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.

The lycan prince ordered that I be taken back to the hospital, so the car was reversed once again, and I felt a bit relieved that at least I would save that lifeless man. Even if this were the only help he would get from me, at least he should have something to recall about me, which would taunt him all through his life.

"Annete!" The prince drew my attention to him. His gaze towards me softened, and I knew damn well it was because I had agreed to reject my mate who betrayed me. "I'm apologizing for all I did, the ones I'm doing now, and the ones I have yet to do."

I rolled my eyes to both sides, to be sure I was the one with him that he was referring to. "My prince, what do you mean? Why apologising?"

He chuckled, "It would have been better if you weren't the mate Samson dumped for her sister. But as it is, even though it wouldn't have stopped me, I won't watch you return to the man who never regarded you."

My expression twisted. "But it has nothing to do with you. He's my mate, and I choose...

"He doesn't deserve you, and since I'm sure he would want you back now that you're famous...I won't let it happen," he cut me short and averted his gaze.

I hated how he thought he could have me, and I had no choice. So what difference does it make between him and Alpha Samson? Both were dominating, and thought it could bring them what they wanted. But what he didn't know was that I had no single feeling for him, and was just respecting his authority.

My mate's betrayal was left to me to decide if I wanted him dead or not. But of what use would it be when he wasn't adding any benefit to my life and I had lived all those years safely without him?

He was my patient, and I was his healer...that was our relationship for now.

___

"How are his vital signs?" I asked Xavier once I entered the ICU. I walked straight to the monitor, and although it hadn't changed positively so much, there was a low possibility of him losing his pulse once again.

Xavier walked closer to me and asked, "Will the researchers be fast?"

"I have to go check on them," I said and left the ICU.

Once I discussed with them, I found out that with all the experiments they had made, Moonroot could help to sustain his life until a final cure was obtained. But getting it wasn't an easy task, and no one would want to take such a risk for a werewolf.

"If I can treat him within seventy two hours, then that would be better, so that the venom doesn't damage any tissue in him," I said to the researchers, and they all agreed with me. I had worked closely with them several times to find cures for several diseases, and that gave them a better name across the clan, so they never relented when it came to working with me in such a situation. "Someone hit on me when there's any positive feedback," I said and left them quickly.

When I returned to the ICU, the nurses had left as they were done with their work for the day, so Xavier was the only one left.

"Have you seen his beta?" I asked him, and just as he was about to speak, the door creaked, and his beta walked in and shut the door back. I turned around to face the man, "Could you and your men get a Moonroot for me to use on holding his life hanging with us? The researchers are working hard, and this is my alternative now."

His face chiseled for some time, and then he walked closer to me. "It's not a big deal, but his family is after taking his body. Right now, they are reporting to the lycan king."

My brows drew together, "Why? He's their son and needs to live. What about his Luna?"

He didn't respond once again, and I smelled something fishy was going on.

I recalled the beta mention that he must have been set up, and if his family is after taking his body, knowing so well that he was going to die if not treated, then what would that be called?

I directed my gaze back at his lame body, and my jaw clenched. Why was this happening? Why was I implicated in the matter of the ones I got out of my life?

The last thing I wished was to set my eyes on Isobel once again.

"I'm going to write to the lycan king not to listen to them until the treatment is over. So you and your men go get the Moonroot, and make sure to be careful." I said to the beta who left quickly. I waited kindly until the lycan prince showed up in the ICU, then I tabled the matter at hand to him.

He sucked his lips and shook his head, "They were sent away from the clan, but his luna is in the palace right now with a petition against you."

I scoffed and took his cell phone, where he must have snapped the petition. The audacity of Isobel to come after me here when the life of her alpha was in my hand.

After reading through everything she wrote, I nearly choked as I didn't expect that level of accusation. I looked at the prince whose expression was unpredictable, and kept wondering how I would be able to prove myself in this kinda situation.

"You should have just let me be in the club. It was far better." I managed to say to him and walked out of the ICU. I sat on the bench in the hallway, staring at the ground with my palms leaning on the bench.

How did I end up in this mess again after six years of staying away?

Isobel was more than stupid.

I thought the Alpha's family was, and that she was petitioning that I try my best to save her Alpha despite the past. No matter how jealous she was, didn't she realise that no healer was capable of saving Samson if not me? If the lycan king imprisons me, how would Samson come back to her?

She was so delusional, and I was beginning to wonder what was going on in that palace.

Lost in thought, I didn't realise how long the prince had stood before me until he cleared his throat and I quickly sprang to my feet. "My prince..."

"You're thinking about him or how to clear your name?" he asked and gestured that we sit back. "You promised to reject him, remember."

I nodded and breathed out. "Do you have any idea why his family doesn't want him saved? And his Luna is just acting selfishly..."

"She just doesn't want you taking back your mate and making her the loser..."

"Then that makes her more stupid. Why would she go to such lengths just so I am taken away from his side? Does she even know the cost and stress of treating such a rare poison?" I retorted, my voice rising at each word.

Isobel replacing me as the pack's Luna was far better than this.

I just hated that Samson had to go into this dilemma, which let them know I was somewhere living peacefully.

But this was too cruel. In less than twenty-four hours that I took over his treatment, I ended up being accused of setting up and allying with the rogues to attack their pack as revenge, and then putting Samson in such a condition so that he would be brought back to me.

I never got to know that the Infinite Pride Pack was attacked, but I had carried the weight of it all just because I insisted on treating my selfish mate.