03

POV: MIGUEL

"Miguel, there's something I need to talk to you about," Kendall said, her eyes shining with nervousness as she stood before me.

"Go ahead," I replied, signaling that I was ready to listen.

"Miguel, my dear friend, I think you should consider what I'm about to say. I don't believe Lya is as terrible as you believe her to be," spoke Kai, my inner wolf, his voice resonating in my mind.

"Kai, you've been advocating for her ever since I rejected her yesterday. As the future Alpha, are you afraid of not finding a suitable mate?" I shot a pointed glance at Kendall, shortly distracted from my internal argument. "Furthermore, I've already explained the events from twelve years ago. I believe you should support my decision."

Before Kai could interject once more, Kendall's words abruptly cut through our exchange. "So, Lya jumped into the waterfall, presumably resulting in her death."

"Wait, what did you say? Who's dead?" I halted my argument with Kai, focusing my gaze on Kendall. I must have worn a frightful expression in that moment because Kendall took a couple of steps back, terror etched across her face.

"Lya, my sister," Kendall whispered, avoiding eye contact and lowering her head. "I don't know what happened yesterday, but Lya has been incredibly despondent since the party ended. She sneaked out in the middle of the night, and we all went searching for her. Just as we were about to catch her, she leaped straight into the waterfall."

Emotionally distraught?

My brow furrowed deeper. If my memory served me correctly, Lya had cried out after my rejection yesterday. Could it have been because of me?

"See, I told you rejecting her was a mistake," Kai persisted, his voice resounding within me.

Curiously, I did not sense any grief emanating from Kendall. Instead, I detected only a profound sense of fear.

"Kendall, show me your house." I put down the pen in my hand and stood up. If Lya really died because I rejected her, I certainly was not going to just pretend that nothing had happened.

Seemingly not expecting me to make such a request, Kendall's face took on a few more nervous moments, "Yes, but why?"

I lowered my head and thought about it, but decided to tell her the truth, after all, Lya was dead, "Yesterday, I refused Lya to become my mate."

"Lya is your mate?" Kendall's voice suddenly became shrill and her face began to flush.

Noticing the look I gave her took on a hint of inquiry, she dropped her head again, "Well, in that case, you should certainly visit my house."

**

I followed Kendall to her house, but she asked me to stand at the door and wait for a while, and then walked in first.

I respected Kendall's request and stood in the doorway crossing my arms over my chest as I remembered again what happened last night, Lya's red hair and green eyes repeatedly popping into my head, one moment the pitiful look she had when she was seven years old, the next the way she had almost choked on her tears last night.

"Kai, do you think, did I really do something wrong?" My eyes casually looked around the house, "But GreyStone Pack's Luna can't be a teenage girl who doesn't even have a wolf, and my mate has to be strong."

"What's the use of talking about this now? What's more, I can't hear your guilt at all in your utterances, you don't feel at all at fault, do you?"

I must admit that Kai was right; I did not feel that I did wrong, and I was wise to refuse a woman like Lya to become the Luna of the GreyStone Pack.

However, if I had known that she would kill herself because of it, I probably would not have put it so harshly; I would have refused in a way that she would have accepted.

"You should think about how to make it up to that poor young girl's family before the future Alpha of the GreyStone Pack is seen as irresponsible right now." Kai did not have time to worry about what I am thinking.

"Of course I know, I'm thinking about it." I impatiently reply to Kai.

Kai was a smart wolf, but sometimes he was so proud that he did not even think of me. And the rejection of Lya seemed to have become one of the reasons why he despised me.

If Lya was still alive, perhaps in time Kai would have understood that I made the right choice and that Lya was simply not fit to be the Luna of the GreyStone Pack.

But she is dead, and I thought its best that I kept all our grudges completely buried in my heart.

After a while, Kendall finally came out and invited me in.

As soon as I crossed the threshold, sorrowful sobs reached my ears from upstairs. I turned to Kendall, who wore an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry, Miguel. My mother has been inconsolable and crying all day long."

An entire day of constant weeping?

I had not realized Ms. Aurora possessed such a powerful voice, still resonating so loudly and clearly even after prolonged crying.

