The sickened luna’s last chance

Chapter 62

Liam & Alexander

Liam

Liam was just heading back to his room when he heard the commotion. There were muffled shouts upstairs, and then a doctor swept into the house–the same doctor from the hospital.

Curious, he followed the sounds and was nearly bowled over by a thunderous Alexander, who came barreling out of his bedroom with his Beta on his heels.

Liam froze. “What happened?”

But Alexander wasn’t listening. He stormed away, shoulders tense, fists clenched. The Beta was saying something to him quietly, although Liam couldn’t hear it. And then they were gone.

Frowning, Liam approached the bedroom door, reaching out to grab the handle. But before he could open

it, he heard the muffled voices within.

“How bad is it?” Lilith sounded like she was crying.

“Worse than I hoped,” Dr. Evelyn’s voice replied. “The dormancy is progressing faster now. Her body is essentially shutting down because her wolf has been dormant for so long.”

Liam’s hand dropped to his side. Dormancy?

“But she should have had months left,” Lilith sobbed. “How is this possible?”

The doctor sighed. “I’m not sure. This disease–if we can call it that–is completely new to me. There have only been a few cases of someone losing their wolf due to their mate not marking or rejecting them in recorded history, and none of them are detailed enough. I don’t know how the symptoms will progress—all I know is that she’ll certainly die within the year.”

Liam staggered back against the wall behind him, each word like a gunshot. Ella was dying?

Lilith’s sobs within the bedroom were enough to make tears spring to Liam’s own eyes. Ella was dying of some… mysterious disease. Something to do with her wolf going dormant due to Alexander not marking her or rejecting her.

But the mating mark he’d seen in those pictures… Was that fake?

It had to be; Ella had told Liam that Alexander didn’t love her. At the time, he’d thought she said that out of

lovesickness, but now he realized that it had little to do with that and everything to do with her very life.

“He has to mark her or reject her,” the doctor said. “Otherwise, she will die. And it might be sooner than we

thought.”

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Fury washed over Liam as he heard those words. If it was true and Alexander had refused to help her, Liam

his bare hands. He wouldn’t even

him?” Lilith asked. “Surely if he

my decision to make,” Dr. Evelyn said. “Ella begged me

I have no right to make her personal

into

while, Liam’s chest ached. But his mind also

too. If Alexander didn’t know, then how could

his best friend die because she was too afraid to tell Alexander the truth. Liam

vow to help and protect her; perhaps she would be angry if he

she would be alive to

from the wall and headed downstairs to find

by the window with a glass of bourbon

Liam said from the doorway.

worry etched across his face. “If it’s

“It’s about Ella.”

Alexander

into the room. “I overheard the doctor

“What?”

wolf has been asleep for months, maybe longer. And if it stays dormant too long without the mate

sense

possible,” I said. “I’ve

doctor saying it just now. She said that if you don’t mark or reject her, she’ll wither away and

Was he messing with me? In all my years,

“Yes. You have.”

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Chapter 62

was like a gunshot in my mind, and then it hit me. Nearly three months ago

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had been more righteous than I’d ever seen her, and she had told me exactly what Liam

I hadn’t

attention because she was unhappy

bloody fucking fool

was sharp as he stormed up to me, ripping me out of my thoughts. “The doctor said

fucking kill you.”

he spoke, his fangs flashed, eyes glowing a dangerous hue. My own wolf bristled in response. The threat was clear enough even if he

me to mark her. She asked

her!” Liam’s voice rose, then he caught himself and lowered it again. “Alexander, she’s been dying for months, and she thinks you hate her. Of course she asked for a

I’d kept my distance because I couldn’t trust her, couldn’t risk letting

what she wants, and whatever it is,

shoulders, but

rightfully so.

the one who had distanced myself from Ella for five years. I was the one who had refused to mark her. I was the one who had forced her to sleep on the opposite side of the mansion and made her eat dinner alone and made her

Alexander,” Liam growled. “Don’t let her die because you’re too stubborn to admit you

quickly left him in the parlor and headed back upstairs. The doctor and Lilith had finished their examination, and Dr. Evelyn was

she?”