seemed unsettled, and although the healer continued explaining Ivy's treatment plan, his attention kept returning to me. When Ivy was taken into the next room for another test, I picked up my bag and prepared to leave. "Wren." I stopped and looked back. Adrian remained beside Ivy's chair. His gaze fell briefly to the bandage on my knee, and I knew he was remembering what had happened only a few hours earlier. He had dragged me behind the academic building, accused me of using Ivy's kindness, and warned me to stay away from her. Now the healer had just told him that the examination I arranged might have saved her life. "How did you know something was wrong with her?" he asked. "I didn't know. I only thought it would be safer for her to get checked before the mate ceremony." His brow tightened. "You were worried about her?" "Of course. Ivy is my friend." Adrian fell silent. In my previous life, I would have studied his expression and waited for him to admit that he had misunderstood me. Even a reluctant thank-you would have been enough to keep me hopeful for days. Now I no longer wanted one. "You should stay with Ivy," I said. "She'll probably be frightened after the next test." I had already reached the door when Adrian spoke again. "About what happened at school..." There was an unfamiliar hesitation in his voice. I understood what he wanted to say, but I didn't need to hear it. "It doesn't matter." His expression changed. I adjusted the strap of my bag and looked at him calmly. "You don't have to believe me anymore, Adrian. I'm not going to keep trying to prove anything to you." For a moment, he said nothing. Then I left. Walking down the clinic corridor, I remembered how desperately I had tried to make him believe me in my previous life. After Ivy died, Adrian convinced himself that the night we spent together had been part of my plan, that I had deliberately allowed Ivy to see us so I could take her place. No matter how many times I denied it, he never changed his mind. He severed our mate bond, expelled me from Blackwood, and used his position to make certain no neighboring pack would shelter or employ me. Even at the end, alone in that abandoned refuge near the western border, some part of me had still wished he would learn the truth. I had died wanting to be believed by someone who had already decided what kind of person I was. I would not make that mistake again. This time, Ivy would live. By bringing Ivy to the clinic, I had not only saved her life. I had saved the future she and Adrian had lost in my previous life. I had returned Adrian to Ivy that first night. Now I had made certain she would live long enough to stay beside him. The realization still left an ache beneath my ribs, but it was different from before. I no longer wanted what belonged to them badly enough to destroy myself for it. Adrian would marry the woman he had always loved, and the tragedy that destroyed all three of us would never happen. Whether he finally understood me no longer mattered. All that remained was for me to leave. Chapter 3 Ivy's treatment was arranged in the quietest suite on the east side of the pack house. Medication and wolf-core therapy continued without interruption. Adrian canceled every nonessential meeting, delegated most pack affairs to his Beta, and spent nearly every day at Ivy's side. Meanwhile, I divided my time between business school, the Regional Pack Clinic, and the pack house while preparing documents for the southern program. Most nights, I was too tired even to dream. One evening, I returned from the clinic and found Adrian preparing to leave for a Pack Council meeting. "The healer changed Ivy's treatment today," I told him. "The new medication may make her feverish tonight." He stopped fastening his coat. "How bad?" "Probably not dangerous, but she'll feel miserable for a few hours." His expression tightened as he glanced toward the stairs. “She'll probably feel better if you're here when the medication starts working.” I said. Adrian looked at me for a moment, as if he was trying to decide whether there was some hidden meaning behind the suggestion. There wasn't. In my previous life, I had resented every hour he spent thinking about Ivy. Now I was the one reminding him not to leave her alone. He finally removed his coat. "I'll stay." I nodded and went upstairs. One afternoon, as I returned from the clinic, Adrian stopped me in the hall. "Wren." He held out a key. "There's an apartment in the West District, close to your school. It's furnished and stocked with basic supplies." He hesitated. "Choose a day and move there." I was surprised for only a moment. Then I accepted the key. "All right." No accusation. No hesitation. Adrian remained where he was, studying me as though he expected anger, wounded pride, or a demand for an explanation. I merely slipped the key into my bag and went upstairs. The following day, I began sorting my belongings. I gave most of the clothes and books I no longer needed to younger wolves in the pack house. I would buy new household things for the apartment. I would begin a life that did not depend on Blackwood. I returned later each evening and almost never shared meals with Adrian and Ivy. My room emptied by degrees. First the desk, then the closet, then the shelves. Soon only a pearl hair clip remained on the nightstand. One night, I came home shortly before eleven. The sitting room lights were off. Adrian sat alone before the dark windows, a cup of cold coffee at his elbow. His golden eyes caught the faint light when he turned toward me. "It's late," he said. "Where were you?" My hand paused on the zipper of my boot. "School." I put my shoes away and started upstairs. Behind me, his cup struck the table with a hard, brittle sound. I did not look back. Chapter 4 Ivy underwent treatment for three full months. At the beginning of winter, the pack healer finally confirmed that her wolf had awakened again. Her readings had nearly returned to normal, and from then on she would need only a monthly examination. I went with her to the Regional Pack Clinic on the day she received the news. Ivy had lost weight, but the color had returned to her face. Adrian left to collect the next stage of her treatment plan while she and I waited in the corridor. "Wren." Ivy took my hand. "Did something happen between you and Adrian?" I stared at her. "His temper has been awful lately," she said. "Even the Beta checks every report three times before going into his office. Everyone is afraid one wrong sentence will set him off." I said nothing. Ivy tightened her fingers around mine. "I know he told you to move to the West District. I already confronted him about it. Blackwood adopted you, which means this will always be your home. Once I'm Luna, I won't let anyone drive you away." I covered her hand with my own. "Ivy, I'm twenty-two. I need a life of my own. Besides, I'm preparing to go to Southern Pack. The project begins next spring. I'll leave then." Her eyes widened. "Southern Pack? Where exactly? For how long?" "I'll join an interpack trade team near the southern border and handle accounts and cargo settlements. It may be three years. It may be five." Her eyes immediately filled. "That's so far away." "I know." "Promise me you'll take care of yourself. If anything happens, you tell me. Leaving Blackwood doesn't mean you have to carry everything alone. Do you understand?" "I do." She wiped her eyes and suddenly brightened. "Then let me introduce you to someone. My cousin on my mother's side is studying at Northern Pack Academy. He's kind, and he has no questionable relationships." I shook my head. "No, thank you." "Why not? If you're going that far, you should have someone reliable beside you." After a brief hesitation, I told her the truth. "I already have someone traveling with me." "What? When did that happen?" "We met while preparing for the southern project. He works on the trade team too. We'll go together next spring." Ivy's face lit up. "That's wonderful. I have to tell Adrian. We should meet him first, just to make sure he isn't taking advantage of you." "That isn't necessary." Before I could stop her, she rose. "There he is." Adrian approached with the treatment plan in one hand. His eyes moved first to Ivy's face, checking for any sign of discomfort. Then they settled on our joined hands and darkened slightly. "What are you discussing?" He put an arm around Ivy's shoulders. "You look excited." Ivy looked up at him. "I offered to introduce Wren to someone. Guess what she said." Adrian glanced at me with complete certainty. "She refused." "She did refuse." "Of course." His tone was indifferent. "Since Blackwood adopted her, she's followed me everywhere. She wouldn't even live in the school dormitory. What makes you think she would leave with another man?" Ivy laughed and shook her head. "You guessed wrong this time. Wren already has someone traveling with her. Next spring, they're leaving for Southern Pack together."