Once I was out in the compound, the prince's beta opened the door for me, and I stepped in. The prince entered as well, and the door was slammed shut. "Your Highness, what about your mate?" I asked him because that was the sole cause of my issue back there.

He made a long face and still responded, "Is there an issue? She's in the hospital for what she caused herself."

"She really didn't cause that herself. If you've truly been away from her, then she could be broken by your actions. Why not draw closer to her? Did she commit an unforgivable crime? Then you two should sort it out so people will stop misunderstanding me." I said further, but he didn't even spare me a glance.

If he had feelings for me, he should have said it out already.

He hadn't been in the clan until two years ago, when his father appointed me the royal healer. That was when I came to be close to them, and also knew that he went to the Academy of Alpha Elites for his training as the future lycan king of the clan.

When the car had ridden far away from the clubhouse where I had been, he finally turned around and whispered to me, "Let's not talk about my mate. We look forward to that alpha king getting better."

I sighed and nodded, then averted my gaze through the window.

We reached the clan's infirmary and alighted, then I was taken straight to the ICU, which was locked up as they said surgeons were in there.

One of the healers I was familiar with passed by, and I called for his attention, "What is wrong with the alpha? Any idea?"

He knitted his brows and shook his head, "The clan councils are even pondering on sending them out of the clan, as a werewolf has no reason to be given intensive care in the clan....even though several healers had tried, but there was no positive result." he explained and patted my shoulder, leaving already before I could find my words.

Why would they want to send away the alpha when it was their pride to treat him?

The prince's beta came forward soon and announced that the clan councils were seeking an audience with me because of the issue at hand. It seemed that because of the alpha, the healer's attentions were all shifted from other patients. Then it meant that his condition was so terrible to be overlooked.

I reached the room where they were and took a seat, "Greetings, councils..." I bowed to them and crossed my legs together.

"We are discussing that you begin leaving, as the alpha should be taken away from here. The werewolves are too proud of themselves and wouldn't obey the lycans, so they should have nothing to earn from us," the chief council chairman said, and I didn't understand if they wanted me to discard a werewolf when I was one.

Another cleared his throat, "All the healers in this infirmary have tried their best, and even the surgeons in there are trying their best. We don't need such, because they would still pay us back with a war. If we had known that the lycan prince was going to pick you up, we wouldn't have allowed that."

"I have to do it..." I said to them, and they all glanced at themselves. "I'm very sorry, but if I don't save that life, I would be taunted by the moon goddess who gave me the ability. You could stop such from happening again, but that is after this time."

They kept whispering to themselves, and I still added, "You know, I was having my time with others when the prince brought me out. I shouldn't be here in vain, please. This isn't a matter of being a werewolf or not, I just have to save his life...even if his treatments will continue elsewhere."

While they were still murmuring among themselves, the lycan prince walked into the room and took his seats.

"The surgeons are out, and nothing has changed. He has a limited time, and I will feel so guilty if he dies here. So even if it isn't allowed, they are already here and were let in by the border warriors," the prince stated and then shifted his gaze to me. "We have to go in there, Annette. There's not much time left. We could discuss this again when you are done, and my father must be there."

I stood, and looking at their faces, they didn't seem to have any choice as I walked out with the prince.

Before we entered the ICU, one of the surgeons pulled out his mask and asked me, "Are you the famous healer they talked about here? I'd like to speak with you..."

I bowed lightly to him, "If that's the case, then it should be after I am done."

"No problem!" He watched until I locked the door of the room.

The prince went closer to the bed and raised the surgical drape, "Do you need any help? He's so unconscious..."

I walked closer to see where the patient had been wounded, and it wasn't a small one. His thighs were almost shattered with a weapon, and the side of his belly was still bleeding.

"He's an alpha, or he would have died already from the position of this," I muttered and reached closer to where the prince was, wanting to catch a glimpse of his face.

I narrowed my gaze once I turned his head to face the ceiling. I couldn't be dreaming, right?

"Is everything okay? He isn't dead, right?" The prince drew my attention, and I quickly checked his pulse to see how faint it was. "He's the alpha king of the Infinite Pride Pack..."

I turned around to him, "What happened to him? This is so brutal..."

"Their pack was attacked unexpectedly by rogues, and so while trying to save his people, ended up this way. The pack healers couldn't save him, and neither could all the healers in the werewolves' pack. I think they heard of the famous healer here and decided to bring him forth, so please save him."

