When we hurried to the pack infirmary, I saw Damine slumped on a stone bench outside the treatment room. His black tactical vest was stained with large patches of darkened blood and grayish marks from silver toxin burns. His sweat-soaked black hair clung to his forehead.

The light in his eyes was gone, filled with panic and helplessness. He was slumped forward, his back curved.

I had never seen him look so broken.

Sofia's friends immediately rushed forward to ask what happened.

Damine ran a hand roughly through his hair, his voice tight with pain and guilt: "It's all my fault... I shouldn't have said those things to make Sofia angry. I shouldn't have let her drive off alone... She was just emotional because we fought... Otherwise, she wouldn't have been driving so fast, she wouldn't have crashed into those damn roadblocks and silver spike traps set by those bastards from Shadowfang Pack..."

Just then, the pack's most senior healer emerged, his expression extremely grim.

"The patient's condition is critical. The silver toxin has penetrated deeply, triggering a severe depletion of her primal wolf essence. Standard anti-toxin serums will have limited effect. Right now, we need a concentrated transfusion of an Alpha's blood to forcibly neutralize the toxin and jumpstart her life force. Does anyone know of an Alpha willing to donate their essence blood... though it could weaken the Alpha's powers?"

Everyone exchanged glances, their gazes eventually landing on Damine.

Only he, the Alpha of Stormfang Pack, possessed the purest, most potent bloodline.

Without a moment's hesitation, Damine rose to his feet, swaying slightly as he pulled off his blood-stained jacket. He took the sterile cloak the healer offered and followed a staff member quickly into the treatment room.

About half an hour later, the door to the treatment room opened again. A healer's assistant helped Damine out.

The man who was usually so strong and imposing now looked deathly pale, his lips bloodless, as if all his strength had been drained. He could barely stand.

Seeing me standing nearby, he nearly collapsed directly toward me. I instinctively reached out to support him.

His body was heavy and cold.

The assistant didn't leave. His tone was still urgent: "The patient's vitals are temporarily stable, but the silver toxin is fighting back. We need at least one more, substantial dose of Alpha essence blood to consolidate the treatment and completely eliminate the remaining poison. Can we contact any other Alpha?"

While we waited, the pack had already tried all their connections. There were virtually no wolves with pure Alpha bloodlines who could arrive in time.

Seeing everyone's silent, anxious expressions, Damine grew even more agitated.

He struggled, trying to force himself to his feet through sheer willpower alone.

"I... I can." His voice was weak but stubborn.

The assistant stared at him, as if looking at a man completely disregarding his own life.

"Alpha Blackwood, you've already given more essence blood than your body can handle! Doing it again will severely damage your wolf, you might not even be able to transform, and your powers could decline drastically!"

The expressions of the others changed. They all stepped forward, trying to dissuade him.

"Alpha, please stop! We can think of other ways. Perhaps we can contact friendly packs and ask their Alpha for help... After all, Stormfang donates a great deal of supplies every year."

But Damine just shook his head firmly, his eyes locked on the closed treatment room door.

"Sofia... she can't wait that long."

Seeing him in this nearly irrational state, I finally couldn't help but speak. My voice was shockingly clear in the quiet hallway: "The healers are already doing everything they can. They'll find another way to get Alpha essence blood. You don't need to... exhaust yourself like this."

Damine froze for a moment. His gaze seemed to flicker over me, but there was no hesitation in it.

He ignored what I said and pulled himself from the assistant's grip. He turned again, dragging his weakened body but taking determined, staggering steps toward the door.

Watching his resolute back disappear through the door, everyone fell into a deeper silence.

Someone sighed heavily, their voice filled with helplessness and a hint of barely concealed resentment.

"As long as it's about Sofia, the Alpha acts like a madman! Remember when he challenged that guy to a duel just because someone accidentally bumped into Sofia during training? He hadn't fully mastered his wolf back then and ended up with a fractured leg, lying in the infirmary for a whole month!"

