After I Died, the Alpha Who Abandoned Me Lost His Mind Chapter 01

After I Died, the Alpha Who Abandoned Me Lost His Mind Chapter 01

I once gave Adrian Black my whole heart.

He was the young Alpha of the Black Pack and the most unapproachable heir in North America.

I had been his fiancée, the woman everyone assumed would one day become his Luna.

But because Adrian believed I had broken a bracelet belonging to his childhood friend, Selena Moore, he stripped me of his protection and banished me from Black Pack territory.

At my lowest point, I slept beneath overpasses, dug through dumpsters behind convenience stores, and kept customers company over drinks in bars just to survive.

Six years later, we met again in the designer shoe department at Nordstrom.

He was a VIP client there to choose a birthday gift for Selena, with bodyguards behind him and a crowd of her friends tripping over themselves to please her.

I was the lowest-paid sales associate in the store.

He looked at me coldly as I dropped to my knees to help Selena try on a pair of shoes.

Adrian let out a mocking laugh.

“So this is what you’ve become without me?”

I lowered my head and said nothing.

He looked down at me, his voice dripping with condescending pity.

“Apologize to Selena on your knees, and I’ll take you back as my fiancée. How does that sound?”

I shook my head.

“No.”

Once I received this month’s paycheck and got my puppy healthy again, I was going to end my life.

My cancer was terminal.

I was done with everyone.

…

Adrian stood beneath the bright lights, the cold scent of cedar clinging to his black coat.

He was not deliberately exerting any Alpha pressure, yet every werewolf nearby still fell silent on instinct.

He looked at me with cold indifference, showing no trace of the feelings he had once had for me.

It was not until I knelt on the marble floor to help Selena try on her shoes that he finally let out a cold laugh.

“Erin, is this really what you’ve reduced yourself to after leaving me?”

I kept my head down and did not answer.

The cancer had already reached its final stage.

Some days I could still pick up scents clearly, while on other days, I could smell nothing at all.

But in that moment, his cedar scent suddenly thickened, betraying the emotions slipping past his control.

He spoke in a tone he clearly believed was merciful.

“Apologize to Selena in front of everyone, and I’ll let you come back to me as my fiancée. What do you say?”

I shook my head.

“No.”

Once I received this month’s paycheck and paid off the rest of Mochi’s treatment, I planned to end everything.

A werewolf’s powerful healing ability could not save me from stomach cancer that had already spread throughout my body.

I did not have much time left.

I was done with Adrian, and I was done with the love that had lost all meaning years ago.

The moment I refused him, everyone in the shoe department froze.

Even Selena looked stunned.

Adrian’s expression turned terrifyingly cold, and his pale gold wolf eyes flashed beneath the lights.

I did not mistake his reaction for concern.

Years ago, he had driven me into one dead end after another for another woman.

One of the sales associates noticed the growing tension and whispered, “Erin, just apologize.”

Selena had not finished trying on her shoes, so I was still kneeling there in humiliation.

The cold marble dug painfully into my knees, but I only said quietly, “But I really didn’t do anything wrong.”

The entire department fell silent.

Selena lifted her innocent face and gently tugged on Adrian’s sleeve.

“Adrian, it’s fine. Don’t make this any harder for her.”

Then she turned to me, her voice soft and kind while pure malice gleamed in her eyes.

“Erin, even if you’re trying to make Adrian care about you again, you didn’t have to let yourself fall this far. You used to be the Carter family heiress. Why are you working in a shoe store? Just admit you were wrong and come back with us, okay?”

With only a few sentences, she made everyone believe I was the guilty one.

Adrian believed her without a second of hesitation.

His Alpha pressure crashed down over the room, draining the color from the faces of several lower-ranking wolves nearby.

“You’re still defending her. If she hadn’t deliberately destroyed the bracelet your father left you, you never would have suffered a heart attack from the grief, and you still haven’t fully recovered. She deserves to stay on her knees until you decide to forgive her.”

Then he pointed to an entire row of shoes along the display wall.

“Since you refuse to admit what you did, do your job. Bring every pair over for Selena to try on.”

Selena’s friends immediately burst into laughter.

“It’s not every day we get served by the woman who almost became Luna. Bring me two pairs too.”

“I want her on her knees while she puts mine on.”

“Me too.”

“Do a good job, and I’ll give you a thousand-dollar tip.”

Their laughter sent wave after wave of pain stabbing through my chest, and I felt worse by the second.

But that thousand-dollar tip meant everything to me.

With it, Mochi could continue receiving treatment for pancreatitis.

As long as Mochi survived, I could finally end my life in peace.