Tears already gathered in my eyes. I just didn't like how I was feeling for someone who didn't care about me.

Who could believe he would be my patient one day?

I sniffed and said to the prince, "I will try my best. But could you try to awaken his wolf?"

He walked closer and touched his forehead, "Without his wolf...

"His wolf would help a lot. I think he's also unconscious." I said, and he nodded and then bit his index finger, which he began dropping his blood into his mouth.

This is my calling, and I would just walk away like in the past once I was done with him.

Alpha Samson did me dirty, but I couldn't watch him die because of the past.

"His wolf is awakened..." the prince said to me, and I nodded. "Would he help keep him alive?"

I nodded, "I'll have to change up." I said and left the ICU.

While I was putting on my surgical scrubs, the tears I'd held for a long time rolled down my cheek, and I quickly wiped them off. I shouldn't be doing this when I have already gotten rid of him from my life. I was still wolfless, so he wouldn't even regard me if he woke up...and I would have no reason to even give him my time.

I tied my hair into a knot, slid my gloves into my palms and then put on my mask.

For the last six years, I was his wolfless mate, and now, I was the famous healer he came for. I hoped he wouldn't cuss himself when he realised that I saved his life. So help me, moon goddess!

So many healers refuse to work with me because they think I would use their glory and they wouldn't be known for, or credited with, the healing of a patient. So, because of this, I hardly called on them for help, which was why I preferred the prince's presence over any of them.

With his help, I had his wolf stitch up his wound and stop the bleeding. I bandaged his wounds and decided to see the prince privately, as I wouldn't take laws into my hands because I knew who he was.

Standing in the hallway, I said to the prince, "His injuries aren't that simple. I only stopped the bleeding with the help of his wolf and you, who communicated with him, and stitched it up. Normally, it was supposed to start healing since it's been stitched up, and also with the help of medicines administered to him. But, his injuries were poisoned with a rogue venom, and unless gotten rid of, he will keep being unconscious." I explained, and his happiness at the little solution given faded away.

I knew from the onset that what I did was just first aid compared to the kind of injury he had.

"So what are we going to do? Why didn't the other healers notice the poison?" he asked, looking so helpless, making me wonder if it was just hospitality or there was another reason for him to care so much for Alpha Samson.

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders, "The poison isn't that ordinary, so it would take someone who could spot poison without a technique to find out. What matters now is that he will remain that way until it's resolved, so something must be done."

"Like what? Do you have any idea?"

I breathed out and nodded.

"I'd like to ask you why his wolf reacts instinctively to your presence. Have you met before?" the prince asked, and that was one question I didn't ever want to get.

Reminding me of the past I had forgotten was so traumatising. But I was lucky as his beta approached and picked up his attention from me.

I leaned on the wall and folded my arms. What kind of rogue attack did they face that he ended up that way? That's so painful for him.

If there was a healer capable of taking up his treatment from me, I would have preferred that, because seeing him all the time was making me develop a soft spot for him after how he hurt me years ago.

He didn't look remorseful when he overlooked me in the presence of the pack, so I could just insist not to treat him, but that wouldn't make me a healer again.

"Annette, I will be back," the lycan prince said to me and left.

I walked back into the ICU, where he was still lying lifeless. I stared at his pale face, the past resonating in my mind, until I was fed up and turned around.

The door creaked, and I turned to see his beta standing there. He walked in and his gaze pinned on me with so much shock boldly written on his forehead. But I didn't stare at him so long and looked away, leaving him to battle with himself.

"Healer, how's he doing?" he asked, still standing far away from me.

I spared him a glance and responded, "You need to meet the lycan prince for that explanation. And my name is Annette." I said and looked away.

Time passed, and when the prince showed up, explained to the beta how his alpha was and what was at hand.

"I feel he was actually the target and not even the pack members," the beta said to the prince. "They couldn't have planned to poison the whole pack, right?"

"What about his family and Luna? I've not seen any of them..." the prince asked, and I noticed how the beta breathed out. "Are they also in crisis?"

I finally turned to meet the beta, shaking his head, "It's not something I can say to you as I have no right to talk about his family. But the other guards and I are here to look after him."

"Then who's taking care of the pack?"

"The other guards and armies," the beta answered and then turned to me. "Thank you for doing your best up till now. We lost hope already."

I pretended I didn't hear him and said to the prince, "What next?"

