All Chapters of After Repaying the Seven Lives I Owed My Alpha, I Left Him: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

“Ariana, Dylan only went with me to see the healer. Please don’t blame him.”Eva stood in the doorway, holding a steaming cup of moonherb tonic.Tonight was the Moonlight Festival.Dylan had promised me two weeks ago that he would take me into town to see the moon lanterns.I had always loved the festival, and he had promised to find me the brightest moon lantern in the entire city.An hour earlier, we had been walking through the lantern market together.The celebration had barely begun when several rogues broke through the outer line of guards. Screams tore through the square as people scattered in every direction.Dylan caught my hand at once and pulled me close. “Stay with me.”Then Eva screamed as a rogue lunged through the crowd toward her.Dylan reacted before anyone else. He let go of me, shifted, and threw himself between Eva and the rogue.The guards brought the rogue down almost immediately, but the crowd surged in panic. Someone slammed into my shoulder from behind, and I l

“It’s only a dress, Ariana. Did you really have to make Eva get on her knees over it?”Dylan’s voice rang through the room, anger barely held in check.I stood beside the table, staring at the white gown crumpled across the floor.Dylan and I had completed our mating mark three years ago, but we had never held the formal Marking Ceremony. The ceremony had been postponed again and again because of pack affairs, and this year he had finally promised we would do it properly.We had chosen the gown together.Now the skirt had been torn nearly from hem to waist, and dark moonberry dye soaked through the white fabric.Eva knelt beside it with tears streaming down her face. “Ariana, I swear I didn’t mean to. I only wanted to help move the gown before the ceremony. I tripped, and the dye spilled…”Dylan immediately bent to pull her up. “Get up. Your ankle hasn’t healed yet.”Eva refused to move. “If Ariana won’t forgive me, I’m not getting up.”Dylan’s brow tightened. “Ariana, enough. She’s al

Dylan's POVThings only got worse.By the third day after Ariana left, Silver Moon Pack was already beginning to unravel.The patrols were the first problem.An unfamiliar pack crossed our eastern border, yet our wolves didn't detect their scent until they had already passed the second boundary line."This never used to happen."The Beta in charge of the border looked grim."Luna performs a Blessing at the Moon Altar every month. When the pack wards are stable, we can sense an outsider the moment they enter our territory."My head snapped up."She's only missed one Blessing. How could things fall apart this badly?"The old priest said nothing. His face was grave, and there was something in the way he looked at me that I couldn't understand.That night, three newly shifted wolves became dangerously agitated. One lost control on the training grounds and nearly tore into his own brother.The infirmary descended into chaos. Then a young wolf came down with a fever that wouldn't break, even

Ariana's POVDuring my first month at the Herbal Institute, I barely left the laboratory.We treated werewolves from packs all over the world.Silver wounds. Wolf poison. Unstable wolves. Patients who had lost the ability to shift properly after the death of a Mate.For the first time, I saw just how badly some wolves suffered after losing their Mate.Some could no longer complete a shift. Others lost control every full moon.A few still needed sedatives to sleep more than a decade after their Mate had died.One day, an older wolf who had lost his Mate twelve years earlier suddenly went feral in the infirmary.It took three healers to restrain him.Once the sedative finally took effect, he slumped against the bed, drenched in sweat."Isn't there anything else?"I didn't answer.According to every medical text we had, there was only one answer.No.I spent the entire night reading his case file.When the chief apothecary came to find me the next morning, my desk was buried beneath pages

Ariana's POVFor a long time after that, I heard nothing about Dylan.By the time the Wolf Stabilizer entered its third stage of trials, spring had arrived the following year.Nine of the first twelve patients regained stable control of their shifts.One woman had lost her Mate fifteen years earlier.On the night of the full moon, she made it through without sedatives for the first time.She stood in the observation room and cried for a long time."I thought this was how I was going to live for the rest of my life."I handed the latest trial notes to the chief apothecary."We can lower the dosage for the next group."He took the pages, skimmed through them, and suddenly smiled."Ariana, do you know what this means?"I shook my head."It means wolves who lose a Mate to death, rejection, or Bond Severance may not have to lose the rest of their lives with them."A month later, the Nordic Wolf Alliance formally established a new research division dedicated to post-bond wolf instability.I