Chapter 714 Babe, your heart is more than enough for me

Voren’s hands around her tightened a little but he didn’t allow her out of his arms. His grip was iron, unbreakable, a silent promise that he would never let her go.

He was the only one who knew the truth and had kept the secret. The weight of it had been a constant companion, a shadow that followed him through every waking moment.

“How?” Ravyn asked, his voice cracking with desperation and dread. But the moon goddess only looked at Voren, her ancient eyes piercing through him like a blade, even as she addressed Ravyn.

“When you allowed bitterness and rage to fill your mind, you allowed your friends to poison her with wolfsbane. A white wolf cannot endure it like the others. That’s her greatest weakness and it was also done in the human world. If it had been done in this realm, she would have lost her wolf forever, but in the human world, she lost her life.”

Ravyn’s agony only increased. The words crashed over him like waves, each one dragging him deeper into the abyss of his own guilt. Gray and Riven had told him they were going to teach Seraphine a lesson, and he supported them without asking about the plan.

He had been so consumed by his own bitterness, his own rage, that he had not stopped to think about what they might do.

Though he had no idea they were going to use wolfsbane, it was still his fault because he could have prevented it. He should have asked. He should have stopped them. He should have been the man his parents raised him to be.

“So how am I still here?” Seraphine asked, looking confused as the moon goddess smiled for the first time. The expression was warm, tender, a glimpse of the love she held for her creation.

Instantly, her appearance changed to that of a middle-aged woman, though she still exuded her charm and beauty. The child was gone. The teenager was gone. In their place stood a woman who had seen centuries pass, who had watched her children stumble and fall and rise again.

“Voren saved you, and I’m surprised he never even used it to make you stay by his side.”

Seraphine tried to break from Voren’s hold, just to look at his face but he prevented her. His arms tightened, his chest pressing against her back, his lips brushing against her hair. He couldn’t let her see him. Not now. Not when the truth was finally laid bare.

Back then, Voren owed her nothing and had been mean to her. She was suspicious when she smelled him all around her, but he had denied saving her. This man loved her so much, it brought tears to her eyes. The tears spilled over, hot and silent, tracking down her cheeks.

“He cried to me after the antidote of the wolfsbane failed.” The moon goddess continued to narrate, her voice soft with memory.

“And that was when I realized that the black wolf was emotionally stronger than I made him to be. I made him not to love, so that only the love wolf would melt his cold heart but he loved without the love wolf.”

The pieces were finally clipping together. Bloodfang had hated anyone coming close but that day, he’d allowed Liah to touch Voren’s chest, and her wolf had told her that his heart was already taken so she withdrew. The memory surfaced, clear and sharp, a puzzle piece sliding into place.

“When I thought he hated you.” The voice of the moon goddess cut through their puzzled minds.

“He proved to me, that he never stopped loving you. So that night, I did not only grant your wish, Voren, but also tied your souls together.”

“Without the mate bond, that was the only way his wolf could ever accept you. If it hadn’t happened, he would have died without ever finding his love wolf. A black wolf was supposed to be mated to his love wolf by the age of twenty-five at the latest, but he had already crossed thirty and was still living in complete celibacy.”

Everything began to make sense. Bloodfang was so out of control he’d even hurt pack members during training. The beast had been raging, desperate, dying without the other half of its soul. And Voren had borne it all in silence, never once using the truth to bind Seraphine to him.

She pressed her face against his chest, her tears soaking into the fabric of his shirt. “V… would it really have hurt you to just tell me?” Her voice was thick with tears.

Voren only smiled, the expression soft and private. “If I had told you, I never would have won your heart. I would have only earned your gratitude. Knowing you, you would have spent the rest of your life looking for some way to pay me back, and I never wanted that between us,” he explained quietly, his voice little more than a whisper meant for her alone.”

Seraphine closed her eyes tightly and let the tears fall freely while Voren gently wiped them away with his thumb. “I love you,” he said quietly. “Always have. Always will.”

It wasn’t the first time he had told her those words, but this time they settled deeper than ever before. Even her wolf had grown fiercely possessive. ’We can’t lose him to the love wolf. He’s ours.’

Seraphine smiled through her tears. ’Who would ever let him go? Even if the Moon Goddess herself demanded it, we would never allow it.’

Her answer soothed Marsha at once. ’Finally we found the one who doesn’t just love us—he loves to show us off. I still can’t believe he’s holding you like you’re made of glass.’

Seraphine laughed softly through her tears and spoke so only Voren could hear. “I love you, Voren. For everything you’ve done, my heart, my soul, my body, and my entire life are yours.”

Voren’s smile deepened. “That’s exactly what I hoped for. But babe, your heart is more than enough for me. I’ll cherish it for the rest of my life.”

While they stayed wrapped in each other, exchanging quiet words of love, the Moon Goddess continued her revelations.