Chapter 1

Wren had been reborn. When she woke, pain spread through her body without end. Outside the door, her Healer, old Elias, was pressing redial on his phone over and over.

It took Wren a long moment to realize she was still in the observation chamber. In her last life, she had been dying of Silver Blight at its final stage, and she had finally found a compatible blood donor. The donor's name was Selene Voss. Selene had shown up on her own after seeing the call for help Damon posted. But over the next year and a half, Selene backed out six times. The last time, Wren's body finally gave out, and she died in this very room. And Selene was kissing Damon under the Eiffel Tower.

This was the moment Selene had stood her up for the fourth time. Wren pulled the oxygen tube from her nose. The alarm on the monitor shrieked, and Elias rushed in.

"Elias, stop calling. Selene isn't coming. And Damon isn't coming either."

Elias opened his mouth, then shut it. He couldn't defend the man who was supposed to be a good Alpha.

A year ago, Damon really had loved Wren. When she was first diagnosed, he almost went mad. He stepped back from running the Pack and lived between the Healer's Quarters and the Blood Registry. He used every contact, offered rewards, begged allied Packs — anything to find a compatible donor for her.

During the worst of the purification treatments, Wren was just skin and bone. Her hair came out in handfuls, and she could barely sit up. More than once, she had wanted to give up. It was Damon who stayed by her bed and held her together. He held her hand and said it over and over.

"Wren, I love you. Don't give up. Don't leave me alone."

She believed him. Those words were what carried her through treatment after treatment, all the way to the day a match was found.

When Selene appeared, she was like sunlight. She was young, cheerful, had small dimples when she smiled, and spoke with a shy hesitation. She was the opposite of quiet, closed-off Wren. At first, Wren was genuinely grateful to her. She even felt sorry for her. She knew Selene's family had nothing, so on their third meeting, Wren gave her $50,000.

Damon was just as attentive. He took Selene through her checkups, helped her strengthen her body, saw to every meal, every detail.

Then things started to change. He spent more and more time with Selene. He remembered what she liked to drink, what she liked to eat, and when she mentioned offhand that she'd never seen the ocean, he flew her to the Southern Beaches.

Wren noticed. She couldn't stop herself from saying something. Damon looked at her with exhausted eyes.

"Wren, I'm a wolf too. I'm tired. I need a break sometimes."

Wren swallowed the bitterness. "Then stay a few more days. I'll be fine alone."

That same night, she walked in on Selene throwing herself into Damon's arms, the two of them kissing like they couldn't stop. Damon saw her. He didn't let Selene go. He took Selene's hand and walked her over.

"Wren. Selene and I are together now."

Wren didn't cry and didn't make a scene. She just asked one thing. "The blood donation — is she still doing it?"

"Yes. I promised I'd save you." "But Wren, what I feel for you now is only duty. The one I love is Selene."

Wren nodded. The last light in her eyes went out.

From that day on, "saving her" became one broken promise after another. Round after round of pre-op prep. Blood draws, checks, fasting, waiting. Every time, a little more of her life was burned off. Until she died in there.

In her last life, Selene's excuse for missing that surgery was that she had eaten something bad and had stomach trouble. She lay on an IV in the outpatient ward, waiting until it was too late, and only then came to Wren's room, eyes red.

"Wren… I'm so sorry. I didn't want this either." Her voice shook. Tears slid down her face one by one.

Wren was already past her limit. She had waited the whole night. Fasting, IV drips, blood, tests. Her body was already at its end, and she had held on only for this surgery. What she got was an "I'm sorry."

She snapped. She slapped Selene across the face.

The next second, she was shoved hard. Her back slammed into the bed frame. She couldn't breathe. Damon stood in front of Selene, his face cold.

"She ate something bad. She's in the outpatient ward. She didn't want this either." "You won't show any concern, and now you hit her? She never owed you her blood in the first place." "Selene is only twenty-two. She's still a kid. Can't you give her a little more time?"

Wren almost couldn't believe what she was hearing. When she started dating him, she had only been nineteen.

She lost it.