The biggest mistake I had ever made was falling in love with my Alpha stepbrother, Cayden Gates.

I was 12 when my mom remarried, and he was the only one in the new pack who treated me kindly. I fell for him at first sight.

When I was 16, I was attacked by rogue wolves, and he fought off ten of them alone to protect me.

At 18, he was poisoned by silver. He nearly died. That was when my wolf told me he was my fated mate.

Without hesitation, I donated my bone marrow to save him.

That night, watching him asleep with a pale face, I couldn't help but kiss the corner of his lips.

He opened his eyes at that exact moment, his face flushing red. "Tessa, we're siblings. You shouldn't cross that line."

From then on, he started avoiding me, like I was a mistake he couldn't afford to make.

His fiancée, Rosie Lloyd, had been diagnosed with a rare blood disease, and I was the only compatible donor.

For the first time, he pleaded with me. "If you're willing to save her, I'll agree to anything."

But I was already weak from the marrow transplant. Giving blood again might kill me.

I said no, and Rosie died in the end.

He didn't shed a single tear, like nothing had happened.

But at her funeral, he smashed the portrait I'd painted of him in front of everyone and said coldly, "How filthy of you to dream of being with your own brother."

Later, I became a disgrace, a walking joke.

Humiliation and despair swallowed me whole, and in a haze, I fell into the lake and drowned.

When I open my eyes again, I'm back at the moment he begs me for blood.

I say yes calmly.

I consider it the final debt I owe the Gates family.

Cayden, from now on, we're done. There are no more ties between us.

The biggest mistake I had ever made was falling in love with my Alpha stepbrother, Cayden Gates.

I was 12 when my mom remarried, and he was the only one in the new pack who treated me kindly. I fell for him at first sight.

When I was 16, I was attacked by rogue wolves, and he fought off ten of them alone to protect me.

At 18, he was poisoned by silver. He nearly died. That was when my wolf told me he was my fated mate.

Without hesitation, I donated my bone marrow to save him.

That night, watching him asleep with a pale face, I couldn't help but kiss the corner of his lips.

He opened his eyes at that exact moment, his face flushing red. "Tessa, we're siblings. You shouldn't cross that line."

From then on, he started avoiding me, like I was a mistake he couldn't afford to make.

His fiancée, Rosie Lloyd, had been diagnosed with a rare blood disease, and I was the only compatible donor.

For the first time, he pleaded with me. "If you're willing to save her, I'll agree to anything."

But I was already weak from the marrow transplant. Giving blood again might kill me.

I said no, and Rosie died in the end.

He didn't shed a single tear, like nothing had happened.

But at her funeral, he smashed the portrait I'd painted of him in front of everyone and said coldly, "How filthy of you to dream of being with your own brother."

Later, I became a disgrace, a walking joke.

Humiliation and despair swallowed me whole, and in a haze, I fell into the lake and drowned.

When I open my eyes again, I'm back at the moment he begs me for blood.

I say yes calmly.

I consider it the final debt I owe the Gates family.

Cayden, from now on, we're done. There are no more ties between us.

...

Cayden Gates said, "Please, Tessa. A little blood means nothing to you, but without it, Rosie will die.

"If you're willing to save her, I'll agree to anything you ask." His low voice echoed in my ears, pulling me back from the cold grip of death.

I came back to life on the very day he begged me to donate blood to Rosie Lloyd. I turned him down in my past life. And in the end, I drowned in a freezing lake, consumed by humiliation.

I had already given up half my bone marrow to save him. My wolf was barely hanging on, struggling to recover. There was no way my body could handle another transfusion.

But in this life, I saw things clearly. Donating would kill me, but refusing to do it would, too.

So, I considered this blood my final payment. I would owe the Gates family nothing after this, and I'd have nothing to do with him anymore.

I lifted my head, met his conflicted gaze, and answered firmly. "I'll do it."

Every word he had prepared got caught in his throat.

The doctor next to us looked alarmed. "Ms Tessa Smith, please think carefully! Your condition is already critical. A full transfusion could cost you your life!"

Of course, I knew that. But if death meant I could finally escape Cayden and this suffocating place, then so be it.

