My fated mate, Caspian Thorne, is the most celebrated Alpha-to-be of the Sterling Crest Pack. His blood can heal any supernatural wound and has saved countless pack members. To others, he is a miracle walking among us.

But he has a childhood sweetheart and research partner, Jocelyn Croft.

If Caspian is famous for his healing bloodline, Jocelyn is infamous for concocting forbidden poisons. For years, she studied the Soul-Eater agent while he developed the gene serum. They worked so closely together that the pack slowly stopped distinguishing between danger and experiment.

Until the day she tested a new type of Soul-Eater agent on me, corroding my inner wolf.

When I awoke, Caspian was sitting by my bed, preparing the gene serum for me.

"Rowan, don't blame Jocelyn. My mentor and I both spoiled her. She knew I could heal you, so she was just conducting her research. She never meant to hurt you."

He said it so casually, as if I'd just caught a cold, and not as if my inner wolf was decaying, my spirit on the verge of shattering.

Before I could respond, someone burst into the room, shouting that Jocelyn had been injured in an experiment. Caspian immediately shot up and rushed out, his steps hurried, almost frantic. He never noticed that a key stabilizer was missing from my serum's formula.

And just like that, the gene serum that was supposed to save me became a poison that steadily accelerated my death.

It was then that the voice of the Moon Goddess echoed in my mind.

[Only by dying at the hands of your fated mate can you break free from the bloodline's shackles and return to the human world. But are you sure you want to do this?]

I lowered my gaze, looking at the auto-injector in my hand, filled with the deadly liquid. Caspian had prepared it himself. The same hands that had saved countless lives had just mixed the final serum that would end mine.

"I'm sure," I said softly.

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1

When Caspian pushed open the door, the medical lab had just finished calibrating its latest temperature-controlled equipment. The gene serum, shimmering in a precision syringe, caught the lab lights and scattered them into cold fragments. He took off his lab coat, the faint scent of disinfectant still clinging to him.

"Rowan, were you waiting for me? Can't even get an injection without me, huh?" he teased, that familiar, gentle smile playing on his lips.

I watched him in silence.

After all these years, I was finally going back to the human world. But the excitement I had imagined never came. My chest felt hollow, a space long since emptied of everything.

Seeing my lack of reaction, Caspian took a step closer. "Come on, you need to take it now. The serum is most effective when it’s fresh."

I forced a smile, picked up the auto-injector, aimed it at my arm, and pressed down. The cold liquid instantly flooded my veins. The sudden movement made me bend over, coughing violently. I must have looked pathetic.

Caspian didn't seem to mind.

He chuckled softly, pulling out a tissue to gently wipe my forehead. "Slow down. Your mate is the best gene scientist in the pack. You can have as much serum as you want. You're being so good today. You didn't even make me do it for you."

As the serum coursed through my veins, a pain like spreading ice shot through my body.

I let myself lean into his arms and murmured, "It's okay. Soon you won't have to worry about me anymore."

He stiffened, his smile slowly vanishing.

"Are you still angry about Jocelyn poisoning you?" he sighed, the calming, woody scent of his pheromones wafting from him. "My mentor and I spoiled her over the years, but her heart's in the right place. Since you're fine now, can we just let this go?"

I listened, then suddenly laughed. "What if… I had really died?"

He looked at me as if I had said something childish and absurd, an impossibility.

"With my bloodline's gift, how could you possibly die?" he said.

That's right.

My mate possessed the strongest healing bloodline in the entire pack. There was no injury he couldn't heal.

Over the years, Jocelyn had tested countless poisons on other werewolves. The side effects included blindness and nerve damage; some even had near-death experiences where their inner wolves almost collapsed completely. No matter their condition, Caspian could always save them.

Even when I was poisoned by the Soul-Eater agent, he was absolutely confident he could save me. But this time, he was destined to be wrong.

I thought about what the Moon Goddess had said to me in my dream last night. She said Caspian still loved me. She told me that if I couldn't bear to leave, I only needed to point out the error in the serum.

If I did that, he would blame himself. He would be driven mad by guilt and spend the rest of his life making it up to me.

I couldn't help but shake my head, half-amused, half-annoyed. What good was his guilt to me? Right now, I just wanted to go home.

