Chapter 1

I said, "I'm heading over to the Royal Healing Center in the werewolf kingdom for further training next month, Mr. Grey. This is my resignation letter."

Thomas Grey, the director of the healing center, looked at me in surprise. "Why so sudden?"

I gave the explanation I had prepared in advance. "My mate is in the werewolf kingdom. I plan to bring my pup there so we can reunite as a family."

At the mention of my mate, Mr. Grey nodded meaningfully and approved my resignation.

I recalled how I was stopped in my tracks by the hushed whispers inside as I passed by the preparation room yesterday.

"Chief Healer Evan said the mark suppressant has to be ready by today. Don't forget to increase the dosage."

"Harper's been taking it for six years now. Her tolerance must have increased."

I was surprised. When had I ever taken something like that?

"But Harper's really pitiful. She isn't aware she's been drugged all this while. She had always thought something was wrong with her body for not being able to retain her mark, but she has no idea we've been tampering with her meals every week."

"Well, now that Selena's back, helping Chief Healer Evan keep the truth from his mate just makes things easier for him and his childhood sweetheart."

I stood frozen in the shadows, the pain in my long-numb heart returning all over again.

Evan Stone was my superior, as well as the father of my pup.

Seven years ago, I was still working as his apothecary. During one heat-driven fever, we ended up having our pup, Toby Stone.

This year marked the sixth year we had been secretly mated.

Not only was this the sixth year Evan refused to let Toby call him "Daddy", it was also the sixth year I had been desperately searching for treatments to fix my health, all because my mark kept fading.

Swallowing the metallic taste rising in my throat, I shoved my thoughts to the back of my mind and walked away quickly.

As I rounded the corner, I ran straight into Evan and Selena Meadows.

His pace was slow, as if deliberately matching the she-wolf beside him. She held a patient chart in one hand while lightly gripping the edge of his white coat with the other.

Their intimacy was almost blinding.

Yesterday's conversation echoed in my mind again as we walked past each other. Unable to stop myself, I called out, "Evan—"

Evan stopped walking. His expression was cold when he said, "Ms. Lundell."

The polite, distant way he addressed me carried a warning beneath it. It was as if he was reminding me that this was a healing center, and we were merely superiors and subordinates here.

I understood what Evan was trying to say and quietly reined in all my emotions.

He glanced at me once yet didn't stop walking, passing by as if I were a stranger.

I let out a bitter smile and swallowed the resignation I had been about to tell Evan about.

After all, he wouldn't care.

My mind-link buzzed as I received a message from Toby. "Mommy, will Daddy be back to celebrate my birthday?"

I froze for a moment and instinctively looked back, only to see Evan speaking softly to Selena with his head lowered.

An emergency stretcher hurried past, and he instinctively drew her into his arms to shield her. The tenderness and possessiveness in his eyes were impossible to hide.

I suppressed the wave of bitterness in my chest and still reached out to Evan through the mind-link. "It's Toby's birthday today. Are you free tonight?"

Across the corridor, I saw him stiffen slightly, as if being interrupted by an out-of-place noise.

For a long moment, no reply came. I let out a quiet, self-mocking laugh.

Don't you get it yet, Harper? Everyone knew you were Evan's mate, but none of them believed it'd work.

Why bother hoping when you knew all along his heart could never be yours?

Shaking my head, I turned to leave.

You'd be free soon, Evan.