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“Dad wasn’t selfish.”

“He marked Mom, knowing he would curse other wolves to live a life mateless!” I snapped. “If he had refused to mate with his fated mate, the curse would’ve been broken, and you would still have a mate.”

“You know the curse can’t be broken that easily,” she growled back, shoving my shoulder. “And stop posturing over me like an asshole. You’re the alpha, but you’re still my brother. I can be happy without a mate.”

I stormed away from her and headed toward the packhouse. Hazel was too young to remember the agony Mom had been in after she was born.

He had resisted for six fucking years, survived heat after heat without marking her neck. Then, one fucking night, he couldn’t stop himself from sinking his canines into her neck, claiming her officially and cursing more wolves to live a life without a mate. And Hazel had fucking suffered for it.

Besides, I didn’t want to admit to Hazel that she was right. The curse wouldn’t end that easily. Every time another alpha took his mate, we got tangled in more of a mess. But if I mated Ember, she would die in three years. They might be the best fucking years of my life, but three years, and she would be dead, just like Mom was, just like my grandma, and her mother, and her mother.

Chapter Nine

Ember

“Can you walk any faster?” Cade asked sarcastically behind me.

I pumped my legs faster down the sidewalk, heading straight for Java Junction. “No.”

He jogged to keep up with me even though his legs were way longer than mine. This morning, I was on a mission to get as far away from the Silver Moon Medical Center as possible. It was official. I hated that place.

“Come on, Em,” Cade hummed. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“For you!” I shouted, spinning around and shoving my hands against his chest. “You don’t have to be hooked up to a million IVs and have countless tests run on you for the rest of your short life, now do you?”

“Ember,” Cade whispered, reaching forward to comfort me.

Brows knitted together, I shoved him back and stomped past him toward the coffee shop. No matter what doctors we went to, they still couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. They couldn’t stop it. And I wished that Pavel hadn’t moved us here.

All I wanted was to live out the months I had left in peace, not be followed around by Cade because Pavel wouldn’t leave me the hell alone. I mean, don’t get me wrong; yesterday with Cade had been freaking amazing, but …

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, and I wrapped my arms around myself in a weak attempt to be strong, to show Cade that I didn’t need to be babied like Pavel thought. I might only have a few more months to live, but I wanted to be respected and treated like a damn human being for that time.

Not a baby.

Not a child.

Not a helpless little girl.

Just as I was about to turn the corner onto the pathway to Java, a baby fox ran out ahead of me on the sidewalk. Halfway to the other side of the forest, she stopped and looked up at me. I wiped a stray tear and gave her my best smile.

Though it only made me sob more.

She scurried away into the woods, and I continued, not wanting Cade to catch up with me. When I reached the door to the café, I hiked my backpack up my shoulder and stepped into the bustling coffee shop. Coffee drifted through my nostrils.

Once I found a quiet table near a large window that overlooked the forest, I dropped down my bag to claim the table and spread out my art supplies and canvas. I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now, especially not the guy who had just seen me so vulnerable and gross.

“You can go,” I said, not looking up at Cade.

All I wanted was to paint my feelings away, experience them while I still could. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t want to force myself to be happy and positive around him, like I had with Pavel. I just wanted to be for once.

“Ember, I don’t mind⁠—”

“Please,” I said, glancing up at him. “Just go.”

After pressing his lips together, he blew a breath out of his nostrils and headed straight for the door in silence. I frowned and watched him head back down the path we had come from and in the direction of our home.

Tears clouded my vision, but I pushed them away and headed to the barista to order. Carl stood behind the register with some cute little glasses on, nervously tapping his finger against the counter as I approached.