Chapter 4 : The Alpha's Search

Ashford.

ONE YEAR LATER.

I stood at my office window, watching the afternoon sun cast long shadows across the pack grounds. Somewhere out there, she existed. My mate. The she-wolf I had marked a year ago and lost in the same breath.

The bond mark on my shoulder burned, a constant reminder of my failure.

"Alpha Ashford." My Beta, Simon, knocked before entering. "The council is waiting for your decision."

"Tell them I need more time."

"With respect, you have had a year. The pack needs a Luna. Stability requires—"

"I know what the pack needs." I turned from the window, and Simon took an involuntary step back. Good. My wolf was too close to the surface these days, too volatile. "But I will not choose a replacement when my true mate is out there somewhere."

Simon softened slightly. "Have you considered that she might be dead? The bond is so faint, Ashford. If she were alive and well, you would feel more than this."

I pressed my hand against the mark. He was right. The bond was wrong, muted, like she had hidden herself somehow. Or like part of her had been torn away.

"She is alive," I said with certainty. "I would know if she died. I would feel it."

"Then why has she not come forward? Why disappear after being marked by an Alpha?"

That was the question that haunted me every night. I had replayed that moment a thousand times. The Moon Ceremony and the alliance celebration. I had stepped outside for air, overwhelmed by the politics and posturing, and then I caught her scent.

My wolf had surged forward with a need so intense it terrified me. One moment I was in control, the next I was marking her, claiming her, the bond snapping into place with such force it nearly brought me to my knees.

By the time I regained my senses, she was running.

I had tried to follow, but pack members flooded the clearing, all talking at once about some disgrace, some omega who had been caught with a stranger. I had pushed through them, desperate to find her, to explain, to at least learn her name.

But she was gone.

And in the chaos, no one could tell me who she was. Just that someone had been marked and sent away in shame.

"Alpha." Simon pulled me from my thoughts. "There is another matter. Lyra Cardona has requested an audience."

I suppressed a growl. Lyra. The daughter of this pack's former Beta, now positioned as my most persistent suitor. She was beautiful, capable, and utterly convinced we were meant to be together.

"Tell her I am busy."

"She says it is urgent. About a cure for Tom."

That stopped me. Tom, my best warrior and childhood friend, had been struck down three weeks ago by a curse from a rogue witch. Our pack healers had tried everything. He was dying slowly, painfully, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"Send her in."

Lyra entered moments later, dressed in a pale blue gown that complemented her blonde hair perfectly. Everything about her was calculated and polished. It set my teeth on edge.

"Alpha Ashford." She bowed gracefully. "Thank you for seeing me."

"Simon said you have information about Tom."

"Yes." She moved closer, and I caught her scent. Roses. My wolf recoiled. "I have been researching healers, both within our world and outside it. There is a doctor in the human city. Dr. Irene Cross. She specializes in unusual cases and has a reputation for healing things others cannot."

"A human doctor cannot cure a supernatural curse."

"Perhaps not. But I have heard whispers that she is more than she appears. That her methods are unconventional." Lyra tilted her head. "What do we have to lose? Tom is dying anyway."

She was right, damn her. If there was even a chance this doctor could help, I had to try.

"Fine. Send for her. Offer whatever payment is necessary."

"Already done." Lyra smiled. "I took the liberty of contacting her yesterday. She agreed to come, but she has one condition."

"What condition?"

"She wants to stay on pack grounds during treatment. Close access to the patient, she said. And she wants full autonomy in her methods. No interference from pack healers."

Unusual requests, but not unreasonable. "Agreed."

"Wonderful." Lyra's hand brushed my arm, and I moved away instinctively. Hurt flashed across her face before she masked it. "Ashford, I know this year has been difficult for you. The search for your mate, the pressure from the council. But I want you to know I am here. Whatever you need."

"What I need is to find her."

"Of course." But there was something in her eyes, a flicker of satisfaction that made my wolf suspicious. "Though, if I may speak freely, perhaps the Moon Goddess has other plans. Sometimes the bond we think we have is not the one we are meant to keep."

"That is not how mate bonds work, Lyra."

"Isn’t it?" She moved to the door, pausing at the threshold. "I felt something that night. At the Moon Ceremony. A pull, a connection. You have felt it too, I know you have. When I am near, your wolf responds."

My wolf responded with irritation, not attraction. But she was right that there was something. A strange awareness when she was close, like an itch I could not scratch.

"That is not the mate bond," I said firmly.

"Maybe not yet. But bonds can grow, Ashford. Especially when the alternative is a mate who abandoned you."

She left before I could respond.

I turned back to the window, frustration coiling in my gut. The council wanted me to choose Lyra. She was suitable, willing, and from a good bloodline. It would be the logical choice.

But logic had nothing to do with the mark burning on my shoulder.

Simon cleared his throat. "The contract for Dr. Cross needs your signature."

He laid the papers on my desk. I scanned them quickly. Standard terms, generous payment, and accommodation on the pack grounds for the duration of treatment.

I signed at the bottom. Ashford Steele, Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack.

As the ink dried, the bond mark on my shoulder suddenly flared with heat. I sucked in a breath, my hand flying to cover it. The warmth spread through my chest, my wolf surging forward with an intensity I had not felt in months.

What the hell?

"Alpha? Are you alright?"

I gripped the edge of the desk, trying to steady myself. The bond was alive again, pulsing, pulling. She was close. No, not close. But closer than she had been.

"When does Dr. Cross arrive?" I asked, my voice rough.

Simon checked his notes. "Tomorrow morning."

The bond mark burned hotter, and my wolf clawed at my control, desperate and demanding.

She was coming. My mate was coming to me.

But how could a human doctor be my fated mate? Unless she was not human at all.