Chapter 7

I assumed that after Mom and Dad had tacitly approved, Alpha Kael would seize the opportunity to accept Chloe's confession and sever our mate bond.

A year ago, when his relationship with Chloe had grown intimate, he'd already severed our mind-link. Surely he'd wanted to break our bond even then?

But to my surprise, he refused.

"Don't bring this up again. My Luna will only ever be Elena. I'm going to check if she's awake."

He strode into my hospital room, but found no trace of me. He grabbed Healer Mara by the arm,

"Where's Elena? She just had kidney donation surgery—why isn't she in her room?"

Healer Mara froze, then spoke carefully,

"The kidney donor? She died during the operation."

Kael's body trembled. Disbelief flooded his voice,

"What did you say?"

Healer Mara repeated herself, then added after a pause,

"I tried to tell you right after surgery, but none of you cared about her. You all followed the other patient instead."

Kael staggered backward two steps before catching his balance. His lips moved soundlessly,

"Impossible. I don't believe it!"

He spun and sprinted toward the operating room.

But the surgery room stood empty. Not a soul in sight.

He searched frantically until finally finding me in the cold morgue.

His hands shook violently. It took several attempts before he could grasp the white sheet covering my body.

When he pulled it back and saw my pale corpse, he collapsed as if struck by lightning, his legs giving out beneath him.

He tried repeatedly to stand but couldn't manage it. Finally he simply sat on the floor and wept,

"Elena, you're playing a joke on me, aren't you? Wake up! This isn't funny! It was just a simple kidney transplant—how could you die?"

I floated above him, reaching out to touch the top of his head. My hand passed through like air.

So he could cry for me after all. But I was already dead. I couldn't even comfort him anymore.

He struggled to his feet and cradled my corpse, refusing to let go until his Beta dragged Healer Mara before him.

Kael wiped away his tears and seized the healer by her collar, snarling,

"You're supposed to be the Blood River Pack's best healer! Why did Elena die? You killed her! You'll pay with your life!"

Healer Mara's eyes filled with terrified tears as she desperately defended herself,

"This wasn't my fault! You never told me Miss Elena had been poisoned with Wolfsbane—that it had already invaded her bone marrow! Even without this surgery, she was already dying!"

Kael's pupils constricted. Even his voice trembled,

"She was really poisoned? She wasn't lying to me?"

Kael had heard me say that Chloe poisoned me, but Chloe had played the victim so pitifully, insisting I was a liar. Even my own parents had called me deceitful.

He'd believed them. When my parents and sister all said the same thing, he'd assumed my character was flawed.

So he'd grown colder toward me while drawing closer to Chloe.

But now Healer Mara was saying I'd truly been poisoned—that I'd been terminally ill all along, with no hope of survival.

Before Kael could recover from this shock, Healer Mara delivered an even more devastating revelation,

"There's more—Miss Elena only had one kidney! When you ordered us to transplant her kidney to someone else, you were condemning her to death!"

Kael's face went deathly pale.

"What did you just say?"

Healer Mara's voice grew stronger, fueled by her own sense of injustice,

"Elena only had one kidney remaining! Years ago, she must have donated her other kidney to someone. By taking her last one, you killed her—even if the Wolfsbane hadn't!"

"But you all signed the consent forms. The surgery couldn't proceed without family and mate authorization. You're all responsible for her death!"

Kael released Healer Mara and stumbled backward, his face ashen.

Five years ago. The kidney transplant for Dad.

Everyone believed Chloe had been the donor. But what if it had been me all along?

What if everything I'd said was true—that Chloe had me kidnapped, stole my kidney, and left me to die in the Shadowlands?

His wolf howled in anguish inside him, thrashing against his ribs.

Kael's legs gave out again. He collapsed beside my body, his hands trembling as he touched my cold face,

"Elena... what have I done to you?"

His voice cracked as the full weight of his betrayal crashed down on him.

I watched from above, my dead heart feeling nothing. Not satisfaction. Not vindication. Just... emptiness.

The tears I'd longed to see him cry for me were finally flowing. But I was beyond caring.

In the corridor outside, I could hear Mom's wolf suddenly howling in distress—that primal instinct she'd ignored finally breaking through.

She burst into the morgue, saw my body, and let out a scream that shattered the air,

"No! No! Not my Elena! Not my baby!"

Too late, Mother. Far too late.

Dad followed behind her, his face crumbling as he saw me lying there—lifeless, drained, discarded like trash.

The three people who should have loved me most stood around my corpse, finally mourning.

But their grief meant nothing to my wandering soul.

I turned away from them and drifted toward the room where Chloe lay recovering—wearing my kidney, wrapped in their love, adorned with Kael's precious Moonstone necklace.

Soon they would learn the full truth. Soon Chloe's lies would unravel.

And I would watch it all with dead eyes, feeling nothing.

Because even their belated remorse couldn't bring me back.