Alpha's Amnesia: The Night My Love Died

In the fifth year of my becoming Damian Veylor's fated mate, he returns from a hunting mission with an injury. They say his memory has been destroyed by the toxins, and so he forgets everything about me, yet he still manages to remember Clara Whitmore—the she-wolf he grew up with and the one everyone always believed he would mark—perfectly. For her sake, he throws me out of the Alpha's quarters. Then, with his own two hands, he forces poison down my throat. The poison consists of silver powder and wolfsbane, two of the oldest, most brutal substances known to werewolves. It burns straight through my internal organs and sears its way into my bones. I can feel a certain part of myself burning alive. That's when I know I'll never be able to get pregnant. I'll never be able to carry Damian's pup, or anyone else's for that matter. "Only Clara is worthy of carrying the next Alpha. As for you? You're nothing but a Rogue who wandered into my territory and refused to leave." Chapter 1 Lyra's POV That night, beneath the full moon hanging high in the sky, the old wound in my heart flared up again. It was the wound left behind by a silver dagger that had pierced my chest all those years ago—one that had never truly healed. I stumbled out of the wooden shack in the woods, searching for somewhere I could catch my breath, only to walk straight into a conversation. "Alpha, if the Luna finds out your amnesia is a lie…" "She won't find out." It was Damian Veylor's voice—steady, calm, and nonchalant. "Once Clara and I complete the mating ceremony and this matter is settled, I'll naturally 'recover' my memories and sweet-talk Lyra into forgiving me. "As for the poison… I've already promised Clara that my heir would only come from her womb. Lyra will forgive me. She always does." I froze where I stood. I'd forgive him? He actually thought I'd forgive him. So, there was no toxin-induced amnesia at all. There never had been. There was only a meticulously orchestrated web of lies and the arrogance of someone who believed I was too foolish to ever see through it. Moonlight fell across my bare feet, cold against my skin. Something inside my chest was cracking wide open. It wasn't just a kind of pain. It was something much deeper than that, like a complete, silent collapse. A low, hoarse laugh escaped my throat as I stumbled back toward the shack. The freezing wind poured through the broken window, making me shiver violently. How ridiculous. Just yesterday, I was kneeling beneath the moonlight, begging the Moon Goddess to give me back the Damian who used to look at me like I was his entire world. Only today did I finally understand—there was no amnesia. He just wanted to be with Clara Whitmore. He always had. The "amnesia" was nothing more than an excuse. I curled up on my side inside the dilapidated shack. The old wound throbbed again and again, the pain so intense I could barely breathe. In the past, on every full moon night, Damian would pull me into his arms, enveloping me in the comforting scent only a fated mate could provide and taking away some of my suffering. His palm would rest on my back, feeling warm and steady like a wall. He used to call me his moon-kissed lover. He promised he'd keep me safe for the rest of my life. But that was before. "Luna! Please, hold on! I'll get the Alpha!" Seeing my deathly pale face and my back drenched in cold sweat, my attendant, Jenna Everleigh, bolted toward the Alpha's quarters. I didn't have the strength to stop her. I just lay there, staring at the cracked ceiling above me until my vision blurred into darkness. Chapter 2 Lyra's POV I was a werewolf raised in the human world. For more than 20 years, I survived on my own. I never felt like I belonged anywhere, nor did I care to fit into a pack. I thought I didn't need anyone. When Damian first showed up, I was at an underground bar in a human city. He was hunting down a traitor and had accidentally crossed into my territory. It was love at first sight for him, and the very first words out of his mouth were, "It's you. You're the only one I want." Later, while saving me from a group of Rogues, his chest was pierced by multiple silver arrows, and he collapsed in the rain. I stayed by his side for three days. On the fourth day, I found his Beta and said, "Take him back to your territory. He needs treatment." That was the first time I stepped into a pure werewolf society. Born with a rare ability that allowed me to absorb and neutralize any toxins, I stayed by his bedside and used my own body to share the burden of his injuries. Seven days later, Damian opened his eyes. The first thing he did was mark me, making me his one and only fated mate—his Luna. For the next five years, he spoiled me rotten. Everyone said that Alpha Damian loved his Luna with all his heart. That was until Clara came back. Clara was the she-wolf he'd grown up with. Two years ago, she was captured during a conflict between territories and disappeared. The day she was found, I saw a light in Damian's eyes that I'd never seen before. And then, he was "poisoned" during the next hunting expedition. He forgot me, but he remembered Clara. Not only did he become obsessed with spoiling and doting on her, but he also wanted to hold a grand mating ceremony with her. I held up our mate token, begging him to remember me. But he just grabbed it and threw it onto the ground, smashing it to pieces. "Don't look so pathetic, Lyra. Clara has been through hell. She's the only one I love." To completely destroy the last bit of hope I had left, he personally forced the bowl of poison—silver powder mixed with wolfsbane—down my