Chasing the moon

My Alpha mate didn’t know that I was dying. He was busy taking care of his childhood sweetheart who had just returned to the pack.

I didn’t complain and continued to play the role of Derek's good mate. But after I passed away, he went crazy after reading the journal I left behind.

……

Standing at the hospital entrance with that thin diagnosis paper in my hand, I wanted to call Derek.

I opened and closed his contact page several times.

Then his call came through first.

His voice was characteristically deep and cool, but softened when he said my name:

"Willow, I have something to do tonight and won't be home for dinner. I might get back late, so don't wait up for me."

All my words got stuck in my throat.

"...Okay."

Brief as always. The line went dead, but I kept holding the phone to my ear.

The sunset bled red across the horizon.

Derek and I had been mates for five years.

And I had loved him for nearly ten.

I got lucky. Derek needed to establish a stable mate bond before he could inherit the position of pack Alpha. His family pressured him to find someone, sending him on countless mate-dates. That's when he met me, and under the Moon Goddess's guidance, we were drawn to each other.

My mother had been the pack's healer, and I inherited her powerful healing abilities. At a young age, I became a senior healer at the pack's medical center. Since we matched well in all aspects, we agreed to hold a mating ceremony right away.

Derek needed a mate, the pack needed an Luna, and I fit the bill perfectly.

He was a cold person by nature, not talkative, never showing emotions, his face usually expressionless.

I'd warmed that block of ice for two years, finally making it melt for me.

We began to act like a normal couple. Our quiet life slowly filled with love, gradually becoming what I had always dreamed of.

During a rogue wolf attack on our pack, Derek's heart was pierced by a silver blade, leaving him critically wounded. My mother, targeted for her healer status, was killed in the battle.

I couldn't save my own mother, and even exhausting all my abilities barely maintained Derek's vital signs. He survived, but could no longer shift into wolf form.

Without his wolf, he couldn't continue as the pack Alpha. The pack wouldn't accept an Alpha who couldn't protect them.

I knew someone as proud as him would never accept being unable to shift.

I had already lost my mother; I couldn't lose my mate too.

So I spent sleepless nights poring over my mother's grimoires, searching for a way to heal Derek.

Finally, I found it—but the price was my life force.

Derek fully recovered, while I was left with less than six months to live.

I thought these last months of my life would be my happiest time.

What I didn't expect was for this beautiful dream to shatter so quickly.

I also knew that today was the day his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Turner, returned to the pack.

So his rush to end our call was because he was going to meet the woman he'd never stopped thinking about.