His Regret, Our Fading Souls

"Dad? When are you coming home?"

My three-year-old son, Leo, called out through our trembling mind-link.

"Mom's on the bed, and... and I can't feel her breathing much."

"If she won't get up, then wake her up!" Aidan snarled impatiently on the other end of the link.

"Stop trying to get my attention with these stupid tricks."

He warned Leo, "Listen, I'm busy. Don't bother me with little things when I'm dealing with pack business!"

Then he brutally severed the link.

Just like that.

His so-called “important business” was sleeping with his second-in-command, Seraphina.

And me?

I was already dead.

Severing our mate bond had trapped my soul here, mercilessly.

But later, when the cruel reality finally tore through his arrogance, he clutched my moonstone token.

He wept, begging me not to leave.

Too late.

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1

It hit me without warning—

a tearing, agonizing pain at the core of our mate bond, draining the life from me in an instant.

Mate Bond Withering Sickness.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

Leo's voice cut through the fog. My three-year-old was there, his golden wolf eyes filled with fear.

I tried to send him a comforting thought, but it felt like a lie even to myself.

I wanted to reach out, to ruffle his soft fur, but my arm?

It wouldn't respond.

As if it no longer belonged to me.

Tears welled in Leo’s wolf eyes as he saw my colorless face.

Then came the whimper, loud and desperate.

"Mom, are you dying? Don't leave me, please!"

Every cry was a dagger in my heart, the agony tightening, sharpening.

"Go... call... Dad," I managed with my last ounce of mental energy.

He didn't understand what was happening, so all I could do was tell him to get help from my mate, Alpha Aidan.

Leo nuzzled my cheek, slid off the bed, and rushed toward the ritual platform.

A moment later, he returned, clutching my communication crystal in his small hand.

He held the crystal up to me and activated it with his mental energy.

But by then, I was already fading, my body nothing more than a hollow, cold shell.

Leo, my everything.

At his age, the pack's emergency channel was beyond his understanding.

I had set Aidan's link as the only emergency contact. All Leo had to do was push his own energy into it.

Buzz. Buzz.

No response.

Leo didn't understand—he kept pushing his thoughts into the crystal:

"Dad! Dad, help!" over and over.

But my world was shutting down, darkness swallowing me whole.

Mate Bond Withering Sickness—when a fated mate betrays their bond, their partner’s life force is drained away, leading to a swift, inevitable death.

I had carefully maintained our bond, setting aside my own family's legacy for him.

Yet here I was, my soul torn apart by his betrayal, withering away without warning.

When I opened my eyes, I saw myself—just lying there, lifeless.

Leo was still clutching the crystal, his mental energy hammering the link again and again.

This time, it actually connected.

"Dad?" Leo's voice trembled, punctuated by small, hiccuping sobs.

"When are you coming home? Mom's on the bed, and she won't wake up."

Aidan's voice was sharp and annoyed.

"If she won't get up, then wake her up. She's just faking it for sympathy."

"Listen, I'm busy. Stop bothering me with these stupid tricks!"

Before Leo could respond, a woman's voice purred suggestively.

"You promised today was for me. Forget about her. Tonight, your wolf belongs to me."

I let out a silent, bitter laugh.

Marrying Aidan and becoming his Luna, I gave up my life as a moonstone carver, burying myself in the mundane tasks of helping him secure his Alpha title.

But in his eyes, I was just faking it for sympathy, using my weakness to hold him back.

And now, as I lay dying in our bed, he was fooling around with another she-wolf.

I wanted to scream.

To shout, 'I'm not acting! I'm dying!'

But no one could hear me.

Aidan severed the link.

Leo stared at the dimming crystal.

He looked so lost, so uncertain.

Then, he climbed next to me and carefully draped my arm over his small shoulders.

As if that could keep me here.

Ghostly tears I couldn’t shed streamed down my face.

He was only three.

My pup.

How would he survive without me?

Would Aidan truly take care of him after I was gone?

I stayed there, humming an ancient wolf lullaby as Leo's eyes slowly closed.

His breathing slowed, soft and steady.

Asleep.

I looked at my body—still, empty—and ran a spectral hand over my face.

The hands I had once used to carve moonstones had lost their creative spark, worn down from managing the pack's affairs.

The lines etched on my face by time and exhaustion.

Maybe this was why Aidan had turned to his second-in-command, Seraphina Thorne.

He chose her over me.

Even when I needed him most.

Would he cry for me when I was gone?

Just one tear—that's all I wanted to know.

Would he give me that?