KATHARINA

After leading the pup inside, I stopped paying attention to it entirely, even as it trotted behind me.

Instead, I walked toward my potion room, opened the door, and stepped in. As I reached back to close it, I caught the pup trying to slip its tiny body forward.

What a cunning little thing.

Immediately, I stretched out my leg to block it.

My lips curled in an enigmatic smile as I looked down.

"You want to enter?" I asked, meeting its bewildered eyes.

Its expression practically said: You brought me in already. Why are you stopping me now?

Ignoring its confusion, my smile deepened, then I lowered myself slightly, meeting its gaze on purpose.

"Too bad. This room is off-limits. You may wait outside... or leave if you lack the patience. Do as you wish."

Then without another word, I ruthlessly shut the door in its face.

Remembering that dazed, dopey look it had given me, a soft chuckle involuntarily slipped out.

The sound startled me, and my expression froze. But a moment later, it smoothed over into impassive calm.

In the same breath, I turned away from the door and walked toward the massive cauldron standing right at the center of the room.

A foul, bitter smell rose from the dark, reddish liquid simmering inside, but my nose didn't even twitch.

This was my latest attempt at creating the cure for immortality.

It required rare, unusual ingredients-a considerable part from the poisonous plants in my garden-and had to be brewed continuously under an undying flame for exactly 1,300 days, with new components added every 100 days.

And today was the final day.

The 1,300th.

As for how I acquired the ingredients despite not taking a step out of here...

That was the easiest part.

I turned my right palm upward, pressed my left thumb and middle fingers together, closed my eyes, and murmured a search-and-summon incantation-a spell meant for locating and pulling ownerless objects within a restricted range.

A heartbeat later, it appeared in my palm.

Lava Bloom.

A crimson flower that grew only in volcanic crevices.

Said to be an all-antidote, capable of counteracting every poison in existence.

And the final ingredient for my potion.

Without hesitation, I tossed it into the cauldron.

Then watched closely as the decoction turned a molten red, bubbling violently as if ready to overflow-yet it didn't. Instead, it fizzed out in an instant, the liquid shrinking rapidly until only a thin layer remained at the bottom.

Then it crumbled into black powder.

Another failure.

My expression didn't change.

To say I wasn't disappointed would be a lie. But after thousands of failures, the feeling barely left a mark on me anymore.

Instead, I preferred focusing on more practical things.

Like reviewing the entire process in my mind, searching for where it went wrong.

Afterward, I picked up a thick, leather-bound journal: one of many, from the side table and flipped to a half-filled page.

This was my 8,999th entry, each one a record of another ruined attempt.

Was I tired? Yes.

Was I frustrated? Also yes.

But until I achieved my desire-either to become a mortal or die trying-I could not afford to stop.

Lately, I kept having a premonition.

A whisper telling me that the day I longed for was drawing near.

That alone kept me going.

My pen danced across the page, filling the remaining space with notes. Then I paused, thinking for a moment before turning to a fresh page.

My 9,000th entry.

Maybe this one will be the real cure, I thought with the same hope I'd carried the previous 8,999 times.

-

XANDER

I had high expectations when I followed her inside, imagining uncovering some of her secrets, no matter how trivial, without much trouble.

Reality was far from it.

She locked me out of the room she entered, a place I instinctively knew held considerable significance.

I nudged the heavy oak door with my small body. When it didn't move an inch, disappointment washed over me.

But then I thought, it wasn't over.

I still had time until dawn. Maybe she would come out before that, and I'd get my chance.

With that thought, I relaxed slightly, crouched down, and stationed myself as a determined door guard.

Time flew by, during which I even dozed off.

When I woke, the door still remained firmly shut.

Meanwhile, my strength was returning steadily, which meant dawn was approaching.

Soon I would shift back into my human form, and I could not let her see that.

But leaving now felt wrong.

How can I be sure I'll be able to find this place again?

From her words, she'd cast enchantments around this place, so it'll likely vanish from sight once I left.

Besides, as the Alpha of my pack, I couldn't simply ignore a mysterious witch of unknown origins living this close to my territory.

Mate or not, she was a potential threat-until proven otherwise.

As I lingered by the door, frustration and impatience gnawed at me.

Minutes slipped by, one after another, until a familiar tingling crawled beneath my skin-the warning sign of the transformation.

