Chapter 3

Nilah's Pov

“You are the only living heir to the Moonlight Pack, Miss Nilah and we have been looking for you for a very long time."

The words hit me like a physical blow. I froze, the lab phone nearly slipping from my numb fingers. "The Moonlight Pack? Did you just say..." I trailed off, my mind racing through every legend I’d ever heard. The Moonlight Pack was like the king of the northern territories, a mystical sanctuary people had spent decades trying to find. They were rumored to be blessed by the Moon Goddess herself, possessing healing abilities so potent they could purge silver from the blood with a mere touch.

"That’s impossible," I stammered, a hysterical laugh bubbling in my chest. "The Moonlight Pack is a myth. And even if it weren't... I’m an Omega, Asher. I have no power. My wolf is too weak to even shift."

"You are an Omega because your wolf was suppressed for so many years," Asher countered, his voice dropping into a protective growl. "Your nature has been muffled by the people you've been surrounded by. For years, they made you work under them, with only scraps of love that they showed to you, you gave them your heart." Asher said, self loathing in his voice. "This is our fault. If we had found you faster, then none of this would have happened. You would never have led this life. Miss, you don't know just what the council of that pack you are staying in has been planning for you all the years. If you knew..." Asher trailed off, not wanting to say any other thing about the council. "Our Alpha, your father, is dying. The pack is vulnerable. We need you to come home, Nilah, or the Moonlight Pack will truly become a ghost story."

The Council had plans for me? What sort of plans? From the tone of his voice, it's surely not a good one. But I couldn't believe him, at least not immediately.

"You've got the wrong person," I whispered, though my heart was beginning to hammer against my ribs. "The Alpha told me my parents were rogues who died in a skirmish. He wouldn't lie to me about that..." But as the words left my lips, I realized how hollow they sounded. If Kendric could poison me under everyone's nose for my research, who is to say that there aren't others involved in this?

"I am sending you a file," Asher said, breaking me out of my thoughts. "It was taken before the night you were kidnapped during the Great Raid. Nilah, your existence is like a holy grail. Anyone who has you, has the world."

My phone chimed. With shaking fingers, I opened the image. It was a photograph. A man with eyes exactly like mine, amber-flecked and piercing, was holding a dark-haired toddler. Around the child's neck was a silver locket. I gasped, my hand flying to my chest. I didn't have the locket anymore; Kendrick had 'lost' it years ago, calling it rogue junk. But I remembered the cold weight of it. I looked closer at the child’s wrist in the photo, a tiny crescent moon birthmark. It matched the one I had hidden under bracelets my entire life.

"It's... it's really me," I whispered. The world tilted on its axis.

"Nilah?" Asher’s voice brought me back. "We have a transport waiting two miles outside your pack borders. Your father wants to look at you one last time before he passes. The pack needs you. I know you don't possibly trust me now but it won't do you any harm to make sure of it. If you don't like it, then you can leave. But don't be quick to refuse.”

I looked at my hands, vibrant, healthy, and untainted by the poison that had claimed my first life. This wasn't just a second chance to survive; it was a chance to be who I was born to be.

“If you're telling the truth, I'll come,” I answered, my voice turning to flint. “But I need three days to tie up my loose ends. Just three days.”

“I will be there in three days, Young Miss,” Asher replied, his tone shifting to one of deep reverence. Then, he paused. “One more question. Do you have a mate?”

I touched the fake, inked mark on my neck, feeling a wave of revulsion. “No,” I said firmly. “I don't have a mate.”

“Understood, Young Miss. I'll come to pick you up in three days.”