<b>Chapter </b><b>62 </b>


    Liam & Alexander


    Liam


    Liam was just heading back to his room when he heard themotion. There were muffled shouts upstairs, and then a doctor swept into the house–the same doctor from the hospital.


    Curious, he followed the sounds and was nearly bowled over by a thunderous Alexander, who came barreling out of his bedroom with his Beta on his heels.


    Liam froze. “What happened?”


    But Alexander wasn’t listening. He stormed away, shoulders tense, fists clenched. The Beta was saying something to him quietly, although Liam couldn’t hear it. And then they were gone.


    Frowning, Liam approached the bedroom door, reaching out to grab the handle. But before he could open


    it, he heard the muffled voices within.


    “How bad is it?” Lilith sounded like she was crying.


    “Worse than I hoped,” Dr. Evelyn’s voice replied. “The dormancy is progressing faster now. Her body is essentially shutting down because her wolf has been dormant for so long.”


    Liam’s hand dropped to his side. Dormancy?


    “But she should have had months left,” Lilith sobbed. “How is this possible?”


    The doctor sighed. “I’m not sure. This disease–if we can call it that–ispletely new to me. There have only been a few cases of someone losing their wolf due to their mate not marking or rejecting them in recorded history, and none of them are detailed enough. I don’t know how the symptoms will progress—all I know is that she’ll certainly die within the year.”


    Liam staggered back against the wall behind him, each word like a gunshot. E was dying?


    Lilith’s sobs within the bedroom were enough to make tears spring to Liam’s own eyes. E was dying of some… mysterious disease. Something to do with her wolf going dormant due to Alexander not marking her or rejecting her.


    But the mating mark he’d seen in those pictures… Was that fake?


    It had to be; E had told Liam that Alexander didn’t love her. At the time, he’d thought she said that out of


    lovesickness, but now he realized that it had little to do with that and everything to do with her very life.


    “He has to mark her or reject her,” the doctor said. “Otherwise, she will die. And it might be sooner than we


    thought.”


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    Fury washed over Liam as he heard those words. If it was true and Alexander had refused to help her, Liam


    would kill him with his bare hands. He wouldn’t even hesitate.


    “Can we tell him?” Lilith asked. “Surely if he knew-”


    “That’s not my decision to make,” Dr. Evelyn said. “E begged me not to tell him. I may be her physician,


    but I have no right to make her personal choices.”


    Liam’s mind spun, fury turning into confusion. So Alexander didn’t even know…?


    Lilith’s sobs continued inside the room, and all the while, Liam’s chest ached. But his mind also made itself


    up, too. If Alexander didn’t know, then how could he help E?


    No. Liam wouldn’t let his best friend die because she was too afraid to tell Alexander the truth. Liam had


    made a vow to help and protect her; perhaps she would be angry if he told Alexander without her


    permission, but at least she would be alive to feel anger.


    Without a second thought, Liam pushed away from the wall and headed downstairs to find Alexander.


    He found him in the parlor, standing by the window with a ss of bourbon in his hand.


    “Alexander,” Liam said from the doorway. “I need to talk to you.”


    Alexander turned, and Liam could see the worry etched across his face. “If it’s about the evaluation-”


    “It’s about E.”


    Alexander


    Liam stepped into the room. “I overheard the doctor talking to Lilith. Alexander, E’s wolf is dormant.”


    “What?”


    “Her wolf has been asleep for months, maybe longer. And if it stays dormant too long without the mate bond beingpleted…” Liam’s face was grim. “She’ll die.”


    The words didn’t make sense at first. Die? From what?


    “That’s not possible,” I said. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”


    “Me neither.” Liam’s face darkened. “But I heard the doctor saying it just now. She said that if you don’t mark or reject her, she’ll wither away and die.”


    For a long moment, I just stared at Liam. Was he messing with me? In all my years, I’d never heard of-


    “Yes. You have.”


    11:31 Sat, 23 Aug


    My wolf’s voice was like a gunshot in my mind, and then it hit me. Nearly three months ago now…


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    I recalled E storming into my office unannounced. She had been more righteous than I’d ever seen her, and she had told me exactly what Liam just did. It had been the day she had asked for a divorce…


    And I hadn’t believed her.


