Chapter 6

After seven hours of patrol, we returned to the temporary outpost near Anchorage.

We rested there overnight, and the next day, as promised, Kyle took me to see the aurora.

But the moment I saw Selena glued to his side, along with the rest of the team, every bit of anticipation I had left scattered.

Kyle noticed my mood and lowered his voice.

“It’s more lively with more people around.”

I pressed my lips together.

“Whatever you arrange is fine.”

Selena sat in the front passenger seat, chatting and laughing with Kyle the entire way.

By the time we arrived at the observation cabin, the aurora had already spread across the sky—brilliant and unreal, like a dream that didn’t belong to this world.

Everyone was still staring in amazement when Selena’s voice rang out clearly.

“Kyle, do you remember? The first time we watched the aurora together, we had a huge fight. You promised you’d bring me back one day. Thank you for remembering.”

I turned my head.

Selena and Kyle were standing side by side in the snow. Her eyes were soft and lingering. His hand rested lightly at her waist.

“What I promise you,” Kyle said, his voice unbearably gentle, “I don’t forget.”

At that moment, it felt like an ice-cold blade went straight through my chest.

So that was the truth.

Kyle had always wanted to bring Selena to see the aurora.

I was only the extra body who happened to be dragged along.

With the lights shimmering overhead, I turned and walked away in silence.

Snow drifted down onto my hair and collar, but I felt nothing.

I just kept walking, numb, as if with every step, I was walking back through all eighteen hundred days we had spent together.

The day after I returned to New York, I went straight into Gideon’s office.

“My final patrol is complete,” I said. “Awaiting orders, sir.”

Gideon nodded with clear approval. He took my ID tag, set it gently on the desk, then opened his drawer and took out a dark blue velvet box.

Inside it lay the commander’s insignia of the Northern Wild Wolf Clan, cold and brilliant under the light.

“From today on, you are no longer the deputy of Blackthorn territory,” he said, sliding the box and a new identity tag toward me. “You are now the commander of Western Frontier Patrol Unit 28.”

He smiled faintly.

“Congratulations, Layla. You’re not only the youngest female commander in the Northern Wild Wolf Clan. You’re also the pioneer of the new western patrol zone.”

My fingertips brushed over the crest on the insignia, feeling its weight and the strange warmth of what it meant.

At that moment, five years of endurance and restraint finally answered back in the palm of my hand.

When I got home, I placed the new black uniform, the insignia box, and my credentials into the suitcase.

For the first time in years, I felt light.

After showering, I lay down, ready to rest.

Then Kyle burst into the bedroom in full black uniform, panic written all over his face.

“Layla, why isn’t your name on tomorrow’s patrol list?”

I lowered the book in my hands and said calmly, “I’ve been too tired lately. I took a few days off.”

It was a lie I had rehearsed in my head countless times.

I had asked Gideon to keep my transfer confidential—and of course I was not going to tell Kyle. I had walked this road beside him for five years. These places were soaked in memories.

And I would never come back to them again.

Relief flashed plainly across his face.

“That’s good. I thought…”

He didn’t finish.

Instead, he dropped to one knee beside the bed and gripped my hand tightly.

“We said we’d guard this land together until we were old,” he said, his gaze almost reverent. “Layla, don’t lie to me.”

Something inside me twisted hard.

He was asking me for honesty while lying to me from beginning to end.

“Okay,” I said softly.

It was the first lie I had ever told him.

And it would be the last.

He leaned in to kiss me.

I turned my head away on instinct.

That small movement made him freeze.

“I won’t be back until New Year’s,” he said, testing my expression. “How about Tokyo? We can spend New Year’s there together.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Then Reykjavik? Just the two of us.”

I shook my head again.

For five years, to keep us hidden, he had always taken me somewhere far away to celebrate.

But this time, all I wanted was to quietly wait for the day I left for Seattle.

“New Year’s Eve,” I finally said, “come with me to Rockefeller Center and take a few photos for me. Just as a memory.”

He looked genuinely surprised.

“Why New York? We could go somewhere more special.”

“Just a few photos.” My voice was light. “You can be my photographer.”

I never intended to let him appear in those photos.

I was not taking anything that belonged to him with me anymore.

“After the clan gathering ends,” he said quickly, “I’ll tell everyone about us. Just give me a little more time.”

I closed my eyes.

“Go shower. It’s late.”

Soon the sound of running water filled the bathroom, but all I felt was exhaustion.

Five years.

He was always asking me to wait.

But this time—

I wouldn’t.