Chapter 3 Seven Years of Waiting

“Then one more thing,” Tristan added.

The  dining hall fell silent again.

Ethan looked up immediately. “What is it, brother?”

Tristan descended the last few steps gently before stopping beside the dining table. Outside, rain battered the tall windows while thunder rolled across the mountains surrounding Blackthorn Manor.

“In this house,” Tristan said evenly, “there are rules.”

Chloe’s fingers switched unconsciously at her side.

Ethan straightened slightly at once. Around Chloe, he was usually relaxed and clingy, but in front of Tristan, he became unexpectedly obedient. 

“You may bring your future mate home," Tristan continued, his gaze resting briefly in Chloe, "but until marriage, excessive intimacy is forbidden inside the manor.”

Ethan blinked. “Excessive intimacy?”

“The guest rooms are separated for a reason,” Tristan replied. “No sleeping together. No inappropriate behavior in shared areas and no disturbing the servants with unnecessary displays of affection.”

The corner of his lips lifted faintly.

“Understand?”

Chloe immediately realized what he was doing.

He was separating them deliberately.

Ethan scratched the back of his neck awkwardly before laughing. “That’s all? I thought it was something serious.”

Then he nodded obediently.

“Okay. I understand.”

Chloe stared at Ethan in disbelief.

He actually agreed just like that?

Tristan noticed her reaction instantly and a trace of satisfaction flashed through his eyes before disappearing again.

“Good,” he said quietly. “The servants have already prepared rooms upstairs.”

A servant then stepped forward politely. “Miss Chloe, please follow me.”

Ethan reluctantly squeezed Chloe’s hand before letting go.

“Baby, get some rest first,” he said gently. “I’ll come check on you later.”

Chloe forced herself to nod before following the servant upstairs.

The manor was far too quiet at night.

Dim golden lights stretched across the long hallway while expensive oil paintings lined the walls in silence. The sound of heavy rain outside made the atmosphere feel strangely oppressive.

The servant finally stopped in front of a room at the far end of the corridor.

“This will be your room tonight, Miss Chloe.”

“Thank you.”

After the servant left, Chloe slowly pushed the door open.

The room was elegant and spacious, decorated in deep gray and silver tones. A fire burned quietly inside the marble fireplace, filling the room with warmth.

But Chloe froze when her eyes landed on the neatly folded pajamas placed on the bed.

Her fingers tensed subtly.

The cream-colored silk with delicate lace around the sleeves was exactly the style she used to wear seven years ago.

Even the size was correct.

Chloe walked toward the bed almost absentmindedly and touched the fabric gently.

How could he still remember something so small?

Seven years had already passed, yet Tristan still remembered the clothes she liked sleeping in.

A strange ache spread slowly through her chest.

After changing, Chloe sat quietly at the edge of the bed.

Only then did she notice how familiar the room felt.

The furniture arrangement, the fireplace, even the balcony curtains all resembled the room Tristan once used years ago.

As though this room had been designed around her preferences from the very beginning.

Thunder rumbled outside again.

Chloe leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes tiredly.

Everything that happened tonight felt unreal.

Seeing Tristan again.

The terrifying reaction whenever he touched her.

The look in his eyes downstairs.

And what happened inside the restroom…

The burning sensation on her neck still remained faintly there.

Chloe raised a hand toward the mark unconsciously.

“Does it hurt?”

A low voice sounded behind her.

Chloe’s entire body went still and she turned around in a flash.

Tristan stood near the bookshelf while a hidden door behind him remained slightly open.

Chloe’s eyes widened in shock.

“Y-you...”

Tristan calmly closed the hidden door before walking further into the room.

His black shirt sleeves were rolled slightly upward now, exposing part of his strong forearms. 

Without the cold distance he maintained downstairs, his presence felt far more dominating inside the confined space. 

“How did you get in here?” Chloe asked fast.

Tristan glanced toward the hidden door casually.

“That passage connects to my room.”

Chloe stared at him blankly before realization slowly hit her.

This room…

“It used to be part of the master suite,” Tristan said as if reading her thoughts. “During the renovation seven years ago, I kept the passage.”

His gaze rested on her face.

“You used to complain that the manor was too large. You said you would get lonely sleeping too far away from me.”