"But haven't you already given up on returning to the human world?" the Moon Goddess murmured, her voice still echoing in my ear.

I fell silent.

Yes, Caspian's love had once been so intense that I thought it impossible to die by his hand. I had thought I might as well stay, since there was nothing in the human world worth holding onto.

But I forgot one thing. Times change, and so do people's hearts. No matter how solemn the vow, it cannot withstand the test of time.

I shook my head. "No. I want to go back. And please, sever our mind-link."

It was fine. I only had to inject the poison for another month. I could wait.

As Caspian carried me to bed, murmuring for me to sleep, my mind drifted. How had we ended up here? When did we start to fracture and fall apart?

This wasn't the first time Jocelyn had poisoned me. On the day of my bonding ceremony with Caspian, she sprinkled silver dust in my champagne. A massive allergic reaction broke out across my skin, so itchy I wanted to claw it off.

Caspian pulled me into his arms, shock and anger blazing through him. After healing me, he publicly announced he was cutting ties with Jocelyn. But as soon as she heard this, she threatened to jump from a skyscraper.

By the time Caspian reached the rooftop, she was already on the ledge, her tear-filled eyes pleading for him to save her. He rushed over without hesitation, dragged her back, and held her as if she were something fragile and irreplaceable.

Afterward, he said, "Jocelyn is just immature. She can't accept that the man she grew up with now loves someone else more. You have me. Can't you just humor her a little?"

And so, every time it involved Jocelyn, I was always the one who had to back down.

Caspian must have sensed my distance. He pulled me closer, dipping his head to press a gentle kiss to the nape of my neck. "Still angry? I'll have her come apologize to you tomorrow, okay?"

I refused almost instinctively. "That's not necessary."

An apology wouldn't erase what she had done, and seeing her would only bring more trouble.

He intertwined his fingers with mine, his gaze deep and sincere. "How can she not apologize? You're my mate. I won't let you be wronged."

Once, these words would have moved me to tears. Now, they just left me exhausted.

Everyone said that Alpha-to-be Caspian was too kind. His heart was too soft; he couldn't bear to see anyone suffer. This was true even for those closest to him. He didn't want me to be wronged, but he also couldn't stand for Jocelyn to be unhappy.

He wanted to be fair, never favoring one over the other, but he had unknowingly tilted the scales in Jocelyn's favor long ago.

The next day, just as he'd promised, Jocelyn came to apologize. She brought a silver-edged photo frame containing a childhood picture of her and Caspian. The scene was warm and heartwarming, clearly a cherished memory. But I didn't accept it.

Because the delicate silver frame was made of the exact same material as the silver dust she'd sprinkled in my champagne.

Caspian gently gripped my wrist, his voice a low, coaxing murmur. "Take it. This is her way of making peace. Don't worry, I've had security check it. There are no curses. And even if she added something, you'll be fine."

Under his relieved gaze, I took the photo frame and then calmly tossed it into the roaring fireplace. Caspian shot to his feet, the warmth on his face instantly vanishing. Jocelyn's eyes immediately reddened as she stared at me with a hurt, incredulous expression.

Perhaps because I was about to leave this world, I found I no longer had the patience to swallow my grievances and pretend everything was fine.

I covered my mouth with a handkerchief, hiding the black blood I coughed up, and said flatly, "I don't want an apology, and I don't want a photo. If that's not clear enough, I can say it again."

A shadow of disappointment crossed Caspian's eyes. He pulled Jocelyn out and slammed the door with a resounding crack. This time, he was truly angry. He didn't come back for days.

That night, his Beta brought my gene serum as usual.

He hesitated before speaking. "Alpha Caspian hasn't returned, but he wanted me to make sure you took your serum. He said you can't miss a single day and that I should keep a close eye on you."

A faint smile curved my lips.

So, he was really afraid I would die. I couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he realized the serum he personally concocted was the very thing sending me to my grave.

I almost laughed at the thought. Instead, my vision went black, and I passed out. After all, Caspian had forgotten the key stabilizer in that formula. As the toxins continued to accumulate in my body, my inner wolf was slowly decaying.

When I woke up, Caspian was leaning over me, his face etched with panic as he reached out to check on me with his bloodline gift. Our eyes met, and he froze.

