I clutched my neck tightly even though I was faint from the deep bite on it. I had Mabel, my daughter, in my free hand as I carried her into the packhouse through the backdoor.

Mabel's sobs filled my ears and the hurt from hearing her sob made me wish there was something I could do to pacify her. But I was losing it and needed to get help for myself as soon as possible.

'Randolph...' I tried reaching out to my mate through the mind link I shared with him. I called his name the second time but I got no response.

I was already in my chamber. But at that point, I was weak and had to collapse to the floor.

"Mommy. Are you okay?" Mabel asked me as she held my hand tightly. She looked really scared. I couldn't blame her after everything she witnessed in the last thirty minutes.

I had gone to pick up my Mabel from her evening pack training when I suddenly got attacked by rogue wolves. Not two, but about five of them. My biggest mistake was not going with any of the guards.

Just to protect my daughter from any harm, I had resorted to go against them even though I knew the odds were against me. And during the course of fighting them, I got a nasty bite in the neck.

How I managed to escape the scene of the attack still baffles me. But I had to do anything to keep my daughter safe.

The pack healers were unreachable as well as I tried to mind link them to come tend to me. My intense loss of blood had a great deal in my situation that even being the Luna of the pack couldn't get me any help.

I was dying and there was no one to save me.

"Mommy. Where is daddy? You don't look okay, mommy," Mabel said as she began crying uncontrollably.

I watched as she picked up my phone which was lying on the floor. She tried handling it but it seemed she was having a tough time doing that.

I wanted to speak and instruct her on what to do but I found it hard to speak. I couldn't even utter a word just to explain how I was feeling to her.

The one thing I could do was stretch my hand to her. She picked up on it and handed the phone to me. With the little strength I had, I managed to dial Randolph's number before handing the phone back to her.

Since I put the phone on speaker, when Randolph spoke, I was able to hear him speak.

"Lauren," he called my name harshly, "what is the meaning of this? Didn't I tell you never to disturb me whenever I'm out?"

Even in my most vulnerable state, Randolph still decided to treat me like I was garbage. What did I ever do to deserve this?

"Daddy!" Mabel said into the phone with her teary voice. "Mommy is not feeling well. Where are you?"

"Oh. So this is the new strategy, isn't it? To use your daughter as a pity card just to get my attention? What do you even think you are doing?"

If I could speak, I would scream into the phone and tell Randolph that I was not trying to gain his attention without a reason. I was dying here and needed saving.

"Daddy. Please, come home," Mabel said into the phone.

"You are just like your mother. Acting all ill-mannered," Randolph responded harshly again and tears slipped out of my eyes from that statement.

He spoke to her like she wasn't his daughter. More like he was talking down on one of the slaves as the alpha that he was.

Just then, I heard someone speak to Randolph in the background.

"Baby. I've been waiting for you. Come cut the cake with me."

Randolph answered the person in a very quiet voice that I could still hear nevertheless: "I'll join you in a few seconds."

Immediately after he said that, he hung up the call.

My heart shattered. I recognized the voice that spoke to him in the background. It was Charlotte's voice. Yes, the same Charlotte who has always been the reason my marriage with Randolph began to fall apart.

Randolph could be here with me and his daughter but he was spending the night with his lover. The whole thought of it made my situation get worse.

Mabel had no idea what to do as she stared blankly at my phone which didn't seem to emanate any sound again. She crawled to me and held my legs in a manner that made me want to reach out but I couldn't.

"Mommy. Please, talk to me," she said.

I wish I could, baby. I really wish.

LAUREN:

I was staring right back at me. It was a strange way to put it but that was the exact state of my being right at this moment.

The instant I shut my eyes from this world, I found myself in a completely different form. A form that was not going through any pain from a rogue bite.

My body was lying lifeless on the floor while I still had on my bloodstained cloth which was from the bite. And the sight that made my lifeless heart crumble was my daughter, Mabel, curled up close to my body with her head on my legs.

She had drifted into sleep already and I couldn't help but feel like a mess because I was no longer there to take care of her. I tried to touch her in my new form but my hand went through her and into the space between.

As I withdrew my hand, I felt more like a failure. I failed to stay alive for my daughter. That alone made me feel like I did nothing to help her.

The sudden bang of a door jerked Mabel up from her sleep. It also made me flinch because I didn't expect for such a sound to actually come now. But I could tell that the door bang came from downstairs.

Mabel looked at my face as she stood up. She then said, "Mommy, I'm hungry."

Oh no. How do I get her something to eat now?

I have really failed to do my work as a mother and I am regretting it now.

Mabel went close to my lifeless body and touched my face. She must have felt how cold my body was because she withdrew her hand almost immediately.

