Chapter 3

The bone-chilling cold seeped through the snow into her very bones. Marcella's vision was already starting to blur.

"Help me..." Marcella begged silently in her heart. "Shadow, let me shift..."

"You're crazy! You've been poisoned by wolf venom!" Shadow's voice trembled violently. "The Lycanthrope Thistle has already entered your bloodstream. If you force the shift, the toxin will make you wish you were dead!"

"I don't care! Stella is still waiting for me!"

Marcella suddenly released all her power and forced the transformation.

"Crack—" The sound of shattering bones exploded in the quiet snowy night.

Marcella threw her head back, and with a piercing howl, a silver-gray giant wolf nearly 9 feet long appeared on the highway.

Shadow let out a wail in her consciousness. The pain of her soul being burned by the toxin made the giant wolf convulse violently all over.

Marcella clenched her fangs tight, kicked off with her hind legs, and raced toward the city dozens of miles away.

The wind and snow scraped against her wounds, bringing waves of excruciating pain.

On the snow, she left a trail of blood-red paw prints.

"Faster... faster..." Marcella's consciousness was already fading. She relied purely on the instinct of a mother wolf, driving this broken body forward.

Wolf Clan Medical Center

A blood-soaked mother wolf crashed heavily to the ground, sliding several feet and knocking over a row of metal waiting chairs.

Screams erupted throughout the hall.

The mother wolf twitched twice on the ground, unable to maintain her beast form any longer. Amid the twisted grinding of bones, she was forced back into human form.

Hearing the commotion, wolf doctor Miles Smith strode through the crowd of onlookers.

When he saw clearly the body lying in the pool of blood, his breathing stopped abruptly.

"Marcella?!" Miles's eyes turned red as he dropped to his knees.

He reached out to hold her, his hand hovering in mid-air, but found he didn't know where to touch.

Even her most minor wounds had torn flesh with barbs, the skin curled back and blackened, giving off the distinctive withered smell of Lycanthrope Thistle.

Miles yanked open the first aid kit, trembling as he pulled out a silver tube syringe and pushed the entire dose of high-concentration antidote into her.

The medicine worked quickly.

After the wolf poison was neutralized, Marcella's healing ability kicked in.

A wisp of gray-silver light seeped from her chest, and the wounds began to scab over at a visible rate.

Miles's eyes welled up with tears. Just as he was about to carry Marcella to the emergency room, the person in his arms slowly opened her eyes.

Marcella's blurred vision began to focus, making out the face before her.

Miles, her friend who had once survived life and death with her.

Marcella struggled to sit up.

"Don't move!" Miles's grip was firm, his voice tense. "You're badly hurt!"

Marcella clutched Miles's sleeve desperately, her voice dry and hoarse: "Take me... to see Stella."

Miles looked at her broken state, his chest tight with pain: "Are you crazy? You can barely stand!"

"The doctor said Stella's Lycanthropic Decay has kicked in." Marcella grabbed Miles's wrist with her other hand, using all her strength: "Take me to see her..."

Seeing her pleading look, Miles swallowed back all his words of persuasion.

"Okay." He agreed in a low voice, bending down to carry her in his arms. "I'll take you."

Outside the intensive care unit, through the glass window, Marcella saw her daughter lying in the hospital bed.

Her tiny body was covered with tubes, her nostrils stuffed with cotton to stop the bleeding, yet blood still seeped through.

"Don't worry, the fever's broken and the nosebleed has stopped." Miles reassured her. "She's okay for now. But we still need to get Vincent's essence blood as soon as possible."

Get Vincent's essence blood?

She wanted that more than anyone, but...

Marcella smiled bitterly, wiping the blood from her face with her sleeve, and pushed open the door.

As if sensing her mother's presence, Stella struggled to open her eyes: "Mommy..."

"Mommy's here, Mommy's right here." Marcella pressed her face against the bed rail, forcing out a smile.

Stella struggled to move her eyes, looking toward the empty doorway behind Marcella.