My time was up.

Reluctantly, I got to my feet, cast one last lingering look at the closed door, and sprinted toward the back exit-the same way she had led me in.

Thankfully, she hadn't locked it.

With my strength nearly restored, I nudged it open and slipped outside with ease.

The moon had already dimmed-daybreak was close.

But a bigger problem hit me almost at once.

Which way led out of here?

Stumbling into this place had been nothing but sheer luck. Now, without its enigmatic owner to guide me, every direction felt wrong.

A moment later, a thought clicked into place and my gaze drifted toward the rose garden.

I'd collapsed somewhere around there earlier.

If I was lucky, the exit might be nearby.

I took a step forward, then froze.

I hadn't paid attention before, but now that I looked properly, I instantly recognized the plants in the herb garden.

Belladonna. Hemlock. Mandrake.

And worst of all-

Wolfsbane.

Every strand of fur on my body bristled in instinctive alarm.

With all these poisonous plants clustered together, the very air here should have been lethal. Yet I'd managed to walk past earlier in one piece.

There was only one explanation.

She had protected me, quietly and subtly.

At that realization, something flickered in my chest. Something heavy, tangled, and unreadable.

But sentiment wouldn't save me now.

Without her protection, I couldn't risk stepping into that poisonous miasma again.

Fortunately, I spotted a narrow path that curved around the garden.

I stepped onto it, my movements cautious as I watched out for any hidden traps she might have laid.

None appeared.

Eventually, I reached the rose garden again and circled its perimeter, searching methodically for anything unusual.

I came up empty. No exit was in sight.

A tight knot formed in my chest.

If I kept wandering in circles like this, my secret might truly be exposed to my enigmatic mate the moment dawn breaks...

Right then-

I caught sight of a faint swirl of white at the far end of the garden.

Fog?

My heart leapt.

If it was the same fog that shrouded the forest outside...

Then that meant-

The exit!

Without hesitation, I sprinted toward it.

THREE WEEKS LATER

XANDER

In a flash, three weeks had passed since my unexpected encounter with my enigmatic mate.

I wondered how she reacted when she stepped out of that room and realized I was gone.

The thought barely landed before I snorted inwardly.

Reaction?

With that erratic temper of hers-wanting to kill me one moment, sparing me the next, and ignoring me right after-my presence or absence likely made no difference to her.

And that, I thought, was the truly unfair part of this entire ordeal.

How was she allowed to remain unbothered while she was all I'd thought about these past weeks?

Not a single day went by without her forcing her way into my mind, completely disregarding my attempts to avoid thinking of her.

It made me uneasy to think that if the longing was already this strong- even with our bond unacknowledged and unsealed-how much worse would it get once the ritual was completed?

"Xander?"

A voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I looked up to see Jaxon, my Beta, watching me from across the table, his brows faintly furrowed. "Are you okay?"

"Sorry, I zoned out." I cleared my throat, then lowered my gaze to the computer screen. "Continue from where you left off."

But a few seconds passed, and he still didn't speak.

When I looked up again, the tablet he was previously holding was already on the desk, and he was staring at me with that calm, unreadable expression of his.

My stomach tightened.

I knew that look far too well. It was his signature expression when he'd decided he wanted answers.

And the topic he wanted answers about wasn't hard to guess.

Under normal circumstances, there were hardly any secrets between us, but regarding my run-in with my mate... I hadn't told him a single thing about it.

Not because I wanted to hide it, but because there was nothing concrete to tell yet. Instead of worrying him with the news of an unexplained stranger living in the forbidden grounds, I wanted to gather enough information before speaking.

I'd been careful not to slip up in his presence... or so I thought.

Still, I made one last attempt. Maybe I was overthinking it.

Keeping my expression relaxed, I asked casually, "Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something you want to say?"

But Jaxon never disappointed.

"Something happened on the night of the last full moon, didn't it? Something unusual. Something you're not telling me."

I sighed inwardly.

As expected, I shouldn't have hoped to fool him.

He knew me too well.

"How did I give myself away?" I asked helplessly after a pause.

One of his brows arched, seriousness glinting in his honey-brown eyes. "Do you have any idea how strange you've been acting since you came back? Zoning out, smiling one moment, sneering the next."

"I gave you space at first, thinking you weren't ready to talk. But now? With you being so painfully obvious. I can't ignore it anymore."

