He Wants to Buy My Heart—But It’s Not for Sale Chapter 05

He Wants to Buy My Heart—But It’s Not for Sale Chapter 05

I laughed until tears came out, watching him carefully carry Delphine away.

The vast Blackthorn Lodge was left with only me inside.

I ignored the wound on my forehead and knelt on the floor, scooping my mother’s ashes into the only clean glass jar I could find.

After I packed my things, I removed the bonding ring I had worn for seven years.

The moment I set it down, Thayer’s proposal echoed in my ears.

“Selah, give me a chance to protect you for the rest of my life. Please?”

So his forever had been this short.

Moon Mother, he broke his vow.

Will you punish him for me?

Night pressed thick against the windows.

I carried only one bag and walked through the familiar pack grounds, about to cross the border.

Two pack enforcers suddenly appeared and forced me into the pack’s holding cells.

I struggled with everything I had.

Their faces stayed blank.

“Alpha’s orders. You have three days to calm down.”

“After three days, if you still refuse to behave, you can stay here for the rest of your life.”

The door slammed shut.

I pounded against it, but the cell was lined with pure silver.

Burning pain shot through my entire body.

I collapsed to the floor, weak, and shifted back into my wolf.

Thayer had always ruled the pack with a hard hand, and this cell was the one everyone feared most.

It was narrow, barely large enough to curl up in. More coffin than cell. No matter where I moved, silver found me.

Every breath felt like dying.

I was locked inside for three days.

It felt like three centuries.

Everything around me was silent, as if my world had been reduced to myself alone.

Wolves feared abandonment.

That terror was carved into our blood.

I laughed until tears came.

My father had died in battle.

My mother had died sick and heartbroken.

My mate had betrayed me.

My child never made it into this world.

I really had been abandoned by everything.

My wolf was losing her mind.

Soon, I started hallucinating.

I saw my mother looking at me with unbearable pain in her eyes.

“Selah, how did you become like this?”

I also saw the Thayer from years ago.

He stood beside my sickbed and gently stroked my hair.

“Selah, once you’re well, I’ll take you to see your favorite moonflowers.”

When I opened my eyes through the haze, a bundle of moonflowers appeared before me.

For one second, I thought the Thayer from our youth had come to take me home.

Then I saw the cold man beside my hospital bed.

“Awake?” he asked. “Have you made up your mind?”

I slowly sat up, my body moving as if it no longer belonged to me.

“I have.”

Thayer nodded, satisfied.

“How much will it take for you to accept this child?”

“Don’t worry. After the baby is born, nothing will change. My heir will still be the child you and I have together.”

“I’ll still come home as usual. If you’re worried, we can try for a baby of our own as soon as possible.”

As he spoke, he reached toward me.

“One dollar.”

I quietly interrupted his endless talking.

Thayer froze, as if he could not believe what he had heard.

Then his face darkened.

“Selah, are you playing with me? How could you only want one dollar?”

“I only want one.”

I held out my hand, my voice steady.

“Give me one dollar. After that, I won’t care who you have children with.”

Thayer clenched his jaw so hard it looked like he was about to laugh from anger.

He pulled a stack of bills from his wallet and threw them in my face.

“Fine. Great.”

“You’d better mean it.”

Then he kicked the chair aside and stormed out.

After he left, I dragged my weak body out of the hospital.

When I crossed the pack border, I threw the money he had given me into the air.

I never looked back.