CHAPTER THREE: THE HUMAN ALPHA 

I woke up in a bed.

An actual bed, with clean sheets and a soft pillow. For a moment, I thought I'd dreamed everything—the rejection, the running, the attack. Maybe I was back in Moontide, in my old room, and it had all been a nightmare.

Then I tried to sit up and pain exploded across my ribs.

Not a dream.

"Don't move too fast," a female voice said. "The wound is healing, but you'll tear the stitches."

I turned my head to see a woman sitting in a chair beside the bed. She was older, maybe fifty, with silver-streaked brown hair and kind eyes. Human eyes, not wolf.

"Where am I?" My throat was dry, my voice hoarse.

"Safe. Drink this." She handed me a glass of water and I drank it gratefully. "I'm Elena. I'm a doctor. Well, a human doctor, but I've patched up enough shifters over the years to know what I'm doing."

"How long have I been here?"

"Two days."

"Two days?" I tried to sit up again and immediately regretted it.

"I told you not to move." Elena pushed me gently back down. "The claw wounds were deep. Got infected, too. You're lucky Daren found you when he did. Another few hours and you would have died."

Daren. The man from the forest. The one who'd killed those wolves with his bare hands.

"Where is he?"

"Around. He's been checking on you." She gave me a knowing look. "More than I'd expect, actually. Daren doesn't usually take such personal interest in the people he saves."

"He saves people often?"

"Rogues, outcasts, anyone running from the packs he's hunting. He gives them a choice—join him or move on with supplies and money. Most join. Hard to say no to someone who offers you purpose when you've lost everything."

I looked around the room properly for the first time. It was simple but clean, with bare walls and minimal furniture. The window showed a courtyard where people were training—some in human form, some shifted, all moving with deadly precision.

"What is this place?"

"Home. Or the closest thing to it. Daren calls it the Fortress, but it's really just a compound. We're about thirty miles from any pack territory, in the dead lands where no one wants to claim."

"And these people..."

"All rogues. All outcasts. All people who have nowhere else to go." Elena stood and moved to check my bandages. "Daren gave them a purpose. Gave them family. In return, they're loyal to him."

"Why? What's his purpose?"

"Revenge." Elena's voice was matter-of-fact. "He's been hunting the packs that destroyed his clan. Six down. One to go."

"Moontide," I whispered.

"Moontide." She finished checking my bandages and nodded in satisfaction. "You're healing well. Shifter metabolism is finally kicking in. You should be up and moving by tomorrow."

"Can I see him? Daren?"

"He'll come when he's ready. For now, rest. You've been through hell, and your body needs time to recover." She moved toward the door, then paused. "Shahira? That's your name, right?"

I nodded.

"Whatever Daren offers you, think carefully before you accept. Revenge is a dangerous path. It changes you. I've watched it change him." Her eyes were sad. "Sometimes I wonder if the boy I used to know is still in there somewhere, or if the need for vengeance burned him away."

She left before I could ask what she meant.

I lay back against the pillows, trying to process everything. I was in a compound full of rogues, saved by a man who was hunting the pack that had destroyed me. A man who'd killed two wolves with his bare hands and moved faster than anything I'd ever seen.

A man who had no wolf scent.

How was that possible? All shifters had the scent of their wolf, even in human form. It was how we recognized each other. But Daren smelled like nothing but man—clean, dark, dangerous, but human.

The door opened again. This time, it was him.

Daren Methlock stepped into the room and the air seemed to compress. He was even more intimidating in the daylight—tall, muscular, with those cold gray eyes that missed nothing. He moved with the grace of a predator, every motion controlled and deliberate.

"You're awake," he said.

"Thanks to you. Elena said you saved my life."

He shrugged. "Elena saved your life. I just carried you here."

"You killed two wolves with your bare hands."

"They were weak. Most pack wolves are. They rely on their wolves too much, forget that the human form can be just as deadly if you train it right."

He pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat down. Up close, I could see the scar through his eyebrow, another along his jaw. Battle scars. A lifetime of them.

"You said Moontide is on your list," I said. "Why?"

"You really don't know the story?"

"I know they attacked your clan twenty-five years ago. I don't know why."

His face hardened. "Because my clan was strong. Because we guarded something they wanted. Because Alpha Kane is a greedy bastard who couldn't stand that anyone might be more powerful than him."

"What did they want?"

"Doesn't matter. They didn't get it." His eyes locked on mine. "What matters is that they killed three hundred wolves that night. Children. Elders. Pregnant mothers. They showed no mercy."

I shivered at the coldness in his voice.

