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Chapter 8

Elvis's POV

Lydia's beautiful red hair was soaking wet, and it hung down over her chest, causing me to rest my eyes there uncontrollably.

The dress clung closely to her body, outlining the beautiful curves of the young girl.

At that moment I realized that Lydia was no longer the little girl who cried and complained to me, and I could even describe her body as "hot".

Noticing my gaze, Lydia frowned, folded her arms in front of her chest and glared at me menacingly. If her face wasn't so red, maybe it would look a little more intimidating.

"Don't ever bother me again," Lydia yelled at me, "I've had enough of you."

"Do you really think it's an intrusion?" I ran my hand over my lips, "Didn't you just indulge in that kiss?"

"No!" Lydia said very loudly on purpose.

I bet she was lying and would have responded to my kiss if she had been in the water a little longer.

Lydia walked away in a huff and this time I didn't go after her, thinking I needed to give her some time to come to terms with what had just happened.

Lydia's POV

I stamped hard on the ground beneath my feet and walked quickly toward Glory Pack's territory, shame and anger filling my heart.

Because Elvis's words struck my heart, I did indulge in that kiss.

Maybe the mate link was just too strong, and even though he had rejected me, I couldn't help but be moved for him.

When Elvis looked at me with those charming eyes and apologized, I was damn shaken up.

Especially when I fell into the river and he came to my rescue regardless of his own safety, my heart felt as if it had been hit by a bullet.

I couldn't help but feel a little frustrated as to why Elvis had such a strong influence on me.

"Lydia," Nina whispered to me, "You're not starting to waver, are you?"

"I don't know, maybe a little." I answered Nina honestly.

"Have you forgotten how desperate you were when you faced the waterfall?" Nina's voice got serious, "Have you forgotten that if he hadn't rejected you, you wouldn't have been hurt so badly at all?"

Nina's words reminded me of that desperate day again, which quickly chilled my heart, "Nina..."

Her tone was filled with anger, "You had passed out by then, but I will never forget the pain and despair I felt that day in the river."

Yes, we had experienced such deep pain, should I have to foolishly turn back after being abandoned by mate?

"I'm sorry Nina, I'll always remember that day as much as you will." I hung my head and apologized to Nina, "I'll have no further dealings with him again."

Just out of the Deep Forest, I saw Joseph standing in the same place waiting for me.

I walked over to Joseph, who gave a relaxed smile and was a little surprised to see me soaking wet, "Lydia, what happened?"

"Nothing, I accidentally fell into the Deep Forest Lake." I said casually, I didn't want Joseph to know that Elvis had been here, maybe because Joseph hated me so much for mentioning Elvis after Elvis defeated Joseph last time.

"That's pretty careless of you." Joseph took off his jacket and wrapped it around my body, "Larissa told you to go to her."

"Okay." I nodded and turned to leave.

Seeing me draped in Joseph's clothes, a strange smile appeared on Larissa's face, "You and Joseph get along quite well, don't you?"

I nodded, wondering why Larissa would ask that, but she's clearly not prepared to tell me.

"Where's Elvis?" Larissa asked me again.

"How do you know?" I was even more surprised.

"An Alpha would of course be very aware of everything that happens in her territory." Larissa watched me blush and changed the subject, "Well, to hell with Elvis. The triennial wolf fighting tournament is coming up, do you want to participate?"

I knew what the wolf fighting tournament is, it is a good opportunity for the wolves to prove their strength and for each wolf pack heir to exercise themselves. In every wolf fighting tournament in the past, I would sit in the audience and envy those wolves who could compete on the field. Then I watched Elvis holding the trophy and smiling happily.

For as long as I could remember, this award had belonged to Dawn Pack and always to Elvis.

"This is our first wolf pack fighting tournament in Glory Pack and a great opportunity for me to announce to everyone that I got my daughter back." Larissa looked at me, her eyes filled with caring, "This time the wolf pack fighting tournament will be held in Dawn Pack. If you don't want to go, we won't go."

I lowered my head and hesitated to participate.

"You wouldn't turn down an opportunity like this because of Elvis, would you?" Nina sounded excited, "It's a chance to prove yourself in front of everyone, isn't that what you've always wanted?"

"Yes, but I'm worried if I don't win the prize ..." I couldn't resist uttering.

"You're so unsure of yourself honey," Larissa reached out and stroked my red hair, "You've defeated almost every Glory Pack fighter in only a month and a half."

There was no doubt that this was indeed a great achievement for me and a source of confidence that I had always had.

"I'm going to participate." I looked at Larissa and said firmly, "Not just to prove myself, but I'm going back to see how my adoptive family really pretended they were miserable in front of everyone else."

