The Alpha within ️

My heart stopped. Then started again, pounding so hard it hurt.

"Who?" I choked out, my eyes darting wildly around the empty room. "Who's there?"

A fierce growl echoed through my mind, reverberating like thunder trapped inside my skull.

"Freya!"

The voice rumbled through my consciousness like distant thunder, like an earthquake building deep underground.

It was the exact same voice, the one I heard before I woke up in my second life.

My vision blurred. The room around me dissolved like watercolor in rain.

When my eyes snapped open again, I was no longer lying on the cold bedroom floor.

"What is this?" I mumbled, my voice echoing strangely in the vast emptiness surrounding me. My eyes swept through the dark, infinite space. "Where am I?"

"It's all a dream," a voice answered—that same thunderous voice, but closer now. "A meeting place between souls."

I whipped my head toward the sound.

My breath caught in my throat.

There, emerging from the shadows, was a wolf unlike any I had ever seen. Thick silver fur that seemed to shimmer with an otherworldly light. Paws twice the size of any normal wolf, each one radiating raw, primal power.

And those eyes…fierce, burning red like molten fire.

"What are you?" I whispered, unable to look away.

"Not what. Who." It was a soft yet thunderous voice that spoke with authority.

Her paws inched closer, and so did I.

It was like my body was drawn to this wolf in front of me.

Slowly I reached forward, my hand wavering slightly, but she did the unexpected.

The wolf lowered her head to reach my height.

"My name is Sea, your wolf."

My body stiffened as those red fiery eyes pierced me.

"No," I whispered, tears streaming down my face, but these weren't tears of despair anymore. "It's impossible."

"Once in every generation," Sea murmured, "the Moon Goddess bestows a gift upon her night children. Power, instincts, knowledge… enough to turn against a great evil." Her ears lowered, and I felt something clench inside my chest.

"Night children involve three species blessed by the Moon Goddess," Sea continued. "Werewolves, vampires, and witches. We are all connected through her divine thread."

I swallowed hard, my mind racing. "But why does any of that have to do with me? I'm nobody. Just a failed Luna. A wolfless omega who couldn't even—"

"Your death created a gap in fate," Sea said, cutting through my self-deprecation with sharp finality. "A crack in the timeline itself. In the original path, Moonfire returned and wiped out entire packs. The wolfless population crisis became unstoppable, spreading like poison through the bloodlines. Thousands died. The balance shattered."

My hands trembled. I remembered Moonfire. 

The plague that had killed so many in my past life. The fever. The burning. The ash.

"The Moon Goddess saw what was coming," Sea continued, her voice growing softer. "She brought you back to avert this crisis. And when you made the choice—when you chose strength over submission, defiance over acceptance—I was awakened."

"But how is this even possible?" My voice cracked. "All this time... you've been with me?"

Sea's eyes brightened as she leaned forward, brushing her fur against my face.

"Silly girl. I've been with you since the day you were born. And all those years when you chose cowardice over strength, our strength dwindled until I became dormant…"

My hand wrapped around her neck, letting myself sink into her warmth. "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault…"

"Shh." Sea's warmth enveloped me completely. "You survived. That took its own kind of strength. But now..."

She pulled back slightly, her eyes burning bright again with fierce determination.

"Now you must hurry. This new timeline has already begun to shift. Things will be different—some better, some worse. Dangers you didn't face before may appear. Allies may become enemies. You cannot simply rely on the knowledge of your past life."

"What do you mean?" Panic flickered through me.

But Sea was already beginning to fade, her silver form dissolving like smoke in the wind.

"Wait!" I reached for her desperately. "Don't go—I need you—"

"I'm not going anywhere," her voice echoed even as her form disappeared completely. "I'm always with you now, Freya. Always. Just listen, and you'll hear me."

My eyes flew open.

I was back in my room, lying on the cold floor exactly where Killian had left me.

But everything felt different.

The weakness was gone. The trembling had stopped. Power hummed beneath my skin like electricity waiting to be unleashed.

A slow, dangerous smile curved across my lips as I pushed myself up easily.

No struggle, no pain.

I wasn't wolfless or an omega. I was an alpha.

The revelation sent a thrill through my entire body.

"Don't get too excited yet," Sea's voice cautioned gently. "Having me doesn't solve everything. You still need to be smart about this."

She was right.

Now that I'd chosen this path, chosen to leave Killian, I'd have to see it through to the end. There was no going back, no wavering, no letting him manipulate me again.