    At the time, I thought she was lying, that she just wanted attention because she was unhappy in our marriage. I had never heard of such a disease, so how could it be real?


    Goddess, what a bloody fucking fool I was!


    “Alexander, snap out of it.” Liam’s voice was sharp as he stormed up to me, ripping me out of my thoughts. “The doctor said she’ll die. Your mate will die. My friend will die. Alexander, if you don’t do something, I’ll


    fucking kill you.”


    As he spoke, his fangs shed, eyes glowing a dangerous hue. My own wolf bristled in response. The threat was clear enough even if he hadn’t said the words.


    “But she doesn’t want me to mark her. She asked for a divorce.”


    “Because she thinks you don’t want her!” Liam’s voice rose, then he caught himself and lowered it again. “Alexander, she’s been dying for months, and she thinks you hate her. Of course she asked for a divorce. She knew you wouldn’t mark her, so she chose the other option.”


    Dammit. For five years, I’d kept my distance because I couldn’t trust her, couldn’t risk letting her close. But now, finding out that my distance had led to potentially losing her permanently…


    “I’ll talk to her,” I said. “I’ll see what she wants, and whatever it is, I’ll do it.”


    Some of the fury seemed to dete from Liam’s shoulders, but only a little. He was still angry with me, and


    rightfully so.


    This was my fucking fault, after all. I was the one who had distanced myself from E for five years. I was the one who had refused to mark her. I was the one who had forced her to sleep on the opposite side of the mansion and made her eat dinner alone and made her feel like she had nothing and no one.


    “Do the right thing, Alexander,” Liam growled. “Don’t let her die because you’re too stubborn to admit you fucking care about her.”


    I nodded, then quickly left him in the parlor and headed back upstairs. The doctor and Lilith had finished their examination, and Dr. Evelyn was packing up her medical bag when I stepped into the room.


    “How is she?” I asked.


    “Stable for now, but Alexander…” Dr. Evelyn’s face was serious. “I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest. Has E mentioned anything about her wolftely? Any concerns about her health?”


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    My throat felt tight. “She tried to tell me months ago that something was wrong. I didn’t listen.”


    The doctor nodded grimly. “I see. Well, she’s resting now. Let her sleep–she needs it. But you two should probably talk when she wakes up.”


    When. Not “if“. That was a good thing, at least.


    After Dr. Evelyn left, I sat in the chair beside the bed and watched E sleep. She looked so small under the covers. The cherry blossom bracelet I’d bought her was still on her wrist, catching the moonlight from the


    window, and the chain looked looser on her than it had just a few hours ago.


    She’d been dying, and she had tried to tell me, and I was too much of a bastard to listen to her.


    That night, I dozed fitfully in the chair, jerking awake every time E shifted or made a sound. But she slept peacefully through the night, never even waking for a moment.


    It was just after dawn when Gabriel burst into the room.


    “Alpha,” he said urgently. “We have a problem.”


    I rubbed my eyes. “What kind of problem?”


    “Trade dispute with one of the neighboring packs. They’re iming we breached our contract, and they’re threatening to take it to the Alpha Council. You need to go there and sort this out before it esctes and potentially impacts your campaign.”


    I looked at E, still sleeping peacefully in the bed. The campaign… Did I care about that right now?


    “Alexander, this is serious,” Gabriel insisted. “If the Alpha Council believes you’re an unreliable trading partner, it could ruin everything.”


    I closed my eyes, rubbing my temples. Gabriel was right, of course. The timing couldn’t have possibly been worse, but he was right.


    Finally opening my eyes, I looked at E’s sleeping form, torn between my duties as Alpha and my responsibilities as her mate. If I didn’t go, the trade dispute could spiral out of control and damage my campaign. But if I left without talking to her…


    “Fine,” I finally said, standing. “I’ll go quickly. But I need you to do something for me.”


    Gabriel raised an eyebrow.


    “When E wakes up, I need you <i>to </i>give her a message. Tell her…” I paused, trying to find the right words. “Tell her I know about her condition. About her wolf. And tell her that when I get back, I’ll mark her if that’s


    what she wants.”


    11:31 Sat, 23 Augu


    <b>Chapter </b><b>63 </b>


    E