Diagnosed With Cancer, I Got My True Mate

I'm sprawled on the couch, phone pressed to my ear, telling Mike I'm heading back to our old stomping grounds by the end of the month. For good. "Keep a spot open for me at your diner, man."

Mike Ramirez's voice crackles through, shock clear as day. "What? You're coming back? After all you did for that little pup Natalie Brooks, the one you busted your tail to put through school? She's the youngest professor at the university now, Sam! You worked odd jobs for years to get her there, and now that you've finally made it, you're ditching Argentum Town to come back to our little nowhere? What's the deal? Did she do you dirty?"

"Nah, she's been good to me," I cut him off, my fingers absentmindedly tracing the edge of my phone. "I'm just done with Argentum Town."

"What about Natalie? She coming with you?"

My breath catches for a second. The sunset outside stretches my shadow long and lonely across the wall. "No," I say, my voice steady despite the ache. "Just me. She's staying here, ready to form a sacred bond, start a pack, live a new life."

I hang up, and my phone buzzes almost instantly. A text from Brandon Whitmore: Sam, you sure about this?

My thumb hovers over the screen for what feels like forever before I type back, I'm sure. I'm leaving Natalie.

Natalie.

Just saying her name, letting it roll off my tongue, sends a warm pang through my chest.

I still remember the first time I saw her. High school, freshman year, at the opening ceremony. She was up there as the student speaker, rocking her crisp uniform, standing in the sunlight. Her voice was cool, clear, and damn near musical. Every wolf in school had a crush on her. Top grades, killer looks-she was the pack's pride, untouchable.

Me? I was just Sam Whitaker, a scrappy pup from the orphanage, grades as average as they come. Didn't even have the guts to talk to her.

Then sophomore year hit, and everything changed.

Word got out that Natalie was an illegitimate pup. Her mom's scandalous photos got plastered all over school. Overnight, she went from pack darling to outcast. Shunned, humiliated, driven to the edge-literally. She tried to drown herself in the river.

I was the one who pulled her out.

That night, soaked to the bone, her eyes hollow, she looked at me and asked, "Why'd you save me?"

I didn't have an answer. All I could do was hold her hand tight, terrified that if I let go, she'd slip away for good.

After that, we were inseparable, holed up in a cramped ten-square-foot rental, just the two of us against the world. When college acceptance letters came, we could only afford one tuition. I stepped back without a second thought.

"Why?" she asked.

I grinned, playing it off. "My grades are meh, and I got into some no-name school. You're the star here. Go shine. Don't