As Cayden saw that I signed the consent form without hesitation, the tension in his expression finally eased. He looked at me and said in a soft voice, "Since you agreed, I'll keep my word. Whatever you want, just say it."

I took a deep breath and said calmly, "I only have one request, and that's cutting all ties with the Gates family. From now on, I'm no longer one of you."

His brows furrowed. "Are you serious?"

He probably thought I'd take this chance to force him to mark me and to make me his mate. He didn't expect me to want to walk away completely.

I looked at him without flinching and nodded.

He stared at me for a few seconds, as if something had just clicked. His expression turned gloomy, and his voice carried a warning edge. "Tessa, cut the games. Walking away from the Gates family doesn't mean there's a chance between us.

"My fated mate is Rosie. She's the only one I'll ever bond with."

Deep inside, my wolf howled in anguish. I knew she wanted to say that his fated mate was actually me.

But I didn't care anymore. I just said softly, "Got it."

The humiliation of the past was still vivid in my mind. I knew Rosie had used some trick to cloud his sense of our bond. I brought him proof and told him everything, but he never believed me.

So in this life, I only wanted distance. As much of it as possible.

He looked at me a moment longer. It was like he sensed something different about me, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. He opened his mouth like he wanted to speak, but Rosie's faint cry from the ward interrupted him.

He rushed to her without a second thought. I hesitated, then followed.

She was leaning against the headboard with teary eyes as she said in a trembling voice, "Cayden, stop pressuring Tessa. She hates me. I know she'd never agree to help me…"

Before she could finish, Cayden grabbed her hand and said in a voice full of relief, "Rosie, she agreed. You're going to be okay!"

She stared at me in shock, then her eyes turned venomous. "Did she ask you to mark her in return?"

Before he could reply, she slapped me across the face. "Tessa, are you shameless? Cayden is your brother. How dare you have those disgusting thoughts about him?"

She cried, clutching her chest. "Cayden, if you mark her, I'll kill myself!"

I saw Cayden instinctively take a step toward me like he wanted to protect me. But then he caught himself and forced it down.

He turned on his heel and wrapped Rosie tightly in his arms. "Rosie, you're my only mate and the only one I'll ever mark. As for anyone else? Not a chance."

I pressed a hand to my burning cheek and let out a bitter laugh before turning to leave. But I stopped when I heard their voices behind me.

"You're saying… The doctor told you Tessa's body is too weak and that giving me blood might kill her, but you still made her do it?" Rosie asked.

I paused for a second, ashamed at the ridiculous bit of hope I still had for his response.

He hesitated for a moment, but the cold indifference in his voice that followed shattered whatever hope I had left. "You gave me your bone marrow and saved me once. I can't just watch you die.

"But Tessa's always been healthy. How could she suddenly be too weak to donate blood when you needed it? For all we know, she might've paid off the doctor and staged the whole thing just to make herself look good in front of me.

"The most important thing for a werewolf is their fated mate. I just want you to get better soon."

I shook my head and smiled bitterly.

Yeah, a werewolf's mate meant everything. But I guessed even the Moon Goddess couldn't have predicted that a werewolf would mistake the wrong person for their fated mate.

If Cayden ever found out I was his real mate… would he regret it?

Not likely. He was too deeply tangled in her lies.

That truth would be buried with me.

I walked out of the ward, took a few moments to steady myself, and then called my mentor, Zoe Brown.

"Ms. Brown, I've decided to join that warzone healer program you mentioned earlier."

Since I didn't have much time left, I might as well make it count.

Zoe, on the other end of the line, sounded both surprised and thrilled. "Really? Tessa, I'm so proud of you!

"But that project's going to be really tough. The pack you're heading to is in the middle of a war. Will your Alpha even let you go?"

I gripped the phone tightly and said with great strength, "It doesn't matter if he agrees or not. This is my decision."

The moment I hung up, a wave of dizziness hit me.

The side effects from the bone marrow transplant came crashing back. I leaned back, hoping to steady myself against the wall. But the second I took a step back, I hit a solid chest.

I froze.

Cayden was frowning. "Who were you on the phone with? What project?"

I steadied myself and lied calmly, "My mentor was asking if I wanted to join the pack's medical support team."

