LUCAR POV

My claws were still shaking when I reached her.

She lay limp in the dirt.

small, fragile, unconscious.

The bite mark on her neck was already darkening, spreading faint lines of silver through her skin like cracks of moonlight. My chest tightened painfully.

I did that.

I….Alpha Lucar Vale….bit a human.

Something no sane wolf would ever do.

My wolf paced inside me, panicked, restless, whining, as if he’d made the biggest mistake of our entire existence.

“She’s ours,” he whispered.

I ignored him.

I forced myself to shift back, bones snapping, fur dissolving, until I stood there in my human form, breathing hard. The night air was cold against my skin, but guilt burned hotter than fire.

Carefully, I bent down and lifted her into my arms.

She was light, too light like someone who had not eaten well in years.

Her head fell against my chest, her breath barely there.

And the second her skin touched mine…

My wolf quieted.

Completely.

For the first time in months, maybe years, he stopped raging.

Stopped pushing.

Stopped clawing for control.

He simply… watched her.

I held her closer without meaning to.

That terrified me more than the rogues.

Leaves rustled behind me.

Jayce emerged from the darkness, shifting from wolf to man with a curse already on his tongue.

“Lucar what the hell happened? I heard your scream from”

His eyes landed on the girl in my arms.

He froze.

Slowly, painfully, he whispered, “Tell me you didn’t.”

I clenched my jaw. “Jayce”

“Lucar.” His voice trembled. “Tell me you didn’t bite a human.”

My silence was enough.

Jayce dragged a hand down his face. “No human can survive an Alpha bite. You know that. The venom alone Lucar, she’s going to die.”

A growl tore from my throat before I could stop it.

Jayce stepped back instantly.

“Okay…okay,” he held up his hands.

“Your wolf is clearly not stable. But Lucar, listen to me, she’s a human. There’s no coming back from this. She shouldn’t live through the next hour.”

“She will,” I said, my voice low and deadly.

“Lucar”

“She. Will.”

Jayce stared at me like he’d never seen me before.

“Your wolf…” he whispered. “He’s not just unstable, he’s claiming her.”

The words hit harder than any blow.

I didn’t answer.

I didn’t have to.

I tightened my hold on her and turned toward the mountains.

“We’re taking her to Mira,” I ordered.

Jayce blinked. “The pack healer? Lucar, she heals wolves, not humans.”

“She’ll heal whoever I tell her to heal.”

He swallowed hard but didn’t argue. Not when my wolf was this close to breaking free again.

We ran.

Through the trees.

Across the river.

Up the shadowed path leading to the SilverClaw territory.

I carried the girl as if she were made of glass.

Every breath she took was shallow.

Every second mattered.

When we reached the healer’s den, I kicked the door open.

“Mira!”

The old wolf healer rushed forward, panic flashing in her silver-streaked eyes.

“Alpha…what…oh Goddess…she’s human!”

“Help her,” I growled.

Mira paled. “Lucar… you bit her.”

Jayce answered, “His wolf snapped he couldn’t stop it.”

Mira touched the girl’s neck and gasped softly.

The silver veins had spread further.

“Oh Moon…” she whispered. “Lucar, humans can’t survive this. Their blood can’t hold the shift venom. If it doesn’t kill her, it will… twist her.”

“Fix it,” I ordered.

“I,I don’t know if I can…”

“Mira.”

She flinched.

I wasn’t angry.

I was terrified.

And I didn’t know how to show fear without it sounding like violence.

Mira swallowed, nodding quickly. “Okay. I’ll try. Lay her here.”

I placed Aria gently on the healer’s bed.

Her lashes fluttered weakly.

Her breath hitched.

Her skin shimmered faintly with silver cracks.

Jayce whispered behind me,

“Lucar… your wolf is losing control because of her. Why? She’s human. She shouldn’t affect you this much.”

I said nothing.

Because I didn’t have an answer.

All I knew was that the moment I saw her eyes…

the moment she whispered please don’t hurt me…

something ancient inside me broke its chains.

And now?

Now I couldn’t let her die.

Not even if it destroyed me.

Mira lit herbs, pressed runes, whispered prayers.

The air grew thick with healing smoke.

But the moment her energy touched Aria’s skin

Aria’s body jerked violently.

Her back arched off the bed.

Her veins glowed brighter.

A sharp, broken cry escaped her lips.

Mira gasped. “No ….no she’s reacting to the venom.

Lucar, her body is trying to shift! That’s impossible!”

Jayce grabbed my arm. “Lucar! If she dies while reacting to your bite, the pack will…”

He didn’t finish.

Because Aria suddenly went still.

Too still.

Her chest stopped moving.

Her heartbeat vanished.

Mira stared in horror.

Jayce froze.

My wolf slammed against me so hard I dropped to my knees beside her.

“Do something!” I roared.

But the healer whispered with shaking lips

“She’s gone.”

I should have held her.

I should have kept her safe.

But she slipped from me. Her body went limp, her eyes closed… and the moment she did, something inside me shattered.

I sank to my knees beside her in the forest clearing. Dirt and leaves stuck to my hands, my chest heaving, every breath tasting like fire and ash. My wolf screamed inside me, roaring in fury and grief but even he couldn’t fill the emptiness gnawing at my soul.

How could I let this happen?

Her warmth, the softness of her hands against me, the life in her eyes, I had felt it all, and now it was gone. My claws clenched the dirt as if I could dig her back into existence.

No human should ever have survived my bite.

The thought stabbed me harder than any rogue’s fang ever could. My wolf pounded in my chest, a wild, uncontrollable heartbeat screaming for vengeance. But even that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except her.

I thought about my mother.

Her death was the first real scar in my life. I was sixteen, and she was torn from me in front of my eyes by rogues hungry for our land and power. I remember the blood, the screams, the way the wind carried her last words to me. Her warmth, her love, gone in an instant.

And now… I was failing again.

I didn’t know my father.

Not really.

Not the man whose blood runs through me, whose legacy I carry.

Some pack elders say he’s dead. Others whisper he’s out there, powerful, dangerous, maybe even cursed.

I’ve never known him, Not his touch, not his voice, not his guidance, Only stories, Half truths, lies, and rumors.

And yet I am supposed to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

I had let her die.