All Chapters of When Rain Turned to Snow, I Stopped Waiting for My Mate: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

I was trapped in the blacked-out animal facility for three hours.The research building stood ten feet away, every window blazing with light.I sat alone in the darkness, clutching my lab notebook, completely forgotten.The rash on my arms spread wider, inch by inch.Lina had been assigned to the animal facility that night.But she said she was scared, and Arthur excused her from the shift.My feelings didn't matter.By 10:30 p.m., a young werewolf from the neighboring lab opened the animal facility door. By then, I had lost all feeling in my body.When he asked if I was okay, I pulled the soaking lab coat tighter around myself, shook my head, and said the words I'd learned by heart."I'm fine."Seven years ago, when I first joined the lab, a test animal suddenly went wild. Terrified, I huddled in a corner.Arthur dropped everything and came straight to me."Irene, what are you afraid of? I'm right here with you."Later, he told me to be independent."In research, no one can always be

The animal death reports were spread across Marcus's desk.He rubbed his temples wearily."Arthur says the entry records show that you were the only researcher inside the animal facility last night. Irene, explain."I pushed my notebook across the table."The animals were fine when I went in."The temperature changed after the power outage. We need to cross-check the monitoring system with the operation logs."I didn't panic. In research, facts always mattered more than tears.The door swung open.Lina stood there, eyes red and swollen, tears streaking down her pale cheeks."Dr. Hayward, I'm sorry."I was supposed to be in the animal facility yesterday, but I'd never handled those test animals before, and there was a lot I didn't know. So Irene took my shift. If only I had gone..."She didn't admit fault, yet she still managed to win everyone's sympathy.I turned on my laptop and said, "The facility settings were modified last night. And according to the system log, the account that ch

The dry, crisp New York air felt wonderful against my skin now that my fever was gone.The Moonridge Medical Research Institute even sent a senior colleague to pick me up.He gave me an enthusiastic tour of the facilities and introduced me to every ongoing project.As I was leaving, everyone waved."If you need help with anything, just ask. Don't hold back."Their bright, open smiles left me dazed for a moment.When I was Arthur's mate, I never dared show my weaknesses or admit there were things about wolf genetics I didn't understand.I never dared admit when I didn't know something, and I never dared ask too many questions.Because I was terrified of seeing him frown and hearing him say, "Irene, how can you still not understand something so simple?"Over and over, I trained myself to hide what I didn't know and figure it out on my own.So I learned to research everything in advance and solve every problem before showing him my work.I only showed him the best version of myself.But t

It took Arthur this long to notice just how quiet the Institute could be.He had never realized it before.Irene's seat was only ten feet from his lab bench.She used to arrive earlier than anyone else.By 7:30 every morning, the lab lights were already on.When he walked in, she would look up from her computer and smile."Morning, Arthur."Then she would hand him a bottle of water. Sometimes coffee.Sometimes she would hand him data she had stayed up all night organizing.He never thought any of it was anything special. It had gone on for so long.Long enough that he assumed it was simply what a mate was supposed to do.Marcus happened to come across some old experiment records that documented Irene's work in detail."First model failure: Irene stayed in the lab for 48 consecutive hours."Third failure: independently reviewed 126 papers."Fifth failure: redesigned the protocol."Marcus couldn't help but marvel."Arthur, did you know? When Irene first came here, she really wasn't cut o

Three days after the conference, Arthur received an email notification.It was a newsletter from the Moonridge Clinical Research Center in New York."Retinal Disease Screening Model Completes Multi-Center Clinical Validation."Lead researcher: Irene Carter.He stared at that familiar name for so long that the screen in front of him went dark on its own.Before, whenever he saw Irene's name, he instinctively thought of the words he always attached to it.Arthur's Irene. His student. His research partner.Now, there was nothing after her name.Just her, carrying the weight and the mission on her own.Marcus saw the look on his face and asked casually, "What's wrong?"Arthur's voice was rough. He turned the screen toward Marcus."Irene's project was published."Marcus looked surprised for a moment, then smiled."I saw. She's doing well in that field."The truth is, she was always better suited to translational research. You just kept pushing her toward the kind of research you were good a