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?”


    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.


    “I


    “When E wakes up, I need you to 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.”