To save my unconscious Alpha fiancé, I got trapped in a glacial crevasse on the frozen mountain.

I tried to reach him through our bond ninety-nine times, but he blocked me out completely.

When he finally found me seven days later, his first words were an accusation.

"Elara damaged her eyes trying to save me, and you just had to cause trouble right now!"

"You're a trained mountain warrior. How could you get trapped in a small crevasse for seven days?"

"I've had enough of your games. Let's break off our engagement."

He thought I would cry and argue like before.

But I just nodded.

"Okay."

He didn't know I hit my head when I fell trying to save him.

In seven days, I would completely forget him.

But when I finally left him completely as he'd promised, he went crazy, searching the world and begging me back.

It wasn't until the evening of the seventh day that a team of pack scouts found me in the crevasse.

They rappelled down with ropes. The flashlight beams were so bright I couldn't open my eyes.

Someone shouted in shock.

"My God! She's still alive!"

After they called the Pack Sentinel, the rescue team arrived quickly.

By the time they pulled me up on a stretcher, the sky had turned completely dark.

The bone-chilling wind hit my face, but it felt warmer than inside the crevasse.

Damine Blackwood was the last to arrive.

The blue and red lights of the rescue vehicles flickered, casting dark shadows across his face.

He strode through the rescue scene.

When he saw me wrapped in a blanket sitting in the back of the medical transport, he paused for a moment. His brow immediately furrowed.

"Sera, you're a Vanguard's Crest-winning mountain warrior. How could you get trapped in a small crevasse for seven days?"

I looked up. The frost on my eyelashes melted, blurring my vision.

He walked up to me, looking down from above.

"Did you have to play such trick right when Elara and I were going for her eye examination? Can't you stand having her around?"

"Yes, I've been spending more time with her lately. But don't you know why? I owe her two lives! If she hadn't tried to save me, how could her eyes have ended up like this? How could her body have become so weak she can't even handle a breeze? Sera, can't you be more understanding? Stop being so jealous all the time."

I closed my eyes. I had no strength to argue.

I was in too much pain.

When I found Damien, he was already unconscious beside the crevasse. Without thinking, I pulled him out and pushed him to safety, but I fell into the crevasse and hit my head, knocking myself out.

I didn't expect there were silver mines around the crevasse, and my wolf was completely suppressed and couldn't shift.

This was a mountain range covered in ice and snow year-round.

When the cold woke me up, the thermometer I carried showed minus forty degrees.

The blood on the back of my head had already frozen. The cold and blood loss made me feel dizzy. Without my wolf, I couldn't even heal myself.

But I didn't even dare to cry. I tried everything I could think of to escape.

But it was impossible.

The crevasse was over sixty feet deep.

At first, I kept trying to find a way out.

When I got hungry, I chewed on snow. When I got cold, I just endured it.

But it was so quiet here.

No birds, no human voices. Only the howling wind.

It felt like the whole world had abandoned me.

Damien seemed to notice my unusual silence then. He also noticed I was shivering violently despite being wrapped in a blanket.

His tone softened slightly.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

Elara gently interrupted, her voice carried by the wind.

"Damien, don't blame Sera. She probably just missed you too much. But isn't this the Frostfall Pack's private training grounds? Sera is so close to Alpha Kaelen. She spent all her childhood summers and winters here. How could she..."

She stopped at just the right moment.

Damine's face instantly darkened.

"So that's why you asked me to meet here to talk. Sera, you're really something!"

"When we drew lots for the Mating Pact, you picked me, but you were looking in Alpha Kaelen's direction! After all these years, you still can't forget him, can you? Fine, Sera, just fine!"

But he didn't know the truth - that I had switched the lots beforehand, ensuring I would draw his name, not Kaelen's.

He had misunderstood everything from that day, thinking I wanted to escape him when I had actually schemed to be with him.

"Since you miss him so much, since you planned all this so carefully that you'd even hurt yourself just to put on a show for him on his territory, then go find him!"

The wind and snow seemed to suddenly stop.

The world became terrifyingly quiet.

The noise from the rescue workers, the clatter of medical equipment, the howling wind - it all disappeared.

