Chapter 4

After saying that, Celia shifted her weight and collapsed into the snow.

She was clever enough not to look unharmed. She pressed her wounded forearm into the frozen ground until more blood soaked through her sleeve, then curled up on the retreat path as if she had barely escaped the rogues herself.

By the time Adrian found her, the ravine had already swallowed me.

I could not hear what she told him, but I could imagine it. She would say she saw me leave the rear line and rush toward the ridge despite her warning. She would say she followed to pull me back, and that was how the rogue caught her arm.

Adrian would believe her.

He always did.

Ever since my parents died in a rogue ambush, being abandoned had been my deepest fear. Back then, Adrian had been the one to bring me from the empty Hart house into the Alpha house. He had told me that no matter what others thought, I was his fated mate.

That was why I had tried to follow every order during the winter hunt, even with Celia there.

I wanted one safe day where no one could call me a burden beside him.

Instead, I nearly left my wolf in that ravine.

The memory made me tremble. My wounds hurt, my bones felt split by cold, and the place inside me where my wolf should have been remained silent.

Before I could steady myself, Adrian stepped to the side of the bed and pulled the blanket back.

“Apologize.”

The sudden movement sent pain tearing through my injured leg. Blood seeped through the fresh bandage and spread in a dark stain.

“If not for you, Celia’s forearm would not be injured,” he said. “She is one of Frostpine’s best border archers. If she can never draw a bow properly again, how will you repay her?”

Pain blurred my vision, but I said nothing.

Only then did Adrian notice the blood.

His face changed. He turned on Caleb, his voice cold.

“What is this? You said these were only external wounds. Why is she still bleeding?”

Caleb stiffened for half a second before smoothing his expression.

“Alpha, I check on her every day. The medicine is delivered on schedule. If she isn’t healing, it only means she isn’t cooperating.”

Celia followed at once, soft as ever.

“Elena, I know you’re angry, but you can’t gamble with your own body. This only makes Adrian worry more.”

Adrian looked back at me.

“You won’t even care for your own wolf now?”

I looked at him and almost said it.

Caleb had never truly treated me. His checks were nothing more than peeling back the wounds, glancing at them, and covering them with common herbs. The medicine meant to stabilize my wolf had never reached my room.

But I swallowed the words.

Adrian would not believe me.

He never had.

He released the blanket and left the room with anger still in every step. Outside the door, I heard him mutter that he had spoiled me too much over the years, and that was why I had become like this.

Then he stopped.

I knew he was still worried. The mate bond was incomplete, but not dead. Maybe he could feel my wolf sinking bit by bit. But whenever that unease rose, Celia always knew how to pull him back.

Sure enough, her voice soon came from the corridor.

“Adrian, Elena is resisting treatment too much. Maybe you should be stricter. Maybe… cancel the bonding ceremony completely.”

“No.”

Adrian answered without hesitation.

“I want her to admit what she did. I don’t want her gone.”

Celia fell quiet for a moment.

“But hurting herself like this hurts you too.”

“I said no.”

This time his voice was heavier.

My fingers slowly tightened around the sheet.

So he did not want to lose me.

He only believed I would never leave. Because I was his fated mate, he thought I would always stay where he left me, waiting for him to turn back. He could doubt me, blame me, choose Celia again and again, and still expect me to be grateful for a place beside him in the end.

How ridiculous.

I no longer had an end with him.

Celia seemed to hear the certainty in his voice. The next moment, her tone weakened.

“I’ll listen to you. I only…”

She did not finish.

The corridor burst into movement.

Adrian’s voice changed at once.

“Celia? Is your arm hurting again?”

His footsteps hurried away. He carried her to the healer as if one more second might break her in his arms.