throat. But now, I knew the truth. Jenna returned in tears, her face filled with helplessness and heartache. "I'm so useless. I couldn't bring Alpha Damian here. He said… He said you're faking your illness and that you should stop playing these games." She paused, her throat tightening. "He also said… even if you do die of sickness, you shouldn't bother him. He's taking Clara to the northern hunting grounds to see the aurora." I weakly opened my eyes. The werewolf territory was bathed in moonlight all year round. How could there be an aurora? It wasn't until Jenna explained that I understood. Damian had mobilized his elite guards and used magical devices to project an illusion of the aurora across the hunting grounds, all just to make Clara happy. To maintain the display, countless patrol guards had been pulled away from the outer perimeter of the hunting grounds, causing several elderly guards to collapse after taking consecutive shifts. A quiet laugh slipped from my lips, completely devoid of warmth. Right then, the door was violently thrown open. "Lyra Caelwyn, have you lost your mind? How dare you poison Clara?" I instinctively wanted to defend myself, but Damian grabbed my wrist in one swift move. "Don't bother denying it. Other than you, who else in this entire territory would be jealous enough of Clara to do this? If anything happens to her, I'll make sure you regret it!" With that, he dragged me straight to the Alpha's quarters. He pointed at Clara lying on the bed, her eyes shut tight and her lips blue. "She's been poisoned. You can purify toxins, so remove the toxins from her right now." I stared at him for a moment, then a laugh bubbled out of me. "Damian, if you've forgotten everything about me, how do you still remember that I can neutralize toxins?" I asked, my voice cold. His eyes flickered, and a trace of awkwardness crossed his face, but he quickly returned to his look of impatience. "I heard someone mention it. Now, stop wasting time. You're the one who poisoned her, so isn't it only right that you save her?" I clenched my fingers. Today was the full moon. I was already suffering from the unbearable pain of my old wound flaring up, and there wasn't anything left inside me to give. Yet, Damian still wanted me to save Clara. "Damian, today is the full moon. Do you really not remember what day this is?" Damian froze. His brows furrowed, and a flicker of hesitation appeared across his face. Chapter 3 Lyra's POV I thought Damian was going to let me go. "I don't remember a single thing from the past," he said coldly. "Whether you want to save her or not, you're going to do it." The words had just left his mouth when he reached out. A crushing wave of power pierced my body—he was forcefully draining my life force and channeling it straight into Clara. A scream ripped from my lips. It felt like my very soul was being torn in half. Tears blurred my vision. I stared at Damian, but he wouldn't even spare me a glance. All his attention was consumed by Clara. In that single instant, every last shred of hope I had left shattered. Damian was holding my hand, but it was only to drain my life force bit by bit and use it to sustain another she-wolf. He claimed he had amnesia, yet he knew exactly how to use my ability. His eyes held nothing but worry—worry for Clara, not for me. I closed my eyes, not wanting to look at him anymore. I didn't know how much time had passed before Clara slowly woke up. The toxins had been transferred into me, seeping into my bloodstream like countless needles piercing through my veins all at once. It wouldn't kill me, but the pain was very much real. And I knew that a toxin of this caliber would leave permanent damage. Within three days, my body functions would begin to deteriorate. In one month, I would no longer be able to shift into my wolf form. By then, I would only be half a wolf—a broken werewolf. However, that would actually be a blessing in disguise for me. A werewolf who could no longer shift would be much harder to track in the human world, as there would be no wolf scent for others to lock onto and no energy signature from my wolf for them to trace. This poison was, in a way, helping me. "You brought this on yourself," Damian said emotionlessly as he looked down at my deathly pale face. "This is what you get for poisoning Clara." Then, he turned away and gently pulled Clara into his arms, comforting her in a low voice. She leaned against his shoulders, a shy, timid smile playing on her lips. "Alpha, I have some good news… I'm with pup." My heart dropped, but my expression didn't change. The memory of that day surfaced in my mind—the day Damian had his guards pin me down, prying my mouth open as they shoved that bowl of poison down my throat drop by drop. "Only Clara is worthy of carrying the next Alpha. You? You're nothing." Those words still echoed in my ears. I lowered my eyes and forced the emotions back down into the deepest recesses of my heart. I remembered how Damian had once placed his palm over my stomach and whispered that he wanted a pup with my eyes and his dark hair. I quickly crushed that memory. The mating ceremony was in two days. When that day came, I would leave. The answers I once wanted no longer mattered. "That's wonderful, Clara!" Damian was ecstatic. He immediately transferred ownership of Moonshadow Estate in the eastern territory over to her name and reassigned his most elite guards to protect her. I had no intention of watching any further. I turned around, but Clara stopped me. She bit her lower lip, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Why did you want to hurt me, Lyra? Can you really not tolerate