Chapter 1

Sienna.

"Ah, faster, baby! Aah! Give me more, aaah!"

I froze when I heard the moans coming from my best friend Kayla's house. She had been my close friend since high school. This wasn't the first time I had heard her moaning—Kayla was the kind of girl who always brought men over. Even so, she was still my best friend, and we often shared stories about our boyfriends.

"Aaah, please baby, please, aaah! F*ck me hard, Ronny!"

But this afternoon was different. I heard Kayla calling out Ronny's name with every moan. Ronny was my boyfriend, and I had told Kayla everything about him.

"Bend over, baby! I'm going to do the helicopter style!" Ronny said.

My heartbeat pounded faster—it was Ronny's voice. The birthday cake I had brought for Kayla slipped from my hands and fell to the floor. The friend I trusted had stabbed me in the back, and the man I thought I knew so well wasn't as good as I believed. I stepped toward the bedroom, their voices growing louder. The worst part was that I had never even slept with Ronny myself.

I turned the doorknob, and they both froze at the sight of me—Kayla on all fours, and Ronny taking her from behind, one hand gripping her hair.

"Baby?" Ronny said.

I stepped back slowly as Ronny tried to explain. I just shook my head and walked away. From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Kayla's face—there wasn't even a hint of regret there.

***

It was my first day in the operating room as a clinical clerkship.

"Scalpel," a deep voice commanded.

I looked up and saw Dr. Liam Darkmane, the surgeon, and one of the most respected doctors in this hospital. He was also an Alpha of the Darkmane Pack, a pack known for producing many outstanding doctors recognised in both the werewolf and human worlds.

The nurse handed him the scalpel, and Liam made an incision in the patient's abdomen. The skin opened, revealing a pale yellow layer of fat. Then he carefully separated the tissue with forceps.

"Retractor," he said again.

It was handed to me. My job was simple—hold the incision open so the surgical field stayed clear. My hands trembled slightly, but I tried to hold steady.

"The appendix is already inflamed," he murmured while inspecting the abdominal cavity. "We need to move fast before perforation occurs."

The suture needle was ready. Liam began cutting the tissue that connected the appendix, then tied off the small blood vessels he found. I caught myself staring at his face instead—the sharp jawline, the slight furrow in his brow as he focused, the way his eyes studied every detail of the patient's anatomy with precision. I didn't even realise the retractor in my hand had shifted slightly.

"Hey, focus! Do you want me to cut your finger too?"

My heart jumped. "S–sorry, Doctor." I quickly adjusted the retractor.

Liam let out a short sigh, his eyes piercing from behind the mask. "If you can't focus here, get out."

"No, I'll focus," I replied nervously.

He continued, his hands skillfully locating the source of bleeding in the patient's small intestine. "Clamp," he ordered. The nurse handed it to him, and he clamped the leaking blood vessel.

"Aspirator," he said next. The suction sound filled the room as the blood and fluid were cleared from the area, then he quickly began stitching the wound in the intestine.

But my mind drifted back to yesterday—seeing Kayla and Ronny having sex, hearing those moans replaying in my head. My hands began to feel cold under the gloves. I stared at the surgical wound before me, but the image of tangled sheets and their bodies kept clouding my vision.

"COLE!"

The shout snapped me back. I looked up and saw Liam's sharp gaze behind the mask.

"You're not even paying attention to where you're holding the instrument!"

"I'm sorry, Doctor—"

"Get out!"

I swallowed hard, frozen in place. "Doctor, I can—"

"Out, now!"

The nurse beside me shot me a glance, while I felt all the oxygen leave the room. Stiffly, I placed the instrument on the table, turned around, and walked toward the door.

My first day in the operating room had gone terribly. Liam had probably already marked me as a failure. I later sat in the hospital garden, staring at the overcast sky as tears began to fall on their own. Being a medical student was already hard enough—add Ronny's betrayal on top of it, and it was unbearable.

Ronny and I had been in a serious relationship since the start of the semester. We studied at the same university, both in the medical program. However, he was now assigned to another hospital, where Kayla also worked as an administrative staff member. My phone had been buzzing nonstop with Ronny's apologies, but I didn't reply. As far as I was concerned, our relationship was over. And Kayla? She had even posted a vague status on social media flaunting her closeness to a future doctor.

My tears kept falling, turning into soft sobs. I was so focused on looking down that I didn't realise someone was standing in front of me. A pair of black shoes stopped right before me. When I looked up, I was met with Liam's sharp gaze.

His face was just as firm as in the operating room earlier, but there was a slight crease in his brow. Without saying much, he pulled a handkerchief from his coat pocket and handed it to me.

"Dry your eyes," he said. His voice was flat, yet somehow warm to my ears.

I hesitated for a moment, looking at the handkerchief, then slowly took it. He didn't sit down—just stood there. I got a closer look at his handsome face; what woman wouldn't be drawn to the charisma of an Alpha and a surgeon? His lips were full and alluring, his eyes utterly commanding. What would it feel like to kiss him? To have our tongues meet?

"If you want to survive in the medical field, you have to learn to bury your problems before you step into the hospital," he said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry, Doctor."

"Tomorrow, at six a.m., you'll join me in the operating room again. Consider it your second chance."