In A Wheelchair, They Still Can Only Look Up to Me Chapter 08

In A Wheelchair, They Still Can Only Look Up to Me Chapter 08

After the award ceremony, the staff escorted 

Garrick and Selene into the side hall. 

Years had passed, and they looked so haggard I 

almost didn’t recognize them. 

Garrick’s hair had gone completely white, and he 

wore no Alpha emblem. Selene no longer bore the 

Crescent Diadem that marked her as Luna. I’d 

heard that after I left, Silverpine Pack’s standing had plummeted. They’d stepped down voluntarily and spent the rest of their years making amends 

to the pack members who’d been hurt by their 

negligence. 

The moment Selene saw me, tears streamed 

down her face. 

“Isolde.” 

She took a step forward, then stopped, as if afraid 

she might startle me away. 

“I’ve thought about you every single day. We know 

we have no right to ask you to come home, but we 

truly want to make amends to the child we failed.” 

Garrick slowly lowered himself to his knees before 

1. me. 

The Alpha who once stood so high and mighty 

now barely dared to lift his head to look at me. 

“You don’t carry Vale blood, but you’ll always be 

our daughter. Blood was never what made us 

family. Isolde, give me one more chance. Please?” 

I thought that after all these years, I could face 

them calmly. 

But the moment I heard the word “family,” the tears fell before I could stop them. 

“A chance?” I reached down and pulled the thick 

blanket off my lap. 

As it slipped away, they finally saw, I wasn’t sitting 

in an ordinary chair at all. Black wheels were 

tucked beneath the wide armrests. My legs were encased in cold, rigid braces, resting motionless 

on the footrests of a wheelchair. 

Selene’s sobs cut off instantly. 

Garrick froze, like he’d been struck square in the 

chest. 

“The infection went on too long.” I looked at them, 

one word at a time. “The septic shock caused severe nerve damage. The doctors saved my life, but they could never give me back the ability to 

walk.” 

“No.” Selene shook her head, stumbling to her 

knees. “The Agents never told us,” 

“Because I wouldn’t let them.” 

I finally let myself cry out loud. 

“I didn’t want to see your guilt. I didn’t want to hear you say you loved me. When you left me out on that leaky patio, I begged you. When you drove right past me in the rain, I waited for you to turn back. But no one ever looked back! No one!” 

I looked down at my legs, the legs that could no longer feel anything. 

“Every time I look at them, the hatred comes 

flooding back, so I will never, ever forgive you.” 

Garrick lay prostrate on the ground, his shoulders heaving with violent tremors. 

“It’s my fault, hit me if you want. Hate me for the 

rest of your life, I deserve it.” 

I raised my hand and slapped him, hard. 

The sharp crack echoed through the side hall. 

Selene sobbed and squeezed her eyes shut. 

Garrick didn’t flinch or dodge. He stayed there on 

his knees, face turned aside, tears falling one after 

another onto the floor. 

I turned my wheels and wept as I left the hall. 

Strangely enough, after that slap landed, the 

boulder that had been pressing on my chest for 

years finally seemed to loosen, just a little. 

That evening, I made my way alone up the gentle 

slope behind the council hall. A thin layer of snow 

covered the summit. The northern wind threaded 

through my hair, carrying two familiar, yet foreign, 

scents. 

Maelis and Evren stood on the other side of the 

path. 

They’d long since lost their Pack Emblems and 

had no right to enter the viewing gallery. All they 

could do was wait here, from a distance. 

As I passed by, Maelis choked out a single word, 

“Sister.” 

Evren’s wolf let out a pained whimper deep in his 

consciousness. 

My wolf recognized their scents. 

But I just kept turning my wheels, moving forward toward the last rays of sunlight falling over the 

summit. 

I caught their scents. 

But I would never look back. 

The cold, drenching rain of late autumn had finally 

stopped. 

The long–absent sun broke through the clouds and 

poured over me without reservation. 

It was warm. 

I faced the light. And deep inside me, the wolf that 

had once curled up in fear of being cast out by the 

Pack finally opened her eyes, slowly, gently, in that 

warmth.