"Tell me about it. Even earlier, to find that so-called 'Ocean Heart' for Sofia, he dove alone into the Dark Lake Abyss filled with dangerous aquatic predators and almost didn't make it back... And now it's the same thing. To save her, he's willing to damage his own wolf. I... I always thought she was still the one who mattered most to him, that's why... why I sometimes wanted to help create opportunities for them. Seeing this now... sigh..."

They whispered among themselves, as if completely forgetting I, his legal mate, was standing right there.

Listening as they recounted one by one all the past events between Damine and Sofia that I had never known, I felt a strange sense of daze.

It wasn't until this moment, hearing this 'care' stacked up by life-threatening risks, that I saw with crystal-clear clarity just how absurd and ridiculous my former hope of "maybe I could replace her" had been.

Love is love. No love is no love.

I don't know how much time passed before the emergency treatment was finally over.

The door opened. The healer looked exhausted. He was followed by Sofia, still unconscious but with a slightly better complexion, being wheeled out on a gurney, and Damine, who was being nearly carried out by two assistants, almost unconscious.

Everyone's heart leaped. They immediately crowded around, asking with concern about Sofia's condition.

The healer wiped the sweat from his forehead, his gaze resting on the unconscious Damine with a touch of emotion.

He sighed to the group gathered by Sofia's bedside: "They... must be true mates, right? It's so rare to find a male who would be willing to pay such a price for her, even to the point of damaging his own wolf."

I was left alone on the outskirts of the crowd. My lips curved into a faint, bitter smile.

It turned out that even at the brink of life and death, even with his official mate standing right there, in everyone's eyes, they were still the rightful pair.

And I, from beginning to end, had only been a superfluous onlooker.

It wasn't until the next day at noon that Damine slowly came out of the coma induced by the extreme blood loss.

His mind was still fuzzy. His throat was dry, and the first words that slipped out were: "Sofia... how is she? Is she out of danger? Has she woken up?"

Seeing his anxious expression, even though he was so weak, I nodded. I had stayed by his side almost all night, and my voice was hoarse with fatigue.

"The healer said the most dangerous phase is over. She'll need a long period of rest to regain her strength."

Hearing this news, the huge weight that had been pressing on Damine's chest finally seemed to lift.

But he was still not at ease. He struggled to throw back the covers and get out of bed, insisting on going to see her for himself with his own eyes.

I couldn't talk him out of it. In the end, it was a therapy assistant who was bringing him a nutrient drip that stopped him.

Damine glanced at the several bags of medication that needed to be administered slowly, and a flicker of irritation crossed his eyes. His thoughts were still completely on Sofia's condition.

His gaze swept around the room, finally landing on a basket on the corner table filled with fresh berries and rare Moontrace Herbs—a gift of condole from other pack members.

It was as if he'd finally found a reasonable excuse. He looked at me, his voice carrying a subtle request:

"Sylvia, I used the comm yesterday to contact Sofia's parents. They're wandering in the south, but they should be arriving soon. Could you take this berry basket to her for me? Give them my regards, and... while you're at it, check if Sofia's condition has stabilized."

I stared at him for a long moment before letting out a quiet "Mm."

I picked up the exquisitely crafted berry basket and silently left his private room.

Sofia's room was on the upper floor.

I walked to her door and raised my hand to knock, but noticed the heavy wooden door was slightly ajar.

Through the crack, I saw Sofia nestled in the arms of a strange male wolf in another pack's attire. Her voice sounded weak and sweet:

"Liam, didn't you say this time you came back, you'd take me to meet your elders and officially confirm our relationship? Why did you come alone?"

The male, Liam, held her close, his voice gentle: "I wanted to bring my parents for a proper visit, but your injuries haven't fully healed. It's just not the right time. The moment you're completely recovered, I'll take you back to my pack for our mating ceremony. Okay?"

Hearing this conversation, my hand clenched hard on the woven handle of the basket.

Sofia already had a new mate? They were even to the point of having a mating ceremony?

Just as that thought hit me, the healer for the routine check pushed the door open, startling the two people inside.

Sofia looked up and saw me standing in the doorway. Her expression instantly shifted, turning guarded and displeased: "What are you doing here?"

I didn't answer her question. I just silently placed the berry basket on a low cabinet by the door, then turned and headed straight for the stairs.

