My Mate’s Regret: He Chose Her While I Died

"Daddy, why can't Mommy just die? I want a new one."

I heard my werewolf son say this to my werewolf husband through their Mindlink. Right in front of me.

They thought I couldn't hear them — because I'm just a plain human.

But I could...

Olivia’s POV

"Mrs. Blackwood, did anyone come with you today?"

I froze, then shook my head. It was just a quick check for my migraines. Why would the doctor ask that?

As a human living in the werewolf world, my only family was my Delta mate husband Alexander and our eight-year-old son Noah. But…they had been so busy lately. I barely saw them anymore.

The doctor’s face turned serious, eyes full of sympathy. “I’m sorry, Olivia. You have a rare nerve disease. You only have one year.”

My head buzzed loudly. One year? A heavy wave of pain and shock crashed over me. How could this be real?

The doctor spoke gently, full of sympathy. He told me to talk to my family and get ready. The sickness came from years of exhaustion. I needed to stop pushing so hard.

I thought of everything I had done for them.

I left my human life behind to follow Alexander, my fated mate, into this werewolf world because I loved him so deeply.

For them, I learned their rules, cooked every meal with care, stayed up late cleaning after pack meetings, helped Noah with his training even when my head hurt badly, and always tried my best to support them with a smile no matter how tired I was. A bitter smile crossed my lips.

Before I left, the doctor told me. There was one tiny chance — go back to the human world. But because of the strict travel restrictions between the two worlds, crossing back was almost impossible.

The success rate for a cure was only 0.01%.

And even if it worked, I could never return here. I would never see Alexander and Noah again.

I pressed my hands flat against my thighs because they had already started shaking and I hated that, especially when it happened in public.

He slid the folder across the desk toward me. “Everything is inside. Take your time reading through it but Mrs. Blackwood…” He paused. “Do not take too long.”

I left the hospital, my chest tight and my eyes burning with tears.

I folded the report carefully and slipped the folder to the very bottom of my bag, hiding it deep inside. Tears burned in my eyes, but I swallowed them down quietly, forcing them back with a deep breath. I still wasn’t sure if I should tell them. I couldn’t add my pain to their lives.

I just wanted to spend this last year making them smile.

So I stopped at a bakery, bought a cake, and painted a calm smile on my face. Everything was fine. Nothing had changed.

The house was quiet when I got in.

“Alexander?” I called out but there was no reply. “Noah?”

I headed for the kitchen and that was when I felt two voices in the air. It felt so strange to me and it took me a second to realise what it was... I was hearing werewolf mind links.

The werewolf doctor had warned me this morning after I took the medicine. “The side effect of the wolf-world drugs,” he had said, “is that you may begin to hear mindlinks, Mrs. Blackwood. It is temporary but it will feel very disorienting at first.”

I had not truly understood what he meant until this moment.

“…she already booked the tickets,” Noah was saying through the link. “Scarlett said we can do the whole coastline! There is this place that does private boat tours.”

I raised a brow in confusion.

Who the hell was Scarlett?

“We will sort the dates this week,” Alexander replied.

“Can we just go alone this time? You, me, and Scarlett.” Then he paused. “Without mom.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“She makes everything awkward, dad.” Noah’s mindlink voice dropped but I could still hear every word.

“Remember the Henderson dinner? Her hands were shaking the whole night and then she knocked her glass over. I wanted to disappear. It is embarrassing.” His tone was laced with irritation. “Scarlett never does that. ”

I stood in the hallway and waited for Alexander to say something that would undo what I had just heard.

“I agree with you on that, Noah.” Alexander sighed.

“I want a real mother,” Noah continued, his voice full of complaint.

“I do love Mom, but... if Scarlett was my mom, everything would be so much better. She’s perfect for us. Can’t Mom just... disappear or something? ”

“Noah, don’t say that,” Alexander cut in quickly through the link. “Your mom would be hurt if she heard you.”

