Faking Amnesia to Replace Me? Keep Her, I’m Gone. Chapter 09

Faking Amnesia to Replace Me? Keep Her, I’m Gone. Chapter 09

“Mommy, it’s me, Elsie! Why didn’t you come looking for me all this time?”

“Mommy, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you. Will you come home with me? I missed

much…”

Tobin shrank half a step behind me, tightening his grip on my hand.

you so

His palm was damp with sweat. His lashes trembled faintly as I looked down at him, then back at

Elsie.

The word “Mommy” landed with a dull ache, but I couldn’t remember the last time she’d called me

that.

Kieran finally walked over.

He looked far more haggard than before, with bloodshot eyes.

He looked at me, then at Alden standing half a step behind me. His throat bobbed before he finally managed to speak.

“Seren… I came to take you home. Elsie has been crying this whole time. She even looks for you in

her dreams. She knows she was wrong…”

“I’m not going back.”

I cut him off. My voice was quiet but steady. “I have a home now.”

When I finished, I pushed her away and pulled Tobin two steps back.

Tobin planted his feet in front of me, his little face stern as he frowned at Elsie. “She’s my mom. She’s not going back with you.”

Alden moved silently to my side, standing protectively.

Elsie burst into tears.

“No, that’s not true! She’s my mom! You can’t steal my mom!”

She lunged forward, trying to grab my leg.

I stepped back half a pace.

Elsie’s foot slipped, and she fell straight into the snow.

Kieran hurried to help her up.

But she shook off his hand and looked up at me.

“Mommy, I won’t call you a bad woman anymore! I’ll call you Mommy from now on!”

“I don’t want Aunt Nessa anymore, either. If you hate her, then I’ll hate her too.”

I crouched until we were eye to eye and brushed the snow off her hat.

She thought I was going to hug her, and her tears came even harder.

But I only pulled my hand back and looked into her eyes.

“Elsie, stay with your dad and live well. As for Nessa… if you want her to be your mom, then let her.”

Elsie froze for a moment, then suddenly grabbed my sleeve with all her strength.

“No! I don’t want her! I want you! Mommy, come home with me…”

Tobin tugged at the hem of my coat from behind, his voice muffled.

“Mommy… I’m scared.”

I stood, placing myself between Tobin and the others, and said to Kieran:

“Take her home. You don’t need to come looking for me. I’m doing well here, and I’m not going back with you.”

Kieran’s eyes were rimmed in red. “Seren, I was wrong. Come back. You can punish me however

you want…”

“I can admit I was wrong before the Pack Council.”

“I can also make sure I never see Nessa again.”

“Just come back.”

His wolf gave a low, hoarse whine.

I heard it, but my wolf didn’t answer.

I took Tobin’s hand, and Alden naturally moved to my other side.

Together, we walked toward the Pack Lodge.

We never looked back.

One time, Elsie stood outside my Healer Cottage, clutching the old shawl I’d left behind in

Blackridge,

There was barely any of my scent left on it by then.

She still held on as if she couldn’t let go.

That day, Alden was coming out of the kitchen with the wolf-eared wooden cup I’d made for Tobin.

Elsie stared at the cup for a long time.

She’d once had one, too, carved by my own hands.

But she’d thought it was too childish and tossed it into the storage room.

Elsie looked at the cup, then at Tobin.

Her eyes reddened, and tears kept spilling until Kieran finally led her away.

After that, sometimes Elsie waited outside the door all day, watching Tobin and me together with

red-rimmed eyes.

Sometimes Kieran stood downstairs until late at night.

But I ignored all of them.

Eventually, they came less and less often

One day, I suddenly realized I hadn’t caught Kieran’s scent in a very long time.

I couldn’t even remember when they’d last come.

The wind moved through the fir forest, and my wolf sprawled lazily inside me.

There was no pain.

No waiting.

In my new life, I found myself again. I was finally myself.