Chapter 5

My hand trembled as I answered the call.

“Aria, I’m downstairs. Come down for a minute. I need to see you.”

Wasn’t he… supposed to be in Canada by now? Could he have remembered my condition and decided to stay and complete our mating bond after all?

I struggled out of bed. My fading wolf spirit made me so weak I could barely stand, but I slowly, deliberately, made my way outside.

Maybe this would be the last time I ever saw him.

Downstairs, Logan was waiting for me, bathed in the cool light of the moon.

“Aria, I wanted to apologize for last night,” he began, his brow furrowing as he took in my appearance. “You look terrible. Are you sick?”

I just shook my head, conserving my strength.

“I know you’re probably disappointed, but Lila’s situation is really serious,” Logan continued, his voice earnest. “The healer said the wolf toxin in her system is a rare type. She needs a special serum from Canada and has to get there within forty-eight hours, or she could die.”

My last glimmer of hope was extinguished. He wasn’t here to choose me; he was just here to deliver his final decision.

“Why does it have to be you?” I asked, the words costing me more than he could ever know. “She could find someone else. You could send someone with her.”

Logan frowned. “Aria, are you being unreasonable? How can I let her go alone in her condition? And I wouldn’t trust anyone else with this.”

“So you can just abandon me?”

“I didn’t abandon you; I postponed the ceremony,” he said, his tone matter-of-fact. “When I get back, I’ll give you an even grander mating ceremony, better than we ever planned.”

I closed my eyes, my own wolf spirit withering inside me.

Less than six hours until the full moon.

“Logan, if I told you I was dying, would you stay?” I looked straight into his eyes, laying my last shred of hope bare.

Logan stared at me for a long second, then chuckled. “Come on, Aria, stop being so dramatic. Why are you competing with a fragile human for my attention?”

Just then, his phone rang.

The screen showed “Lila.”

He answered instantly.

“Lila? What’s wrong?” His voice softened with concern. “Is the pain bad? Okay, don’t move. I’m on my way over right now. We’ll leave for Canada immediately.”

After hanging up, he pulled me into a quick, hurried hug.

“Aria, I have to go. It’s an emergency with Lila,” he whispered in my ear. “Wait for me. When I get back, I’ll make you my Luna. I’ll give you the perfect mating ceremony.”

Then he let me go and strode toward the car waiting at the curb.

I just stood there and watched the taillights of his car disappear into the night.

The moonlight spilled over my pale face. I touched the nape of my neck. It was still bare.

In five hours, I would be dead.

And Logan, the Alpha I had loved for so many years, was on his way to the airport, ready to leave the country with another woman.

He never believed I would die. And he never believed I would leave him.

In the car, Logan glanced in the rearview mirror at Aria’s solitary figure, silhouetted by the moon.

Her lonely form sent a sharp, inexplicable pain through him, an Alpha instinct screaming that he was losing something vital.

Logan stared at her shrinking silhouette, his heart clenching painfully. He had a powerful, primal urge to tell the driver to turn around, to go back and hold her and tell her he wasn’t leaving.

Just as he was about to speak, his phone rang.

It was Lila.

Logan looked at the glowing screen and said nothing.

As the private jet was about to take off, Logan fussed over a sleeping Lila while giving clipped orders to his assistant.

“Book the best hotel, I want the entire top floor,” Logan said in a low voice. “And contact the finest jewelry designer. I want to commission a one-of-a-kind set for Aria.”

“Alpha, what’s the budget?”

“There is no budget.” Logan glanced at Lila’s pale face. “I’m giving Aria the best of everything as a gift for the mating ceremony.”

Logan was confident his lavish gifts would make Aria happy.

“Also, I want to re-plan the mating ceremony. Make it three times bigger. Invite every notable family in the shifter community.”

After giving his orders, Logan gently touched Lila’s forehead. Her temperature was still high; she really did seem to be in agony.

“Don’t worry, we’re about to take off. We’ll be there soon,” he murmured.

As the plane taxied down the runway, Logan suddenly remembered something. “I recall the pack healer saying Aria’s wolf spirit was weak,” he said to his assistant. “That I had to get back and mark her before her first heat, or she would die. Contact the healer, find out the exact timing. Then arrange our schedule in Canada. Make sure nothing delays my return to Aria’s side.”

A moment later, his assistant’s voice trembled. “Alpha… Aria’s first heat. It’s tonight. The full moon.”

Logan froze, his gaze shooting to the vast, round moon outside the window.

A cold sweat broke out on his back. He roared, “Stop this plane!”