He turned around, "The council is against you going further, so they are going to take him from here and do the rest. At least, there's a hope to have him restored."

I nodded, "Then I should be leaving. I hope they revive him."

"Wait! I'll need to drop you off."

"You don't have to, my prince. Could you stay with Olivia for the night?" I said with a smile and started leaving.

My heart was so heavy. I wanted to go against their order and come to the end of his poison, but that wouldn't sit right with me. Besides, I already tried, and I shouldn't kill myself over someone like him who dumped me.

What was I even thinking? Was I supposed to be told that he shouldn't get full attention from me?

This was the lycan clan, and they made me stand out among the rest. So there was no way he would use his authority to have me do a thing I felt conflicted in.

I changed up and left the hospital that night, but while I was waiting for the cab I boarded to arrive, the ambulance passed by, rushing towards the infirmary. I couldn't stand it and decided to check what was going on, thinking that it was a patient being brought into the hospital.

As I reached the ambulance, I heard the stretcher being pushed towards the van and shifted to the side.

My lips moved, but I couldn't say a thing.

The nurses were about to fold the stretcher when I stopped them and raised the cotton covering the body. My cell phone slipped through my fingers when I saw who it was. "What happened? His pulse was becoming stable when I left..." I asked them, my voice shaking.

"He's almost dead, and that shouldn't happen here. So he must be taken out instantly." I heard the prince's voice and slowly faced him. "You have to get some rest."

I shook my head and checked his pulse, and truly, it was fading slowly.

No! I truly disliked him. I didn't want to have anything to do with him, but watching him die could also pull me to my grave, too, because of the matebond that wasn't severed.

I turned to the nurse beside me and said to her, "You're going to perform CPR on him until I return." She nodded and took over instantly with the help of others.

As I was about to get into the hospital, the prince pulled me back. "Don't do it further. Let him go."

The care I'd seen in his eyes wasn't there any longer, and he didn't seem to want him alive any longer.

"Can we talk later? I must save him...."

"I'm not letting him take you out of this clan, Annette. So it's better to let him go," he muttered, and his words sent chills all over me.

Did he find out we were mates? Even at that, should that lead to his death?

I slowly took my hand away from him, "It's okay not to leave your clan, but I must save a life." I said and began heading to the hospital building.

CPR was just to keep him from losing all breath, so I hastened up and carried the defibrillator with me to the ambulance, where the nurses were. Once I arrived, they shifted, and I struggled all by myself to shock his heart as it would fasten in bringing back his pulse.

"I'm going to help you. Should I increase it?" The healer who had approached me before I entered the ICU showed up at a dime hour when I didn't think of getting any help.

I nodded as I shocked his heart once again. "Increase it!" I yelled, my breath so raspy and tears struggling in my eyes.

This went on until I finally succeeded in reviving his pulse, then I turned to the nurses whose facial expressions were just so pitiful. "Take him back to the ICU. I'll be there soon."

They joined hands to roll the stretcher, and the other healer helped me with the defibrillator.

I canceled my return home because I needed to look into his situation. I still didn't understand how he went into such a state when his pulse was stable before I left.

Along the hallway, the lycan prince showed up from nowhere, his expression suddenly cold. "Are you a healer of yourself, or are you working for the clan? We don't take werewolf healers, but we gave you that chance, and...

"I work for the clan, but with the ability I was blessed with by the moon goddess. The clan didn't train me for free; Aunt Penelope spent tons of money to see me through college, just so I would be a certified healer and save lives. Why did you change your mind suddenly? You wanted him to survive badly..." I stated, my voice was so weak as I had just stressed myself.

He breathed out and licked his lips, "Well, the lycan king has ordered that he be taken away from the clan...and if you insist on treating him, then you're leaving too..." he said, and just when I was about to respond to him, he added, "But I don't want that happening. Annette, you have to let go of him."

I shook my head because I wasn't treating him as a mate but as a patient who needed to survive.

Finding the cure to that poison could take a lot, but I would go to all levels, because it would also be beneficial to them.

"I'm sorry, my prince. His people need him, so this is all I can do. What if I lose my gift because I refused to save someone? Don't you understand my point? I just told you that leaving the clan has never crossed my mind, so you shouldn't...

"Then you won't administer the treatment. I just don't want you near him anymore," he cut me short, his voice commanding.