Elvis said that the family was very upset about my disappearance and went to great lengths to find me. I thought the only reasonable explanation was that they were worried that I was still alive and that they must make sure I was dead before they could feel comfortable accepting Elvis' compensation.

Larissa agreed to my request and we went to Dawn Pack's territory together.

When I arrived at Dawn Pack, a lot of people who knew me looked like they had seen a ghost and were surprised.

Of course, after all, Kelly and her parents must have claimed I was dead and gotten a lot of mileage out of it. But till the instance, not only was I alive, I was dressed to the nines.

I soon met Kelly, and her eyes widened when she saw me.

But she had always been good at disguise, and soon converted the shock on her face into a false smile.

"Lydia! The Moon Goddess had blessed me, and my dear sister is alive." She came up pretending to be happy and tried to hug me.

I didn't miss the jealousy and surprise on Kelly's face the first moment she saw me. My sister, Kelly, was still as good an actress as ever, but I didn't have to play along with her now.

I took a step back, Kelly obviously didn't expect me to do this, I could see from her trembling lips that she wanted to get angry, but now with so many people watching, she had to hold back and then turn around and go to her parents, just like she did before.

"Mom and Dad, look, it's Lydia back." Kelly pretended to turn around happily, and Amara and Dylan picked up on Kelly's meaning and came up to me with an excited look on their faces.

"Lydia! I can't believe you're still alive!" Amara's face was falsely touched, that fat face still as fat as it was before I jumped off the waterfall, if not fatter.

"The Moon Goddess blessed us!" Dylan also said with tears in his eyes, "You don't know how worried we were about you."

"Is that so? How worried?" Larissa knew I didn't want to tangle with this family, and she stepped between me and Kelly's family, and all I could see was her broad back.

"Who are you?" Dylan asked Larissa, who he could also see was no ordinary person and treated her fairly well.

"I'm Larissa, the Alpha of Glory Pack, Lydia's real mother."

I heard a lot of huffing and puffing from around me as people were surprised at my birth.

Kelly was obviously the most reluctant to believe it, and her eyes were filled with jealousy and hatred, "Our family has raised Lydia for eighteen years, and we've never heard of Lydia's real mother, so who knows if you're lying?"

"I don't think I need to explain that much to a mundane Glory Pack teenager." Larissa didn't take Kelly's provocation seriously, "From now on, your relationship with Lydia will be that of strangers."

"What do you mean?" Amara's face was unpleasant, "We are Lydia's adoptive parents, and the whole Dawn Pack knows how good we have been to her for eighteen years. We don't ask you to make it up to us, but you actually want to cut off the connection between Lydia and us."

I saw greed in Amara's eyes. This fat, shrewd woman would not let go of such a good opportunity. Now everyone is looking at us, the Dawn Pack clan thinks that I forgot all the favors, of course they will be on Amara's side and support her to ask Larissa for "compensation".

I reached out and tugged at Larissa's shirt to get her to stop arguing with this greedy woman. Larissa took my hand and then smiled at Amara, "Yeah, well, let me make it up to you guys."

Amara obviously didn't expect Larissa to agree to her so easily, and she could barely hide the smile on her face.

"Before I make it up to you, let's settle a score." Larissa was calm and confident, nothing like the family's eagerness.

"You guys picked up Lydia in the freezing cold and raised her, and I'm grateful to you." Larissa waved her hand and Joseph came forward carrying a box of fine jewelry, to which Larissa pointed, "This is my 'Thank you' gift to you."

People around me let out jealous shrieks, and I heard someone say why he wasn't the one who picked me up.

"You're a very generous lady!" Dylan was so excited that he could not wait to rush up and kiss Larissa's hand, "From now on, Lydia will have nothing to do with us."

With those words, Dylan reached into the case filled with jewelry.

"Wait." Larissa said, and Joseph closed the box in one fell swoop, and if Dylan had been any slower in withdrawing his hand, perhaps his hand would have broken right off.

"What else is going on?" Amara didn't bother with her husband's nearly clamped hand and asked Larissa eagerly.

"You guys made Lydia take on all the chores growing up; let Kelly's dolls sleep in Lydia's room while Lydia had to sleep in the attic; and the only time Lydia could take a break from the heavy chores was when someone else was around, pretending she was happy all the time... ..."

With Larissa's words, the Kelly family's faces became quite embarrassed.

The onlookers made surprised noises; after all, Kelly's family had always had a very good image among the wolves.

"Oh my God, is this true?"

"No way, then wouldn't we be cheated?"

And Larissa's emotions were getting angrier and angrier, and when all was said and done, she even punched Dylan directly. How could the skinny Dylan be the Alpha's opponent? Dylan was knocked to his knees and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Kelly and Amara's screams almost pierced my eardrums.

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