Noah let out an annoyed huff. “She won’t hear anything. She’s only human. She can’t hear mind links anyway.”

But I heard every single word.

Suddenly the cake box slipped from my hands and hit the floor.

It took only a few seconds before the study door swung open. Alexander stepped out and his eyes found me but his face did not go soft.

He looked irritated with me.

“Olivia. How long have you been standing there?”

Noah appeared behind him. His expression flickered for just half a second before he crossed his arms and looked away.

“I did not know you were home,” Noah cleared his throat. “When did you come in?”

I opened my mouth to reply but Alexander beat me to it.

“Go upstairs, Noah.”

Noah went without a word and did not look at me. I immediately thought about how that same boy who could not look at me without irritation used to fall asleep against my shoulder on the sofa.

“Who is Scarlett?” I asked Alexander.

He went still but it only lasted a second before his expression hardened. “Where did you hear that name?”

“Does it matter where I heard it?”

“Olivia.” His voice sharpened. “Scarlett is unwell. She has a chronic condition and she requires support. This is not something you need to concern yourself with.”

“So what? You have been taking care of her?”

I waited for him to deny it but he did not, and suddenly it hit me.

“Have you been lying all those times when you said you had Delta duties?”

“I was not lying. I was managing a situation that did not involve you.” He crossed his arms. “You should not be inserting yourself into something you do not understand.”

“She is the reason Noah wants a new mother.” My voice cracked. I pressed my lips together hard and tried to hold it back but the tears came anyway, burning and humiliating. “She is the reason you have not been home. She is the reason…”

“Enough.” He barked. “I am not going to stand here and listen to this.”

“Then where will you stand?” The tears were falling freely now and I hated it. “Because I would really like to know.”

He looked at me for a long moment. Something in his expression shifted but it was not soft. He looked like he was just annoyed by my tears and wanted me to stop.

“Come inside,” he said. “We will talk properly.”

I followed him into the study. He closed the door and turned and that was when his eyes dropped to the folder I was still holding, the one from Dr. Harmon’s office.

“What is that?” he asked.

I opened my mouth to speak but then suddenly I felt it again… a mindlink cutting directly through the air between us.

It did not take me long to realise whose voice it was this time. She sounded so completely comfortable with him in a way that made my stomach turn.

Alexander’s whole body changed the moment it connected. The tension left his shoulders in a way it never did for me. He turned slightly away, angling his body from me.

“Are you alright? What did they say?” he asked her through the link.

A pause, then a quiet laugh from him.

“You do not need to be brave about it.” Another pause, longer. “I know. I will come tonight… no, listen, it is not too late. I want to.” He turned further away from me. “Stop telling me not to rush. I am already rushing.”

Whatever she said made him smile. I could feel my heart shattering piece by piece in my chest.

“Get some rest,” he said softly through the link. “I will be there soon.”

He turned back around and seemed almost surprised to find me still standing there.

“I have to go out,” he said.

I looked down at the folder in my hands and suddenly thought about every dinner I had sat through with my hands pressed flat under the table.

Every event where I had watched Alexander’s jaw tighten at something I did or said or failed to do correctly. Every time I had made myself smaller and less visible so that I would stop embarrassing people who had apparently already moved on without me.

I thought about how they had never spoken to me with such warmth, never softened their voices for me the way they did for Scarlett.

I thought about the time I had left.

And then about how much of it I had already given away.

His phone buzzed. He glanced at it then back at me, already impatient.

“Was there something you needed to say?” His voice was clipped. “Say it quickly.”

I looked at my husband. This man I had loved for years, who I had folded myself smaller for every single time.

My hand tightened on the folder. For a moment, I wanted to pull it out and tell him the truth. I was dying. I only had one year left.

But then I laughed at myself inside. Would he even care? He barely noticed me when I was healthy.

The words stuck in my throat. I forced them out.

“I want a divorce.” I deadpanned.

Alexander froze. His cold expression cracked for a brief second, his jaw tightening as surprise flashed in his eyes.