Chapter 1
I heard it all — the whispered confession, the cruel truth tearing my soul apart.
"My sweet Rylie is worth it," Gregory said. "Even if Kora never forgives me."
The man I trusted with my life, the Beta who was supposed to protect me, had traded my mother's life and my sight... just to make another woman smile.
Blinded, betrayed, and abandoned, I thought I had lost everything.
Until I discovered the deeper truth — the accident that shattered my world wasn’t fate. It was a choice. His choice.
Now, standing at the edge of everything I once knew, I have one chance left: to vanish, to erase Kora Lewis from existence... and to be reborn.
But escaping a bond woven by destiny isn't so simple.
Especially when the one who destroyed me starts to realize what he’s truly lost — and is willing to tear the world apart to get it back.
Will I find freedom… or will the past hunt me down before I can break free?
...
After the accident, everything unraveled so quickly that I hardly had time to breathe. One moment we were driving home, the next, the world turned upside down in a screech of tires and shattering glass. My mother lay unconscious, blood pooling beneath her, and I—barely clinging to awareness—could already feel the cold dread of what came next. The hospital lights were harsh and sterile, offering no comfort as the doctors delivered their verdict: without immediate surgery, she wouldn’t survive. But the cost was staggering, far beyond what we could afford. It wasn’t just a bill—it was a cruel ultimatum masked as medical necessity.
Gregory—my mate, the one fate had bound me to—should have been our anchor in that chaos. As the Beta of the Silvermoon Pack, he possessed both the resources and influence to help. But when he learned of our situation, his response was silence, followed by absence. No visit. No call. Just a void where his presence should have been. I clung to the hope that perhaps he was overwhelmed, that he needed time. But days passed. Then weeks. And the truth settled in like frost on my skin: he had left us. Left me. At the very moment I needed him most, he turned away, as if our bond meant nothing.
Only my childhood friend, Weston, the Gamma of our pack, remained by my side. He sold his shares in the pack's businesses to provide a million dollars for our treatment. Despite his efforts, my mother couldn't be saved, and and I emerged from surgery blind. Despite everything Weston sacrificed, the outcome remained cruelly unchanged. My mother, the woman who had been my guiding star, slipped away in the sterile quiet of the intensive care unit. I barely had time to mourn her before waking from my own surgery into a world of darkness—one I couldn’t escape. Blindness engulfed me like a second skin, unfamiliar and suffocating. And yet… Weston stayed. Through the grief, through the silence, through the unbearable weight of everything I had lost, he remained. He didn’t speak of heroism or debt. He simply stayed—solid, dependable—his presence as constant as a heartbeat in the dark. He arranged my mother’s funeral, every detail thoughtful and respectful, as if she were his own kin. And later, in a quiet ceremony beneath the whispering birch trees, he gave me a marking ceremony that felt like something torn from the pages of a fairytale.
We stood beneath the moonlight, his voice trembling with unspoken grief and silent promises. For a moment, I thought I could believe in magic again.
After Gregory and I established our mate bond, we became an enviable pair, admired by those around us. Yet, after a pack gala one evening, a fellow warrior asked him, "Beta Gregory, what will you do if one day Kora discovers that you gave her corneas to Rylie and caused her mother's death to save Mrs. Wagner?"
Gregory’s voice came low, almost inaudible, yet heavy with a weight I had never heard before. “I've wronged her,” he said. “And I’ll spend my life trying to make amends. But I love Rylie. For her, I'd live with this guilt forever.”
Love. That word—once sacred between us—now turned to ash in my mouth. He loved her. Not me. And to prove that love, he destroyed my entire world.
"Kora, are you sure you want to do this?" Anna, an Omega in our pack and my closest friend, asked over the phone, her voice filled with concern. "Once you enter the cryonic experiment, the person known as Kora Lewis will disappear from this world." I nodded, making one last request.
"Please, find out the truth about my mother's death. I need to know who truly was responsible."
Outside, Gregory's voice reached me through the door, "Even if Rylie doesn't love me back, helping her see again and saving Mrs. Wagner was worth it. I have no regrets."
His words sliced through my heart like a blade. My eyes, my mother's life, reduced to "worth it" in his mind? Even now, he only cares about Rylie, not me.
It was Weston, his loyal friend, who finally spoke up, "All this for someone who doesn't love you—was it worth hurting Kora and her mother?"
Without hesitation, Gregory replied, "Absolutely. If my sweet Rylie is happy, I'd do anything, even die for it!"
Weston et out a weary sigh, "But it wasn't you who died. Kora's mother did!"
A heavy silence followed before I heard the clink of a glass—Gregory drinking heavily, offering no further explanation. Hearing their footsteps approaching, I quickly retreated to my room, collapsing on the floor. Yes, I was blind, unable to see the world or the truth hidden in people's hearts. How could I have imagined that the man I loved was the one who orchestrated my misfortune? And my beloved mother died in his scheme to benefit Rylie. I once thought of him as a savior who rescued us, boasting about my supposed happiness. How laughable.
Later that night, Gregory called my name, concern lacing his voice. I didn't respond. Realizing something was wrong, he rushed upstairs to find me on the floor, anxiously helping me to my feet.
"Kora, you fell. Why didn't you call for me?"
I knew his concern was real, but it stemmed from guilt, not love "It's nothing, just tripped," I replied dismissively, pushing him away to stand on my own. Such incidents were common for someone blind like me. Gregory, feeling guilty, insisted, "You need someone with you all the time. I'd be devastated if anything else happened." He hugged me gently, but I felt nothing.
For one person, he sacrificed not just his happiness but mine and others' lives. Tears flowed as I closed my eyes, overwhelmed by unbearable pain.
That night, while Gregory slept, I couldn't. I used my cane to find a box he'd placed within easy reach. Inside were his gifts to me from over the years. Since I was leaving, I decided to donate them to those in need.
As I was taking the box, Gregory suddenly appeared. "Kora, what are you doing?" His voice, tense and defensive, made me protect the gifts even more.
"These are my gifts to you," he said anxiously. How ironic.
Ignoring him, I left without offering an explanation.
The following morning, I visited a charity organization, intending to donate the gifts to help others like me. But the staff hesitated. I reassured them, "Don't worry, Beta Gregory won't mind. Please, donate these."
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Lewis," the staff member said apologetically, "but these are all samples, not worth anything."
The words chilled me to the bone. Impossible—these gifts were meant to be luxurious presents from Gregory over the past seven years! His anxiety from the night before suddenly made sense. He feared I'd uncover the truth about these gifts.
Forcing myself, I asked, "Where did the originals go?"
After a moment's thought, the staff member apologized again, "They were custom-made and sent to Miss Wagner as representative gifts from the pack."
Hearing Rylie's name, everything came crashing down. For seven years, he maintained a façade of love, signing Rylie as the pack's ambassador and sending her all the jewelry under the guise of pack gifts. His love for her, bold yet hidden, was evident in every detail, piercing my heart with its reality.
I laughed bitterly, choosing not to dig any deeper. Five days remained before I entered the cryonic experiment. Five days to say goodbye to seven years. That was enough.