A moment later, he withdrew his hand, his expression turning grim. "Rowan, since when did you start faking illness for attention? I told you, my serum cannot fail. If you wanted me back, you could have just said so. There's no need to pretend to be sick."

"Then leave," I snapped, turning my head away.

That was close. Any closer and he might have discovered the truth.

Caspian paused, then his expression softened. He wrapped his arm around my waist, his voice dropping back to that familiar, gentle tone.

"Alright. Are you still angry? If you don't like Jocelyn, I won't invite her over anymore. Didn't you say you wanted to see the Northern Lights? The Arctic Circle is beautiful. I'll take you there on my private jet in a few days, okay?"

A flicker of longing went through me, and I nodded. A final look at this world's beauty seemed like a fitting farewell.

In the end, Caspian never took me to see the Northern Lights. On the morning we were scheduled to leave, news broke that Jocelyn was trading forbidden alchemical materials on the black market, sending shockwaves through the pack.

Before Caspian could even board the private jet, several pack members rushed over, their voices trembling as they begged him to handle the scandal.

He looked back at me, his eyes filled with guilt. "Rowan, the pack is in a critical situation. Can we go see the Northern Lights another day?"

I waved him off, forcing a tight smile while swallowing the ache in my chest. "It's okay. Go handle it."

The pack members bowed to me repeatedly in thanks. By then, Caspian had already turned away, his phone pressed to his ear as he urgently contacted his legal team.

This wasn't the first time he had ditched me for an emergency. It wasn't that I was no longer sad; I just refused to be another burden. I had accepted that other things could take priority over me. But I never imagined Jocelyn would come before everything else.

When I returned to the mansion the next day, Caspian was in his private lab. His hair was a mess, his sleeves were rolled up, and he was frantically mixing a detoxifying serum that had nothing to do with the pack's crisis.

He spotted me and let out an exasperated sigh. "Jocelyn tested a new poison on another pack member. Someone reported her to the council of elders. I have to make this serum quickly to get her out of trouble."

I looked at him in disbelief. "What about the pack's crisis?"

Caspian paused, then said in a low voice, "The other lawyers will handle it."

He hadn't been dealing with pack affairs at all.

Watching his anxious, focused profile as he worked for Jocelyn, he suddenly seemed like a stranger. The man I loved was kind and principled, a man who couldn't bear to see even a small animal get hurt. Yet, for Jocelyn, he was willing to cast aside all his responsibilities.

After he finished the serum, he invited me to a high-end auction. The moment she was bailed out, she threw herself into Caspian's arms and flashed me a triumphant smirk over his shoulder.

"Thank you, Caspian. I knew you would drop everything to help me if I needed you," she said.

The absurdity of it all washed over me.

At the auction, I was drinking champagne alone in a corner. My gaze inadvertently fell on Caspian's arm—the laurel tree mate mark, which should have been mine, was now entwined and being corroded by a vicious black snake. That was Jocelyn's family crest.

Jocelyn's voice drifted over from a short distance away. "Caspian, it's all my fault. If I hadn't made that blood pact to protect myself, your mark wouldn't have been tainted…"

So, on the day I refused the photo and Caspian stormed off with her, they had bound themselves through some dark ritual.

I couldn't listen anymore and fled the auction.

Back in my room, tears flowed uncontrollably. I thought I had let go, but how could a fated mate bond be severed so easily?

A metallic tang flooded my mouth. I wiped my mouth with a handkerchief, coughing up black blood as a sharp pain twisted in my chest. My vision blurred, and I slipped back into a dream.

The Moon Goddess appeared again, her voice tinged with an imperceptible pity. She said, "Inject one more dose today, and you can return to the human world."

I smiled numbly. "Really? That's wonderful news."

That night, Caspian returned.

He leaned in, studying my face, a flicker of concern in his eyes. "Are you not feeling well? You look so pale."

I lowered my head, letting my hair hide my sickly pallor. "I'm fine. It's probably just the treatment."

Caspian quickly brought the syringe over, offering it to me gently. "I know you hate this, but it will heal your inner wolf. Just bear with it. Come on, Rowan, I'll help you inject it."

I obediently extended my arm, letting the cool liquid slide into my veins. Agony instantly tore through my abdomen. I bit my lip and forced a broken smile.

'Remember this moment, Caspian Thorne. You're the one who personally granted me this release.'