Caleb placed a finger under my nose. After a few seconds, he froze.
A werewolf’s body temperature ran hotter than a human’s. The moment he touched my cold skin, he sensed something was
wrong.
However, he didn’t want to believe it. And when he realized I had stopped breathing, the thread holding him together snapped.
A moment later, his scream tore through the silence of the room. “Zoe!”
He gathered me in his arms, bolted out the door, and shifted mid–run. He raced toward the hospital as fast as he could.
He knew it was no use. His wolf already told him that I was gone.
“Doctor! Please, she’s not responding. Do something!” he shouted, breathless and desperate.
The doctor examined me, then sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Alpha. It’s too late. The Luna passed before she arrived. There’s nothing we can do.”
The
“She’s… dead?” The words hit him like lightning. He stood frozen, stunned.
“How did this happen? She was fine just yesterday… Was she sick? If we had caught it earlier, maybe she wouldn’t have…”
The doctor gave him a strange look. “You didn’t know? Luna had advanced Wolf Dissolution Disorder. She was declared terminal three days ago. There was nothing anyone could’ve done. She could only die slowly. Before the end, she’d suffer immense pain all over her body. The only way to keep it at bay is with heavy doses of painkillers.”
“Wolf Dissolution Disorder…” Caleb collapsed to the floor. His eyes were blank, like his soul had been ripped away. “She was sick… She was really sick… But why didn’t she tell me? Why did she keep it from me?”
Then, it hit him–three days ago. That was the day he asked me to sign the mate termination contract.
It was the very day I was told I was dying. And while I was quietly falling apart, he had been planning a bonding ceremony with someone else.
He couldn’t even imagine what I must have felt at that moment. Now that he thought about it, he realized why I hadn’t argued and let go so easily. It was because I already knew I was dying. I didn’t want to fight anymore.
He buried his face in his hands and broke down in loud, regretful sobs.
”
