Ch. On graduation night, 12 On graduation night, 12

Chapter 12 

His hand remained suspended between us. 

It took him a long time to speak again. 

“Now that the classified period is over… can I visit you at Frostland?” 

“The research facility allows members of outside packs to visit during open days.” 

I looked at him. 

“You can apply through the standard visitor process.” 

“Just as a regular visitor?” 

“What else would you be?” 

Damian stared at me. 

Whatever he had wanted to say, he swallowed it in the end. 

The day after the presentation, my parents prepared a family dinner for me. 

My father placed Frostland’s Phase Two research plan on the table and told me the next project would last at least another five years. 

“Do you want to stay in the North?” 

“Yes.” 

He was quiet for a moment before sliding the plan back toward me. 

“Then stay.” 

“No matter which pack you belong to, this will always be your home.” 

Before leaving Blood Moon Pack, I visited the pack manor where I’d grown up one last time. 

The ancient tree that had witnessed our first group shift was still standing. 

Beneath it sat a new time capsule. 

My name was written across the lid. 

I didn’t open it. 

Damian stepped out from behind the tree. 

This time, he didn’t move to block my path. 

“There are apologies from all four of us inside.” 

“If you don’t want to read them, you can leave them buried here forever.” 

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“Okay.” 

His gaze dropped to the Frostland badge pinned to my chest. 

“We’ve cut off contact with Lyra.” 

“What she did to you was entered into her academy record, and Blood Moon disciplined her under pack law.” 

“That has nothing to do with me anymore.” 

“I know.” 

His voice lowered. 

“But I used to think that if we stopped choosing her, you’d eventually choose us again.” 

I looked at him. 

“You didn’t deceive me only because you favored Lyra.” 

“You did it because you were certain I would never leave.” 

“You believed that no matter how you treated me, I’d eventually forgive you.” 

“So whether you still choose her now doesn’t change anything.” 

Damian was silent for a long time. 

“What if I keep waiting?” 

“Don’t.” 

“Have you really let all of it go?” 

I looked toward the Frostland vehicle waiting outside the manor. 

“My wolf core stopped sensing any of you a long time ago.” 

That was the last answer I ever gave him. 

Three years later, Frostland’s new Wolf-Core Research Center officially opened. 

I became the youngest Chief Researcher in the facility’s history. 

After the opening ceremony, a young woman who had just joined the program asked me why I had come to the North in the first place. 

“At first?” 

I smiled faintly. 

“I was tricked into coming here with four fake applications.” 

She stared at me. 

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“And you still chose to stay?” 

“Because where I ended up was their choice.” 

I looked toward the research center behind us. 

“But staying was mine.” 

Someone called my name from across the courtyard, telling me the celebration was starting. 

I nodded to the girl and turned toward the new research center. 

When I was eighteen, they erased me from the future we’d once planned together. 

They thought that after I suffered enough in the North, I would crawl back to Blood Moon Pack. 

They never imagined I would find the place where I truly belonged. 

I was no longer the Luna waiting for a future Alpha’s mate mark. 

I was no longer the girl replaced in the Moonvale Five. 

I was Aria Vale. 

Chief Researcher of Frostland’s Wolf-Core Research Center. 

My name no longer needed to stand beside anyone else’s to matter. 

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