Sofia, surprisingly, dragged her seemingly weak body out after me, grabbing my arm firmly at the stairwell. Her grip was so strong, it didn't fit someone supposedly recovering from serious injuries.

"Stop! You're not going to run straight downstairs and tattle to Damine, are you?" Her voice was low, with a hint of barely concealed panic.

I turned my head, looking at the flash of flustered panic on her face, my voice as cold as ice: "If you already have a mate you're willing to bind with, why do you insist on holding on to Damine?"

At my words, Sofia raised an eyebrow, and the panic on her face quickly transformed into a shameless calm.

"Can't you see I enjoy having them both fawn over me? I like playing them against each other," she sneered, a mocking curve on her lips. "I have the capital to make them dance to my tune. What's wrong with that?"

"Must you trample on his genuine feelings like this?" I felt sick to my stomach.

Seeing my suppressed anger, Sofia snorted, her tone filled with parade: "I'm just that good at making them go crazy. Even someone like Damine Blackwood, an Alpha so high above everyone else, is no exception. What, are you jealous? Why not just admit it? If I'm in a good mood, I might even give him back to you."

Her brazen words left me speechless.

My silence only fueled her arrogance. She looked me up and down triumphantly, her gaze finally landing on the mating mark on my neck.

"You're nothing but a substitute, a placeholder I left behind when I left. What makes you think you have the right to question me?"

She leaned in closer, her voice laced with vicious glee: "Let me let you in on a secret. I wasn't even that badly injured! I paid off the healer to see if Damine would be willing to give his essence blood for me. And the result? He was willing to damage his own wolf for me, to give me his very life. What do you have that could possibly compare to that?"

Her words were like a dagger coated in silver toxin, stabbing deep into the core of my being.

"If Damine treats you so well, why would you betray him for another man?" I asked Sofia.

"That was all Damine's doing. Being a Luna means taking on responsibilities and losing my freedom. I'm not willing to do that."

The fire that had been suppressed for so long—a mix of pain, humiliation, and anger—finally burst through the dam of my reason.

I almost instinctively raised my hand, reaching to grab Sofia and demand an explanation.

However, Sofia let out a dramatic cry of pain as if struck by a great force, staggering backward and falling!

I hadn't even fully registered what happened when I was suddenly shoved hard from the side, my back slamming against the cold stone wall.

It was Damine, coming up the stairs.

He didn't even glance at me. In one large stride, he rushed down the stairs, his face a mask of fury and heartache as he scooped up Sofia, who had fresh scrapes and bruises on her body after falling at the stairwell. He looked up at me with a look of disbelieving anger and accusation.

"Sylvia! Do you have any idea her condition isn't stable?! How could you be so vicious as to hurt her like this!" His voice trembled with weakness and anger.

Sofia nestled in his arms, turned her face at just the right moment to reveal the faint red mark of a handprint on her cheek, and wept like a willow in the wind, her voice choked: "Don't blame her, Damine... it's my fault. I must have said something to make Sylvia misunderstand... she is your bonded mate, it's only natural she'd be upset... I don't blame her... let's just go, it hurts so much..."

With these words, she completely cut off any chance for me to explain myself.

Watching the storm clouds gather on Damine's face, I knew that anything I said now would only sound like a weak excuse and a shifting of blame.

My silence, in Damine's eyes, was undoubtedly an admission of guilt.

The last spark of hope in his eyes died, replaced by deep disappointment.

"Sylvia! I thought you were a kind and gentle Luna. I never imagined you would go after Sofia too. I was wrong about you."

With that, he looked away from me, as if even a single glance was repulsive. He just carefully adjusted his hold, cradling the softly weeping Sofia, and turned, walking away step by heavy step.

He never once looked back at me.

I stood there alone, the only sound in the stairwell my own ragged breathing.

After leaving the infirmary, I received a message through an encrypted channel from the southern sanctuary.

They notified me that the migration permit had been formally approved and all necessary documents were ready for me to collect whenever I wanted.

I retrieved all my personal identification files and the thin migration permit.

On the same day, I received a communication from the wolf tribunal. They informed me that the mate termination agreement had been approved and would be effective in seven days.

