I Returned the Heart, but the Wolf King Gave Me His Chapter 04

I Returned the Heart, but the Wolf King Gave Me His Chapter 04

Patricia’s pov

For three years, through countless agonizing nights—

I sat by the window, staring at the moon, silently confessing my sins to the Moon Goddess.

Countless times, I thought about carving out my own heart and giving it back to Alpha Michael.

But every time I picked up a knife, I thought of my mother, dying slowly of cancer.

Every time, I told myself: hold on. Just a few more days. For her.

Day after day—

Three years slipped by.

This time, I swallowed down the thousand voices screaming in my head and spoke.

“Alpha Michael. I’ll follow your orders. I’ll donate my blood to Mary.”

Three large bags. I watched my blood drain through the IV line.

A deep, spreading cold seeped through my body.

I started shaking uncontrollably. A ringing noise filled my ears.

Just when I thought I was about to die, I heard Mary’s voice—surprised, almost shy.

“Alpha Michael, Patricia Moore isn’t well. Can she really donate that much blood?”

“The pack doctor said… you were too rough with me, that’s why I bled a little afterward. You don’t need to worry so much.”

Mary’s words hit me like a thunderclap.

I stared at Alpha Michael in disbelief. Tears slipped from the corners of my eyes as I sank into darkness.

When I woke again, I was lying in a hospital bed.

I could hear the nurses gasping outside my room.

“So romantic!”

“Alpha Michael chartered a luxury cruise ship to propose the bond…”

I pushed myself up and opened the ward door.

On the large screen in the hallway, a video was playing: Alpha Michael asking Mary to bond with him.

The way he knelt on one knee, eyes full of love—it reminded me of something Elizabeth once whispered to me.

“Patricia Moore, my brother Alpha Michael wants you as his lifelong mate.”

“He even asked me in secret what kind of setting you’d like.”

What I’d said back then was—

I want to witness that sacred, joyful moment on a cruise ship.

Alpha Michael had done exactly that. Just not for me.

Another sharp pang twisted through my chest. My phone buzzed—a surgery reminder from Wolf Pack Hospital.

“Miss Patricia Moore, your surgery time is approaching. Do you still wish to proceed?”

I pulled myself together and typed my reply.

“Yes.”

At noon, the heart removal surgery was completed without complications.

When I woke in the hospital bed again, a steady, mechanical beat thumped in my chest.

The transplanted artificial heart no longer lurched and seized with every wave of emotion.

At last—I would never have to ache for Alpha Michael again.

A tear slipped down my cheek just as the phone by my bed rang.

“Patricia Moore. Elizabeth’s memorial is in three days. You remember the tradition, don’t you? You know what you’re supposed to do.”

Alpha Michael’s voice was ice cold over the line.

I turned my head toward the medical cooler beside me—the one holding Elizabeth’s heart—and answered quietly.

“I haven’t forgotten.”

Elizabeth loved extreme sports.

Every year on the anniversary of her death, Alpha Michael and his Alpha King friends forced me to take on an extreme sport.

For three years, I was terrified of it. Every time, I gritted my teeth and pushed through.

This year, I didn’t have to force myself anymore.

Because I was about to give Elizabeth’s heart back.

After hanging up, I stayed at Wolf Pack Hospital until the morning of Elizabeth’s memorial.

I completed the temporary discharge paperwork and made my way to Coldcreek Pack’s most hallowed private cemetery.

Before I even reached Elizabeth’s grave, I heard Alpha Michael’s Alpha King friends laughing.

“Alpha Michael, this year we found something really insane. It’s going to be intense!”

“I bet Patricia Moore pisses herself.”

“You’d better not go soft on her when the time comes.”

“Go soft? On the bitch who killed Elizabeth?”

“I wish she’d drop dead right now so I could cut Elizabeth’s heart out of her myself!”

Alpha Michael’s laugh was sharp and scornful in my ears.

The artificial heart in my chest didn’t sting anymore.

Carrying the medical cooler with Elizabeth’s heart inside, I walked closer, step by step.

Until Alpha Michael saw me.

He looked at me coldly. “Patricia Moore, this year they picked a thrill for you—”

I lifted the medical cooler and cut him off.

“Alpha Michael. I won’t be participating in this year’s extreme event.”

“Because I’ve already cut out Elizabeth’s heart.”

“Here. Take it back.”