“I’ll prepare a proper one. The best you’ve ever seen.
“You’d better,” I muttered, crossing my arms even as I felt my cheeks warming.
His answering grin could have lit up the whole room.
Before either of us could say anything more, a shrill buzz interrupted the moment.
I fished my comm bracelet from my pocket, frowning at the unfamiliar number flashing across the screen.
Yorian protocol flagged unknown calls automatically.
But this one was labeled with a familiar territory code.
Silverfang
A chill slid down my spine.
I hesitated, then answered.
“Selene,” a woman’s voice cracked through the line-
hoarse, trembling.
I recognized it instantly.
Julian’s mother.
My stomach twisted.
“Miss F
Hartwell,” s
she said,
struggling for composure,
“please… forgive me for disturbing you.”
I pressed my lips together,
We hadn’t spoken since the severance.
Not o
once
I didn’t want to speak now.
But something in her broken tone made me stay silent, waiting.
“I know my son wronged you,” she continued, each word heavy with
And I know you ow
owe us nothing!
regret.
She paused, as if gathering strength.
“But please… If you can spare the time… would you come see him?”
I stiffened.
“Why?” I asked quietly.
“Wolfsbane corruption,” she said, almost whispering the words.
“Variant strain. Highly aggressive No cure.”
My breath hitched.
Wolfbane was a toxin ancient as the first Packs.
Normally, it weakened a wolf temporarily nausea, fever, loss of control.
Chapter 27
3
MoboReels–Short Dramac&M-
But the corruption variant?
It didn’t just weaken.
It devoured.
It stripped away strength, gnawed at the wolf soul itself, until the body and mind collapsed.
Once infected, survival was a miracle measured in months, if not weeks.
She continued, her voice splintering.
“He doesn’t have long. Maybe a few weeks. Maybe less.”
“And his last wish…He just wants to see you.”
Chapter 23
Selene’s POV
The moment the call ended, it was like a thunderclap detonated inside my skull.
I stood there, frozen, hearing nothing but the hollow rush of blood in my ears.
On the other end of the call, Julian’s mother must have heard the silence and taken it as refusal.
I didn’t even notice when the line disconnected.
I was still staring blankly at the floor when Ethan emerged from the bedroom.
He frowned instantly, catching the
e scent of my distress before I could even lift my head.
“Selene,” he said, voice taut, “what happened?”
I swallowed, forcing words past the tightness in my throat.
“Julian’s mother called,” I said hollowly.
“He’s dying”
I didn’t sugarcoat it.
1 didn’t have the strength.
Ethan crossed the room in two strides, wrapping his arms around me before I even thought to move.
The warmth of his chest steadied me, and slowly, I remembered how to breathe.
His hand cradled the back of my head, fingers threading gently through my hair.
We sank onto the couch, and for a while, he said nothing.
He simply held me, letting me rebuild myself piece by shattered piece.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low, guarded.
Are you regretting it?”
Leaving Julian
Choosing a new life.
Choosing me
I
1 shook my head immediately, pressing my forehead against his shoulder.
“No,” I whispered. “I’m just stunned. How fast life can change.”
A beat of silence.
Then I pulled back slightly to look at him.
“There’s a short break before the next research cycle,” I said.
“Would you… come with me?”
“Back to the homeland?”
“Just for a few days,” I said. “Just to… close this chapter,”
Ethan didn’t answer i
Imunediately.
Chapter 23
3
MoboReels–Short Drame
“Moboreal u
His hand tightened briefly against my back, his scent flickering with something sharp and possessive
For a moment, I thought he might refuse.
But when I looked up, he sighed heavily and nodded.
“Yeah,” he said.
“I’ll go with you.”
The words sank into my bones, anchoring me more firmly than anything else could have.
We returned to the old territory under a heavy, silver sky.
The air was sharp with the scent of approaching rain, the ancient forests of the Silverfang lands brooding under dark clouds.
The ancestral hospital loomed ahead, cold and unfamiliar despite the years I had spent calling this place home.
I hesitated at the entrance.
Ethan brushed his hand lightly against mine, a silent reassurance.
I squared my shoulders and knocked.
Julian’s mother opened the door.
Her face was drawn and tired, deep lines etched into her once–proud features.
When she saw me, her expression twisted
relief, guilt, sorrow—all tangled into one messy knot.
“I thought you wouldn’t come,” she said, voice brittle.
I tightened my grip on Ethan’s hand and forced my voice steady.
“I’m only here for this one meeting,” I said.
“After this, there will be nothing more between
Something flickered in her eyes–anger? Regret?-but she swallowed it back and stepped aside.
Inside, the antiseptic smell of the room clawed at my nose, failing to mask the deeper scent of decay.
Wolfbane corruption left its mark in ways human illnesses never could.
I could smell it.
The rot.
The way it gnawed not only at flesh but at the soul.
Julian lay on the narrow hospital bed, gaunt and hollow–eyed, his once–powerful presence reduced to a ghost of
His wolf aura, once blindingly dominant, now flickered weakly, like a dying candle flame.
When he saw me, something fragile and desperate lit his face
He didn’t seem to notice Ethan standing behind me, or if he did, he didn’t care.
“Selene, he rasped,
The sound of r
I my old
name on his lips made something in my chest twist painfully.
I stepped closer, but kept my distance from the bed.
of itself.
