Chapter 1

I was the only top-tier Healer in the entire pack.

For twenty years, I'd kept my bloodline a secret, saving ninety-nine wolves on the brink of death. Just one more, and my mother's wolf spirit would finally be cleansed — free to return to the Moon Goddess.

I'd just sent off number ninety-nine. A young wolf who'd been ripped nearly in half during a territory clash. I tossed the blood-soaked gauze into the waste bin as the silver glow faded from my fingertips, and the clinic went dark again.

"Ninety-nine." I murmured, wiping the cold sweat off my forehead.

Twenty years ago, my mother was driven off Deadfall Cliff.

The blind witch in the Black Forest told me that if I hid my true bloodline and used my Healer gift to save one hundred dying wolves — no payment, no recognition — my mother's spirit would break free of the curse and find peace with the Moon Goddess.

So that's what I did. For twenty years. I saved low-born mothers bleeding out in labor. I saved guards with their throats torn open. No matter how late the call came, I was always there.

Just one more to go.

That's when the clinic landline rang.

On the other end was the director of the territory's Healing Center, his voice cracking with panic. "Ms. Selena! Please, you have to come right now! A six-year-old pup is suffering from severe bloodline backlash — his organs are shutting down fast. You're the only one in the pack who can save him!"

I peeled off my blood-stained gloves, keeping my voice even. "What's the patient's name?"

"Leo! Alpha Marcus and Lady Lydia's only son — our future little Alpha!"

My hands went still.

Marcus. Lydia.

Those two names had circled through my nightmares for twenty years straight, and now they slammed into me without warning.

"Ms. Selena? Are you there?" The director didn't catch the silence on my end and kept pushing. "The Alpha said you can name your price! Inner city residency, an official Pack Healer title — it's all on the table!"

I said nothing.

He took my silence for hesitation and piled on more.

"If that's not enough, the Alpha is also willing to set up a dedicated fund for your clinic — you set the amount! Ms. Selena, this kind of offer is completely unprecedented! The guard unit is already on their way to pick you up!"

He laid out Marcus's offers one by one, each more desperate than the last.

What he didn't know was that the second I heard those two names, the answer was already set in stone.

"Director." My voice was perfectly calm.

"You'll do it? Wonderful! I'll arrange everything right—"

"Tell Marcus," I cut him off, each word landing like a nail, "to start picking out a coffin for his precious boy. I'm not treating him."

Dead silence on the other end. Two full seconds.

"What?! But he's only six! You've never turned anyone away — you even save strays. Why would you—"

"Because he doesn't deserve it."

I yanked the phone cord out of the wall.

The clinic stayed quiet for less than three minutes.

Then my personal phone lit up. One message. Two. A dozen — the pack's internal channel flooded in like a dam had burst.

"Who does this Healer think she is? The Alpha's son is dying and she has the nerve to refuse?"

"Drag her out! Just because she's the only Healer she thinks she can hold the Alpha's family hostage?"

"A wolf like her doesn't deserve to live on our territory!"

I glanced at the screen and turned off notifications.

The calls started coming in right after. The Healing Center. I didn't pick up. Second call, third call — five, six in a row. I rejected every single one.

The last call came from a different number. I answered.

The caller introduced himself as a messenger from the Council of Elders.

"Ms. Selena, Alpha Marcus just made a public announcement at the Healing Center — he's declared that you're refusing to save a life. He's invoking his authority as Alpha to demand you appear immediately. The entire pack is waiting for your response—"

"My response is no."

"But he's only six—"

I hung up.

The messages kept pouring in. Some people had dug up my healing records and were demanding to know why I'd saved ninety-nine but wouldn't save the hundredth.

Others claimed I was using a child's life to blackmail the Alpha. Someone had already posted my clinic's address in the channel.

I flipped my phone face-down on the table and walked to the sink to wash the leftover blood off my hands.

Save him? I would sooner let my mother's soul suffer for another hundred years than waste my final healing on my enemy's son.

I didn't have to listen to anyone.

Too bad my fiancé didn't see it that way.