The healer's words echo in my ears as I leave her cabin: seven days. Seven days before my wolf spirit collapses completely. Seven days before the fracture that's been spreading through my bond with my inner wolf becomes irreversible. Seven days before I'm nothing more than a human wearing werewolf skin. I'm twenty-three years old, and I'm dying. The pack grounds stretch before me, autumn leaves crunching under my boots. Other wolves pass by—warriors heading to training, mothers corralling pups—and none of them know. None of them see the blood I've been coughing into tissues for three months, or the way my wolf whimpers in the back of my mind, growing quieter each day. I've hidden it well. I've had practice hiding things from everyone, especially from Declan. My mate. My Alpha. The man who's threatened to reject our bond so many times I've stopped counting. I smell him before I see him—pine and steel, the scent that used to make my heart race. Now it just makes me tired. "Morgan." His voice cuts across the clearing. "We need to talk." I turn. Declan stands on the pack house steps, arms crossed, his dark hair catching the afternoon light. Handsome, powerful, everything an Alpha should be. And beside him— Sage. My twin sister. Golden hair where mine is dark, bright eyes where mine are shadowed. The stronger wolf. The better daughter. The one our Beta parents actually wanted. The one Declan wishes he'd been mated to instead. "The healer confirmed it," Declan says, and my stomach drops. "The Wolf Spirit Regeneration Ritual can work. But it needs to be tested first." I know what's coming. I've known for weeks, ever since the pack's ancient healer discovered the experimental ritual in the old texts. "Sage's wolf is too fragile for the trial run," he continues. "We need someone else to prove it's safe." His eyes meet mine. Cold. Calculating. "You'll do it, Morgan. You'll test the ritual for your sister."