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THE WOMAN WHO WALKED AWAY
publish date:
2026-10-14 21:59:45AUTHOR’S POV
Three years after leaving the Blackthorn Pack, Elena Voss had learned to recognize the sound of trouble.
The crash outside her treatment room made her drop the bloodied cloth in her hand.
A horse screamed. Wood splintered. Someone shouted for help.
Elena snatched her medical bag and rushed outside.
A loaded cart had overturned beside the trading post. One wheel spun uselessly in the dirt while sacks of grain spilled across the path. The horse thrashed against its harness, eyes rolling white.
A man lay beneath the broken shaft.
“Get that horse under control!” Elena shouted.
Two men rushed forward, but the animal reared, nearly catching one beneath its hooves.
Elena grabbed the reins from the ground and pulled hard, speaking in a firm, steady voice until the horse stopped fighting. Only then did she turn toward the injured man.
“Can you hear me?”
He groaned.
“Good. Don't move.”
She dropped to her knees. Blood soaked through his trousers, spreading rapidly around his thigh. The broken shaft had pinned his leg, and every attempt to pull it free made him cry out.
“Bring me a knife, clean cloth, and something to keep him awake!” Elena ordered. “And someone get that cart off him. Carefully!”
The settlement moved around her. Within minutes, the shaft was lifted, and Elena pressed folded cloth against the wound.
“Look at me,” she told the man when his eyelids began to droop. “What's your name?”
“Scott.”
“Stay with me, Scott. You can complain about the damage to your cart after I save your leg.”
A weak laugh escaped him.
Then a radio crackled inside the trading post.
“—emergency warning. All settlements are advised to remain indoors. Reports of violent incidents have increased across the northern districts. Individuals presenting with high fever, confusion, and sudden aggression must be isolated immediately.”
Elena's hands paused over the wound.
The voice continued, distorted by static.
“Similar symptoms have been reported among wolf populations. Do not approach infected individuals. Repeat, do not—”
The transmission dissolved into a shrill burst of noise.
Silence fell inside the trading post.
Elena looked up.
“Play that again.”
Bram, who owned the trading post, hurried to the radio and twisted the dial. Nothing came through except static.
“Must be a damaged signal,” he muttered.
“Try the southern frequency.”
He did.
Nothing.
Elena finished binding the injured man's leg before standing. “When did you last receive a message from the southern settlements?”
“Yesterday morning.”
“And since then?”
Bram shook his head.
A cold unease settled in her stomach.
Three days ago, a traveler had arrived complaining of dizziness and a fever. Yesterday, a woman from the lower settlement had come to Elena's cottage with shaking hands and glassy eyes. Both had recovered after rest and treatment, but neither illness had made sense.
Now the radio was reporting the same symptoms across entire districts.
And the warning had specifically mentioned wolves.
A faint stir came from within her.
Elena, Luma murmured. Something is wrong.
Elena stared at the dead radio.
I know.
She turned to the people gathered outside. “I want every settlement within a day's journey warned. Tell them to isolate anyone with a high fever or sudden confusion. No one touches a suspected infected person without protection, and nobody brings a sick traveler into a crowded building.”
One of the hunters frowned. “You're taking a radio announcement seriously?”
“Someone thought it was serious enough to broadcast an emergency warning.”
“What if it's a false alarm?”
“Then we lose a little time preparing.” Elena tightened the strap of her medical bag. “If it's real, we lose people by doing nothing.”
No one answered.
She sent two riders to the neighboring settlements and instructed the others to check the water supply, secure the livestock, and inspect the storehouses. Then she returned to her treatment room and began gathering every remaining bottle of antiseptic, every clean bandage, and every medicine she could spare.
She had survived a broken bond, a humiliating rejection, and three years of building a life from nothing.
She wasn't about to let an unseen sickness take that life from her without a fight.
Outside, a siren began wailing somewhere beyond the mountains.
Elena stopped packing.
The sound grew louder, then abruptly cut off.
Her wolf went silent.
And for the first time in three years, Elena felt fear that had nothing to do with Kaiden Blackthorn.
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