My parents burned to death in a silver dust trap.

My mate, Zachary, the Guardian of the Pack, refused to send help, all so he could be with his old flame.

My childhood sweetheart, Landon, the Healer of the Pack, discovered the trap was man-made.

But he destroyed all the evidence.

All to protect the true murderer.

When I questioned them like a madwoman, they pushed me aside, shielding Scarlett behind them.

The two men who had sworn to protect me with their lives pushed me into an even deeper hell at my most desperate hour.

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1

I stared at my parents' cold bodies, my eyes bloodshot.

"Zachary, you have to give me an explanation!"

Zachary handed me an official Pack report, his brow furrowed.

"'Accident due to Lunar Weakness.' The report's been signed. Their bloodline was declining, which is why they couldn't resist the silver dust. The Council of Elders was merciful enough not to charge your parents with contaminating Pack territory."

His voice was devoid of any warmth.

"With this report, no Pack member will dare to question it, and no consultant will take your appeal."

The moment he finished speaking, Scarlett peeked out from behind him, shaking her head frantically.

"It wasn't me, it really wasn't me..."

Her body trembled as she went limp, collapsing into Zachary's arms.

"Zachary, my... my bloodline... It hurts..."

Zachary immediately panicked, holding her tightly and soothing her with his scent. "Don't be afraid, I'm here."

Landon rushed over and tore away the silver-thread shroud covering my parents' bodies.

He spread the cloth in front of Scarlett. "Quick, let Scarlett sit down and rest."

In his haste, he didn't even notice that one of his feet had stepped on my father's hand.

A bitter smile touched my lips as I watched the sickening display.

I looked away, knelt, and gently wiped my father's sullied hand.

Zachary turned his head and roared at me:

"Willow, what the hell is wrong with you! You scared Scarlett so badly her bloodline-weakness is flaring up!"

"Scarlett was with me the entire time your parents had their accident. It couldn't have been her! Now you've scared her sick, so you need to apologize!"

He spoke with such self-righteousness, as if I were the sinner.

I pointed at Scarlett, my voice choked with sobs.

"So, to be with her, you ignored dozens of my parents' pleas for help and let them burn to death in a silver dust trap?"

Scarlett, dragging her weak body, dropped to her knees with a thud.

"I'm sorry, Willow. Zachary just wanted to take me out for once. It's all my fault."

Landon helped Scarlett up from the floor, his voice full of heartache. "Willow, you've gone too far!"

"What happened to your parents was a complete accident. Why are you forcing an innocent, sick person to kneel to you?"

Scarlett coughed weakly a few times, shaking her head.

"I'm so weak, and the Pack assessment is in a few days. I haven't even been able to practice the bloodline fusion ritual. I don't think I can stay."

"I'll leave, then. I don't want to come between you and Willow."

Zachary wrapped his arm around Scarlett, glaring at me. "If anything happens to Scarlett, I will make you pay!"

Pay?

I looked at my parents, their faces ravaged by silver dust. Hadn't I already paid a grim enough price?

Zachary's face was full of impatience.

"Since your parents' death is a fact, let them serve one final purpose. Scarlett's bloodline has always been weak. Landon says we can try an ancient ritual to extract the untainted bloodline essence from your parents' remains and fuse it with hers. It might save her life."

"I won't allow it!" I gritted out. "My parents have already been burned to this state. Why can't you just leave them in peace!"

A flicker of greed crossed Scarlett's eyes as she pointed to my parents' bodies. "Thank you, Zachary. We only need to extract their remaining bloodline essence. To be able to 'live on' inside my body will be an honor for them."

"It's an honor for your parents to be of use to Scarlett. In the future, she'll be a Healer who benefits the entire Pack."

"Don't forget, I am your mate. I have the authority to dispose of your parents' remains."

His face cold, Zachary used his authority as my mate to sign the body donation agreement.

"No! Don't!"

I tried to lunge forward to stop it, but Zachary's Pack guards twisted my arms behind my back, pinning me to the ground.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

My face was pressed into the cold dust. I sobbed, my body trembling, helpless as an abandoned stray.

A flicker of emotion, almost imperceptible, crossed Zachary's eyes. He squatted down, reaching out as if to wipe the dirt from my face.

"Willow, be good. Stop making a scene."

His fingertips carried his scent, once my most cherished sanctuary, but now it only made me want to vomit.

"If Scarlett's parents hadn't funded us with their bloodline essence back then, who knows what wilderness we'd be struggling in now."

"They are our bloodline benefactors. Scarlett is their daughter. We can't just abandon her."

I gave a hollow laugh. "Are you sure it was Scarlett's parents who funded you with their bloodline essence?"

The moment I spoke, Zachary froze, looking at me thoughtfully.

But just then, Scarlett "coincidentally" fainted.

Without hesitation, Zachary swept her up in his arms and rushed out the door.

Landon followed closely behind, holding an umbrella over her.

All I could do was watch helplessly as their men carried away my parents' bodies.

I lay on the ground, wailing, unable to do anything.

Fifteen years ago, a beast tide had taken both Zachary's and Landon's parents.

They grew up with me. I was the one who begged my parents to use our family's bloodline essence to fund them, keeping it a secret until they became the Pack's Guardian and Healer.

I was afraid of hurting their pride, so I never mentioned it.

I never imagined Scarlett would take the credit.

And I certainly never imagined that, for her, Zachary would deny my dead parents even a moment of peace.

For the next three days, I ran to every Pack consultant I could reach.

Every single one shook their head and refused my appeal.

In my desperation, a man claiming to be a Pack consultant contacted me.

Clutchching at this last straw, I paid him a deposit without a second thought.

Later, he said he needed to bribe the Council of Elders, and I gave him ten units of bloodline crystals.

