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“How long?” I repeated, growing angry, fucking furious. “How much more time do I have with her?”

“Maybe a month, two if you’re lucky.”

I grabbed a vase off the side table and hurled it at the opposite wall. “A couple fucking months?! She only has a couple months to live?!”

“Yes,” she said, head bowed. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

I grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air, seething. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I just found out about what Dr. Yoder had been doing,” she whispered, grasping at her throat, her cheeks turning red quickly. “I swear it. We have a confidentiality agreement between us and the clients, and Ember didn’t want me to tell you that she was sick.”

I released her because I wasn’t her alpha and she’d had no reason to tell me.

“She didn’t want you to treat her any differently,” she said, rubbing her neck. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “She mentioned it in passing to me a couple of times, and I wanted to respect her wishes. But I can’t stand by when I know this is happening.”

My head started spinning. How could this be? What … why was this happening?

To punish me? To punish her?

“If she was a wolf, would she heal?” I asked. “Would our healing powers do anything?”

“Potentially, but I can’t say for sure.”

She had to be marked. By me. Soon.

But either way, Ember would die.

If she didn’t find a cure, then she’d die in a month or two. If I marked her, claimed her, took her as my fated mate, then the curse on my pack would continue; everyone would lose their mate, including me. Except … she’d have three years. At least.

That was how long Mom had had before she died.

Would Ember even let me mark her after what I had done?

“She doesn’t have a choice,” my wolf said, finally slipping back into my consciousness. “We will do anything for mate. We love her. We have to protect her. She will hate us, but she will live.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about though …” Janice said. “I think they’re using her blood for something.”

“Who are they? For what?”

“Reaper brings her in for her appointments every day,” Janice said. “But I don’t know if he knows about what they’re doing with her blood. Her brother though … I’m pretty sure he does. He’s been meeting with Dr. Yoder at night. I’ve spotted him near the hospital a few times when I left.”

“What are they doing with her blood?” I asked, heart pounding.

“You won’t believe me if I say it,” Janice said. “It sounds crazy. It is crazy.”

“What is it, Janice? Tell me. I need to know in order to protect her.”

She peered around the house, as if checking for someone who might overhear. Then she swallowed hard and lowered her voice. “I believe they are using Ember’s blood to bring wolves back from the dead.”

Chapter Seventy-Three

Ember

“How is Lilliana alive?” Cade asked Pavel in the kitchen.

I sat at the top of the stairs after Cade finally left me alone, listening in on their conversation. I didn’t want to be by myself, but I … I couldn’t handle seeing Cade with Lilliana. He loved her, and I was … I was nothing to him.

“I don’t know,” Pavel said. “She reached out to me a couple of days ago.”