He Wants to Buy My Heart—But It’s Not for Sale Chapter 02

He Wants to Buy My Heart—But It’s Not for Sale Chapter 02

When he heard me give in, Thayer sounded satisfied. Even his tone lifted.

“That’s more like it. That’s the kind of grace the Luna of Blackthorn Pack should have.”

“As long as you stay this obedient, I’ll come home on time every day. How’s that?”

If the eighteen-year-old Thayer heard those words, he probably would have punched himself in the face.

Back then, he had been a packless rogue with nowhere to belong, yet he had dared to crash my family’s Founders’ Moon Ball alone.

He defeated my father’s four strongest enforcers and carried me away under my father’s furious roar.

He had only snuck into the ball to steal food from the buffet.

Then he caught the scent that would define the rest of his life.

Mate.

My family outranked Thayer in every possible way. I could have been matched with any Alpha from any established pack.

But Thayer swore that no matter which Alpha my father promised me to, he would challenge him and win me back.

He challenged three times.

Each time, he was covered in blood.

And maybe the Moon Mother truly had favored him then, because he won every time.

From that day on, no wolf dared to claim Selah Crowe.

My father had no choice but to let me leave with him.

Still, he could not bear the thought of me suffering. He told Thayer that if he reached thirty and still had nothing to his name, my father would bring me home, and Thayer would have to let me go.

Thayer had only been a rogue because he was born wild and hated being tied down.

But after he took me as his mate, he founded a new pack under his own name. Wolves came quickly. After all, he had defeated three Alphas, and plenty of people were willing to follow him.

The day Blackthorn Pack reached thirty members, Thayer was only twenty-one.

He was the youngest Alpha in the region.

That day, he spent all his savings on the finest bonding ring he could afford.

“Bond with me,” he said.

“I, Thayer Blackthorn, swear before the Moon Mother that I will love Selah Crowe for the rest of my life.”

Maybe the wind that night had been too cold.

Maybe it scattered every promise we had made when we were young and foolish enough to mean them.

Now only broken pieces remained.

I was done fighting.

I did not want any of it anymore.

After the cremation, I held my mother’s urn and cried my last tear.

“Mom, we’re going home. We’re never coming back.”

When I returned to Blackthorn Lodge, I carried the urn upstairs to pack my things.

Delphine came out of the master bedroom wearing my nightgown.

She leaned against the doorframe, all soft curves and fake innocence, Thayer’s scent clung to her, thick and unmistakable.

In the past, I would have gone mad.

But now my mother was dead.

So was my heart.

All that remained in me was numbness and silence.

Even my wolf could barely react. The loss of my mother had left her weak and hollow.

Delphine deliberately tipped her chin, revealing the dense marks along her neck.

“Thayer told me your bed was custom-made,” she said. “I only mentioned it once last night, and he actually let me stay over to try it.”

“It really is comfortable,” she said. “Big, soft, and perfect for keeping an Alpha busy all night.”

That bed had indeed been made specially by Thayer.

But ever since the night of our mate-bonding ceremony, when he confessed his betrayal and I refused to give up, that bed had held nothing but hysterical screams and tears.

I looked at her without expression.

“Get out.”

Delphine stiffened for a second, then laughed.

“I really don’t know what you still have to be proud of. Thayer doesn’t love you anymore, but you keep clinging to him and refusing to sever the bond. You embarrass every woman alive.”

“If I were you, I’d throw myself into the ocean. At least then, maybe Thayer would keep a tiny place for you in his heart.”

“And your mother? With a daughter this pathetic, no wonder she couldn’t even stay alive long enough to—”

My head snapped up.

Fire burned behind my eyes.

“Say that again.”