Only Damine's voice remained, word by word, hitting my frozen eardrums.

"Sera, as you wish, let’s cancel the engagement."

"Go mate with Alpha Kaelen instead."

I smiled bitterly. Even though I did so much for him, he still only believed Elara's words that I loved Alpha Kaelen.

His words were like an ice-cold blade, stabbing into my already frozen heart.

But strangely, it didn't hurt as much as I expected. Instead, I felt an almost numb sense of calm.

My grandfather owed a debt of gratitude to both the Blackwood and Frostfall pack.

After my parents died, grandfather feared that when he passed away, I would have no one to rely on. So he used this favor to secure a mating promise from both families.

Even though my wolf had awakened and I realized that Alpha Kaelen Frostfall was my true mate, I didn't tell anyone about the mate bond. I couldn't bear the thought of being forced into a loveless arrangement when my heart belonged to Damien entirely.

On my eighteenth birthday, under grandfather's nervous gaze and the watchful eyes of both pack elders, I trembled as I reached into the ceremonial vessel marked with both family crests.

I drew the lot that would decide my fate.

The Blackwood pack lot.

No one knew that both lots in that vessel belonged to the Blackwood family.

Back then, my heart and eyes were full of him.

This Alpha I had fallen for at first sight – how could I let a fifty-fifty chance decide my future?

So I played the biggest trick of my life, gambling away all my courage and dignity.

I thought I had won.

It wasn't until later that I accidentally learned the truth.

Damine had left but then returned. Through the crack in the door, he glimpsed me with trembling hands, secretly switching the lots.

He thought he saw me putting the Blackwood lot into the vessel and taking out the Frostfall one. From his angle, it looked like I was ensuring I would draw the Frostfall crest - ensuring I would be mated to Alpha Kaelen, my true mate.

He never realized I was doing the exact opposite.

When I drew the Blackwood lot later that morning, Damien believed it was pure chance that had thwarted my plan. He thought I was devastated to be stuck with him instead of my true mate.

That's why he was so angry, so contemptuous.

He said, "Sera, you tried every trick to avoid me as your mate. I can see how much you despise being tied to me."

And I just kept my head down.

What could I explain?

Should I say I wasn't trying to escape Alpha Kaelen, but desperately trying to get closer to you?

Or should I say I loved you so much that I was willing to scheme and betray the fairness grandfather had fought for me?

My pride wouldn't let me speak such shameful truth under his disgusted gaze.

Over these years, he'd had other she-wolves around him.

Those bright or charming figures would appear for a while, then quietly disappear.

I thought they gave up on their own. I never imagined Damien blamed it all on me.

In his mind, I was a jealous and vicious she-wolf who would stop at nothing to possess him.

The sharp pain in my arm came in waves, making my temples buzz. I suddenly felt extremely tired. Even lifting my eyes to look at him was difficult.

Damien seemed momentarily stunned by my silence.

But Elara's light cough from the cold reignited his anger.

He stepped forward, actually trying to grab my hand.

"Sera! What game are you playing now? Think this will make me feel guilty? Make me..."

His words stopped abruptly.

His gaze locked onto my hanging left arm.

Without proper treatment, my arm had swollen terribly. The skin showed a frightening purple color, nearly twice its normal size. The emergency bandages I'd wrapped around it were soaked through with blood, oozing pus and blood.

Shock flashed quickly through his eyes.

As if burned, he stumbled back two steps, almost roaring.

"Where's the Pack Healer? Are you all dead? Get over here!"

The Pack Sentinel rushed over in panic.

Damien was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling. He stared at me intensely, looking furious, or maybe something else.

"You're cruel to others, but even crueler to yourself! Look what you've done to yourself, Sera. I must have terrible luck to get tangled up with you!"

So this was it. My ten years of devotion, the mate bond I fought so hard for – to him, it was just bad luck.

I barely tugged at the corner of my mouth.

My cracked lips immediately beaded with blood. All I could taste was the metallic bitterness.

How strange. Hearing those words, that numb area in my chest didn't even ripple.

I suddenly realized I seemed to be forgetting him, bit by bit.

