My Alpha fiancé made me drink a witch's memory potion on our mating ceremony day so he could bond with my stepsister instead.

"Serena is under a vicious curse. Only bonding with a powerful Alpha can break it."

"Aria, you're the only one I love. I don't want to hurt you, so if you drink this memory potion, you'll temporarily forget the person you love most. Once I help Serena break her curse, you can take the antidote and recover your memories."

"Then I'll break the bond with Serena and make you the most honored Luna of our pack."

I didn't hesitate. I drank the entire vial in one gulp.

But he didn't know the witch never created a corresponding antidote. In seven days, I would forget him forever.

My Alpha fiancé made me drink a witch's memory potion on our mating ceremony day so he could bond with my stepsister Serena instead.

He said Serena was under a vicious curse and needed to bond with a powerful Alpha. He promised that he would break the bond with Serena and mark me again after he helped Serena break her curse.

But he didn't know the witch never created a corresponding antidote. In seven days, I would forget him forever.

Damon watched me drain the bottle, then looked away with shifty eyes.

"Aria, I know this is cruel... but Serena's curse is too malicious. Only bonding with a strong Alpha can break it." His voice was hoarse, heavy with self-righteous burden.

"You're the only one I love. It's always been you. I can't bear to watch you suffer because of me, so I sought out this memory potion. It will make you temporarily forget the person you love most... which is me. Once I help her break the curse, I'll immediately sever the bond with her! Then you'll take the antidote, recover your memories, and we can continue our future together. I'll make you the most honored Luna. I swear!"

I stared at him, my gaze becoming distant.

The man I loved had become so strange. I didn't even know when Damon had developed sympathy for Serena.

He knew perfectly well that Serena's mother had destroyed my parents' relationship out of greed for wealth and status, ultimately driving my mother to her death. From the moment Serena was born, she had schemed to steal everything that belonged to me. She was the person I despised most in this life.

Now this "responsibility" would sacrifice our decade-long relationship, even my memories.

Seeing my silence, Damon's brow furrowed with panic. He rushed to explain.

"Aria? You... you're angry, aren't you? Don't look at me like that... Once you drink this potion, you'll quickly forget all this pain, forget my current dilemma... I'm only doing this because I don't want you to suffer day and night over this! Once the curse is broken, I'll immediately sever the bond with her and give you the antidote. You'll forget this unpleasant episode and recover all the beautiful memories. We... we'll be just like before!"

But the memory potion was forbidden magic precisely because it would take effect after seven days, making someone completely forget their beloved. Even the mate bond would become invalid.

The witch who created the memory potion never developed a corresponding antidote. Once memories were gone, they were gone forever.

I looked at Damon and smiled.

"Since you've already made your choice and I've drunk the memory potion, you don't need to keep explaining and making promises. I'll forget it all anyway."

"You made this choice yourself. Whatever consequences come, you'd better be able to handle them."

Seeing that I neither cried nor accused him, but simply accepted everything with unusual calm, Damon's tense shoulders suddenly relaxed. He let out a long breath as if he'd lifted a thousand-pound burden. A hint of relief even returned to his eyes, his dark gaze looking at me with the confidence of someone in control.

"Since I decided to do this, I naturally thought it through. Don't worry, Aria. No matter what consequences come, I can handle them." His tone was firm, as if he was encouraging himself.

I was about to say something when sudden pain exploded in my mind. My vision went black and my body fell straight backward.

Damon caught me immediately, asking urgently.

"What's wrong?"

"I confirmed the memory potion wouldn't have side effects! Let me take you to the pack healer right now."

He moved to carry me, but I pressed against him and stumbled to my feet. My mind went blank for a moment.

Instinctively, I asked.

"What are you doing? Why are you here? Why are you holding me?"

Hearing this, Damon froze, as if understanding something. A flash of joy quickly crossed his eyes.

He immediately released me.

"I came to find Serena. You seemed unwell, so I was being presumptuous." He paused, then said, "Serena and I will have our mating ceremony in seven days. From now on, I'll be your brother-in-law."

