Chapter 184 CHAPTER 184

Chapter 184 CHAPTER 184
Lilia's POV

Life became unbearable at the pack after my mother's death. There was no reason to stay. She was gone. Kael was dead, and even Adeline was gone.

The pack no longer felt like home. Everywhere I turned seemed to hold a memory of someone I had lost, and the emptiness was becoming harder to bear. I desperately wanted a change—a reason to leave everything behind and start somewhere new—but I couldn't find the push I needed.

That changed one day when I was going through my mom's things.

I sat quietly among her belongings, my hands moving slowly as grief still tightened around my chest. I was still struggling to accept that she was truly gone when my fingers brushed against something tucked away among her possessions. It was a a diary.

I paused and stared at it for a moment, my heart giving an uneasy thud as I reached for it. At first, I didn't think I would find anything mysterious or strange in it. I wasn't expecting anything more than a glimpse into my mom's life, perhaps some things she had never told me. But as I turned the pages, everything changed.

Her diary pointed me toward Eclipse.
And then, for the first time in my entire life, I saw my father mentioned in its pages. My fingers tightened slightly around the diary as I stared at his name. Until that moment, he had been nothing more than an unanswered question in my life. Perhaps, a question I didn't even dare to ask. So, I managed to stop thinking about him and move on with what I had before me. 

I arrived at Eclipse on a fateful day, and the next thing I knew, I woke up in a guest inn with a woman staring at me as though she had been watching me sleep.

I sat up abruptly, confused. My senses felt strangely dull, and I couldn't remember how I had ended up in the bed. I glanced around the unfamiliar room before turning back to the woman standing in front of me.

“Where am I?” I asked. My throat was dry and my voice was husky.

“Eclipse,” she replied.

I nodded slowly. I remembered walking through the gates, but everything that happened afterward seemed foggy in my mind, as though something had blurred the memories.

“I'm Nola,” she said. “And I'm the owner of this guest inn.”

I looked around the room again, taking in my surroundings before nodding.

“I'm Lilia,” I responded.

“Welcome to Eclipse, Lilia,” she said, almost as though she already knew me. “What brings you to Eclipse?”

I remained silent for a few seconds, wondering whether I should tell this strange woman why I was really there. My instincts urged me to be careful, but I needed as much help as I could get. In the end, I decided it was better to tell her. Perhaps she could help me. Maybe my father had lodged in her inn before.

“I'm looking for my father,” I replied. Then I reached for my bag and realized it was not strapped to my waist anymore. It was lying on the floor beside the bed. I picked it up, and searched inside immediately. The note was still there, with his name written on it. I picked it and stretched it towards her.

“Him,” I added.

She glanced at the paper and raised an eyebrow at my response but said nothing.

I spent the next two days at the guest inn before finally deciding to explore the city. I needed a job to sustain myself, as I couldn't depend on the generosity of Nola forever. The easiest place I could find a job was at a bar. So I took the job.

I spent my days serving drinks and bartending for the people who came through the doors, while keeping my ears peeled for anything useful. I listened carefully to conversations, watched the way people interacted, and paid attention whenever voices dropped into whispers.

During my first few days at the bar, I learned a lot simply by watching and listening. Eclipse was full of secrets, and people often revealed more than they realized.

But there was one thing I never heard, and that was the name of my father.

One day, a group of women came into the bar, and for some reason, I found myself drawn to them.

It wasn't because they looked any different from the other groups of women who visited the bar. There was simply something about them that held my attention.

They sat together, drinking and talking in low whispers—so quietly that I couldn't make out what they were saying, even when I moved closer to their table. I tried not to stare, but one of the women seemed to notice my interest in their group. Her eyes kept finding mine. Each time, I quickly averted my gaze, pretending to focus on my work.

But as I passed their table on my way to serve another customer, a hand suddenly closed around my wrist.

I stopped. Turning to face the assailant, I found the woman watching me, and not letting go of my hand.

“Are you new to the city?” she asked.

I glanced around the bar before looking back at her. Was it normal for a stranger to just clutch at another person's hand and ask them personal questions?

“No,” I replied, irritated. Then I gently pulled my hand from her grasp and walked away.

That night, I had a very strange dream. I saw a wolf, a wolf I had never seen before. My mother had always told me that I had no wolf, though she had never given me an explanation for why.

“Some things cannot be explained, Lilia,” she would say and that would be the end of it.

Yet, as I stood there in the dream, staring into the wolf's eyes, something stirred deep inside me. She felt familiar. It was as though I had known her all along.