Chapter1-The Wolf That Slept Inside Her

Kaela’s POV

The scent of scorched sage and bloodroot hit me first — sharp, bitter, and so strong it burned behind my eyes.

Then came the pain.

A deep, pounding ache bloomed in my skull, followed by the heavy stiffness in my limbs. My body screamed with soreness, every inch of me bruised or torn. 

I blinked slowly, vision flickering between shadow and firelight. The room swam into focus: curved timber walls, thick hides stretched across the ceiling, and rune carvings glowing faintly along the beams. 

A fire crackled low in the center, throwing flickers of gold across the healing hut.

I lay on a woven pallet covered in furs. My head was tightly wrapped with herbs soaked into the cloth, I could smell bloodroot, blackthorn, and crushed moonlace. 

I tried to move, but even that slight twitch made my body scream.

Where was I?

What happened?

And then, like wolves approaching the edge of a clearing, two voices cut through the night from just beyond the doorway.

“She’ll live,” said the first. Calm. Cold.

Rhett.

My fiancé.

That voice used to be comforting and safe, but now, it scraped across my skin like ice.

“Any sign of memory loss?” came the second, a deeper, rougher, threaded with tension.

Taren.

Rhett’s older brother.

He always looked at me like I was something he couldn’t quite trust. Or didn’t want to.

“She took the hit right to the skull,” Rhett said. “The healer says it could take days. Maybe weeks. She might not remember who she is or what happened.”

“And if her memory comes back?” Taren asked.

Rhett didn’t answer right away.

Then, with a quiet laugh, he said, “That’s the beauty of it.”

My breath caught in my chest. I froze beneath the furs.

“What the hell are you planning?” Taren asked, suspicion sharpening in his tone.

Rhett’s voice shifted into something darker. “Come on. No wolf. No rank. No memory. This is the perfect time to rewrite everything.”

“Everyone still thinks she’s a wolfless Omega. We can use that.”

Taren sounded disgusted. “You want me to pretend to be her mate?”

“You’ve always had a talent for playing roles,” Rhett said. “And she already trusts you. Weird, right?”

“She doesn’t like me.”

“That’s even better,” Rhett said. “If we flip things now while she’s confused, she won’t question it. Her instincts are broken. Her wolf’s never awakened. She has no bond to sense the truth.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“Yes,” Rhett said. “Finally. Selene deserves her place after five years of being hidden.”

My lungs froze. Five. Years. The number pulsed like a bruise inside my skull. He had played two lives at once and handed me the decaying version while saving the real one for her.

“And the fiancée?” Taren asked. “The one you paraded to your investors. The one your father approved of.”

“That was only for her parents’ inheritance,” Rhett said bluntly. “And the aviation model modification workshop. Once the legalities are done, Kaela can go back to her sky toys or whatever. She will be fine.”

Sky toys. He used to tell me my cockpit was where he saw me strongest, where he saw me brilliant. Now the truth spilled so easily from his mouth that I could almost laugh if it did not hurt so much.

I clenched the blanket beneath me, jaw locked. My throat burned, but I didn’t move.

“You and Selene lured her out,” Taren said slowly. “Didn’t you?”

Silence.

Then Rhett murmured, low and clear, “One lone wolf. That’s all it took.”

The memory slammed into me like a wall.

Selene’s voice. “Kaela, hurry, I heard something!”

The trees had gone quiet. Then a growl. Snapping branches. A flash of teeth.

The rogue had come out of nowhere, huge and fast. I’d tried to shift, but it was like something inside me refused to answer. My wolf hadn’t stirred.

I remembered seeing  blood. The searing pain as teeth ripped into my shoulder. The snap of my head hitting a rock.

And then nothing.

Until now.

I let out a slow, shaky breath. Quiet. Controlled. They thought I didn’t remember.

They were wrong.

“She’s still weak,” Rhett continued. “Her wolf never even surfaced during the attack. Probably never will.”

“Or maybe she just needed a reason,” Taren muttered.

I focused on that. On the flicker of something inside me. Small. Faint. But real.

She was there.

My wolf.

Not gone. Not broken. Just… silent.

Waiting.

And now, I understood why.

“She doesn’t have a place in this hierarchy,” Rhett said flatly. “The sooner we finish the asset transfer, the better. Selene already has partial control. 

Once everything’s done, we give Kaela a payout, tell her she chose to step away from the pack, and send her off somewhere quiet, simple and clean.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Taren said, voice like gravel.

“I gave her five years,” Rhett snapped. “You know I never touched her. Never marked her. Never mated her. She was a means to an end.”

I tasted blood and realized I’d bitten the inside of my cheek.

“She thinks she loves you,” Taren said bitterly.

“She thinks she needs me,” Rhett corrected. “She always looked at me like I was the moon itself.”

Footsteps approached.

I shut my eyes again and let my body go limp.

The hut flap opened.

“Kaela?” Rhett’s voice softened, false concern dripping from every word.

He knelt beside me, brushing sweat-matted hair from my face.

I groaned, low and weak. His hand closed around mine.

“You’re safe now,” he said gently. “You were attacked by a rogue wolf. But we found you. Brought you home.”

My eyelids fluttered. I forced a blank stare. “Where… am I?”

“In the healer’s tent,” he said. “Don’t worry. You’re okay. Just rest.”

He gave me a smile, the one he always used to wear when he promised things would be alright.

But now I saw it for what it was: a lie.

“I’m Rhett,” he continued. “Your mate.”

My heart pounded in my chest, but I kept my face still.

“I… don’t remember,” I whispered.

“It’s okay.” His thumb brushed my knuckles. “You will.”

He turned to the doorway. “Taren, she’s awake.”

Taren stepped inside, slow and cautious.

He looked different. Not just the tension in his jaw or the shadows under his eyes. 

Something in his gaze held weight. He studied me. I held his stare longer than I should have.

“Hey,” he said carefully. “You’re safe now.”

Rhett gave him a loaded look but said nothing.

For a moment, none of us spoke. The fire crackled behind them.

Taren’s gaze lingered on me like he was trying to read something he couldn’t quite name.

And in that moment, I knew:

He didn’t believe this would end the way Rhett thought it would.

Neither did I.

Because my wolf was waking up.

And when she rose, I wouldn’t just remember.

I’d reclaim everything they tried to take.