"Are you sleeping, mommy?" she asked but got no response. I wish I could tell her that I was sleeping forever. "Let me get you a jacket, mommy. You are very cold."

I watched as she went around to look for something to cover my lifeless body with and it didn't take too long for her to find what I could use.

She covered my body up with the jacket she could find and it was at the same time that the familiar voice of Randolph fills the entire packhouse.

"Where is my dinner?" he yells out in a way that would attract any other person in the packhouse but it was an unwritten rule not to get in his way whenever he was back in this state.

Randolph was drunk. From the way he banged the door to come in and with his slurry words, it didn't take too much to know that he had too much to drink again tonight.

Mabel decided to step out of my chamber and my spirit followed her so I could see what she was up to. I had a feeling that she was going after Randolph and my suspicion was right when I saw her block the pathway that would lead upstairs.

Randolph shows up in the same pathway and stops for a brief second when noticed Mabel standing there.

In a tone mixed with annoyance and confusion, he asked, "What are you still doing up by this time?"

Mabel looked at him without uttering a word and I wished I could push her to tell him that I was dead. Maybe it would make him feel a little remorse for me since he never felt anything for me when I was still alive.

"Where is your mother? Why did she allow you to be wandering about by this time? Didn't she check what time it is?"

That was him trying to call me irresponsible for my actions. But what could a dead woman do, Randolph? What?

He was looking really angry and it seemed his anger was intensifying as Mabel was saying nothing to his query. He began to head up a bit aggressively in his drunken state and I feared that he was going to shove Mabel violently.

Mabel was able to step out of the way at the last second as he continued storming off after making it up the stairs. I could see that he was headed straight to my chamber while he kept muttering about how incompetent I was for not taking care of our daughter.

I hope he would feel sad for me at least when he sees me dead.

LAUREN:

Randolph pushed the door to my chamber open and there I was sitting on the marble floor with a jacket over me. I had my back rested on the wooden surface of the bed and my position actually made it seem like I was sleeping.

But I was not.

Upon seeing me that way, Randolph went into a fit.

"What do you think you are doing, Lauren? You left your child wandering about and you are here sleeping? Is that how to act like a mother?"

"I'm not alive, Randolph. Can't you see?" I screamed into his ear in order to respond to his fit but he wasn't hearing me.

"I'm talking to you, Lauren. Is this how you'll choose to ignore me when I'm talking?" he asked my lifeless body which he still hasn't picked up the awareness of just yet.

"Daddy," Mabel called out to him and he sluggishly looked down at her. All along she had been standing beside the door leading into the room.

"What is it?" Randolph responded.

"Mommy is sleeping. She has been sleeping since. And she's cold too."

I hoped that what she said would give him an idea that I was not fine but he brushed it off with a shrug.

"She's just being irresponsible. Yes, very irresponsible. Because why would a mother decide to neglect her own child just so she could sleep?"

Move closer to my body, dammit!

I screamed that out, my frustration at an all-time high at this point. Why can't he just get close enough to notice that I was not okay?

"I'm talking to you, Lauren. Get up and take care of your child!" Randolph snapped. And he obviously didn't get any response from me because there was no response to give.

He looked really annoyed now and if he wasn't drunk, he might have continued standing there to keep lashing at me. Or at my dead body.

With frustration written on his face, he turned around to exit the room.

He was staggering as he made his way outside and I noticed how he was trying so hard to compose himself. What was the use? He missed the fact that his wife was dead but was drunk enough to find a way to scold her.

I don't know what I ever did to Randolph to deserve such treatment from him. Ever since he got back to his first lover, he stopped being the wolf that I got fated to. Made it seem like fate was never even on my side.

Mabel didn't follow him out. Instead, she went back to my body. She knelt down and looked at me with a face full of worry, so much that it made me cry again.

"Mommy. Please, wake up," she said to my body.

"I'm here, baby," I said with my spirit but I know she won't hear me.

"I'm hungry, mummy," she said and I heard a growl from her stomach. I haven't given her dinner and she was going to sleep like that unfortunately. If only I could do something.

My hand goes to her face but then I could feel it going through the face. She could not feel me at all. I wanted her to know it's alright. I wanted her to know I haven't even left yet. I wanted to know I was going to take care of her.

But how was she going to know all of this?

Mabel curled herself up again on my body, this time making use of the jacket that she placed on me as a cover cloth. It almost felt like we were one but how was she going to actually feel me.

I sobbed hard as I watched her drift off into sleep.

_________

When Randolph stepped out of his chamber the next morning, the first thing he could see was Mabel standing right outside his room.

I could tell from the look in his eyes that he noticed something odd about her.

He took two steps closer as if to check properly what was going on and even more so it gave me an idea that he was trying to figure it out himself.

"Mabel," he called her name in a tone laced with suspicion, "Why is your cloth stained with blood?"