"Catriona? Catriona!! I'm talking to you!" Eulalia called out.
Catriona snapped back to reality. "What? Are we there yet?"
"Are you tired and dazed? We're not arrived yet!"
Catriona looked out the window; they were nearing the square.
Eulalia cast a worried glance at Catriona but said nothing.
When they arrived at the her apartment, they cooked a lively meal together. It had been a while since Catriona drank, but she didn't drink much, knowing her son was there.
After her two friends were picked up, she hugged Cedric and sat on the balcony chair, gazing at the stars.
She remembered she hadn't drunk much, but her words felt a little illogical.
"Baby, I'm sorry."
"You miss your dad, right? Mommy knows."
"But if you want to see your dad, Mommy can take you anytime. Just because we live apart doesn't mean you can't see him. Baby, Mommy loves you the most, hic..."
Catriona quickly covered her mouth.
Cedric scampered into the living room and brought her a cup of warm water. "Mommy, drink some water."
"Hic... Thank you, baby."
"Mommy, you're the most important," Cedric said, extending his hand and mimicking the adults, ruffling Catriona's hair.
"Mommy, actually you also..."
You also don't want to leave either, do you?
Cedric blinked his big eyes but ultimately didn't say it.
On the other side.
At the Villa, Roderick remained silent, drinking the liquor he usually despised. Dressed in a white shirt, his eyes reflected a sense of despair.
"Is it because Catriona took the cub and left that you're feeling this way?"
"Chasing a mate like this? Roderick, that's not how it's done!" Rowan grumbled in a rough voice. "If I meet a female I like, I'll be forceful and make her fall for me completely."
"Rowan, just make sure you don't stutter and lose your words when the time comes," the long-haired man said.
"Impossible! I won't stutter! I'm not afraid of them," Rowan declared loudly.
Magnus took a sip of tea, then turned to Roderick, who had remained silent. "When are you going to win over your mate? Sapphire is still heartbroken."
Roderick was clearly drunk, his usually calm eyes unfocused. He could hold his liquor well, and if one weren't paying close attention, one wouldn't even notice he was drunk.
Magnus furrowed his brows. "Or is it that you've given up?"
"Give up?" Roderick repeated the words softly, then, in the next moment, his eyes flashed with fury. "What are you trying to find out? Huh? If I've given up, what's it to you? Don't even think about it!"
Magnus:...
"You're drunk; human alcohol is really frightening."
Roderick frowned and took a deep breath; the alcohol was dulling his brain. "No one should lay a finger on her; she... she is mine."
The long-haired man let out a teasing sound. "She's yours? Then why is she running away? Roderick, your wife has bolted!"
"At least we get to see this side of him; today wasn't a waste."
"Silas, do you really want your parents to live long?"
At the mention of this topic, the long-haired man's smile faded, and he became serious. "Yeah, they agree. I want to see them more."
He was adopted by the werewolf pack and only learned upon coming down that his biological parents had their first child late in life; they were now eighty years old.
"Snow Crystal." He took out a white ice box. "This is what older werewolves eat; it can reverse aging and extend life."
Snow Crystals are clear and luminous, rare to find, only one in a thousand years, and they are highly coveted among werewolves.
Only the packs of the great families in the snow mountains have them; most ordinary werewolves cannot obtain them and thus live only to around three hundred years before passing away.
The great packs may have a few. Only wolves of high rank and significant contributions are qualified to enjoy them.
"If a pure human eats it, should it be fine?"
"It'll definitely be fine; Roderick's grandfather ate it back then and at a hundred still sought out young human girls."
"Don't mention him!" Roderick's expression turned disgusted; with a wave of his hand, the bottle on the table toppled over, shattering with a crash.
Meanwhile, a Snow Crystal in the icebox was jostled, drifting lightly out of the box and falling into the wineglass, where it melted upon contact with the water.
Coincidentally, Roderick, inebriated, raised the glass and drank it all down.
For the moment, no one noticed this scene.
Roderick shook his head, coughed, and stood up. "I need to go find her."
He leaped across the rooftops of the city, his mind spinning, filled with Catriona's gentle smile.
Roderick left, and Silas chuckled and shook his head, preparing to put away the ice box when he looked down and frowned.
"Why is one missing?"
"What?!" Rowan was stunned, his voice cracked.
Rowan stood up, sniffing deeply around the room. "It's not here; how could it be missing... wait," he picked up an empty wine glass and sniffed it deeply.
His expression changed instantly.
"There's... the scent of Snow Crystal here! Isn't this the glass Roderick drank from??"
Now, Silas frowned deeply.
"What happens if a young werewolf eats the Snow Crystal meant for old werewolves?"
Magnus's expression also turned serious. "I remember my grandfather saying it would revert to a cub's state."
"What the hell!!! What????" Rowan's voice cracked again.
On the other side.
Roderick didn't leap for long before he felt increasingly hot; he thought he had just drunk too much. However, when he reached the entrance of Catriona's apartment, he felt like his body was about to ignite, followed closely by a wave of pain.
He leaned against a roadside tree, gasping for breath, tugging at the buttons on his shirt.
Something was wrong.
He gasped for breath, the pain making him sweat profusely. He felt his bones cracking, tightening, and shrinking, as if his entire body were being compressed.
Ultimately, he felt darkness clouding his vision and lost consciousness.
Under the tree, there lay an additional pure black, chubby wolf cub.
