DAYA NO LAST NAME

DAYA’S POV

It was a beautiful day. I watched the enforcers train beneath the scorching sun while reclining under a tree, my back pressed against its rough bark.

Four days had passed since my return from the last mission — four long, empty days of doing nothing. Surprisingly, Night hadn’t summoned me to his room since that night.

I couldn’t tell if that was a blessing or a curse. I hadn’t even seen him.

The healer assured me his potion had been delivered the same day I arrived, yet the unease twisting in my gut refused to fade. Something wasn’t right. I could feel it.

The potion had always been crafted using small drops of my blood since childhood—ever since Alpha Jacob, Night’s grandfather, had adopted me from Blackclaw Orphanage.

Before his death, he finally confessed the truth about the strange mark staining the nape of my neck — two crimson drops. I descended from a long bloodline of powerful healers, he said.

That was why Night had been drawn to me from the very first day we met.

My thoughts slipped into the past, back to when Night first visited the orphanage.

I had lived there for as long as my memories reached, always surrounded by unanswered questions about my origins.

The other children never missed a chance to taunt me for my white hair, whispering that I was a freak. But everything changed the moment he appeared.

"Why does your shadow look like swirling smoke?" That single question burned into my mind as he stepped between me and my bullies, his scowl fierce and possessive.

Later I would learn — it wasn’t his shadow. It was his aura. Even as a child I was one of the few that could see his aura.

His grandfather arrived shortly after, scattering the children in fear. And from that moment forward, my world shifted.

He brought me home. No longer Daya No Last Name, I became Daya Blackclaw — granddaughter to the Alpha of Blackclaw Pack, a pack famed for its powerful bloodlines.

But Night was different. An anomaly. Unnaturally strong and fast, even before his first shift.

Grandfather Jacob made it clear the moment I arrived that I was to remain by Night’s side at all times, even when he didn't want me around.

In the beginning, Night viewed me as the too weak and sluggish irl who was always pulling him back. But slowly, I grew on him. We became inseparable as friends then as lovers.

A soft smile tugged at my lips as I recalled how he once scaled a mountain just to pluck me the tear of iris, a very rare and poisonous flower, then tucked it behind my ear. He would often kiss my forehead, pat my head every time I was near.

And on my eighteenth birthday, we made love for the first time in our secret hideout, hidden deep within the mountains that almost sorrounded the pack.

It was the most perfect night of my life. And the start of my nightmare.

Because that very night, after leaving him asleep for only a moment, I was taken. Dragged into Nikhail — the Assassins' Guild — against my will. And now, after years apart, he believed I had betrayed him.

“What’s causing this much sorrow in your eyes, woman?”

I glanced up at the familiar voice, meeting the soft gaze of Layla — Beta Conrad’s mate and one of the few I could still call a friend.

“Another baby, it seems,” I replied with a forced smile, shifting my gaze to her growing belly to steer the conversation away from my own turmoil.

“This one’s already a handful, and she hasn’t even arrived yet,” she said fondly, caressing her stomach.

I knew how to keep her focused away from me. “She?” I asked, patting the ground beside me, inviting her to sit on the small picnic blanket.

A basket packed with pastries and fruits sat beside me — Nana’s doing, of course. After I refused breakfast earlier, she had predictably stuffed a basket for me before I left.

“You never eat enough. That’s why you’re so scrawny,” she had muttered, piling it full of food. Only Nana would think I was scrawny.

My upper frame was hardened with firm muscle, my lower body curvier and fuller than most.

With a soft grunt, Layla lowered herself onto the blanket. “Hmmph!”

I immediately prepared a plate for her and poured a glass of berry juice.

“Thank you,” she said warmly as I set the tray across her lap. She dug in eagerly. “I came looking for Conrad but can’t find him anywhere,” she said after swallowing her first bite.

I hadn’t seen him since morning either. “He’s probably at a pack meeting with Night,” I offered with a shrug.

“Without you?” she scoffed, finishing her juice. I refilled her glass as she continued through a mouthful of food. “Alpha Night never goes anywhere without his Shadow,”

That was true.

“How’s Dathan?” I asked quickly, trying to shift the topic.

“He’s off playing somewhere, I’m sure,” she replied with ease. With the pack’s tight security, there was little cause for concern.

Then the mindlink snapped open — Conrad’s voice flooded into my head.

"I didn’t want to involve you. I thought we could handle it,"

His tone was tight, laced with worry.

“Tell me,” I demanded, already rising to my feet and heading toward the packhouse. I glanced back at Layla, forcing a smile, waving slightly to excuse myself.

"He’s been missing for three days. I set trackers on his trail,"

Three days. Night never disappeared without me. Never. Conrad should have told me sooner. He knew what was at stake.

“And?” My walk quickened into a run, dread blooming in my chest.

"They found him,"

The words struck like falling stones in my stomach. Whatever came next — I already knew it wouldn’t be good.

“Give me the full details. Now,”

"There’s blood, Daya. Too much blood..."

His voice trembled beneath the weight of fear. But at least he was holding himself together. Good.

I broke into a full sprint—a blur of speed, no more than a streak of wind to the naked eye.

"Are you there?"

"Yes,"

"I’m coming,"

The metallic tang of blood filled the air, coating my tongue. The scent pulled me west — toward the pack boundary. I pivoted sharply, my heart pounding faster with each step. The smell was overwhelming. Far too much.

"Get everyone out of there. Now," I ordered through the mindlink, my voice sharp with urgency.

"But—"

"NOW!" I cut him off.

Fool. He should have recognized what this meant by now. Night wasn’t slipping into his dark phase.

He had already slipped.

And if they didn’t clear the area…

May the Moon Goddess help us all.