Then he said he needed energy to revoke the "Accident due to Lunar Weakness" report, and I gave him twenty units.

When we were just one step away, he asked for thirty more units and then vanished completely.

I realized I had been scammed and rushed to the Pack Hall to report it.

I cried and begged the guards to help me recover my inheritance, only to run into Zachary and Landon.

Zachary produced a certificate. It was a diagnosis from Landon, stating that I was suffering from "Moon-madness."

I didn't have to guess whose doing this was.

Zachary pressed his palms together, feigning an apology to the guard. "My apologies, Officer. I'm Willow's mate. She's a bit mentally unstable and filing false reports. Sorry to trouble you."

After that, he forcibly dragged me out of the Pack Hall.

I broke free in a frenzy and slapped him hard across the face.

"You did this!"

"Zachary, you monster! You had someone impersonate a Pack consultant and scam me out of the entire inheritance my parents left me!"

"My parents were so good to you! Why would you do this to them?!"

Tears streamed down my face, my heart aching with every drop that hit the cold flagstones.

Zachary was stunned for a moment.

He reached out to wipe away my tears, gently pulling my sobbing, broken form into his arms. "Shh," he whispered, his voice low and soft.

"Willow, be good," he murmured. "As long as you stop causing trouble, you can still be my mate."

His scent enveloped me, tinged with an undeniable possessiveness.

"We'll pick a day, give your parents a proper burial, and this will all be over."

My heart went rigid. I pushed him away with all my might.

"In your dreams!"

Scarlett blinked, a sly smile on her lips. "Willow, how can you blame Zachary? He did it for your own good."

"He was afraid you'd keep making a fuss and lose your inheritance to a real scammer. He's just holding it for you. You should be thanking him."

"Instead of wasting time finding consultants and filing reports, you should be finding a proper burial plot for your parents."

"Otherwise, once the silver dust completely corrodes their bodies, they might not even be allowed in a cemetery!"

She giggled, covering her mouth, and handed me a flyer.

"I found a burial plot for your parents. Think of it as my way of helping Zachary out."

I gave it a cold glance.

The flyer was for a cemetery specializing in "paired burials."

She wanted my parents to be buried with a wolf pup from the north who died young and a she-wolf from the west who died in battle.

I clenched my fists and slapped her hard across the face.

"Scarlett, you vicious bitch!"

Zachary shoved me violently to the ground and cradled Scarlett protectively.

"What are you doing!"

"You're not just ungrateful, you're bullying her!"

"Cemetery plots are hard to come by. You don't have a cent to your name. A paired burial is the only way your parents will get a resting place. It's a burial, and at least it's free."

"Today is the last day to retrieve your parents' bodies. You'd better figure something out!"

I sold a family heirloom and used the money to hire an elderly Pack consultant to draft an agreement to sever our mate bond.

I rushed to Landon's healing clinic, only to be told that my parents' bodies were being stored at Zachary's Guardian's barracks.

When I arrived at the barracks, there wasn't a single patch of untainted flesh left on my parents' bodies.

Their bodies had been tossed carelessly next to a waste area, baking under the scorching sun, and were already beginning to reek.

Scarlett's wolf was viciously tearing at the remains.

I picked up a rock from the ground and threw it, screaming like a madwoman, trying to drive her wolf away.

But her wolf was only enraged, and it lunged at me.

"Ah—" A large chunk of flesh was torn from my calf.

The metallic tang of silver poison filled the air, the pain making me shudder.

Scarlett let out a whistle, and her wolf obediently retreated to her side.

Pinching her nose, she sauntered over to me, a gloating look on her face.

"Willow, are you so hungry you have to fight a wolf for its meal?"

Enraged, I lunged at her, knocking her to the ground and straddling her, clawing and tearing. "Scarlett! I'll kill you!"

Zachary, who had just arrived, yanked me up and threw me aside.

Sharp stones tore open the wound on my leg, and blood streamed out.

Zachary draped his Guardian's jacket over Scarlett's shoulders and gently helped her up.

Then he turned and yelled at me, "Willow, you're insane!"

A broken, sarcastic laugh escaped me, tears streaming down my face.

I forced myself to stand and handed him the agreement to sever our mate bond.

"Zachary, I'm severing the mate bond."

He slapped it out of my hand, his eyes blazing with fury. "Just because I didn't dispatch a rescue team in time, you want to sever our mate bond?!"

"The silver dust trap was so strong back then! Even if your parents had been saved, they would have been crippled, if not dead. The subsequent treatment would have constantly drained bloodline energy. I was doing it for your own good!"

I was stunned, seeing him as a stranger for the first time.

Once, he had defied a Pack order to save a drowning pup of another pack.

He had led his brigade to save one comrade after another during the beast tides.

He was the Pack's greatest hero.

But ever since Scarlett returned, he had thrown his duties as a Guardian to the wind.

For Scarlett, he had rejected one rescue mission after another, leaving more and more families shattered.

He saw the wound on my leg, and his tone softened.

"I couldn't control the silver dust trap. I'm not the Moon Goddess; I can't save everyone."

"I know you're grieving. Once this is all over, we can go back to how we were. We can be mates again, okay?"

I picked up the agreement and held it out to him again, my voice hoarse. "Sign it."

Scarlett dropped to her knees, sobbing quietly.

"Willow, it's all my fault. I'm the reason the rescue was delayed."

"I'll kneel to you. Hit me, curse me, whatever makes you feel better. Just don't sever your bond with Zachary."

Tears streamed down her face, her delicate body trembling slightly.

Zachary helped her up, his heart aching for her. "Fine, we'll sever it! A petty bitch like you doesn't deserve my love anyway!"

With that, he coldly signed his name and then, as if throwing away trash, slammed the agreement into my face.

"You have nothing now. You'll regret leaving me sooner or later!"