Chapter 2: The alpha's plea

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The road to Moonstone Pack smelled like pine, rain, and memories I tried to bury.

Three years.

1095 days since I last saw the gates with the big wolf head carved into them.

1095 days since Kade’s voice broke me.

My hands gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles went white.

“You don’t have to do this,” I told myself. “Turn around, Luna.”

But my phone buzzed again.

Same unknown number.

_“She’s getting worse. Please. 20 minutes.”_

Her.

Kade’s younger sister, Maya.

She was 12 when I left. Always followed me around, calling me “sister.”

I sighed and pressed the gas.

The pack gates opened automatically when my car approached. They still recognized me.

Or maybe they recognized my scent.

The Moonstone territory looked the same. The same tall trees. The same lake. The same training field where Kade first kissed me when we were 15 and thought no one was watching.

My wolf, Lyra, stirred. _Home._

_Not home,_ I snapped back. _Never again._

The pack house was chaos.

Wolves were running everywhere. Healers. Warriors. Pups crying.

And in the middle of it all, lying on a table in the great hall, was Maya.

She looked so small. Her skin was grey. Black veins were spreading up her neck like cracks in glass.

She was barely breathing.

“Dr. Hart!” The head healer, Elder Mara, rushed to me. She used to braid my hair. “Thank the moon you came. We’ve tried everything. Herbs. Venom antidotes. Nothing works.”

“What happened?” I asked, dropping my bag. Doctor mode on. No feelings.

“We don’t know,” Mara said, eyes red. “It started a week ago. Three wolves first. Now it’s twelve. It’s spreading. The moon sickness, we’re calling it.”

I pulled on gloves and leaned over Maya. Her pulse was weak. Too weak.

Fever. Rash. Lung congestion. Neurological symptoms.

This wasn’t a normal disease.

“Get me saline, oxygen, and my blood kit. Now,” I ordered.

As the healers scrambled, I felt him before I saw him.

That cedar and storm scent.

Stronger. Angrier. Tired.

Kade.

“Move,” his voice was rough. Deeper than I remembered.

The crowd parted.

And there he was.

Alpha Kade.

He was bigger. Broader. Scars I didn’t recognize cutting across his forearm. His black shirt was half-undone, like he’d been up for days. Dark circles under those grey eyes.

But his jaw was still sharp. His shoulders still carried the weight of 200 wolves.

He stopped two feet from me. Close enough that Lyra whined.

_Mate._

_No,_ I told her. _He rejected us._

Kade’s eyes dropped to Maya, then flicked up to me.

For a second, something flashed there. Regret? Pain?

Then it was gone. Replaced with that cold Alpha mask.

“Luna,” he said. My name. After 3 years.

It sounded like gravel.

“Dr. Hart,” I corrected, not looking at him. I was already inserting an IV into Maya’s arm. “I’m here for your sister. Nothing else.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw.

“You shouldn’t have come.”

“I shouldn’t have gotten your texts either,” I shot back, taping the IV down. “But here we are.”

Silence. Thick and heavy and full of 3 years of unsaid things.

Maya groaned softly.

I checked her vitals. Heart rate 140. Temp 104.

“Has anyone else shown these exact symptoms? Timeline? What did they eat? Where were they last week?” I fired questions at Mara, not at him.

“She was at the border last week,” Mara said. “With Kade. They found a dead deer. Thought it was just starvation.”

Kade finally spoke. “I told her not to touch it.”

His voice was low. Guilt laced in it.

I looked up at him for the first time. Really looked.

He looked wrecked. Not the cocky Alpha who rejected me in front of everyone. This Kade looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks.

“Then why did you let her?” I asked before I could stop myself.

His eyes met mine. Grey and stormy and full of things I refused to read.

“Because I was distracted,” he said quietly. Only I could hear it.

Distracted by what?

By me?

No. Don’t go there, Luna.

I turned back to Maya. “I need to run blood tests. If this is a toxin, I need to know what kind. If it’s viral, I need to quarantine the sick ones now.”

“I already quarantined them,” Kade said. “East wing. No one in or out.”

Of course he did. Efficient. Ruthless. Alpha.

Two hours passed. I worked. Drew blood. Started fluids. Monitored vitals.

The whole time, Kade didn’t leave. He stood by the door like a guard dog, watching me. Watching Maya.

Every time my arm brushed his when I reached for supplies, Lyra lit up like fireworks.

_Mate. Mate. Mate._

_Shut up,_ I told her.

Finally, I stepped back and exhaled. Maya’s fever was down to 101. Her breathing was steadier.

“She’ll live,” I said. “For now. But I need to test the others. And I need samples from that deer carcass.”

Kade nodded once. “Come with me.”

He led me out of the great hall, down the stone hallway. The pack watched us. Whispering.

“That’s her.”

“The one he rejected.”

“What’s she doing back?”

I kept my eyes forward. Chin up.

We stopped at his office. It used to be his father’s. Now it was his.

Maps on the wall. Weapons on the rack. And on his desk… a photo.

Turned face-down.

My chest squeezed.

“Sit,” he said, gesturing to a chair.

“I’m fine standing.”

Kade ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He looked so tired.

“Luna. Please. Sit.”

Please.

Alpha Kade said please.

I sat.

He sat across from me, elbows on the desk. Close. Too close.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted out.

I blinked. “For what? The disease?”

“For rejecting you,” he said, and my heart stopped.

There it was. The apology I dreamed about for 3 years.

It didn’t feel like I thought it would.

“Why?” I asked. My voice was steady. I was proud of that.

Kade looked away. “My father. He threatened your parents. Said if I claimed you, he’d exile them. Said an omega’s daughter couldn’t be Luna of Moonstone.”

He laughed bitterly. “So I did it. In public. So they’d think it was my choice. So they wouldn’t hurt you.”

The room spun.

All those nights crying. All those times I thought I wasn’t enough.

It was to protect me?

“Bullshit,” I whispered. “You could’ve told me.”

“And have you hate me for putting your family in danger?” He leaned forward. “I thought it was better this way. I thought you’d move on. Find a human. Be happy.”

“I did,” I lied.

“Liar,” he said softly. “You still smell like my mate.”

And there it was.

The mate bond.

Faint, but there. Like a thread pulled tight between our chests.

I’d thought it was broken.

It wasn’t. It was just sleeping.

My breath caught. Lyra was howling now. _Ours. He’s ours._

Kade stood abruptly and walked to the window. His back was to me.

“The pack is dying, Luna. 12 wolves. Maybe more soon. I don’t care about the bond. I don’t care about us. I just need you to save them.”

His voice cracked on the last word.

The Alpha. Begging.

I stood up. “I’ll do what I can. For Maya. For the pack. Not for you.”

I walked to the door. My hand was on the knob when he spoke again.

“Luna.”

I turned.

Kade was still facing the window. But his reflection in the glass met my eyes.

“You still smell like mine.”

The door clicked shut behind me.

And outside, thunder rolled.

*To be continued...*

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