My consciousness was fading, yet I instinctively activated the communication sigil Evan had left me.
The runes lit up and were answered quickly.
His voice came through, edged with clear impatience.
“Do not contact me again. You are already an adult she wolf. Can you not even handle your own problems.”
Breathing became difficult. My throat felt clogged with hot mist, my chest rising and falling with painful effort.
“Evan, I… I feel terrible. Something is wrong. Could you…”
Before I could finish, another voice slipped in gently.
It was Karen.
“Diana, please stop bothering him.” His tone was soft, carrying a faint hint of complaint. “He has been taking care of me all day and is very tired. Since you are still his mate, you should be more considerate of him.”
The communication sigil went dark at once.
In that instant, it felt as if cold water had been poured over me from head to toe, and my mind cleared for a brief moment.
I immediately activated Alfred’s sigil.
He arrived quickly.
When he pushed open the stone door to the guest room, I was already soaked in cold sweat, the animal hides beneath me damp as if pulled from a river.
His expression changed instantly, and his first instinct was to contact Evan.
I reached out and stopped him, my voice faint.
“I already tried.”
A shadow passed through Alfred’s eyes, a mixture of pain and helplessness. He said nothing, only lifted me carefully.
He took me away from the Chandler family territory.
Along the way, I lay in the beast cart, barely able to stay conscious, and softly asked him to take me to another healing camp.
Alfred hesitated.
“The distance is far,” he said. “With your condition, you may not hold on. The nearest healing point is in the main clan territory. It is only a quarter hour away.”
“Do not go there.” I shook my head, my tone unusually firm. “Take me where I said.”
He was silent for a moment, then nodded.
“Alright. But you must hold on. I will go as fast as I can.”
He urged the beast cart to speed up, the night wind carrying a biting chill as it rushed in.
The Chandler family healing camp was the most powerful on this land.
The priests, apothecaries, and guards there all answered to the main clan.
If I collapsed there, or was quietly disposed of, no one would speak for me.
I was just a she wolf with no backing.
And now I knew clearly that for Karen’s sake, Evan was capable of anything.
It was indeed because of a wound infection that I was admitted to the healing camp.
The apothecary later told me that if it had been any later, the decay would have spread to my organs, with unimaginable consequences.
In the days that followed, Evan did not appear.
Perhaps he had already forgotten me.
Alfred, however, came every day, bringing herbs and clean water.
He tried more than once to mention my condition to Evan, but each time he was cut off coldly.
Evan did not want to hear it.
A week later, he finally remembered me.
He had originally come to discuss dissolving the mate bond, but when he learned that I was in the healing camp, he clearly froze for a moment.
Karen came with him that day.
By then, my condition had stabilized, and I would soon be able to leave the altar.
“Diana,” he said. “I did not know you were in the healing camp.”
A flicker of guilt passed through his eyes, brief and sharp, as if he had been unexpectedly pricked.
Karen immediately hooked his arm and gave me a gentle smile.
“I am sorry,” he said softly. “He has been with me these days, so he could not come see you.”
He paused, then added as if casually.
“But you know, we grew up together. We are used to relying on each other.”
As he spoke, he raised the hand interlaced with Evan’s fingers, the gesture natural and intimate.
