Chapter 5

The middleman had the signed consent in hand. The Healer hardened his face. The money was already paid. Backing out now was impossible.

Then there was the added artificial heart core to install. More money after, he decided. He turned to his assistant. "Prep for surgery."

Caleb felt like he'd been sleeping for a long time. He opened his eyes with a groan. A clean, white wall.

His body felt like lead. He could only roll his head to look around. A hospital room.

He remembered — he'd been driving to confront his would-be Mate when the crash happened.

His people must not have heard. Otherwise someone would be at his bedside.

The door opened. He saw who walked in, and every piece snapped together.

He clawed at the blanket and fought to sit up.

"Your heart's doing well in Serena. No rejection," my father said.

Caleb hadn't even got his hospital gown unbuttoned before the verdict landed.

"No one's fault but yours. You forgot the accident we set up for Elara. You drove straight into it. The Healer didn't know. He operated on the spot."

"No —" Caleb's voice cracked. "No. I didn't consent. You can't just —"

"Watch what you say. You signed the paperwork. You even requested the artificial heart core yourself. We have the records." The Healer slipped in on cue, ready to clear himself.

"And the outstanding balance on the procedure is yours to settle, by the way."

The Healer held Caleb's bloodshot stare just long enough to finish, then left fast.

Caleb slammed his fist against the mattress. "You forged my signature."

My father snorted. "The driver took his cut and ran. How you explain him is your problem. I'm not going to argue with you. Rest up. I've got Serena covered."

Caleb wanted to dig for every answer, but he couldn't even turn over. He lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to pinpoint the moment it had gone wrong.

No one else came. He had to hire his own Pack servant.

He paid well. The care was half-hearted.

The food came wrong. Ingredients he couldn't have. Half-cold.

He stared at a bowl of congealed broth and remembered that I'd once cooked for him.

The Pack Heiress who'd never touched a stove had spent an entire morning at one, covered in burn blisters, to hand him one bowl of edible porridge.

He'd tasted it and snapped at me. "You know I'm sick. Food tastes like nothing to me right now. Why would you make something this bland? Are you afraid I'll actually enjoy a bite?"

That bowl had sat cooling in the kitchen until the housekeeper dumped it.

Now he would trade anything for one mouthful.

He hadn't understood then. It wasn't about flavor. That bowl had been full of love.

Serena, in contrast, was getting top-tier care. She was recovering faster.

More than once, she'd thanked him through tears. "I heard something went wrong, and you felt so guilty you offered your own heart. Caleb — I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

He couldn't be generous enough to accept it. He couldn't admit the truth either.

Inside him was a buried mine. It ached. And any wrong step would blow him apart.

I turned down every listing Damon sent me. I told him, "I want to live in the Manor."

This was where I grew up. It had belonged to my mother before she was ever Bonded. Like the Pack shares, it was all in my name.

I wasn't handing it over.

The day the ceremony wrapped, I went back to clear out my father's things.

Once I'd had the place scrubbed — every window seal, every corner — and the whole layout rearranged, uninvited guests showed up.

My father walked in with Serena.

He saw his things packed into the storage room and started shaking.

"You'd throw your own father out of his home? The world's flipping upside down."

"So call the Enforcers," I said, easy.

He jabbed a finger at me and shouted at the hall. "Where is security? Throw this ungrateful pup out!"

No Pack Warrior came in. Instead, Caleb walked in slowly.

It had only been days. He looked ten years older.

His face matched my father's now.

"Elara. For three years I gave you everything. I pulled you out of your grief. How could you betray me without blinking?"

"Or maybe you hid it well. Maybe you were always a wandering she-wolf at heart."

"If you ever regret this, don't bother coming back. I don't take scraps."

I wasn't wasting breath on him.

"By end of tomorrow, have everything out. After that, I handle it myself."

"One more thing. We probably won't see each other again. So let me say it now — when you die, don't bother telling me. You won't be buried in our Ancestor's Howling Grove anyway. I'm not letting you foul my mother's rest."

Before my father could react, I looked back and forth between Caleb and Serena.

"Let me do one kind thing. Since you two found my bed so exciting, I've had it cleared out — mattress, bedding, all of it. You can have it."