After His Daughter's Death, He Went Crazy

That night, Liam served me my usual evening tea. I trusted him completely—he was my mate, after all, and a respected healer of Thornpack.

I shouldn't have.

When I woke up the next morning, my head was spinning. The special safe where I kept the morphing inhibitor—the one I'd spent my entire savings to import from Europe for our daughter Isla—was empty.

Racing to the healing center, I found Liam celebrating. He was handing out moon-blessed wine, beaming with pride as Natalie's daughter Anna showed off her perfect transformation. My inhibitor had been used on his first love's pup instead of our own daughter.

The shock triggered something in my brain. When I collapsed, they diagnosed me with the rare tumor that plagued our kind.

Without inhibitors, I couldn't stop Isla's transformation that came early, her six year old body couldn't handle the massive wolf form and the force ripped through her young body.

And I, for one, don't even have enough money to keep her in a treatment center.

She died in my arms three days later, her little claws drawing blood as the pain overwhelmed her. Until her last breath, she kept asking why Papa hadn't come.

Now, in my cold, empty home, with the white porcelain urn containing her ashes on the table, I touch her and decide to sever our partnership.

1

My mate secretly gave the morphing inhibitor I had prepared for our daughter to his first love's daughter. Without the morphing inhibitor, our pup died.

At ten in the evening, I heard Liam's footsteps at the door. My enhanced wolf senses picked up his scent—a mix of the healing center's sterile smell and something distinctly feminine that made my stomach turn.

My wolf Bella bristled inside me, no longer recognizing the mate she had once adored.

I sat quietly in the dark living room, holding Isla's white porcelain urn close to my chest. The moonlight streaming through the windows cast long shadows across the floor. I must have been sitting there for hours, but the pain in my heart far outweighed any physical discomfort.

The key turned in the lock. I heard him humming—actually humming—as he entered.

When he closed the door and changed his shoes, I remained motionless in the darkness. Let him feel a fraction of the uncertainty I'd felt these past weeks.

"Olivia!" His sharp voice cut through the darkness as he flipped the switch. The sudden brightness made my head throb—another reminder of the tumor growing inside me. "Have you lost your mind? Sitting here in the dark trying to scare people?"

The authoritative tone he used with junior healers grated on my nerves. My wolf whimpered at the stranger our mate had become.

Even at this late hour, Liam's appearance was impeccable. Not a hair out of place, his healer's uniform crisp and neat. The silver emblem of Thornpack's healing center gleamed on his chest like a mockery of everything he was supposed to represent.

It was clear how