A crash resounded from the kitchen, and I grabbed Kendall by the arm, urgently questioning, "Is Damon losing control and breaking things because of Lya's death?"

A glimmer of admiration flickered in Kendall's eyes. "Yes, Miguel. Not bad for a future Alpha. You're perceptive."

I graciously accepted Kendall's praise, only to be met with a disgruntled remark from Kai within my mind. "Things aren't as straightforward as they seem."

"Come on, Kai. It is as simple as that. A kind-hearted couple blaming themselves for the loss of their impulsive adopted daughter, overwhelmed with sadness to the brink of collapse. I fail to comprehend what cold heart you possess that allows you to suspect them in such circumstances."

After dismissing Kai's doubts, I turned my attention back to Kendall. "Could you please summon both Ms. Aurora and Mr. Damon?"

Kendall's eyebrows arched, her satisfaction evident. "Yes, yes, I'll go right away."

Observing Kendall rush upstairs, holding her skirt, Kai interjected once more. "Don't you find Kendall's enthusiasm rather peculiar?"

"Or what? Do you expect her to be utterly grief-stricken by Lya's demise, unable to regain composure? I simply aim to offer them solace and bring smiles back to their family. It's that straightforward." I was growing weary of Kai's persistent skepticism. After all, Lya didn't even possess her own wolf, so why was Kai fixated on her?

Suddenly, something caught my eye—Nicholas's glasses lay on the carpet, partially concealed within its fibers. The lenses bore multiple cracks, as if they had been forcefully shattered. Could it be that Nicholas had a conflict with someone during yesterday's party? Furrowing my brow, I retrieved Nicholas's glasses from the carpet, pondering over the peculiar discovery. I placed them in my pocket and turned my attention to the family portrait, now illuminated by the sun's reflection.

Above was Aurora, Damon, Lya and Kendall family. Lya pursed her lips and looked at the camera with very sad eyes, the sadness in her eyes directly made me also a little hard to get up.

I really did not know why she would show such an expression in a family photo, looking at how sweet the other three people's smiles were, which should be the expression when taking a family photo.

I thought again of what Kendall had told me, that Lya often had tantrums over grabbing things with Kendall, so maybe Lya was the one who had just made a scene when the family photo was taken. Such speculation made me even more convinced that I had made the right choice.

"See Kai, Lya is just a grumpy little girl." I tried to convince Kai to think like me.

"Lya died because of you, and now you're actually looking at her picture and finding reasons to denigrate her. Is that your character as a future Alpha, Miguel?"

I did not expect Kai's attitude to be so bad and got a little angry, "Yes, she died because I rejected her, but doesn't that make it even clearer that she wasn't fit to be Luna? A Luna of a wolf pack can't be such a weak person, she should have used her ability to tell me that my choice was wrong, and then maybe I would have respected her more."

Kai did not say anything more, seemingly because she thought I was a bit impulsive.

Luckily, by this time, Kendall had come to me with her kind parents, eliminating the awkward atmosphere between Kai and me.

"Miguel, I heard you wanted to see us, what can I do for you?" Poor Aurora still had tears on her face.

"I am sorry that Lya is dead... because of me," I said with difficulty, "I am now officially making amends to you, I invite you to live near the pack house, what do you think?"

Pack house was only for the Alpha of the Wolf, Alpha's family and subordinates to live in, and it is a great honor for them to have such a plain family living nearby.

Sure enough, surprise and disbelief appeared on Aurora's face, and although she reverted to sadness and grief the next second, I am still sure they were all happy with this compensation.

"Yes, we all feel fine." Damon stepped forward and nodded at me.

Kendall reached out and gave Damon a hand, then turned to me and said, "Miguel, could you please go and send someone to find Lya's body? We all want to give her a warm funeral."

Hearing Kendall's words, Aurora and Damon nodded in agreement, "Yes, compensation for us is not important; resting Lya's soul is the most important thing."

A picture flashed through my mind - In the cold lake, the fish with sharp teeth were gnawing at Lya's body, bloodied Lya suddenly opened her eyes and stared straight at me, "You rejected me, you rejected me!"

I cringed at the image in my own mind.

"Yes, I will send someone to look for her, please don't worry." I agreed to the request of these three poor people.