He Mocked My Scar, So I Left Him to His Regret Chapter 01

He Mocked My Scar, So I Left Him to His Regret Chapter 01

Cedar Ridge Academy had a rule: no student’s bangs could cover their eyebrows. The instructors had to be able to see the color of our eyes during transformation training.

I was the one who insisted on covering half my face with my hair.

The vice principal in charge of discipline called me into his office three times about it, and each time, I refused to change.

So Holden, the boy I’d grown up with next door, decided to handle it himself. He cornered me in the hallway. As captain of the student patrol, the moment he spoke, half the students in the corridor stopped to watch.

He pulled out a pair of scissors and, in one vicious snip, hacked my bangs to pieces.

When the silver scar running from my brow to my jaw was exposed, the other wolves around us instinctively took a step back. Silver poison resists a werewolf’s healing. Even after the wound closes, it leaves a permanent, numb mark.

Only Holden smiled.

He knew perfectly well I’d gotten that scar saving him.

But he just arched a brow at Bianca. Everyone knew her as the daughter of the Lockwood family. Her father controlled the Mooncrest Pack’s territorial resources, and no one at the academy dared to cross her.

“I told you she had a silver scar,” Holden said, his voice carrying. “That she was a freak. You just wouldn’t believe me.”

He gestured toward her. “Well, now you don’t have to worry about her stealing your Homecoming Queen spot.”

Laughter erupted through the hall.

From that day forward, for three full years, “silver-scar freak” was the only name anyone ever called me.

That is, until graduation day, when Bianca handed me Holden’s notebook, a smirk playing on her lips.

On the cover, in bold letters, were the words: *The Ten Ugliest Girls in School*.

Under my name was a long, crowded list of voters.

When my stunned gaze met Holden’s, he spoke in a flat, even tone.

“I lost a bet with Bianca, so I posted the poll in the class channel for her. It was just a joke.”

He met my eyes without flinching. “I cast the last vote that put you in first place.”

“The silver scar on your face affects your appearance, Lucia. I couldn’t in good conscience vote for someone else just to spare your feelings.”

Tears traced the path of the winding scar on my cheek.

With their laughter ringing in my ears, I took the notebook.

When I got home, I called my mother.

“Mom, can you help me buy a ticket for the red-eye to Melbourne? For the day after tomorrow.”

“I want to go to the Tidewatch Pack. I want to live with you.”

……

The notebook still held the damp traces of tears I hadn’t managed to wipe away.

The water had blurred the ink, making my name nearly unreadable.

It didn’t make me feel any better.

On the phone, my mother was silent for a few seconds. When she spoke, her voice held an emotion I couldn’t quite place.

“I told you a long time ago not to build your life on one person’s promises.”

“You took a silver blade for Holden, a blade meant for him from those rogue wolves. It left a scar on your face that could never fully heal. And now that very wound has become his reason to look down on you, to mock you.”

“When you get to Melbourne, I’ll take you to the best silver-wound reconstruction clinic in Northport.”

“I’ve already arranged your adult transfer into the Tidewatch Pack. I’ll be there. I’ll meet you at the airport.”

The backyard of Holden’s house next door was buzzing with voices. A dozen or so graduates were throwing a barbecue before the full moon.

Then I heard someone mention my name. “Where’s Lucia? Don’t tell me she’s still sulking about that poll.”

“She probably went to work. Wasn’t she saving up for a graduation trip with Holden?”

“That poll was just for fun. Who knew she’d take it so seriously?”

Another voice laughed. “It’s not like she didn’t earn first place. Who else at our school has a silver scar that long? Seeing it during transformation is creepy as hell. Right, Holden?”

All eyes turned to Holden.

These were the people who would soon fill the ranks of Mooncrest’s patrol unit, its resource offices, its affiliated businesses. What Holden said now would determine whether, as adults, they treated me like a packmate—or like a pariah they could shun at will.

Standing by the window, I held my breath. My hearing, sharp as any wolf’s, caught every word from the backyard.

Holden gave a soft, dismissive laugh.

“True.”

The crowd howled with laughter.

The blood in my body went ice-cold. My knuckles turned white where I gripped the window frame.

When I was eleven, a pack of rogue wolves broke into Mooncrest territory and cornered a young Holden in an alley.

When one of them pulled out a silver blade, I didn’t hesitate. I threw myself in front of him.

The blade slashed across my face. Silver poison seared my flesh, and blood soaked my collar.

At the pack clinic, Holden had clung to me, his tears falling relentlessly onto my shoulder.

He’d promised he would never let that scar be a source of pain for me.

But now, he had changed.

Bianca suddenly raised her phone, her voice dripping with saccharine concern.

“I should call Lucia.”

“This is all my fault. I thought it was just a graduation prank. I had no idea she’d react so strongly.”

The shrill ringtone sliced through the quiet night.

The laughter in the backyard died.

Everyone looked toward the second-floor window of my house.

I hung up in a panic and stumbled back behind the curtain.

A moment later, a text from Holden lit up my screen.

*Come downstairs. Don’t embarrass Bianca.*

I didn’t want to go.

The bright moonlight cast a reflection in the window, throwing my pale, tear-streaked face back at me. My hair was a ragged mess where he’d hacked through it. I barely recognized myself.

I had listened to that laughter for three years.

Tonight, I didn’t want to hear it again.

I tossed my phone onto the nightstand and pulled the blanket over my head, shutting out the world.

Not long after, I heard the soft chime of the electronic lock downstairs.

Holden knew my passcode. He came straight up the stairs and yanked the blanket off me.

I shot upright, instinct flaring, a flash of wolf-gold igniting in my pupils.

He froze for a second when he saw my tear-stained face, then his expression hardened into a frown.

“What are you even crying about? It was a joke poll. Did you have to humiliate Bianca in front of everyone?”

“You were obviously home, so why pretend you weren’t? Come downstairs and get something to eat.”

I shoved his hand away.

A long time ago, when I’d been too ashamed of my scar to go to academy events, Holden would wrap me in gentle hugs.

He used to say, “If Lucia doesn’t want to do something, I won’t make her.”

His arms had once been my only refuge.

But somewhere along the way, Bianca had taken my place.

In the end, he clamped a hand around my wrist and dragged me down the stairs and into his backyard.

Everyone’s eyes landed on me. They could smell the reek of fear I couldn’t suppress.

I wiped my tears, shook off Holden’s grip, and stood there, lost.

One of the boys kicked a lawn chair toward me.

“Sit. Before you go whining to the dean again tomorrow, saying we bullied you.”

A ripple of muffled laughter went through the group.

I knew exactly what he meant.

It was the day before our final exams. I’d stayed late at the academy library to study, same as always. When I pushed open the stairwell door to leave, a bucket of ice water came crashing down over my head.

The shock sent my nails sharpening on instinct, and the hallway exploded with laughter.

Bianca stood at the front of the crowd, laughing so hard she had to double over.

“Lucia, everyone says you smell like a rogue wolf. Do you ever shower?”

“That bucket was meant for the pregnant chemistry teacher, but you got lucky. Maybe it’ll wash some of the stink off you.”

When I reported it to the academy, all I wanted was a fair investigation.

Instead, they told me I couldn’t take a joke.

I had looked to Holden for help.

He deliberately avoided my gaze, turning his attention to the ribs in his hand. He brushed them with sauce and carefully placed them on Bianca’s plate.