The video of my bloody confrontation with the reporter went viral across all social media networks.

Silas publicly issued a chilling Alpha command: The mate bond will never be broken. Anyone who dares to harass my mate will face execution by the pack.

That very afternoon, Chloe's reporter friend was fired and banished from Silvercrown territory.

Online, the wolves' comments were vicious.

"She's so toxic. If she doesn't want to be married to the Alpha, she can just run away! Now she's playing the victim."

"She claims to be his 'first love,' but she's just a manipulator."

"She sold him out for money when he was weak, and came crawling back when he became the Alpha. Absolutely disgusting."

Suddenly, an anonymous user commented: Shut your filthy mouths. If you don't know the truth, stop barking.

People flooded the replies, demanding to know the truth.

The truth? It was almost unbearably cliché.

Years ago, Silas had been poisoned by a rival pack. The venom was destroying his wolf.

The pack healer told me he wouldn't last a week.

The only cure was a direct, voluntary transplant of a healthy wolf core.

Doing so would strip the donor of their wolf, drastically shorten their lifespan, and subject them to a slow, agonizing death.

The night he slipped into a coma, I sat by his bedside.

My mother begged me not to do it.

"Aria," she cried, holding my hand. "He's a good boy. But if you do this, you will die."

"I know, Mom," I whispered, "but he will live."

I remembered when we were teenagers. He only had twelve dollars to his name. He bought me a ten-dollar meal, and used the remaining two dollars to buy us each a drink. He lied and said he had already eaten, just watching me eat with a tender smile. He was an orphan, treated like trash by the world, yet he poured all his love into me.

Because he was so exceptionally good to me, I simply couldn't bear to let him die.

My chest was cracked open. I gave him my core, my strength, my inner wolf.

When he woke up, fully healed and surging with Alpha power, I was already gone.

I left a letter saying I had found a rich human to marry because I was sick of his poverty and craved the human world.

I knew his pride.

I knew that if he thought I had sacrificed my life for him, it would completely destroy him.

Ten years had passed, but that memory still brought physical pain. It felt like my chest was being cracked open all over again.

I coughed up black blood once more.

It hurts so much, Mom.

I bought my mother's favorite white lilies, preparing to visit her grave one last time. I was dying, and I needed to tell her I wouldn't be coming anymore.

But before that, I went to Silvercrown Tower to retrieve something.

Before my mother passed away, she had visited a Moon Singer and commissioned two carved obsidian wolf totems. They were soul anchors. One was engraved with Silas's birth rune, and the other with mine.

They were meant to protect us, ensuring our souls would always be able to find each other.

Silas refused to take the one with his rune, and instead took mine. He said the little wolf figurine looked exactly like me—stubborn and a little clumsy. He kept it on the massive oak desk in his office.

I was terrified that after I died, Silas would throw it away like garbage. It was a gift from my mother. I had to take it back and have it buried with me.

When I walked into his office, Silas was watching the video of my nosebleed from that morning. Seeing me, he tossed his phone aside, his expression unreadable. He didn't ask how I was feeling.

I glanced at his desk. The spot where my obsidian totem usually sat was empty.

I frowned. "Where is my totem?"

Chloe hurried into the office right behind me. Hearing my question, she smiled brightly.

"Oh, I cut my hand the other day, and Silas was so upset! He said he couldn't bear to see me hurt, so he gave me that little carved wolf to comfort me. He said it was clumsy and cute, just like me."

My hands began to shake. I glared at Silas, my lungs feeling like they were on fire. "What gave you the right to give my things away?! My mother gave that to me! How could you give it to her?!"

A cold smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he leaned back in his chair like a cruel tyrant. "That cheap little trinket was yours? My mistake, I thought it was just a worthless ornament..."

Before he could finish, I grabbed a heavy crystal ashtray off his desk and hurled it at his face.

Silas didn't dodge. The crystal struck his forehead, splitting the skin. A drop of blood rolled down his brow.

Chloe screamed, "Are you crazy?! Attacking the Alpha over a piece of junk wood!"

She ran to her desk and marched back, tightly gripping my obsidian wolf totem. She viciously threw it onto the marble floor at my feet. "Take your trash back! Did you think I'd actually care about something no one even wants?"

The obsidian shattered into jagged, irreparable pieces.

I stared at the shards. My birth rune, my mother's blessing... all broken.

Just like my life. Beyond saving.

A sudden, overwhelming wave of grief crashed over me. I really was going to die.

But I didn't want to die so soon. I was terrified that without an anchor, my mother wouldn't be able to find my soul in the afterlife.

Something inside me snapped. I lunged forward and slapped Chloe so hard the sound echoed off the glass walls. "That was my mom's! My mom's!"

I screamed like a madwoman, tears pouring down my face. I reached out to grab Chloe again, but Silas's massive hand caught my wrist mid-air.

Tears blurred my vision.

I looked up at him, crying and laughing at the same time. "You know I'm dying... You know I'm dying, and you still bully me. Silas, you are a monster."

His thumb brushed my cheek, wiping away a tear, but his eyes remained cold. "First the cake, and now you're dying? Is playing games with me really that fun, Aria? Save your tears. I'm done pitying you."

He couldn't finish his sentence.

A thick drop of black blood dripped from my nose and splattered onto the back of his hand.

Then another. And another. A horrifying stream of blood gushed out, soaking my chin and dripping onto his pristine white shirt.

My legs gave out, my chest feeling hollow as a blinding agony erupted like a volcano.

I collapsed.

Silas caught me before I hit the floor. For the first time, his calm facade completely crumbled, replaced by naked panic.

"Healer! Get the medics! NOW!" he roared, his Alpha voice rattling the glass windows of the entire building.

But he was powerless to do anything but watch as my blood soaked through his clothes, dark and endless.