I couldn't stand it and looked him straight in the eyes. "What is it about you just now? How am I supposed to treat him without showing up? Don't pretend that you don't know that the other healers stay away from me."

"Then..." he closed the distance between us. "You have to reject him first. If he sought your presence when he's healed, you're going to mention that we are engaged. Do you agree?"

My jaw dropped in shock. I had thought that he found out about our matebond with his lycan ability.

"What about your mate? Are you planning to dump the innocent lady?" I shifted aside his position, because I could still feel the pain of my mate's betrayal. So, how would that lady survive if he did this? "My prince, you have to stop what you're planning already. I'm not mates with that alpha, nor am I interested in any man...so don't even think of claiming me."

He scoffed, "You're telling lies. I felt the connection between you two, so not like I was told. I'd known Samson a long time, and although he wasn't a rival, we weren't friends either. I heard of him choosing his mate's sister because his mate is wolfless, but I didn't bother to know who his mate was until now." he lowered his upper body to fit in. "You're the mate he dumped, and you escaped into this clan...so I'm not letting you go with him again. If you refuse to reject him, then I won't let you treat him."

Without letting me speak, he brushed shoulders with me and walked away.

I stood immobile, staring into the airy space, and my mind was blank.

What could this be called? He has a mate and wants to abandon her because of me, and then they would be thinking that I used a spell on him. Why would he be doing this? There was no way I could sever the mate bond since I didn't have a wolf, and Aunt Penelope advised that I don't reach out to a witch doctor, as it turns out to be black magic in the future and could take our lives.

If I also let him die, I could pass on too, because the bond wasn't severed properly. But in all, I didn't want it to be served because I wasn't interested in another mate.

I'd known the prince was picking interest in me when he was coming closer to me and slowly shifting his attention, and I hoped to refuse him if he ever brought it up.

Most times, I even lied to him just so he wouldn't come closer to me and pay a visit. Not because he wasn't good-looking, but I had finally become Androphobic.

That I was trying to save Alpha Samson wasn't because I had feelings for him anymore, but for my own safety, too. I also do not need to overlook an enemy when I was given this gift to work with it.

After so much thought that yielded nothing, I went over to the ICU, and the nurses and the one doctor were still there.

"I am Healer Xavier, but I'm mostly a surgeon. We brought out the many bullets in his wounds and the metals we found too, but no matter what we did, his bleeding did not stop, nor could his flesh be stitched. How did you do it?" Xavier asked while I reached out to the unconscious body and took a good look at him.

No matter how much I tried not to feel pity for his condition, I still found myself wishing he would just get up again like in the past. What kind of attack was set up for him, and keeping him this way? I still didn't understand why a family doesn't care about their son...even the Luna he replaced me with.

I heaved out and turned to Xavier, "The prince helped awaken his wolf, and his wolf helped to do the rest. His wound was poisoned, and healing him could take a long time, because there's no cure for such a poison."

"For real? What's that?"

"Venom rogue poison. I hadn't heard of it, but it's too toxic, and I can say he has to be a strong wolf to have survived it." I breathed out and turned to the nurses, "Are the researchers still at work?" I asked, and they nodded. "I have to see them because I will need their help. But there is something that should be done immediately to help sustain him and his wolf."

With the help of Xavier and the nurses who didn't seem interested in leaving like the others, since I was the healer in charge, I was able to extract blood samples that would be used to study the venom's composition, then I placed a cold compressor on every part where he had injuries to slow down the venom's circulation.

I left for the research lab where they would use the blood sample, and we would find out how the poison would be treated. But the moment I stepped out to return to the ICU, two gamma lycans approached me and handcuffed my hands backwards.

"What's the meaning of this?" I asked them calmly, taking a look at their faces.

One of them answered while they dragged me along with them as people watched, "His majesty ordered your arrest for going against the clan healers association's rules to treat a werewolf who was once a traitor to the clan."

A traitor? That's a fat lie! Samson was never a traitor.

They dragged me into the car they had come in, only to see the lycan prince staring at me like I was a criminal. "Your highness, what's going on?"

"My father gave an order, and there's nothing I could do about it."

But I saw the lies in his words.

He was behind this, just so I wouldn't treat Samson, because he knew no healer would approach him there, and he would eventually be taken out of the clan.

"Stop the car, I'm going to reject him," I said, with a heavy chest, praying inwardly that he does not initiate bringing the clan priestess to sever the bond entirely.