I froze for a few seconds before realizing the memory potion was taking effect, making me forget what had just happened.

But Damon thought I had forgotten everything.

I watched the joy flickering in Damon's eyes, and sharp pain spread through me again. It was clearer and more suffocating than the physical pain the potion had brought moments before.

Yet on the surface, I slowly curved my lips into a perfectly polite, distant smile. Since he wanted to act, I would play along. Consider it my final farewell to all these years of feelings.

"Congratulations, Alpha. I wish you and your future Luna a hundred years of happiness."

Just then, Serena came running over and wrapped her arms around Damon's. She positioned herself between us, her eyes reddening with manufactured hurt.

"Sister, what are you doing? Why haven't you brought the Alpha to find me yet? I've been waiting forever!"

"I've been looking forward to this day for so long. Surely you don't have feelings for the Alpha too? Don't you want me to have a good future?" Her voice turned sharper. "The Alpha and I are about to hold our mating ceremony, yet you're still meeting with him privately. If the pack members found out, that wouldn't look good, would it?"

Damon's face darkened immediately. "Don't talk nonsense! Your sister and I just happened to run into each other and exchanged a few words. You're about to become the pack's Luna. You can't speak so carelessly anymore."

His instinctive defense of me made Serena burst into tears, crying pitifully.

She looked at me through her tears. "I know you've always been prejudiced against me, sister. You don't like me. But I'm cursed and dying! Damon is the person I love most, and only he can save me. I will never give him up to you."

"He loves me most too. We're holding our mating ceremony soon, so please have some self-awareness. From now on... don't meet with him alone anymore. Not destroying mate relationships is the iron law of werewolves."

Damon pressed his lips together, apparently moved by her tears. He reached up to wipe them away, his tone softening.

"You misunderstood. I was the one who stopped your sister to chat. You don't need to be so nervous. I'll be more careful about boundaries in the future. I won't make you sad again."

"Didn't you say you wanted to look at Luna gowns today? Let me take you."

Listening to Damon's tender words and watching the two of them looking so perfect together, I couldn't help thinking.

Perhaps Damon hoped I would stay lost in memory forever.

Perhaps I had been holding him back all these years. Maybe from the beginning, he had wanted to marry Serena.

So he fed me the forbidden potion, giving him a legitimate reason to marry her and protect her.

If he had feelings for her, then what did all my years mean? Why did he have to keep deceiving me?

Damon looked down at me again, his voice gentle.

"I'll take Serena to try on the Luna gown for the mating ceremony first. If you're not feeling well, go see the pack healer. Don't delay treatment."

I laughed softly, my gaze indifferent.

"Brother-in-law, you're worrying about the wrong person. I don't need your concern."

Damon froze for a moment, seeming surprised by my coldness.

But then he remembered that someone who drank the memory potion would forget the person they loved most.

His brow relaxed halfway.

He turned and walked away with Serena.

Serena clung tightly to his arm, her whole body pressed against him. He just smiled indulgently and didn't push her away.

My face went pale. I pressed my hand against my heart, which felt like it might shatter, comforting myself.

"I just finally saw his true nature. Better to hurt now than regret later."

Soon after, my best friend Harper came bursting in. She was a beta wolf who was like a sister to me. When she learned I had drunk the memory potion for Damon and Serena, she cried hysterically.

"Aria! The Alpha used to love you so much, he would have died for you! How could he suddenly... how could he suddenly decide to hold a bonding ceremony with that little bitch Serena?! And what's this nonsense about breaking a curse? You actually believed that garbage?!"

I wiped away her tears, speaking with calm composure.

"I can live without him."

I explained the whole memory potion situation to her.

"How could the Alpha do this to you?!"

"Serena's worthless life - if she dies, she dies! How could he treat you this way? Actually making you drink a forbidden potion?! I'm definitely reporting him to the Alpha Council!"

"It's fine. Let it be. The memory potion... forgetting might be better."

"But what will you do now?"