Returning to the main house of Blackwood Manor—a place I had once considered "home"—I began to silently pack my belongings.

On the table lay a calendar made from thin, treated leather.

I had the habit of tearing off one page each day.

The pages dwindled, and soon I reached the last page of this calendar.

The year was coming to an end.

And I was about to leave the Stormfang Pack territory, a place I had lived in for over twenty years, a land that held all my loves and sorrows.

Throughout this week, Damine never once came back.

Sofia, on the other hand, tirelessly sent me provocative images and recordings through an encrypted comm device every day.

On the seventh day of the countdown, she sent a video clip captured in a recording crystal: Damine was kneeling on the floor of her sickroom, disregarding his dignity as an Alpha, gently massaging her calf with his hands, which were usually accustomed to gripping weapons.

As I watched the focused profile of his face in the video, I took out all the little trinkets I had secretly collected for him over the years—those calming incenses specially made for the frenzied phase, the exquisitely tanned belt buckle carved with a simple sketch of his wolf form, the blue flame berry jam I had learned to make after he once complimented how it tasted... all these simple tokens of my clumsy feelings, I threw them into the stone pot in the corner of the room, reserved for burning waste.

On the fifth day, she sent pictures: Damine had sent an entire crate of shimmering Moonstone and Mithril jewelry, crafted by the pack's artisans.

One close-up showed him carefully placing a ring on Sofia's finger. It was set with a large Moonstone and carved into the shape of a wolf's head.

Looking at the picture, I walked to the wall and took down the giant oil painting depicting our three-year-old Blood Moon mating ceremony.

On the canvas, I was wearing an ill-fitting Luna gown, while he stood beside me with a distant expression.

I raised the frame and smashed it against the edge of the fireplace. The canvas tore, and the wooden frame splintered. Then I threw all the pieces into the roaring flames of the fireplace.

On the third day, it was an audio recording. The background was quiet, with only Damine's even breaths and the name he unconsciously mumbled in his sleep: "Sofia... don't go..." His voice was hoarse with sleep, yet full of genuine affection.

I opened the section of his walk-in closet that was his, yet had always remained empty. I packed away all the gifts he had given me during our three-year bond—whether out of an Alpha's sense of duty or occasional guilt—the magnificent fur cloaks, the expensive gemstone necklaces from auctions, even the beautiful feather from a giant bird he had given me after a hunt...

I packed it all up, called an Omega attendant, and instructed him to deliver everything to the foundation in the pack dedicated to helping weak and orphaned wolves.

This main house, which I had once carefully decorated and filled with life, gradually returned to the empty and quiet state it was in when I first arrived.

Meanwhile, my few personal belongings, the ones that truly belonged to me, were gradually packed and placed by the door.

The older Omegas who had long served in the manor looked worried at my near-total clear-out. They cautiously asked among themselves if something had happened.

I smiled at them and forced my tone to be light, as if I were talking about something trivial. "It's nothing. The mate bond with Damine is just being dissolved."

"Dissolved?" Manor Manager Alexander repeated in disbelief, his voice trembling. "Alpha... he agreed to it?"

Agreed?

I didn't know.

But I figured, at this moment, with his heart completely filled with Sofia, Damine would probably feel a sense of relief, or even joy, if he saw the signed mate termination agreement.

As for what happened between Sofia and him, I wanted no part of it anymore.

On the second day of the countdown, another message from Sofia arrived unexpectedly.

This time, the camera wasn't on Damine, but on his parents—the respected old Alpha and his mate of Stormfang Pack.

The pictures showed the three elders sitting around Sofia's sickbed, laughing and chatting. The atmosphere was so harmonious it was as if they were the real family.

Still, I didn't reply to any message.

I calmly opened my comm device, scrolled through my contacts, and selected, one by one, the contact information for Sofia, Damine, and everyone else in the Blackwood family's inner circle who might remind me of this past. Then I pressed the delete button.

On the morning of my departure, the first snow of the year began to fall silently. Fine white crystals covered the Forbidden Forest and the manor's stone pathways.