She stared for a while, her large amber eyes filling with tears.

"Mommy... where's Daddy?"

"Daddy's too busy." Marcella tried to sound cheerful. "Stella knows Daddy is the Alpha of the pack. Once he's done with his work, he'll come save you right away."

Stella's lip quivered, and tears poured out.

"Mommy's lying. The other little werewolves all say... I'm an illegitimate child..."

Marcella's heart broke. She could no longer care about her wounds and pulled her daughter into her arms.

"They're lying! Stella is not an illegitimate child! You're Mommy and Daddy's precious baby. One day, Daddy will come get you himself. He'll drive away everyone who bullied you..."

Perhaps the security of her mother's embrace comforted her, because Stella gradually fell asleep while crying.

Miles pushed the door open, grabbed Marcella's wrist, and despite her struggles, forcibly carried her to the emergency room.

In the emergency room, Miles's eyes were full of anger: "Take off your clothes!"

Marcella stood there numbly: "Miles, I'm fine. I want to go back and stay with Stella."

"Look at yourself!" Miles cursed, which was rare for him. He directly cut open the bloodstained torn jacket Marcella was wearing.

The moment the fabric fell away, even Miles, who was used to seeing serious injuries, couldn't help but tear up.

Although her wounds had scabbed over, twenty whip marks crisscrossed her back, her body was covered with bruises from bites, and her lower body was even more tragic, with dried fluids and blood scabs giving off the brutal scent of the Alpha.

Miles ground his teeth: "Vincent is a blind mad wolf!"

Marcella didn't respond, lying quietly on the treatment bed, letting Miles clean and treat her wounds.

Just as Miles had finished treating her injuries, a girl's painful crying suddenly came from the corridor outside.

Marcella's whole body stiffened. She pushed Miles aside and rushed out: "Stella!"

Miles cursed under his breath and immediately followed.

The corridor was in chaos, the door to the intensive care unit wide open, and the room empty.

"Where's Stella! Where's my child!" Marcella grabbed a nurse's shoulder, her eyes bloodshot.

The nurse stammered in fright: "Just now... Ms. Wendy Shaw came in with two people from the Luthor Pack, blocked us outside the door... she took Stella directly... went to the terrace."

Wendy was her half-sister.

Marcella's whole body went cold as she stumbled toward the terrace.

Wendy stood at the edge of the third-floor open terrace.

She wore a custom-made pure white cashmere coat, her long curled hair flying in the wind.

And in her arms, she was holding Stella, who wore only a thin hospital gown.

"Mommy..." Stella was being choked and let out a weak whimper.

"Wendy!" Marcella scrambled over. "What are you doing! Give Stella back to me!"

Wendy looked at the disheveled Marcella and laughed: "Are you here to take my child from me?"

While laughing, Wendy pressed Stella against the railing, half her body already leaning over the edge.

If she let go, below was a cement ground dozens of feet down.

"No! Please don't!" Marcella's knees buckled as she knelt on the ground, kowtowing desperately. "Sis, you hate me, take my life, but Stella is innocent!"

"This is my child with Vincent." Wendy stroked Stella's cheek with a crazed expression. "Marcella, you bitch, don't even think about stopping our family reunion!"

"You're not really crazy, are you!" Marcella screamed hoarsely. "That video was faked by you! You also tampered with the genetic test report! Wendy, if you want Vincent, I'll give him to you! I'll take Stella and leave this city. I'm begging you to give me back my child!"

Wendy looked at Marcella's state, a flash of satisfaction in her eyes.

She bent down slightly and whispered a few words: "Marcella, I want you to live a life worse than death."

The moment the words fell, Wendy slowly let go.

"No—!" Marcella let out a piercing scream.

Stella's body lost its support and fell straight from the terrace.

"Mommy!" Stella's weak cry was instantly scattered by the wind and snow.

Marcella summoned all her wolf power, bursting with amazing speed as she lunged toward the railing.

Her fingertips brushed the corner of Stella's hospital gown.

She caught nothing.