my existence at all?" I looked at her coldly, not answering her. I was in too much pain to play along with her little performance. Sure enough, the moment she finished speaking, she let out a sharp cry and suddenly collapsed to the floor, clutching her stomach. "My stomach! My stomach hurts so much! Why did you push me, Lyra?" I stood right where I was, completely motionless. Damian didn't even look at me. He rushed over, scooped Clara into his arms, and then shot me a look of pure, unadulterated disgust. "Enough, Lyra. You're nothing but a jealous, vicious, low-class bitch. Amnesia or not—there is absolutely no way I could ever fall in love with someone like you." I listened to every word in silence. My heart was still throbbing, the silver still burning through my veins, while the newly transferred toxin continued to systematically gnaw away at my nerves bit by bit. Yet, when I heard those words, I didn't feel any greater pain. It was like a glass filled to the brim—one more drop wouldn't make any difference. It did, however, confirm one thing to me. He had never truly known me. In the past, no matter how much I acted out, Damian would always call me adorable. He'd patiently coax me, telling me I was his moon-kissed lover and that he'd protect me for the rest of my life. But that was all a lie. He'd grown tired of me long ago, and he had just been waiting for an excuse to get rid of me. And Clara was the excuse. "Okay, Damian. Then, I reject you. I reject you as my mate," I said calmly. He visibly froze, his eyelashes fluttering in shock. "What game are you playing? Do you really think you can threaten me by rejecting me?" "Don't you want to mark Clara?" I asked. "I'm stepping aside. I'll stay far away from you. What else could you possibly be unsatisfied with?" Damian stared dead into my eyes for a very long time. In our five years together, he'd never heard me say such words, especially not in such a calm, certain manner. For a brief moment, I seemed to detect a trace of unease crossing his expression. He was just about to say something when Clara, clutching her stomach, started crying. "Alpha, my stomach hurts so bad… I think something's happened to the pup… It'll be okay, right?" Damian instantly suppressed the small flicker of panic and pointed at me. "You want to leave, Lyra? Not before you go to the silver dungeon first and reflect on what you've done. This is the price you pay for poisoning Clara and endangering our pup." The silver dungeon was a place deep within the bowels of the pack headquarters, where silver-infused iron chains lined the walls, and the floor was paved with bricks compressed from silver powder. Every breath inside would bring one's skin into contact with silver. The skin would burn and blister, but it wouldn't bleed—wounds caused by silver never bled. It simply left the flesh to be slowly tortured by the burning pain. The Damian who once couldn't bear seeing me get even a tiny scratch was now sending me to a place like that. "Damian, let me ask you one last time. Have you really forgotten me?" I looked straight into his eyes. … Third-Person POV Damian fell silent for a long time. In those few seconds of silence, a strange, inexplicable panic flared deep within him, as if he knew that if he nodded right now, he'd permanently lose something he could never recover. But things had already come this far. If he didn't keep up the act, wouldn't everything he'd done before have been for nothing? Once the ceremony was completed, he'd apologize to Lyra and explain everything properly. Lyra would forgive him. She always had. She had nowhere else to go, after all. "Don't think you can escape it by playing on my feelings," he said, sneering. "Guards! Take her to the silver dungeon!" … Lyra's POV The last trace of hope inside me silently shattered. A scoff escaped my lips, and I allowed the guards to escort me away. Might as well. At least in the silver dungeon, I wouldn't have to watch their act. I just needed to wait for two more days. Once the ceremony began, the border patrols would have blind spots. And then, not even the silver dungeon would be able to hold me. Chapter 4 Lyra's POV At first, none of the guards dared to actually lay a hand on me. Damian had treated me far too well in the past, and they weren't sure if this was just some kind of test. That was until the executioner showed up. He strode in, barking furiously at the hesitant guards. "What the hell are you all waiting for? The Alpha has given his orders. She crossed Clara. Just make sure she's still breathing by the end." "A-Are we really doing this? She's still the Alpha's fated mate, after all. She's the Luna…" The executioner sneered and raised something in his hand—the Alpha badge bearing Damian's personal crest. "Is this not enough? The Alpha personally handed this to me. Do your worst." The guards no longer hesitated. They didn't even need whips. The silver dungeon itself was enough. Silver-infused chains were clamped tightly around my wrists. With the silver pressed against my skin, every single breath I drew forced my chest against the cold silver bars. It hurt. It hurt so incredibly bad. Tears mixed with sweat poured down my face as I stared blankly at the badge in the executioner's hand. I remembered it clearly. Damian had personally placed it in my palm, holding my hand as he said, "Lyra, hold onto this badge. With it, no one in the territory will ever dare to touch you." I didn't beg for mercy. I clenched my teeth hard and let every burn sear itself into my bones. I wanted to remember this pain. I wanted to remember who gave it to me. Once I left this territory, these wounds would