Chapter4

"I'm sorry." Chloe squeezed out the words, covering her face as she ran off.

Only Selene and I were left in the hallway. She glanced at me, her eyes falling on my palm. She paused slightly, then turned and walked away with her wolf guards.

Footsteps approached. Kael strode over, and the moment he saw me slumped in the pile of shattered glass, my hands covered in blood, his eyes instantly went red. He took a large stride forward, scooped me up into his arms, and kicked the door to the ward open without hesitation.

Kael knelt by the bed, using tweezers to pick out the glass shards from my palm.

"It must hurt," he said hoarsely, gently tying off the bandage.

I forced a weak smile. "It doesn't hurt that much. Besides... congratulations are in order first. Kael, I wish you and Chloe a happy arranged marriage. You two are a perfect match."

Kael's head snapped up. He grabbed my wrist, his jaw clenched. "Aria, listen carefully. In this lifetime, I have never agreed to any marriage arrangement other than you." He leaned in, pressing his forehead against mine. "My fated mate has always been you, from the very beginning to the end. Even if you lack a wolf spirit, my heart tells me that even if you were to die, I would absolutely never marry anyone else."

I bit my lower lip hard, not daring to let a single sob slip out, and could only squeeze my eyes shut.

Late that night, Kael was called away by an emergency page. I lay in the hospital bed when, suddenly, a faint alarm sounded from the hallway—it came from Selene's recovery room across the hall. My heart tightened violently. I forced myself up through the agonizing pain and quietly pushed the door open.

Inside the recovery room, my mother was fast asleep, but the indicator light on the machine at the head of her bed—the one purging the chronic wolfbane from her system—was flashing a frantic red. There was a critical error in the parameters. Her constitution had always been unique; if a toxic backflow and rejection occurred in her sleep, her life would be in danger. I stumbled blindly into the room. Relying on instincts honed from fifteen years of barely scraping by, I quickly disconnected the backflow valve. My fingers flew across the motherboard, recalibrating the parameters. Ten seconds later, the red light turned green, and the backflow stopped. I let out a long breath, walked over to the head of the bed, and tucked the blankets around my sleeping mother.

"Aria..." Selene's voice suddenly echoed in the darkness. She had half-opened her eyes at some point, and her complicated gaze fell on my face. "About what happened back then... as long as you're willing to admit your mistakes and repent, I can accept you back."

My tears broke like a dam in an instant. If I simply agreed, I would have a home again with my mom. But right at that moment, a wave of excruciating pain swept through my entire body! I couldn't vomit blood here. I couldn't let her know I was dying, or it would completely destroy her current peace. I clamped my hands firmly over my mouth and, under her astonished gaze, rushed out of the room.

The moment I burst into the hallway, I collided head-on with a dark figure. It was Chloe. She grabbed me firmly by the collar and snarled.

"Well, well! Sneaking into my mom's room in the middle of the night... did you go in there to steal something, you cripple?..."

Before she could finish her sentence, the emergency exit doors at the end of the floor shattered with a deafening crash. A burly silhouette strode in. The oppressive aura of an Alpha, mixed with the pungent stench of cigars and illegal suppressants, flooded the entire hallway. My pupils shrank sharply. It was Marcus.

Selene stepped out of the room at almost the exact same time, her voice trembling. "Impossible... The wolf guards are on twenty-four-hour rotating patrols. How did you..." She stared intently at that familiar scent. "You... you used illegal drugs to mask your scent and slipped past everyone's noses!"

Marcus locked eyes with her instantly and cracked a cruel grin. "Darling, long time no see!"

He slammed Selene against the wall, his hand wrapping tightly around her throat.

"My sweet Luna, where are you trying to hide? You're coming back to the old den with me. For the rest of your life, you're not going anywhere except staying in the cellar to bear my pups!" He tightened his grip frantically, dragging her away.

Selene was in her weakened recovery phase; her legs kicked out powerlessly.

Chloe collapsed to the floor, too terrified to even remember how to shift.

"Mom..." I watched the scene unfold and lunged forward.

I slammed into Marcus with all my might, opened my mouth, and viciously bit down on the arm he used to imprison my mother. Both of my hands desperately tried to pry his fingers apart.

"Let... her... go!!" A broken roar ripped from my throat.

"You have a death wish!" Marcus flew into a furious rage. With his free hand, he delivered a vicious backhand punch, slamming heavily into my body.

The sheer force of the blow sent me flying into the wall. A massive mouthful of black blood spewed from my lips. I slumped into a pool of my own blood; my vision began to darken, and my consciousness rapidly dissipated.

"No... Aria..." Selene screamed. "Why... why?"

I looked at her, wanting to tell her not to cry, wanting to tell her that I had loved her my entire life. But I no longer had the strength to even open my mouth.

A second before my vision plunged completely into darkness, the hallway doors were smashed to pieces by a brutal, explosive force. Beside my ear sounded Kael's heart-wrenching, furious roar:

"Aria—!!!!"