Barney swallowed and continued to report, “Luna Joyce and her pup are no longer breathing.” 

There was a trace of panic in Toby’s voice, but just as I tried to listen more closely, his voice hardened again. “She’s just pretending! I’d certainly like to see just how long she can keep up the act! 

“She’s survived harsher conditions in the wild! She’s just holding her breath to scare all of you! Summon a healer, because I’m going to expose her tricks right in her face!” 

Barney stared at him with wide eyes. “But Alpha Toby, Luna Joyce’s pup isn’t breathing anymore either.” 

Toby interrupted him impatiently. “I’m the Alpha here! Who exactly do you take orders from?” 

“Yes, Alpha. I’ll go get a healer to come over right now,” Barney said quickly before sighing helplessly and leaving the room. 

Cecilia leaned into him pliantly. “Don’t be mad, Alpha. Anger is bad for health. Luna Joyce just wants you to pity her.” 

Toby’s voice, sharp with defensiveness, cut in, “Joyce has a way of manipulating people. It’s only been a few years, yet the entire pack seems to hang on her every word!” 

His words were like a blow to my confidence. In just three years, he had already forgotten his previous promise to me. 

On the day of our bonding, he looked at me with loving eyes and said, “This pack is your home, and from now on you’ll be its only Luna.” 

My tears spilled out uncontrollably. 

After my death, I had actually deluded myself into thinking that Toby might feel a shred of guilt and self-blame if he were to find out that my pup and I had died horrible deaths. 

I now knew just how stupid and ridiculous that thought had been. 

I actually really believed him when he told me that he would always love me. 

Toby and Cecilia were childhood sweethearts, but when Toby’s fated mate turned out to be me and Cecilia was diagnosed as infertile by a healer, she immediately broke up with him and went abroad. 

She had said herself that as an Alpha, Toby needed an heir, and he needed to be with his fated mate. How could she bear to leave the pack without an heir? 

In the end, Toby chose to be with me in order to forget the pain of his breakup with Cecilia. 

When he later proposed to me, he told me that I was courageous, resolute, and the embodiment of all the good things in the world.