Natalie’s POV

"Ms. Hartwell," the doctor adjusted his glasses, "we've done thorough tests, but the results are disturbing. Your cells are deteriorating at an abnormal rate. The symptoms resemble cancer, but don't quite match any known type."

I was lying in a hospital bed, the monitor beeped steadily, and the smell of antiseptic filled my sensitive nose. After hearing the doctor's words, a chill ran through me. Werewolves' powerful healing abilities could resist almost all human diseases. If even doctors were saying it was like cancer...

"Given the current situation," the doctor's voice seemed distant, "you have at most a year to live. Maybe less."

“Elena,” I called to my wolf, panic flooding me. She had been with me since I was sixteen.

“Natalie,” her voice rasped low in my head, “you know this isn’t cancer.”

Of course I knew. I was a werewolf medical researcher before everything fell apart. I’d read about this. Studied it. Denied that it could ever happen to me.

It starts with pain. Exhaustion that sleep can’t cure. Then senses fade—smell, hearing, even sight. Muscle loss. Organ failure. Eventually, not even our healing works.

Worst of all?I’d lose Elena. And once she faded, so would I.

Outside the exam room, I leaned against the cold hallway wall.

A year. That’s what I had left.

"Mommy!" Giada waved from her seat on the hallway bench, her speech still stuttering. Since that high fever in jail, her right ear had gone completely deaf, and her left ear could barely hear with a hearing aid. Most of the time, she preferred communicating through sign language.

I forced a smile and walked over, adjusting her crooked hearing aid.

"W-what did the doctor say about Mommy?" She looked up at me, combining sign language with her stuttered words. "This morning when Mommy coughed blood, Giada was so scared."

I knelt down, speaking slowly while signing, "Mommy's fine, just tired. I'm sorry I worried you."

My phone vibrated, a text from Madison.[Natalie, I covered your shift last time. Something urgent came up today, could you help me out?]

Madison was my coworker at the diner.

I sighed at the message. Today was Giada's birthday, and I'd specifically taken the day off to take her to the amusement park. But this morning, while making breakfast, I'd suddenly coughed up blood, frightening Giada to tears. She insisted on coming to the hospital, refusing to go to the amusement park unless I saw a doctor.

Madison often covered my shifts when I needed to take Giada to doctors' appointments. I owed her this favor.

"Baby," I stroked Giada's hair, "I'm so sorry, we might not make it to the amusement park today. Mommy needs to cover Aunt Madison's shift at the restaurant. How about I get you a birthday cake after work?"

At the diner,I wiped the counter, occasionally glancing at Giada drawing in the corner.She was absorbed in her sketchbook, her small figure so quiet it hurt my heart.

Drawing was one of her few pastimes,the other wolf pups at kindergarten wouldn't play with her. They mocked her as the "scentless wolf," the disabled rogue pup.

Giada was born without a scent,just like me, and just like my mother.It was a rare defect in our bloodline,one that marked us as different in a world where scent meant everything.Paired with her hearing loss, it left her even more isolated.

"It's your birthday today, baby. How about we get new drawing supplies after my work?" I walked over and said softly.

Giada looked up, signing back, "No need, Mom. I know you're tired."

My heart clenched. My four-year-old was too mature, painfully so.

With only a year left to live, how could I bear to leave her alone in this world?

"Natalie!" The boss's voice came from the kitchen. "Come here."

I smelled the sharp stench of alcohol and sweat on him. I adjusted my apron and walked into the back.

"You know why I hired you?" He leaned against the wall, eyeing me lustfully. "An ex-con single mother who takes too many days off. It's only because you're pretty."

My wolf Elena roared in my mind, "Let me tear this disgusting human apart!"

"Quiet, Elena," I soothed her. "We can't reveal ourselves."

"Thank you for giving me this job," I kept my voice steady, fighting the urge to snap his neck.

"Stay with me tonight. You owe me that much." He moved closer, putting his hand on my waist.

I instinctively backed away and slapped him hard across the face.

"Bitch!" As he raised his hand to strike me, a sudden wave of intense dizziness hit. I staggered backward, strength draining from my body, my vision blurring. Were the symptoms progressing this quickly?

