One More Chance.

Winter’s POV

The room smells faintly like herbs.

Not the soft floral kind Sabrina usually uses when treating small injuries. This scent is sharper. Cleaner. Something medicinal that lingers heavily in the air and settles at the back of my throat every time I breathe too deeply.

I sit against the pillows on Keon’s bed while the pack doctor moves quietly around the room, mixing something inside a small glass bowl near the table by the window.

The entire situation feels surreal.

One minute I was drowning in black water with that horrible eye staring at me from beneath the ocean.

The next, I woke up gasping in Keon’s arms.

What happened to me?

Everything's a haze from before I passed out.

I remember being at the dining.

Keon wasn't there.

I faintly remember having stomach cramps after dinner.

I remember trying to call Keon.

I don't remember fainting. Or why I even fainted.

Now I am here, wrapped in one of his blankets while everyone acts like I might collapse again if they look away for too long.

My fingers tighten slightly around the edge of the blanket. My mind wanders back to the dream.

I still remember it so clearly.

The ocean.

My mother’s voice.

The necklace.

The eye.

Especially the eye.

Every time I think about it, cold creeps slowly back up my spine.

“You should drink this.”

I look up.

The doctor stands beside the bed now holding out a cup filled with dark liquid. He looks older than most wolves in the palace, silver beginning to streak through his dark hair, though his posture remains straight and steady.

I hesitate before taking it.

Keon notices immediately.

“It’s safe,” he says from across the room.

My eyes shift toward him.

He has barely moved since I woke up.

Even now he stands near the far wall with his arms crossed, watching everything too closely to pretend otherwise. He looks calmer than before, but I can feel through the bond that the calm is forced.

Tension still sits under his skin.

Sharp.

Restless.

The memory of what I felt through the bond earlier makes my chest tighten softly.

I take the cup carefully.

“What is it?”

“Something to settle your system,” the doctor replies.

I almost laugh at how vague that sounds.

“My system?”

His expression stays neutral.

“You are not a wolf,” he says carefully. “Which means your reactions to bond stress are less predictable.”

My head snaps to Keon. So he knows? About me and Keon? Does everyone know or is it just him?

Oh no. If everyone knows, it's only a matter of time before he finds out....

Father.

What will my people say?

I can hear my heart rate rise by the second.

Keon's calm but strained voice fills me.

It's the mindlink.

Our mindlink.

"Calm down Winter. He's talking about you and Derrick."

Oh.

My heart calms immediately.

A pang of guilt hits me. I don't want to think about Derrick right now. It feels like...I cheated on him or something. Is that even how it works? I mean, if Keon is my true mate, then do I really have an obligation to Derrick?

I can feel the headache coming.

I sigh.

I guess technically, no.

It just...a part of me feels something for him.

I can't believe I managed to catch feelings for not one but two Royals.

Who both feel something for me.

Only Winter could pull off something as crazy as that.

"Winter."

Keon's voice surrounds me again. I turn my attention back the room. It smells like a herbal place. Keon's scent is still the major scent but it's clouded with all the herbs the pack doctor has probably been mixing before I woke up.

I sigh again.

"Yes?"

The doctor turns to me. "Your body is still adjusting to the bond, miss Winter. Excessive stress within the first three months after a mate bond can trigger certain things, some of which include loss of consciousness."

Bond stress.

The words feel strange.

Real.

Like everyone in this room already accepts something I still struggle to fully process.

So does me being marked by two wolves mean I will continue to be like this for half a year?

My fists tighten. I do not like being this weak. Top that with the attacks and the hate from Keon's people....

I glance toward Keon again.

His jaw tightens slightly at the doctor’s explanation.

He does not like this.

Not because the doctor is wrong.

Because he cannot fully fix it.

That realization settles strangely inside me.

The doctor continues speaking while checking my pulse again.

“Your body is carrying magical strain and mate bond feedback simultaneously,” he explains. “Normally wolves adjust to that instinctively over time.”

“And witches don’t?” I ask quietly.

A brief pause.

“No. Not that I am aware of.” he admits.

The answer hangs in the room awkwardly for a second.

Because the truth beneath it is obvious.

