Chapter 1

Roberta POV

Late at night, I was lying in bed, immersed between half-asleep and half-awake. In a haze, I turned into a child, and was being chased by a gang of rogues.

Intuition told me that this wasn't my dream. Whose dream was it?

There was a strange wolf spirit closely following me. A voice rang out right beside my ear: "Marcus! Run!"

Marcus? Why did I become Marcus?

I kept running. My legs almost weakened due to the roaring and shrieking sounds passing by my ears, but I had to force myself to keep running. Until I found an abandoned place and managed to evade the pursuit by taking advantage of my small size. Just then, a soft voice rang out beside my ear. This voice was extremely familiar to me, but I couldn't recall who that person was exactly.

"Come here quickly!" The voice said urgently. From that side, a child's arm reached out, and there was actually a thin crescent moon on the wrist. I was just about to reach out my hand to hold the other person's when I suddenly woke up.

I sat up by the bed, still feeling frightened. I looked at Marcus. His brows were tightly knitted as if he was having a nightmare.

"It's really rare," Bella, my wolf, said leisurely beside my ear, "Your bond has been damaged to such an extent, yet you can still share dreams."

"Was that really Marcus' dream just now?"

"Yes, it seemed to be some experience from his childhood."

Suddenly, a burst of telephone ringing broke the silence. Marcus picked up the phone. I listened quietly and didn't want to disturb him. 

On the other end of the line, Zora's weak and urgent voice rang out: "Marcus, I don't feel well, can you come over and stay with me?" Marcus's brow furrowed, and he responded to Zora in a soft voice, filled with concern. My heart fluttered, Zora was Marcus's savior, or at least he thought so. Marcus had mentioned more than once the girl with the crescent moon birthmark on her wrist who had secretly protected the injured him during the rogue attack. His gratitude was evident. However, when I heard Marcus getting up to leave, my heart sank involuntarily.

Recalling the crescent moon birthmark... It seemed to coincide with my dream, but I couldn't feel Zora's breath from that girl, I felt a very familiar atmosphere from that girl.

I gently placed my hand on Marcus's arm, trying to keep him from leaving: "Marcus, don't go. You know I'm just as weak and need you by my side." My voice carried a hint of pleading, but Marcus seemed oblivious to it, gently shaking off my hand and getting dressed.

I watched his back, filled with pain and disappointment. His back looked so determined, yet so cold. I thought back to the times we had spent together, which only served to reinforce the fact that my life was a terrible joke. The sweet words and smiles I had imagined between my mate and I had never occurred in my life.

I lay in bed, tears streaming down my face. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see anything else, just wanting to drown myself in darkness. But my mind could not find peace. My thoughts drifted back to the past, to the moment when we had just become mates. Perhaps the mate bond between us should never have begun. While I had initially decided to pair with Marcus for the benefit of my pack, I had also harbored some fantasies about our mate bond. Now, I hardly received any support or encouragement from Marcus as a mate, and Zora's appearance seemed to be perfectly orchestrated.

The very next day after our mate ceremony, Marcus told me he had found his savior, and from that moment on, his life was all about Zora.

I had thought that it didn't matter, but as time went on, Zora's presence gradually changed our lives. Marcus's concern and gratitude for her grew stronger and stronger, while I felt increasingly marginalized. Every time Marcus mentioned Zora, there was a special sparkle in his eyes that I had never seen before.

I began to doubt what kind of feelings Marcus had for me. He always claimed that Zora was his savior and drew my blood to give to her. I knew it was a help to Zora, but I felt like I was being used. I began to doubt the nature of our relationship, whether it was just a simple partner or if Marcus had ever loved me.

"Marcus, do you really want to be my mate?"

Marcus turned to look at me, a mixture of emotion flashing through his eyes. I tried to read something in his eyes, but he didn't say anything and turned to leave the room. The door slammed shut, leaving me alone in the dark. I know that's his answer.

I sat up against the bed and slowly lifted the sleeves of my pajamas, the needle holes on my arms from top to bottom looked a little shocking. Originally, with the healing ability of werewolves, such small wounds would not be left, but as the number of blood draws increased, unconsciously, such small wounds slowly remained. It's not that Marcus didn't notice this, but every time he saw it, he turned his eyes away in disgust and let me continue to have my blood drawn.

My wolf, Bella groaned in pain, "The Mate has abandoned us."

"No, he wouldn't do that," I weakly argued.

"He has given your blood to others, which is the same as forcibly weakening your power. Oh, that stupid little girl..." Bella's tone was tinged with anger.

"She thought she could become stronger by absorbing Luna's blood? It's ridiculous. She has never shown any sign of Luna's talent, and her wolf is also mediocre." 

"But Marcus says she was his savior...," I was still trying to make sense of Marcus's actions. I've been having a harder and harder time connecting with Bella lately, and even when I do manage to communicate with her, it's only in scattered bits and pieces. It all started with Zora's appearance. Since then, even my own powers have been weakened.

"I can't link to Dixon anymore," Dixon is Marcus's werewolf, and he mentioned to me in passing how happy he was to have found Zora. When I tried to delve deeper into the subject, he gave me a dismissive expression as if it didn't concern him.

"Our powers are weakened, and it's all because of Marcus."

Then, Bella sank into a darkness that I couldn't reach.