"Mommy!" Giada rushed in to support me. Though she couldn't hear, she always sensed when I was unwell.

"Huh, acting all high and mighty." The boss sneered, "How many men have you spread your legs for, huh? Playing the innocent little saint while dragging around that crippled kid. Don't think I haven't noticed your act. You're just another cheap slut hunting for her next meal ticket."

I was grateful Giada couldn't hear these vile words. I tried to stand to protect her, but the boss shoved me to the ground. My head slammed against the cabinet, pain darkening my vision.

Once a powerful werewolf, now I couldn't even defend myself against a drunk human. How much longer could I protect Giada before this illness completely destroyed me? What would happen to her after I died?

Just then, the noise drew in several diners and staff members from their shifts. The boss finally backed off with a sullen look.

I wrapped my arms tightly around my shaking daughter, silent tears falling down my cheeks.

"Don't be afraid, Mommy," Giada tried to comfort me,"Giada will stay right beside you."

Elena whimpered. "We can't leave Giada alone, Natalie. She needs protection."

On our way home, I stopped with Giada's hand in mine in front of the bakery."Pick one you like.It's your birthday, we must have a cake."

Giada's eyes lit up as she pointed to a chocolate cake in the display window. It was her favorite flavor.

Carrying the cake box, I watched Giada skipping ahead of me, my heart aching with bittersweet pain. She was still so young, with so many birthdays ahead of her, but how many would I be able to share with her?

Back in our small apartment, Giada excitedly helped me set the table. She carefully wiped it clean and even made paper flowers from torn pages of her sketchbook.

I lit the candles on the cake, the warm glow illuminating her sweet little face. Giada closed her eyes to make her wish.

"What did you wish for?" I asked softly.

"L-Giada wants Mommy to be h-happy! Giada will stay with Mommy f-forever and ever!"

My heart clenched painfully. Forever... for me, that word now meant just one short year.

At night, I lay sleepless in bed, watching my daughter's peaceful sleeping face. What could I leave for my daughter? Money saved from working every possible hour? Photos? Letters written in advance? Videos?

Or should I take her to find her birth father... Grayson Rhodes, the Alpha of the Moon Valley Pack.

"He abandoned us. He called Giada a bastard," Elena growled.

She wasn’t wrong.

Back then, Grayson truly believed I had slept with his best friend, Liam. That I had betrayed him, and that Giada,our daughter wasn't his.

There was no reason for him to help me now.Especially not when I’d heard he was about to marry my sister, Vanessa.

Still... maybe there was a chance the doctors were wrong. Human medicine could make mistakes. Maybe,just maybe,this disease wasn’t the end.

Without realizing it, I fell asleep and dreamed.I dreamed I was lying beside the lake in Ravendale.

Above me, the night sky stretched endlessly, the full moon bathing everything in silver light.The whole world was asleep, silent and waiting. Only the moon watched me.

Then, a voice drifted down.It spoke straight to my soul.

"Your fate is already woven. Fewer than twelve moons remain."

I tried to lift my hand, but I couldn’t move. My body felt weightless.

The voice came again, deeper this time, almost mournful.

"Return to where it all began.To where fate first whispered your name."

The moonlight flickered, pulsing with something ancient and knowing.Then, one final time, the voice echoed:"The forgotten answer lies buried within the truth you sealed away with your own hands."

I jolted awake, my pillow wet with tears, a dull ache pressing against my chest.

The Moon Goddess had made her prophecy. And in our world, when She sends a vision… it always comes true.

Do I really only have less than a year left?

"Elena, can you feel it too?" I whispered to my wolf.

"Natalie," she said quietly, "we need to return."

Three days later, I packed our bags and bought tickets back to the Ravendale City.

I was dying, and I had to find Giada a safe haven. I'd been banished, lost my pack's protection. My father and brother had cut ties with me.

No matter how much Grayson hated me, he was still Giada's father. After I'm gone, he'd be the only one who could protect her.

"Maybe this is our only choice," I whispered.

Yes. Even if it meant swallowing my pride, I had to see him.

"Where are we going?" Giada asked.

I smoothed her hair. "Home."