Rejected by Fated Mate

The days blurred together as I watched my mother's condition deteriorate. Without Dr. Webb's specialized treatment, her paralysis seemed to spread through her spirit as much as her body.

"Where's Dr. Webb?" I demanded of the pack nurse who'd been assigned to my mother's care. "He promised he'd return for her next treatment."

The young wolf avoided my eyes. "Healer Lilith has taken over all specialized cases."

Of course she had.

I found Lilith in my mother's room later that day, checking her vitals with mechanical precision.

"What are you doing for her pain management?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

Lilith straightened, her jasmine scent filling the small room. "The bare minimum. Any more would be unnecessary expenses for a wolf who will never walk again."

My wolf snarled within me. "That's not your decision to make."

"Oh?" Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Alpha Chandler disagrees. He approved my treatment plan this morning."

I leaned closer, lowering my voice. "What did you promise him?"

Her eyes gleamed with something predatory. "I promised to free him from unnecessary burdens. Like paralyzed mothers-in-law who drain pack resources."

---

Over the next two weeks, I watched helplessly as my mother's wolf spirit dimmed. The connection that had kept her fighting—her inner wolf's determination—faded daily.

"I'm such a burden," she whispered one evening as I adjusted her pillows. "You should focus on saving your mate bond instead of wasting time on me."

"Don't say that," I pleaded, stroking her hair. "You're not a burden."

But the damage was done. Each day brought new whispers of defeat to her eyes.

I tried contacting Dr. Webb at the border outpost, sending urgent messages through pack communications. Each time, I received the same automated response: "Message delivered."

But something in my gut told me otherwise.

"Your messages never reached him," Beta George admitted when I cornered him in the hallway. "Pack communications has been... rerouted for medical matters."

"By whose orders?"

He looked away. "You know the answer to that."

---

Three weeks after Dr. Webb's reassignment, I woke to a gray morning that matched the hollow feeling in my chest. Something felt wrong—the pack house too quiet, the air too still.

I rushed to my mother's room, my wolf howling in distress.

The window stood open, curtains billowing in the cold breeze. Her wheelchair sat empty beside the bed.

"Mom?" My voice broke as I searched the room. "Mom!"

I raced through the pack house, my bare feet slapping against cold floors. Pack members stood clustered at the bottom of the Alpha tower, their faces grim.

"She jumped," someone whispered.

The world tilted beneath me. "No."

But there she was—or what remained of her. Broken on the stone below, her body twisted in ways that told me she'd chosen her death over continued suffering.

I fell to my knees, a keening sound tearing from my throat that didn't seem human.

---

In her room, I found her note tucked beneath her pillow.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be strong enough to stay. The photos were lies, but I couldn't prove it, and they wouldn't stop sending them. Tell Maddy I love her."

Photos? What photos?

I clutched the note, my hands shaking. Someone had been torturing my mother with images—something that had broken her spirit completely.

"George!" I stormed into Beta George's office, the note crumpled in my fist. "What photos? What lies?"

He looked up slowly, his face ashen. "Madeline..."

"Tell me what you know."

George's shoulders slumped. "There were rumors. Compromising photos about your mother accepting bribes from rogues."

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"I thought they were just pack gossip," he admitted, his voice heavy with regret. "The kind of cruel rumors that surface when someone falls from grace."

"From whose mouth did these rumors start?"

He met my eyes then, and I saw the answer before he spoke.

"Lilith."

The realization crashed over me like ice water. This wasn't just about taking Chandler or humiliating me. This was systematic destruction—of my mother's will to live, of my family's honor, of everything I held dear.

And now my mother was dead, and the photos that had driven her to suicide remained a mystery.

Who had sent them? What had they shown? And why had my mother believed lies over her own daughter's love?

As I stood there, clutching her final words, I felt something inside me harden into resolve. Whatever those photos were, whatever truth or lies they contained—I would uncover them.

And then Lilith would pay for what she'd done.