Chapter 2

After that, my long "treatment" began.

To make sure the sealing ritual worked, I had to drink a bitter herbal brew every single day.

Caleb was the one who handed me every bowl.

He'd coax me softly, "Seraphina. Drink this. Everything will be okay."

Full of hope, I drank every last drop without complaint.

On top of that, there was the hellish sealing ritual every month.

Forcibly imprisoning a proud wolf deep within one's body is not an easy thing. Each time, the High Priest would carve the binding runes into my skin.

It was a violation, like someone reaching inside my body, binding my very wolf with chains, and pulling them tighter, inch by inch, until she whimpered in agony.

Twelve months. Twelve rounds of hellish torture.

This brutal "treatment" completely broke me.

I was once the pack's brightest star. Everyone assumed I would become the next Lead Warrior.

But now?

I could barely hold my human form.

I'd look at my reflection in the window and see a monster. Sunken eyes, skin the color of ash. My once thick, silky hair was now dry as straw, falling out in clumps on my pillow every day.

I had become a useless burden, a creature who needed help just to eat or dress herself.

"Caleb, why?"

Once, after a ritual, I was convulsing in bed from the pain. I gripped his sleeve in desperation, my voice a raw whisper. "Why am I getting worse? My body can't take it anymore…"

"It's a normal reaction to sealing the wolf." He would always pull me into his arms, stroking my back gently. "Just hang on, Seraphina. Once the broken gift is completely gone, you'll be safe."

And I believed him.

I watched my parents grow gaunt taking care of me. My mother's once bright, gentle eyes lost their light, the corners etched with tired lines. My father was always outside, smoking, his once-straight back now stooped as if under a heavy weight.

One time, my mother was wiping me down with a warm washcloth. When the cloth touched my skeletal arm, she suddenly froze. She covered her face, and her shoulders shook violently as she sobbed.

Watching her, a piece of my own heart cracked.

At the time, I thought she was crying because of my suffering. It was only when I learned the truth that I understood. That wasn't pity. It was the guilt of a mother destroying her own daughter with her own two hands.

They couldn't look me in the eye because they knew, from the very beginning, that I was never sick at all.

I'll admit, I had my doubts about Caleb. Even though his care was almost perfect, a she-wolf's intuition is a sharp, dangerous thing.

Some nights, I couldn't sleep because of the deep, aching pain in my bones. Through the half-open door, I'd see Caleb standing on the balcony. He'd be looking at his phone, a soft, gentle smile on his face. The same smile he used to give me.

"Don't be afraid. I know you can do it…" The night wind snatched his words and threw them at me in broken pieces. "Just get that spot… and everything will be okay."

For a second, I wanted to storm out and demand to know what he was doing.

But then I looked down at my own withered arm, at my pale, gaunt face.

A wave of self-loathing washed over me. I was already a hollowed-out wreck. What right did I have to question a future Alpha, a man with a brilliant future ahead of him?

All I could do was bite my lip until I tasted blood. All I could do was close my eyes and pretend. Pretend I heard nothing. Pretend I was still the mate he cherished most.

Time passed like this.

And under the weight of it all, my body and spirit breaking, I made a decision.