No Past, No Pain, No Return Chapter 02

No Past, No Pain, No Return Chapter 02

Vanessa got mad.

“Don’t say that.”

“I don’t like Caleb. He doesn’t like me! Serena would be heartbroken.”

Sometimes I felt sad about my mother’s favoritism.

I never imagined Vanessa and Caleb would actually betray me.

And have a pup.

Then a message popped up on my mother’s phone.

From Caleb.

[Mom, keep Serena away from the clinic. Vanessa is too weak to deal with her.]

My mother came out of the bathroom.

She saw me holding her phone. She snatched it away.

“Who said you could touch my phone?”

I laughed bitterly at her harsh glare.

“Mom, am I really your biological daughter?”

She glared at me. Anger and guilt filled her eyes.

“Serena! Have you no conscience?”

“Your worthless father ran off with another she-wolf before you even started school. Who raised you? Huh?”

Her phone buzzed twice more. She rushed to her room to check it.

I called after her.

“Tell Caleb to come. I’ll sign the bond termination.”

She froze. When she turned back, her eyes lit up. “Really?” The word came out eagerly.

It hit me like a punch.

I didn’t snap out of it until Caleb walked in.

He and my mother exchanged a mind-link at the door. Then she left.

He stood there staring at me. A long silence passed.

He finally spoke. “Serena…”

I looked up. “Congratulations.”

I thought I could control myself. But seeing his face, longing and hatred crashed together.

My eyes turned red. My throat tightened.

“When did it start? When did you sleep together? Before or after our mating ceremony? Was the Pack Council mission even real?”

“No!” Finally, a question he could answer with certainty.

“The mission was real. It just ended after six months. But I didn’t know how to face you. Or our bond.”

Six months?

That was when my job changed.

I got a promotion.

But it meant two years at the northern border territory.

Vanessa pushed me to take it.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of Mom.”

Caleb supported me too.

We only had five minutes to talk each week. He used every second to convince me.

“In two years, we’ll come back together. No more separation.”

I thought they both wanted what was best for me.

The truth was crueler.

I stared at him. I laughed bitterly.

“So you weren’t thinking about my future. You just wanted me gone. Far away. So you could sneak around.”

“Don’t put it that way.” His face darkened.

I laughed.

Was I being harsh? Or were they really that disgusting?

They had a pup together.

I laughed until tears came.

“You know what? Vanessa told me about your sex. Three times on her birthday. That’s when she got pregnant, right?”

“Enough!” He was humiliated. The veins on his forehead bulged. “Serena, why have you never spent her birthday with her? You know why. This is what you owe her. You have no right to judge.”

I stared at him. Absurd.

“So your affair gets a special pardon because it happened on her birthday?”

He didn’t answer.

“Vanessa is weak. She has postpartum depression. She can’t handle any stress. Don’t see her. Don’t let her know you found out.”

“Got it?”

He smelled like disinfectant and baby powder.

I felt sick.

I ran to the bathroom and threw up. Violently. Like I was trying to purge everything inside me.

“Serena, are you okay?”

He patted my back. The concern in his eyes made me even sicker.

“Don’t touch me!”

His hand hung in the air.

Then it dropped. His phone rang.

My mother.

“Caleb, I’m at the clinic. Vanessa is gone. She’s not answering her phone. What do we do?”

His face went pale. He whipped his head toward me.

“What did you say to Vanessa?”