But leaving a mate was already taboo in werewolf society. Leaving an Alpha? Nearly impossible.

The council wouldn't approve without solid evidence, and even then, the penalty f*e was enormous. If only Killian would agree, it would be easier. But he wouldn't. He'd made that crystal clear this morning.

I rubbed my hair in frustration. Why couldn't I have been reborn before the marriage?

This union had been arranged to unite Killian's Greenville Pack with my father's Oakcreek Pack after that tragic accident claimed both my parents' lives. A political marriage meant to strengthen both territories and maintain peace.

The elders had orchestrated everything, and I had gone along with it.

But wait.

My hands stilled.

If we'd only been married for three months... did that mean I still had time to prevent some of the worst outcomes? To change things before they became irreversible?

If I left now—truly left, divorced or not—I'd be rogue. Packless. Vulnerable. Any wolf could challenge me, hurt me, even kill me without consequence.

Unless I reclaimed Oakcreek.

My father's pack. My birthright. The territory that should have been mine to lead when he died, but the elders had deemed me "too young" and "too weak" to hold.

Oakcreek was absorbed into Greenville's territory, with promises that I'd be "protected" and "cared for" as Killian's Luna.

What a joke that had turned out to be.

But reclaiming a pack required one thing above all else.

Money.

A lot of it.

I'd need to pay the separation penalty to the council. Buy back Oakcreek's lands and territorial rights from Greenville's holdings. Hire warriors to protect the borders until I could rebuild. Fund everything from food supplies to housing to defense systems.

The amount was staggering.

"You're a healer," Sea reminded me gently. "You've always known how to create things of value."

I fell into deep thought as I walked toward my medical laboratory, that familiar place where I'd spent countless hours, where I'd always found clarity when the world became too overwhelming.

But just as I reached the door, I heard a sudden crash from inside.

My heart jumped.

"Who's there?" I called out sharply.

I pushed the door open quickly.

Several maids were inside, struggling to move large pieces of my equipment that were clearly too heavy for them to handle properly.

"What's going on here?"

The maids whimpered, falling to their knees, their heads fixed on the floor.

"Luna, please forgive us. We were trying to be quiet..."

I crouched over the equipment. My gaze sharpened, noticing the tubes filled with herbs.

"Where are you taking all this?"

"L-Luna, don't you remember? Lady Maeve asked you to dismantle your lab," one of the maids answered shakily.

Instinctively, my hand clutched the glass vial and squeezed.

Of course, how could I forget? Just three months into marriage, and my mother-in-law was pressing endlessly about producing an heir.

She convinced me that my inability to have a child was the result of constant exposure to herbs and chemicals. To please her, I abandoned my life’s work.

A month later, Moonfire struck.

The memories came flooding back with visceral clarity.

The fever that burned wolves from the inside out. Bodies crumbling to ash after weeks of agony. The desperate faces of parents holding dying children. The mass graves that had to be dug when we ran out of funeral pyres.

I had eventually found the cure. But so, so slowly.

Because Lady Maeve had banned me from my laboratory.

I'd had to work in secret, in abandoned storage rooms and forgotten corners of the pack house. Wearing cloaks and masks to hide my identity because the Luna wasn't supposed to be doing such "unseemly" work.

Sneaking into sick wolves' homes under cover of darkness to deliver medicine by hand.

And even then, even when my cure had started to work, many wolves wouldn't take it.

A bitter taste filled my mouth as I remembered.

They'd called me a fraud. A con artist. Some desperate wolfless Luna trying to profit off their suffering. Why should they trust medicine from someone who didn't even have a wolf? What could I possibly know about treating a disease that affected real wolves?

I'd watched wolves die who could have been saved, simply because they refused treatment from someone they deemed worthless.

My jaw clenched as anger burned hot in my chest.

Not this time.

This time, I would establish myself first. Build credibility. Create the cure before anyone knew Moonfire was coming. And when I distribute the medicine…

Wait, Medicine!

My breath caught as the pieces suddenly clicked together in my mind.

Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner?

Medicine required trade. Early access meant leverage.

I could remake the cure. Improve it. Stockpile it. Sell it quietly to neighboring packs.

Other packs would pay handsomely for protection against a plague they didn't even know was coming yet. Preventative medicine was always more valuable than emergency treatment.

I could earn money and favor. Enough to pay the penalty. Enough to reclaim Oakcreek!

Enough to be free!