become the fuel that kept me alive, carried me farther, and stopped me from ever looking back. Damian would never find me again. I swore it. I didn't know how much time passed before I was finally released. Word was that Damian had softened his stance. The guards changed me into clean clothes that temporarily covered the burns on my body, but they couldn't hide them completely. I glanced down at the faint scars on my wrists and pulled my sleeves lower. It didn't matter. There were less than two days left. Once the ceremony began and blind spots appeared in the border patrol, I'd leave these scars and every single memory behind in this territory forever. I stumbled toward the Alpha's quarters. When I looked up, I saw the oak watchtower. Clara was sitting up there, with Damian standing behind her, his gaze filled with pure tenderness. That watchtower was something Damian had built specifically for me, just because he was worried I'd get bored. Perhaps the pain had already numbed me, because when I saw this scene, I felt no bitterness at all. I merely turned and walked away. But just a second later, Damian caught up to me and grabbed my wrist. "Lyra, one stint in the silver dungeon, and you've already forgotten basic manners? Why aren't you bowing when you see your Alpha?" His movements were so aggressive that my weakened body couldn't handle them. I stumbled and fell, causing my forehead to slam against the ground and draw blood. Damian looked stunned for a second before his hand instinctively flew out. "Lyra—" But his hand suddenly stopped midair, as if he had almost touched something filthy. He immediately pulled back and shoved me away instead. "Why are you making such a scene? You spent less than a day reflecting in the silver dungeon, and it's not like those guards would actually dare to touch you. Why even bother to act so pitiful?" I stared at him without saying a word. The burns covering my entire body were still throbbing faintly. I truly wanted to ask him how he could possibly say those words out loud. But I decided against it. There was no point in asking anymore. "My apologies, Alpha. I'll leave right now so I won't disturb you." I turned around, not wanting to look at him for a second longer. Soon. There were less than two days left. When I returned to my wooden shack in the woods, I set fire to everything Damian had given me over the past five years. The portrait of me he'd personally painted, the moonlight lamp he'd spent half a month crafting because he knew I was afraid of the dark, and the luminous pearl he'd retrieved from the depths of the ocean—all of it was reduced to ashes. The flames illuminated my face, but my expression remained cold. I closed my eyes, letting the words rise from the place where our bond used to be. "I, Lyra Caelwyn, reject you, Damian Veylor, as my mate." The bond snapped. A violent, searing agony exploded from the back of my neck, right where my mate mark was located. The mark was peeling away, like a red-hot burning iron being ripped away from my skin, leaving my flesh a bloody mess and my soul torn apart. Through the other end of the bond, I felt a wave of intense shock and violent resistance coming from Damian. But I immediately slammed my emotional walls up, refusing to let him drag me back. … Third-Person POV Far away in the Alpha's quarters, Damian suddenly felt a tearing sensation in his chest. He doubled over as a mouthful of blood surged from his throat and splattered across the tray in front of him. His wolf let out a dying howl inside his mind, again and again, nearly ripping his sanity to shreds. He dropped to his knees, his entire body trembling violently. "Alpha!" The guards fell into chaos, but Damian couldn't hear a single thing. The only thing he could feel was that something was being ripped away from the very depths of his soul. … Lyra's POV I had once sworn to the Moon Goddess that Damian and I would share the same den in life and the same grave in death. But vows could be broken, and I was done. The moment I pushed open the side door of the Alpha's quarters, I heard crying. "Alpha, I really love you. Can you please not send me away after tomorrow?" Through the crack in the door, I caught sight of Damian and Clara entangled together. She was curled up in his arms, pleading pitifully. Damian rejected her without any hesitation. "Be good, Clara. You have to understand that the she-wolf I truly love is Lyra. I only agreed to this ceremony because you were captured back then and suffered so much out there. Once the ceremony is complete, this entire act ends. "I've made Lyra suffer enough during this time. I can't keep hurting her." Clara pouted. "But Alpha, what about our pup?" Damian squeezed her chest and chuckled. "Didn't we already agree that once the pup was born, I'd hand it over to Lyra to raise? "I personally forced that bowl of poison down her throat for your sake. Your pup will be the only one who can inherit the Alpha title in the future. What else could you possibly be dissatisfied with, huh?" Clara immediately stopped crying and broke into a smile as she wrapped herself around him. Standing outside, my heart turned into ice. So that was what it was. Damian had forced that bowl of poison down my throat just to ensure that Clara's pup would inherit the Alpha title. He kept saying he loved me, yet every word—every decision—was made for another she-wolf. I thought I could no longer feel any heartache, but my tears still fell silently. The Damian who once held me in his arms every night and whispered that he wanted me to bear his pups was truly gone. I wiped away my tears and turned to walk away. Only one day remained.