He didn't ask more. He just said in a commanding tone, "The blood transfusion surgery's scheduled for next week. I'm bringing Rosie home so I can take care of her until then.

"I don't want to see any more of those drawings of me in the study. The last thing I want is for Rosie to get the wrong idea."

I turned my head away and dug my nails into my palm, using the pain to suppress the storm in my chest. Then I quietly said, "Okay."

The drawings he thought were nothing but a mess actually contained every bit of my love and longing, with every line shaped into the image of him.

But to him, they were just pieces of clutter that needed to be cleared out.

He seemed satisfied with my obedience. Without another word, he turned and walked into the ward.

An hour later, he was carefully helping Rosie into the car, holding her as if she were made of glass.

She slid into the passenger seat like it had always belonged to her.

I was stunned for a moment. Just as I reached for the back door, the car sped off without even a pause.

I stood there frozen. My phone buzzed, and I looked down to see a message from him.

"Rosie has OCD. She doesn't like the smell of strangers. You should find your own way home."

I stared at that text as the light in my eyes slowly faded.

I flagged down a cab. The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror and asked with concern, "Miss, is your face okay? Does it hurt? Do you need to see a healer?"

I shook my head. "I'm fine. It'll heal soon."

But deep down, there was a bitter sting.

It turned out that a total stranger could be more thoughtful than someone who was supposed to be my family.

At least he asked if my face hurt.

I opened the door of the villa as soon as I got back. Cayden was nowhere to be seen. Instead, I saw Rosie lounging on the couch, turning over a medal of honor in her hand.

My blood ran cold.

It was the only thing my late father left me. I had always kept it locked up in the safe, too precious for even me to touch unless absolutely necessary.

I rushed over, reached out my hand, and said coldly, "This belonged to my father. It's all I have left of him. Give it back. And why were you in my room?"

She gave me a disdainful glance, but before she could respond, Cayden's voice came from the stairs. "Why couldn't she be?"

He walked down slowly, looking down at me from above. "Rosie is my fated mate, and she'll be the lady of this house. She gets to do whatever she wants and go wherever she likes.

"If she wants to live in your room, you don't get a say."

I was shaking with rage.

Rosie got even cockier now that she had his support. "It's just a stupid medal. Here, take it."

She tossed it carelessly toward me.

I immediately reached out to catch it, but the medal slipped right through my fingers and hit the floor with a sharp crack, shattering into pieces.

"No!" At that moment, my heart broke too.

It was the last connection I had to my father.

I didn't understand. Was falling in love with my fated mate really such an unforgivable crime? Why did it feel like I wasn't even allowed to keep my father's final gift?

Maybe someone like me didn't deserve happiness.

I shoved past Rosie, dropped to my knees, and desperately tried to piece the medal back together, but it was no use.

She stepped back like she was scared, putting on a pitiful act and shrinking to the side.

Cayden frowned. He looked like he'd never seen me fall apart like this before. He was just about to help me up when Rosie grabbed his sleeve and said softly, like she was hurt, "Tessa's not going to make things hard for me over this, right?

"What if she refuses to go through with the transfusion?"

In the blink of an eye, Cayden's face went cold. "Enough. She didn't do it on purpose. Just let me know how much it was worth. I'll pay you back."

"Pay?" I looked up at that cold, distant face. All of a sudden, I laughed, but it was the kind of laugh that sounded more like crying.

I gently gathered the broken pieces of the medal, stood up, and said, "Forget it, Alpha. It wasn't worth anything."

Nothing was worth anything to people who didn't know what it meant.

That medal was just like my love for him, both worthless in his eyes. I should've let go a long time ago.

And with that, I turned and walked away.

Cayden stood frozen in place, stunned by the title I hadn't used in years, "Alpha".

Cayden stood there frozen until Rosie tugged on his arm, snapping him out of it.

"Cayden, are you okay?" she asked sweetly.

He quickly pulled himself together, his tone turning gentle again. "I'm fine. Don't take what just happened to heart.

"Tessa's not a bad person. She's just spoiled and a bit headstrong."

Rosie blinked, clearly surprised he would defend me. She nodded obediently, but a glint of cold jealousy flashed deep in her eyes.