"How did you survive?"

"My clan's final act. While they were dying, while Kane's warriors were burning everything, the survivors performed a blood ritual. They sacrificed their wolves—all of them—and poured that power into me. A child. The last of the Methlock bloodline."

I stared at him in horror. "They sacrificed their wolves?"

"Their wolves, their strength, their very essence. They gave it all to keep me alive." His hands clenched into fists. "I don't have a wolf because I have three hundred wolves. All their power, all their strength, as well as opinions, lives in this body. That's why I'm stronger than any Alpha. That's why I can kill pack wolves with my bare hands."

"That's why they call you the Human Alpha," I whispered.

"They call me a lot of things. Monster. Demon. The Wolfless Beast." He leaned forward. "They can call me whatever they want. As long as they fear me."

"And you've been hunting the packs that did this."

"For ten years. I started when I was fifteen. Took me a while to learn how to fight, how to kill. But I learned. And one by one, I've destroyed every pack that participated in the massacre."

"Six down," I said, remembering Elena's words.

"Six down. Moontide is the seventh. The last. The one that led the attack." His eyes burned with cold fire. "Kane is the one I want most. But I'm patient. I've been planning this for years. And now, finally, everything is in place."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"You're from Moontide. You know their territory, their routines, their weaknesses. And more importantly..." He studied me carefully. "You were going to be the next Luna. You know their politics, their alliances, their secrets."

"How did you know that? Anyway, I'm nobody now. Just a rejected rogue."

"Which makes you perfect. No one will pay attention to a rejected wolf crawling back, begging for scraps. They'll think you're broken. Harmless."

Understanding dawned. "You want me to spy for you."

"I want you to help me destroy them."

I should have said no. Should have been horrified at the idea of betraying my birth pack. But all I could think about was Ryker's cold eyes as he rejected me. Vanessa's betrayal. Kane's disgust. The hunters who'd tried to kill me.

"Why should I help you?" I asked.

"Because they threw you away like garbage. Because they sent hunters to kill you rather than risk you talking. Because they took everything from you." He leaned closer. "Because I'm offering you something they never did—a choice. Help me, and I'll give you the revenge you're craving. Or don't, and I'll give you money and supplies to start over somewhere far away. Either way, the choice is yours."

It was the choice that got me. Not the promise of revenge, though that sang through my blood like a drug. But the fact that he was giving me agency, giving me power over my own fate. Something no one else ever had.

"If I help you," I said slowly, "what happens to Moontide?"

"I destroy it. Completely. Kane dies. Ryker dies. Every warrior who participated in the massacre dies. The pack is scattered to the winds."

"And the innocents? The children? The wolves who had nothing to do with what happened twenty-five years ago?"

He was quiet for a moment. "I'm not a monster, Shahira. The innocent will be given a choice—join other packs or live as rogues. I only kill those who deserve it."

"How do you decide who deserves it?"

"I've been gathering evidence for years. Names, records, testimonies. I know exactly who was there that night. Who killed. Who burned. Who laughed while children screamed." His voice was flat, emotionless. "Justice. That’s what I’m after, not indiscriminate slaughter."

I believed him. Maybe I shouldn't have, but something in his eyes told me he meant it.

"If I do this," I said, "I want something."

"Name it."

"Ryker. When this is over, I want to face him. I want him to know that the weak, pathetic wolf he rejected was the one who brought down his entire world."

A ghost of a smile crossed Daren's face. "Done."

He stood and extended his hand. "So? Do we have a deal?"

I looked at his hand. Thought about Ryker. About Vanessa. About my mother who'd chosen safety over her own daughter. About three weeks of hell, running and hiding and slowly starving.

I took his hand.

"We have a deal."

His grip was firm, strong, his skin warm against mine. And just for a moment, I felt something spark between us. Something that made my breath catch and my wolf stir with interest.

Then he released my hand and the moment passed.

"Good. Rest for now. Tomorrow, we start training. If you're going back to Moontide, you need to be able to defend yourself. And you need to learn how to lie convincingly."

"I know how to lie."

"Not like this, you don't. This is life or death, Shahira. If they catch you spying, they'll kill you. Slowly." He moved toward the door. "Elena will bring you food. Eat. Sleep. Tomorrow, your new life begins."

He left, and I was alone again.

I stared at my hand, the one he'd shaken. My wolf was still stirring, still interested. But the mate bond was gone. Torn away. There was no way I could feel anything for anyone, not after Ryker.

Just adrenaline, I told myself. Just gratitude for being saved.

But deep down, I knew I was lying to myself.

I was about to become very good at lying.