No one really knows what happens when a witch forms a mate bond with a werewolf. And an Alpha.

Especially not one as strong as Keon.

The thought makes me grip the cup slightly tighter.

I sip the drink slowly.

It tastes terrible.

Bitter enough to make my face twist immediately.

The doctor pretends not to notice.

Keon definitely notices.

The corner of his mouth almost moves.

Almost.

Then the expression disappears as quickly as it came.

“You should rest today,” the doctor says after a moment. “No unnecessary movement. No emotional stress if possible.”

At that, Keon lets out the faintest breath through his nose.

I look at him immediately.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“That definitely wasn’t nothing.”

His gaze shifts toward me finally, steady and unreadable.

“You attract emotional stress naturally,” he says calmly.

I stare at him.

Then narrow my eyes slightly.

“That sounds like an insult.”

“It wasn’t intended as one.”

The annoying part is that he sounds completely serious.

The doctor clears his throat quietly, pretending not to notice the exchange while putting away the small bottles on the nearby table.

I lower the cup slowly, using the mindlink.

“What exactly happened to me Keon? Was it truly the mate bond or was it the attack from earlier? I want the truth Keon.”

The question stills the room slightly.

The doctor glances briefly between us like he can sense the tension beginning to brew.

“I am still determining that.”

I do not miss the wording.

Still determining.

Meaning they already suspect something.

Regardless.

I'm tired of hearing all this talk but no one being punished.

The first time, the guard who left an opportunity for me to be attacked was punished. Fine, fair, but that doesn't answer the question of who did that to me.

Keon never truly answered that.

I want to know the truth. I'm sick and tired of just hearing excuses or theories.

Keon notices my my mood shift immediately.

“Keon—"

"Winter—"

Our mindlinks connect at the same time. I can almost taste the tension in the room. The poor doctor must feel it too.

He turns to the doctor.

"Leave"

He does so immediately, dropping the remaining portion of the horrid drink on the counter.

The door closes with a gentle click.

"Keon."

" I know you have questions Winter."

"So you know?"

He nods, his shoulders tight.

"All of your questions will be answered soon Winter, but I need to have undeniable proof of who is responsible for everything. If I lash out in anger on more suspects I'd just be washing energy and time on dead ends."

Part of my anger subsides, but I'm not convinced.

He must sense it.

He sighs, approaching me.

He sits on the bed next to me. Instinctively, his warmth makes me seek him out. He sighs. "Listen Winter. I know these few weeks have been nothing but one hell after the other, and I'm sorry. I promise that very soon, am this will be over, but you have to trust me."

I turn away from his gaze. I want to trust him. Truly. But it's easier said that done.

His calloused hand pulls me towards him. His dark eyes pierce mine. "Please."

Everything feels much more real in this moment.

I eventually nod.

Some of the tension in his shoulders drops.

His gaze is serious again. "You had another nightmare didn't you?"

The hesitation in his voice makes unease settle in my stomach.

I nod slowly.

“The eye again.”

Silence.

Not long.

But enough.

Keon’s expression hardens immediately.

I notice, of course.

“I saw it again. The eye you didn't see that day.” I say quietly.

He goes quiet.

A strange chill creeps slowly over my skin despite the warmth of the room.

Before I can continue, movement outside interrupts us.

Footsteps.

Fast.

One of the guards knocks once before opening the door slightly.

“Alpha.”

Keon turns immediately, obviously irritated.

“What?”

The guard hesitates just enough to tell me whatever he is about to say is unexpected.

“There’s… someone here requesting entry.”

Keon’s expression sharpens slightly.

“Who.”

The guard swallows.

“A witch delegation.”

The room stills completely.

My heart skips hard in my chest.

No.

No no no.

Keon’s posture changes instantly.

Controlled.

Alert.

“Who specifically?” he asks carefully.

The guard answers immediately.

“The High Witch's Wife.”

My breath catches.

For a second I genuinely think I imagined the words.

Then—

My mother’s voice from the dream echoes sharply through my mind.

Do not let him take it.

Cold rushes through me instantly.

Keon looks toward me immediately, sensing the shift through the bond before I even speak.

And then the guard says the words that make my stomach drop completely.

“She says she’s here for her daughter.”