I took out the leather-bound diaries I had hidden at the bottom of my case, filled with unspoken feelings, and a stack of letters written on light brown paper that I had never had the courage to send. I carried them all to the empty space in the courtyard where I sometimes liked to sit and daydream.

I used an old fire pit to light them. Orange flames leaped up, illuminating my pale face, which was chilled by the wind, and greedily devoured the words of my humble love. They consumed the hot, sour, and ultimately cold feelings of my youth, turning them to ash.

I tilted my head back, watching the falling snowflakes, wondering how long it would have to snow to completely cover these unbearable ashes.

Just as I was lost in thought, the heavy gates of the manor were suddenly pushed open from the outside.

It was Damine, whom I hadn't seen in a long while.

His steps were hurried, carrying the cold air from outside.

He glanced at me, squatting by the fire pit, but didn't stop. He walked straight into the main hall, as if to get something.

A moment later, he came out again and stopped beside me.

His gaze fell on the edges of some light brown letters scattered on the ground that hadn't made it into the fire.

It seemed he unconsciously recalled the letter that had been read aloud at the bonfire party.

The heart that had accumulated so much displeasure and anger toward me because of Sofia finally softened a little, and his tone became gentler.

"I've been... dealing with Sofia's recovery and follow-up care lately, I haven't had a moment to spare." He paused, his voice lower than usual. "In a couple of days, when things settle down, we... we should have a proper talk."

A proper talk?

Talk about what?

The final details of dissolving the bond? Or how to politely ask me, the "substitute," to step aside?

I pulled at the corner of my mouth and looked up at him.

Snowflakes landed on my eyelashes, melting into cold mist. My voice was flat, without a trace of emotion, as if stating a fact that had nothing to do with me.

"No need to talk. The thing you want most, I actually placed in your glove compartment a month ago."

The thing?

What thing?

Damine frowned, a flash of confusion crossing his face. He was about to ask for clarification when his encrypted comm device beeped a few times.

He lowered his head, glanced at the screen, and a soft, clear smile almost involuntarily spread across his face as he read the messages.

Seeing his expression brighten instantly, I took the last few sealed letters that would never be sent and gently tossed them into the flickering flames before me. Then I stood up.

The hem of my slightly oversized fur cloak naturally fell, conveniently hiding the fire pit behind me, which was still burning but about to die out.

Damine finished replying to the message and looked up again just as the last spark in the fire pit was extinguished, leaving only wisps of smoke.

He seemed to have forgotten what he had been about to ask me.

I silently followed him to the manor's main entrance and straightened his collar for him.

A bitter wind blew, kicking up snow from the ground.

Damine looked at my somewhat thin clothes and, out of habit, and with a hint of perfunctory concern he himself might not have even noticed, said gently, "It's cold outside. Go back inside, don't catch a chill."

But I shook my head and insisted on standing at the door to watch him leave.

The engine roared to life. Through the slowly rising car window, Damine saw me lift my hand and give a small wave in his direction. My lips seemed to move, saying something.

The sound of the wind and snow was too loud. He couldn't hear it clearly.

But no matter what, it was probably just a piece of ordinary advice he had heard countless times over the past three years but had never truly cared about, like "drive safe" or "come back early."

So, he didn't pay it any mind. He just nodded and then signaled the driver to go.

The powerful SUV crushed the snow and quickly disappeared at the end of the winding manor driveway, swallowed by the swirling snowflakes and dense forest shadows.

I stood alone in the increasingly heavy snow for a long time, until my limbs felt stiff with cold, before slowly turning and going back inside the main bedroom.

I put on the thick travel cloak I was taking, picked up the already packed suitcase by the door, and walked downstairs.

A pre-ordered SUV bearing the mark of the southern sanctuary was parked quietly in front of the villa gates.

Before getting in, I turned back for one last look at the Blackwood Manor, which looked increasingly indistinct and silent in the snowfall.

Then, I repeated the words that the wind and snow had swallowed, words that had been too soft to hear, clearly, one by one, to this land that had held seven years of secret love and three years of mistaken affection:

"Goodbye, Stormfang Pack."

"Never see again, Damine Blackwood."