Chloe’s breathing faltered.

Memories she had spent years trying to bury, resurfaced uncontrollably.

Back then, Tristan had laughed while pulling her into his arms, telling her that even if she locked him outside their bedroom after marriage someday, he would simply sneak through the hidden passage to coax her.

At that time, she truly believed they would spend their entire lives together.

Tristan slowly walked closer.

“You disappeared before seeing the finished renovation.”

His voice remained calm, but the weight beneath it felt uncomfortably heavy against her chest.

Chloe instinctively stepped backward on the bed.

“Tristan, you shouldn’t be here.”

“Shouldn’t I?”

A faint mocking smile appeared briefly on his lips.

“You’re sleeping in my room wearing clothes I prepared personally, yet I shouldn’t be here?”

Heat rushed to Chloe’s face.

Tristan stopped in front of her before reaching into his pocket.

The moment he opened his hand, Chloe’s pupils fluttered intensely.

The silver ring she returned seven years ago rested in his palm.

“I came to return something to you,” Tristan said.

Chloe’s throat constricted sharply.

Back then, after deciding to leave, she mailed the ring back to him without even meeting him one last time.

She still remembered how badly her hands shook while sealing that envelope.

Tristan lowered his eyes toward the ring.

“For seven years,” he said hoarsely, “I kept wondering why.”

Chloe lowered her gaze.

She still remembered the humiliation from those elders clearly.

The guardians appointed by Tristan and Ethan’s late parents had looked at her with nothing but contempt because she was wolfless.

To them, she was unworthy of noble blood.

But a burden that would destroy Tristan’s future.

They threatened to strip him  of his inheritance and expel him from the Blackthorn Pack entirely if she refused to leave.

At first Chloe still wanted to fight for him.

Until the day she saw Tristan entering a hotel with a beautiful female werewolf from another powerful pack.

That image shattered the last hope she had left.

She thought Tristan had already made his choice. So before he could abandon her first, Chloe disappeared from his life entirely.

“You abandoned me without even giving me an explanation,” Tristan added.

His eyes had gone totally dark now.

“Do you know what that did to me?”

Chloe’s fingers clenched against the bedsheet.

“You were going to marry someone else anyway,” she whispered bitterly.

Tristan frowned.

“What?”

“I saw you.” Chloe finally looked up at him, emotions she suppressed for years surfacing all at once. “At the hotel. With that female werewolf.”

For the first time that night, genuine shock appeared on Tristan’s face.

Then his expression went dark again.

“That was a political meeting arranged by the elders.”

His voice turned colder with every word.

“I rejected it the same night.”

Chloe froze.

Tristan let out a low laugh, but the sound carried obvious anger now.

“So that was your reason?”

The atmosphere inside the room became suffocatingly heavy.

“You saw one thing and decided to disappear forever?”

Chloe’s eyes reddened immediately.

“You think I wanted to leave?” she asked shakily. “Your family humiliated me every single day. They said I would ruin your future. They threatened to take everything away from you because of me.”

Tristan’s expression changed instantly.

For several seconds, he simply said nothing.

Then the muscles in his jaw tightened.

“They went to see you?”

Chloe laughed bitterly. “You didn’t know?”

Silence filled the room.

Tristan’s wolf was becoming unstable again and Chloe could see it clearly now through the darkness gathering inside his eyes.

Without warning, he grabbed her left hand.

Before Chloe could react, Tristan forcefully slid the silver ring back onto her finger.

The cold metal clamped around her skin perfectly.

“Tristan...no...”

“You gave it back once,” he said huskily. “I won’t allow it a second time.”

Chloe’s heart thudded erratically.

A knock came at the door and both of them froze instantly.

“Baby?”

Ethan’s voice came from outside the room.

Chloe’s breathing ceased.

“I brought you warm milk,” Ethan said gently through the door. “You seemed uncomfortable earlier.”

Chloe started to panic.

Tristan’s scent still filled the room heavily and he was standing far too close. 

Outside the door, Ethan knocked again softly.

“Baby? Are you asleep already?”

Chloe looked toward the door helplessly, her heart pounding so hard she could barely think.

Because somehow, she had the terrifying feeling that Ethan already sensed something was wrong.