"Tell me, Xander. What's going on?"

Exhaling softly, I leaned back in my chair, my jaw tightening for a moment before I finally answered.

"There's someone living in the forbidden grounds."

"That's impossible." His denial was instant, disbelief tightening his features. "It's off limits for a reason."

His reaction was expected.

I would've said the same if I hadn't seen her myself.

I didn't bother defending the claim.

Jaxon knew I never bothered with lies, especially not about matters as serious as this.

His denial was simply instinctive and would fade away soon enough.

Sure enough-

"You're serious?" he asked after a moment, the lines between his brows deepening.

"I wouldn't joke about something like this."

He stared at me. "It's hard to believe."

"I know." I nodded once. "But Jaxon, I saw her and had my wounds healed by her-a mysterious witch with unusual powers. She's real."

"You saw her?" Something seemed to dawn on him as his gaze sharpened. "How did you manage that?"

I didn't answer. I looked away instead, rubbing the bridge of my nose in silent guilt.

His voice rose, incredulity evident. "You really went in? Knowing how dangerous that place is? Were you trying to get yourself killed?"

"I didn't have a choice..." I muttered.

Then I explained-how I'd collapsed halfway to the hidden cabin, how unknown footsteps had followed soon after, and how fear of being discovered had left me with only one desperate gamble.

"Still, that was reckless," Jaxon said, but his anger obviously weakened.

He let out a helpless sigh. "If you hadn't made it back, I wouldn't even know how to explain it to your mother, the Elders Council, or the rest of the Pack."

For a moment, I considered telling him the truth.

That it hadn't been pure recklessness. That I'd been there once before and had come out unscathed.

But in the end, I kept it to myself. His heart probably couldn't handle another shock.

Fortunately, he soon shifted to a more pressing concern.

Tapping the table with his index finger, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"Did you find out who she is? How she got there without anyone noticing?"

I shook my head, a hint of frustration in my voice. "No. She was too suspicious and extra cautious. Even though I pretended to be just an ordinary wolf who simply happened to wander in by a stroke of luck- which was true, by the way-she still guarded against me."

I conveniently left out the part where she almost killed me.

If I mentioned that, with how much Jaxon cared about me, she'd instantly become his most hated person, right below the ancient witch who cursed my bloodline.

My closest buddy hating on my fated mate? That'd be chaos.

"Then we need answers," Jaxon continued, his tone firm. "Leaving someone like that so close to us makes me uneasy."

I was of the same mind initially, so I nodded. "I'll dig through the old records, see if there's any mention of previous inhabitants. I'll also ask the Elders if they've ever heard anything."

"I'll help," Jaxon added. "The sooner we understand who she is, the better. She's an unstable factor."

Hearing him say that eased something tight and unspoken in my chest.

With someone as conscientious and level-headed as him, even if I... even in the future... the pack would be in good hands.

Lost in his thoughts, Jaxon fell silent.

I didn't interrupt him, instead my mind somehow drifted back to her again.

As much as I hated to admit it, I was already looking forward to the next full moon-another chance to see her, even if only in disguise.

I'd considered returning in human form, but besides the likelihood of not surviving the miasma long enough to see her, I also didn't want to provoke or startle her.

If she was already wary of me as a mere wolf, I could only imagine her reaction when she discovered I was a werewolf-much less her mate.

She really spelled trouble.

"Who are you thinking about?" Jaxon's voice suddenly cut into my thoughts.

Without thinking, I blurted out the truth. "My troublesome mate."

There was a beat of silence.

Then I realized what I'd said and looked up sharply.

Jaxon stared at me with a slow, dawning tilt of his lips. "Oh? So you found your mate." He leaned forward, amusement glinting in his eyes. "No wonder you've been smiling so stupidly lately."

I grimaced internally.

I wasn't ready to tell him that the mysterious witch who'd made the forbidden grounds her home was the mate in question.

Not because of the difference in race-honestly, that was the least of my concerns-but because of the complications.

Like why she was living in the deepest part of the forest.

Or whether she was the one behind the poisonous miasma that had harmed so many of my people.

Until I knew the truth... I couldn't acknowledge our bond to anyone.

Unaware of my turmoil, Jaxon pressed on, his eyes bright with curiosity as he asked the question I dreaded.

"So who is she?"