"I'll leave Red Stone pack. The Alpha Council arranged for me to serve as a Healer advisor at Dark Moon pack before, but I refused because I thought Damon needed me more. Now it's perfect timing."

"There's nothing worth staying for here anyway. This time I'll go see what Dark Moon pack is like."

"This place looks like my home, but really... there's been no place for me here for a long time."

Within seven days, all memories of him would be completely erased. Then I could start my own new life.

After packing my belongings, I took one last stroll through Red Stone pack.

The streets buzzed with excitement over the Alpha's upcoming mating ceremony. The entire pack was immersed in a festive celebration. I walked aimlessly like an outsider, until I unconsciously found myself at the central square.

My steps stopped abruptly.

Before my eyes, the center of the square bloomed with massive spreads of fiery red petals. Under the carefully arranged string lights, they blazed magnificently in the night like burning flames, so brilliant they hurt to look at.

Cosmos flowers.

The exact vision I had described to him countless times - my dream of what our bonding ceremony should look like.

My chest felt like it had been struck by a sledgehammer. Dull pain instantly swept through my entire body. I could barely stay standing.

In this barren, desolate land of Red Stone pack, keeping even an ordinary flower alive was nearly impossible, let alone these delicate cosmos that required careful nurturing and specific soil conditions. It had once been my impossible dream.

"Aria, don't worry," Damon's voice from memory echoed with the passion and determination unique to youth, as if sounding right in my ear.

"No matter what it costs, I'll make it happen! I'll make sure the entire Red Stone pack sees our ceremony covered in the most vibrant cosmos flowers! My love for you will be like them - eternal, never extinguished!"

He had actually done it. Just not for me.

I shook my head, cutting off the memories, and looked up to see Damon and Serena walking in this direction.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

I trembled, my eyes rimming red.

"Beautiful." Serena immediately clutched Damon's hand like a cheerful little bird, practically melting against his side.

Her face showed undisguised triumph and happiness. "Damon! It's absolutely gorgeous! I never imagined you would really... go to such lengths for me! This must have been so difficult, right?"

She gazed up at him adoringly, completely satisfied, as if she were the most beloved princess in the world.

This should have been my flower sea. This should have been the promise fulfilled for me.

If what he said was true - that the bonding was just to break the curse, an unavoidable "responsibility" and "sacrifice" - then what did this expensive, lovingly crafted cosmos garden represent? These meticulously planned ceremony details? These romantic gestures that went far beyond mere "life-saving" into pure courtship?

Damon approached with a deeply furrowed brow, his voice urgent with worry.

"Aria, it really is you."

"It's so late. Why are you out here alone? You didn't even bring a Gamma guard. What if you encountered danger?"

Seeing his anxious expression, my eyes held no warmth whatsoever.

"Alpha, how I am seems to have nothing to do with you."

"You're about to become mates with my sister. Isn't it inappropriate for you to still show such concern for me?"

Damon's face went rigid.

He looked at me with darkened eyes, seemingly wounded by my words.

Serena intimately linked her arm through his, hiding smugness in her eyes as she laughed sweetly.

"Sister, Damon and I are about to hold our mating ceremony and become true mates. He loves me so much, and love extends to caring about those connected to me. Isn't his concern for you only natural?"

"Don't you think these cosmos flowers are beautiful? I remember you love them too. Damon spent a fortune having them air-shipped from Asia specifically for our mating ceremony. What do you think?"

My expression remained flat as I smiled lightly.

"Beautiful."

"The Alpha put a lot of thought into this for you."

Damon looked down with shifty eyes, perhaps remembering I had lost my memory, then raised his head to look at me.

"This is all what I should do. If you like them too, I'll have someone send you some."

I looked at him calmly.

"No need. There's no relationship between us. What would it mean for you to send me flowers? If other wolves found out, they'd say inappropriate things."

In the night, Damon's face went paper-white. He stared at me blankly, unable to utter another word.

I turned around.

"I won't disturb you two any longer. I'm leaving."

Before I finished speaking, a violent explosion suddenly thundered through the square.