Wrapping her arms around his waist, she pouted, "Once I'm better, can we finally have our bonding ceremony? I can't wait to become your Luna."

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she added thoughtfully, "Oh, right. Tessa knows you best and has great taste. Why don't we let her plan our ceremony?"

His expression softened. He patted her head indulgently. "Alright, whatever you say."

The next few days, I was buried in paperwork for the warzone healer program I was joining. I left early and came home late. Even though we were under the same roof, I didn't run into Cayden or Rosie again.

One day, I carried a big box full of portraits I'd drawn of Cayden, ready to throw them into the fireplace and burn them all for good.

Just as I was burning the last one, I heard his cold voice behind me. "What do you think you're doing?"

I didn't turn around. But he stormed up, snatching the half-burned portrait from the flames.

His face turned gloomy as he grabbed my wrist and said in a low and accusatory voice, "Tessa, what kind of game are you playing now? Is this your latest stunt to get my attention?"

I lowered my gaze and pulled my hand back. "That's not what I'm trying to do."

He clearly thought I was making excuses. His eyes grew colder. "Ten days from now, Rosie and I are having our bonding ceremony. You're invited."

I thought I'd be fine hearing those words, but the instant they left his mouth, my chest ached like someone had stabbed me. My face went pale as I forced a smile. "Congratulations."

Ten days from now, I should be well on my way to the warzone.

I turned to leave, but he stopped me again. "Rosie said a bonding ceremony only happens once in a lifetime. She doesn't trust anyone else to plan it."

I frowned, not getting what he was implying. "So?"

"So... I want you to do it. You've always known what I like better than anyone."

I almost laughed at how ridiculous that was. "Cayden, I don't like you anymore. You don't need to humiliate me like this to make me give up."

With that, I turned and walked out of the villa, leaving him standing there, stunned.

I headed to campus to finish some paperwork. But the moment I stepped out of the office, I felt countless strange looks on me, followed by whispers.

"Oh my god, is it true? An Alpha's stepsister pulling something like that…"

"She always seemed so reserved. Who knew she was such a slut in private?"

I stood there confused, until one of my roommates ran over and grabbed me. "Tessa, you need to see today's news!"

I pulled out my phone and saw the headline. "Forbidden Love Between Blood Fang Pack's Alpha and His Stepsister!"

I tapped the video in disbelief.

In the video, I was draped all over Cayden with disheveled clothes and a flushed face, shamelessly throwing myself at him.

My eyes instantly burned red with rage, and my fists clenched tightly at my sides.

"This is fake! That video's doctored!"

"I believe you, Tessa," my roommate said, holding my hand. "It's clearly a setup. You have to find out who's behind this!"

I rushed to the villa in a cab, desperate to explain everything to Cayden. But the second I ran up the stairs, I saw him standing at the stairwell entrance, blocking the way.

He looked down at me coldly, and his eyes were filled with disgust. "So, this is what you meant by 'you don't like me anymore'?

"Tessa, you never fail to surprise me. Did you fake a video like that just to ruin my bonding ceremony with Rosie? Do you have no shame?"

Every word out of his mouth was like a knife, slicing deep into my heart.

I bit my lip hard, too hurt to speak.

He took my silence as guilt. The sneer on his lips deepened.

"If you think public pressure is going to make me mark you, you're dead wrong. I'll never mark anyone but my fated mate."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Rosie stepped out from behind him, looking down at me with pure scorn. "Tessa, a she-wolf should know how to respect herself. You're just degrading yourself with these dirty tricks."

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but before I could react, she suddenly shoved me hard.

There was a long flight of stairs behind me. The moment I lost my balance, I caught a glimpse of Rosie letting out a scream, pretending to twist her ankle as she threw herself backward.

And Cayden grabbed her hand without hesitation.

While I... tumbled down the stairs. Pain exploded through my body as my bones cracked. I curled into a ball, tears silently streaming down my face.

It wasn't until my body finally stopped tumbling that Cayden seemed to realize I was there.

Just before I passed out, I caught a glimpse of him hurrying down the stairs, his face twisted in a panic I'd never seen before, as he reached out to cradle my face.