Forgetting the sound of my heart pounding like drums when I first saw him.

Forgetting how he looked running toward me, sweaty and laughing after winning a challenge.

Forgetting his impatient but still handsome profile during our forced courtship meetings.

Even forgetting... what it felt like to love him.

It was as if those seven days of bitter cold in the crevasse had not only frozen my body, but also those burning memories and feelings I'd cherished for ten years. They were being frozen, sealed away, and stripped from me, piece by piece.

I stopped looking at him and lowered my gaze to my swollen arm.

Even though I didn't understand healing, after all this time, my arm was probably ruined.

Sure enough, the Pack healer's face grew serious. He used a small flashlight to check my pupils, then gently pressed several key points on my arm.

Each touch made my vision go black. I nearly fainted.

He turned to Damine, his tone grave.

"Miss Thorne is seriously injured. She's been in the cold too long. The soft tissue is severely damaged. I suspect compound fractures and possible nerve compression. She needs to get to the healing center immediately for detailed examination and healing. Otherwise, this arm may never fully recover its function. It could even lead to serious systemic infection."

"Never recover?"

Damien's breathing suddenly stopped. He stared at my mangled arm, his eyes shaking violently. He instinctively stepped forward.

He knew what my arm meant to me.

Without my arm, my glorious warrior career would be completely over.

Just then, Elara, who had been leaning on her assistant, suddenly spoke up in a soft, weak voice.

"Healer, aren't you being a bit too dramatic?"

Everyone's eyes turned to her.

She nestled against her assistant, her face pale. But she forced out a comforting smile and spoke gently to Damien.

"Damien, don't worry too much. I've been in and out of the pack infirmary so many times over the years. I've seen a lot. Sera's arm looks scary, but it's probably just a bad sprain. The bruising and swelling make it look so purple and swollen. But the bone isn't actually hurt."

She lowered her eyes slightly, revealing her slender, fragile neck. She laughed self-mockingly.

"Who would have thought that my little bit of experience from being sick so long could actually help at a time like this. At least you won't worry so much."

Damien's tense expression gradually relaxed as she spoke so seriously.

The way he looked at Elara was instantly filled with heartache and guilt. When he turned back to me, his panic and worry had been replaced by impatience and anger.

"You heard her? It's just a sprain and bruising! Why are you putting on this dying act? Making such a big fuss over a little injury so no one can have any peace. Do you really want sympathy that badly?"

He frowned, his gaze sweeping over my pale face and trembling body. Like he was doing me a favor, he added another sentence, though his tone stayed cold.

"Fine. Since you've suffered too, I'll have the Pack healer treat your bruising."

Before he finished speaking, Elara suddenly swayed very dramatically and softly collapsed to one side.

"Elara!"

Damien's face changed instantly. All his attention was immediately pulled away.

He rushed forward and scooped Elara up in his arms, frantic with worry.

"What's wrong? Are you dizzy again? Hold on, I'll take you to the healing center right now!"

He carried her and strode quickly toward where the car was parked. He didn't even look back at me once.

The wind and snow seemed to get heavier. It cut across my face like a dull knife.

The Pack healer opened his mouth, as if he wanted to call Damine back.

In the end, he just sighed helplessly. He looked at me with pity in his eyes.

"Miss Thorne, your injury..."

I slowly raised my right hand, the one that could still move.

Very slowly, I touched the edge of the terrifying swelling on my left arm with my fingertip.

Under the ice-cold skin was burning, explosive pain that felt like it might burst open.

Experience from being sick?

Elara was so amazing. With just one look, she could see through all that thick swelling and bandages and decide I only had a sprain and bruising?

And Damien believed her.

He chose to believe her.

I watched the car carrying Damien and Elara drive away without any hesitation.

A faint, bitter smile curved at the corner of my mouth.

"Doctor."

I looked away, my voice so calm it surprised even me.

"Please just give me a simple bandage. That's enough."

"But your arm..."

"It's okay." I quietly interrupted him. "Just like this."

Just like this.

Whether it hurt or was ruined.

It seemed like none of it mattered anymore.