Chapter 3-First Love

Natash's POV

My parents separated when I was very young, and I lived with my mother.

However, when I had just come of age, my mother fell ill and passed away. At the age of sixteen, I found myself returning to the life of the Red Valley Pack.

My father, Jacob Yael, had remarried. Over the years, Jacob Yael had achieved success in his career, and by the time I returned to the Red Valley Pack, he held a position in the pack's council.

The memory of the small barn had transformed into a standalone garden house.

My stepmother, Linda, was an opera singer, but I had no idea of her fame.

She was polite but distant.

Her politeness was so ingrained that from the moment I entered the Red Valley Pack, I felt like an outsider.

Subconsciously, I believed that this was not my home.

My true home was the small barn where my mother and I had lived together.

It was an ordinary life, but the mother-daughter bond was filled with warmth and love.

In the Red Valley Pack, I was a complete outsider.

My father was always busy, with endless meetings and social engagements.

To him, I was a constant reminder of his former marriage, and while he carried guilt for abandoning me, he also saw me as a burden.

In his eyes, I was a burden.

Blood ties bound us, and I was an obligation that he wouldn't choose if given the option.

 As a rebellious teenager in such a complicated family environment, I began to shed my previous obedient demeanor.

I started skipping school, getting into trouble, and causing problems.

Whenever I caused trouble, it was never my father or stepmother who came to my rescue but the secretary in my father's office.

While there was a lack of emotional closeness in the family, materialistically, I had everything I needed.

My stepmother was generous, and my monthly allowance was almost equivalent to what I used to live on with my mother in a month.

However, it was still just money, and using money to dismiss me created a sense of psychological rejection.

My stepmother's gaze towards me was not strict, but it always carried an undertone of seeing me as a troublemaker.

I became exceptionally sensitive, and as a sixteen-year-old girl, it was challenging to change for the better but remarkably easy to learn bad habits.

Dating, skipping school, smoking, drinking—these were part of my past, even though there was no trace of these behaviors in my present life.

Although my life had veered off course for a while, it hadn't been completely twisted. The person who steered me back on the right path was Jaclyn Dills.

He probably didn't even realize the extent of his influence on me.

At the school I attended, it wasn't very prestigious, and there was a stark divide among the students.

Some had already bonded with their wolves and found their mates at a young age.

At that time, I couldn't control my wolf very well, which gradually distanced me from most students.

I ended up hanging out with the less academically inclined students and getting caught up in reckless behavior.

The first time I encountered Jaclyn Dills was at an upscale members-only bar.

I was there with a group of people, and I still wasn't entirely comfortable in such places.

The noisy music, the dance floor illuminated by neon lights, the couples dancing with a certain intoxicating aura—it all had a tempting allure, an urge to indulge in decadence.

I didn't know how to dance, so I sat on the side, sipping a colorful cocktail that tasted sweet and slightly spicy, like soda.

I enjoyed drinking because it left my head in a hazy state, as if I could forget about the most immediate worries. Among that group of people, I was quite popular.

I wasn't stunningly beautiful, but I had an attractive, somewhat mature appearance with a touch of melancholy and a hint of rebellion. It made me more charming than girls my age.

I particularly attracted the attention of older boys going through their adolescent years. This vague sense of affection and admiration made me quite popular.

Even though I didn't talk much and always seemed a bit reserved, it didn't matter.

I declined an invitation to dance from a familiar guy because I didn't know how to dance.

In fact, my life had been simple and monotonous in the sixteen years leading up to that point. I had never learned to dance, but I had studied ballet. From childhood until middle school, my mother had been teaching me ballet, but I stopped once I reached high school.

Here, my ballet skills were probably considered a joke.

I was adept at concealing my awkwardness, so I rarely appeared anxious.

On the other hand, it was also a manifestation of my timidity.

I sat there, growing increasingly bored, when suddenly, the delicate fragrance of daisies caught my attention. Jaclyn Dills was being surrounded by a group of people as he entered.

Like any other girl, I had an appreciation for handsome men, and each of the four men who accompanied Jaclyn Dills seemed more attractive than the next, exuding powerful auras.

The reason I noticed Jaclyn Dills was not only due to his impeccable features but also his innate elegance.

As he walked to the front and joined the band in playing a melodious saxophone tune, his elegance was both graceful and dazzling.

Standing at the front, Jaclyn Dills seemed like the brightest star in the night sky, and from my perspective, I could only look up to him.

In the next moment, this star suddenly landed right next to me. He took the cup from my hand and examined me closely, patting my forehead. "Little girl, go home early.

This is not the place for you. Come back when you're a bit older; it's never too late."

In that moment, not only did I catch the scent of daisies I had never experienced before, but I also saw the moon goddess herself.