4. NEW BEGINNINGS

RAVEN

ONE YEAR LATER

"Ray, the Alpha needs you out to the fields, you need to train the new wolf." Carla said and I simply regarded her with a simple nod while standing before the mirror.

Barely a year later, and I was training new wolves now.

I grinned, still staring at my new body in the mirror with scrutiny. I always wondered about her—when was I going to finally feel completely comfortable in my new skin?

After series of facial repair and body work, I became an entirely different person. My old self had short, boring hair and a thicker physique, but my new self now had blonde hair and a slender figure. She was gorgeous, but when I looked deep into her eyes through the mirror, it was like I could still see myself. My eyes had gone from bright blues to a sad pair of river greens. The doctors said it was from all the medications, I didn’t know how I felt about it.

Lucien said I was perfect, but he didn’t know me before this new person.

Yes, Lucien, as in Alpha Lucien, the same one who had conducted the attack against Kieran's pack then, with the help of Selene—who apportioned all the blame to me.

I jumped off that cliff that night, resigning to death, but instead woke up in Alpha Lucien’s bed. In the rogue territory. He asked me a few questions when I was fully awake, and when I told him about what happened to me and how I needed revenge, he was more than eager to help.

He had a vendetta against Kieran, and after the betrayal, his sister too—Selene.

He was going to be a tool for my revenge against the man who broke me and turned me into this unrecognizable person I was today.

So I mustered a smile, took up my fancy water bottle and a few snacks, then headed towards the fields. Ana was excited and ready as usual… she was always too excited to train like the show off she was.

We had gone a long way from being suppressed and scared to one of the strongest female wolves in the rogue pack. Saying I was proud of us was an understatement. A little more and we could go take back what we rightfully deserved.

Kieran's pack, alongside our vengeance.

I was still on my way to the fields when the scent hit me first—woodsmoke, pine, and something darker, something achingly familiar. My feet stilled on the path leading to the training fields, my heart slamming against my ribs as I lifted my gaze.

Kieran.

Laughter rang through the trees, but he was not the one laughing, as usual, he was the one telling the jokes. Typical Kieran. He told jokes for days, and his warriors dared not keep a straight face when he started performing.

He was standing in a small clearing with his them while his amber orbs shone with amusement. What caught my attention the most was his arm draped around a woman—dark-haired, slender, leaning into him as if she rightfully belonged there. As if she had every right to touch him.

Was she his new Luna?

A slow, insidious rage coiled in my gut, tightening around my ribs like a vice. I clenched my fists, nails digging into my palms as I forced myself to breathe.

He looked… different. Not weaker, not softer—no, he was still every inch the alpha he had been when I was still his. But there was something else now, something that made my stomach twist. He looked like he was at peace. Unburdened. While I had clawed my way out of death, while I had suffered, he had moved on. Like I had never existed at all.

I was too angry to realize I had stepped forward until I heard the snap of a twig beneath my boot.

Kieran’s head jerked up at once and for a moment, there was only stillness. His gaze locked onto mine, his expression unreadable as he watched me. And then that unreadable expression morphed into something that resembled recognition.

Shit, no.

Panicking, I immediately spun around and bolted. Bold of me to think he would let me escape after trudging into his territory like that.

Footsteps thundered behind me, closing in too quickly. I ran faster than I had in weeks, knowing how much Kieran despised rogues and thinking of how he would have a field day tearing me apart… for the second time.

I was not fast enough, though. A sharp growl was my only warning before I was tackled to the ground.

We hit the forest floor hard, his weight pressing me down, his grip iron around my wrists. I struggled violently, twisting and kicking beneath him, but he had me pinned. His breath was ragged, his grip bruising as he forced me still.

The mate bond was completely gone, I noted. My wolf was definitely not excited to see him. In fact, she wanted to fight him, bad.

"What the fuck are you doing, loitering around my territory?" He barked at me.

"I wasn't trying to trespass, I swear, I wasn't…" I tried to sound like the lost rogue girl I needed him to believe, but he was not having it.

"Bullshit. Who sent you?" He went on, and I shook my head again. Our eyes just held each other's for the next few seconds after that, until he was springing to his feet.

His warriors had started closing in on us as I sprung up. I looked around warily, my heart beating slightly.

"Then I guess we'll have to leave your dead body here as a message to whoever sent you."

He moved faster than I anticipated, closing the distance between us in a blink of an eye. I barely had time to react before he lunged.

But my wolf surged forward at once, always ready to fight.

My bones cracked and muscles stretched, then a rush of power flooded through me as I shifted in an instant. My paws barely touched the ground before I launched myself at him, my jaws snapping toward his throat.

A snarl tore from his lips as he shifted just as quickly, his huge, dominating black wolf meeting my attack head-on. He was big, but I could tell my wolf was more massive. She had also changed overtime, channeling our healing powers and every other strength we possessed so fluidly.

Kieran did not seem to care about that. He attacked her head on, his pride refusing to let him back down. He had the biggest ego ever, of course I was not surprised.

The force of our collision sent shockwaves through the ground.

We were a blur of claws and fangs, circling, lunging, testing each other’s limits. I was a bit faster—months of fighting for survival had honed me into something deadlier, eager to take down opponents. But Kieran was stronger. Every strike he landed sent jolts of pain through me, but I didn’t back down.

I darted under his massive frame, snapping at his legs, drawing first blood. A deep growl rumbled through him, and in the next second, he slammed into me with full force, sending me rolling across the forest floor.

I barely had time to recover before he was on me again and his teeth grazed my throat—a warning, that definitely did the wrong things to me. It was like my wolf mistook it for almost getting marked, because jolts of electricity buzzed through me and for a moment, both Kieran and I froze.

Then I twisted violently, managing to claw at his side before shoving him off me. I was breathing hard, my chest rising and falling as I stared at him through narrowed eyes.

Kieran’s golden gaze burned into mine, something dark flickering behind them.

Suspicion. Curiosity. Recognition?

No. He didn’t know me. But something about me… or that moment we just had, had unsettled him.

He took a step back, his posture still dominant, still powerful, but he didn’t attack again.

Then, to my surprise, he shifted back, standing before me in his human form, completely unfazed by his own nakedness. I tried so hard not to look.

“Get out of here,” he muttered, his voice low and unreadable. “Before I change my mind.”

I hesitated for only a second before shifting back and running, feeling his gaze burning into my back.

He didn’t recognize me.

But he would.

And when he did, it would be too late.