Chapter 1

Iris’s POV

Iris’s hands shook as she stared at the report before her in shock. “Wh…What? How can this be? Tell me this is not true!” she pleaded with the Healer, but he shook his head with a sorrowful look on his face. “I’m sorry, Luna Iris. But it’s the truth. Your daughter has the Moonbane Curse,” the Healer said gently.

It felt like her whole world came crashing down at that moment. The Moonbane Curse was one of the rarest and deadliest diseases for young werewolves, and it had no cure.

She felt like she couldn’t breathe.

She glanced at her young innocent daughter, Evie, sitting across the room. When Evie saw her looking, she gave Iris a wide smile that caused her heart to ache. Evie had so much life in her. How could this be happening to her?

“How much time does she have?” Iris asked, returning her smile with a broken heart.

He sighed. “A month,” he replied.

She whirled around to face him with wide eyes. “What? A month?! But that’s not enough!” she cried, raising her voice.

The Healer gave her a sad smile. “There’s nothing like enough time to spend with a loved one. The only thing you can do is make sure her last days are her happiest.”

Tears welled up in Iris’s eyes. Evie had been having high fever, which was very uncommon for werewolves, so she had brought her to the pack hospital for a checkup.

“What do I do now?” she cried, covering her mouth in horror. “She’s only seven! I can’t lose her!”

The Healer shook his head sadly. “I’m really sorry, Luna Iris. I really wish there was something else we could do.”

Her hands trembled as she took the test report from him. Her chest tightened as reality dawned on her. Her Evie was going to die soon.

“I don’t want to give you false hope, Luna,” the Healer sighed, “but there might be a cure for it.”

She froze. “A cure?”

Hope flooded through her, and her heart pounded in her chest as her eyes widened.

“The hospital is currently working on a cure for the Moonbane Curse. There has been very little success with the trial phase, so we're not really optimistic. But we'll keep on trying, hopefully, we might get something.”

She didn’t want to hope, but she couldn’t help it. Evie had a chance. She could get the treatment that she needed if the healers had a breakthrough.

“Mommy?” Evie’s voice came from beside her. “Are you okay? What’s wrong? Will I be fine?”

Iris wiped her eyes quickly, turning to her daughter with a fake smile. “Oh baby, of course you’ll be fine. You just need to sleep and eat a lot.” She said quickly, trying to reassure her daughter.

She bit her lips as she tried not to cry, and she collected the files from the healer.

As they walked home, Evie rambled excitedly about her eighth year birthday coming up in a month’s time, and Iris tried to control herself from crying because without a cure, Evie was going to die in a month's time also.

Evie suddenly went silent, and Iris glanced at her with concern.

“Mom?” Evie said quietly, “Can daddy come for my birthday this time? I promise, I'll be good?”

Evie rarely asked for anything else. This had always been her only wish—for her father to be present for her, but Eric was never present.

Eric Cross was the Alpha of the Blue Moon Pack, and Iris’s mate

Alpha Eric hated Evie because of Iris, and Evie was really suffering because of it. She had always craved that fatherly affection.

Iris’s heart broke, and her vision blurred with tears. At that moment she swore that she would do whatever possible to make sure that Evie got that fatherly affection, at least, until she was sure that Evie wasn’t going to die.

Immediately Iris got home, she put Evie to sleep and called Eric.

“Eric, we need to talk.” She said softly.

Iris could feel Eric’s irritation from the phone as he replied sharply. “What is it? I am very busy right now.”

She brushed off her hurt at his irritation. It was a normal occurrence, but it still hurt. “Please, you need to spend more time with Evie.” Her voice shook.

Eric scoffed in annoyance. “Iris, you know that I don't have time for any of your games. Zara needs help with her daughter, Tiffany, so I have a lot on my plate right now.”

The mention of Zara, and Tiffany, her daughter, caused Iris's heart to bleed. Zara was Eric’s first love who had disappeared several years ago, but had just returned now with her daughter, Tiffany.

Iris insisted. “But this is important, Eric.” It took everything in her to keep herself from breaking down at that moment.

He released an annoyed growl. “What could be so important that you kee—”

She cut him off. “Evie is very sick. She's going to die soon.”