MasukShe laughs, the sound lacking humor. "Oh, Keal," she begins gathering supplies. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me. I'm not the pathetic girl you always thought I was."How could the mate he'd looked down upon, the one he'd embarrassed time and time again, be a powerful witch? If only he had known, together they could have achieved greatness. That explains how his brother got his wolf back when he had taken it with the dangerous herb—Nora must have had a hand in that. "I spent years studying herbs and magic while you spent years underestimating me," she continues, her voice filled with a quiet strength that commands respect.Keal feels genuinely speechless, maybe because he's realizing how little attention he ever paid.Hours pass. Nora works tirelessly, mixing herbs, cleaning wounds, applying poultices, whispering old healing chants. By the time she's finished, sweat clings to her forehead, her shoulders sagging with exhaustion. Keal sits silently on the edge of the
The front door creaks open, the sound cutting through the silence like a knife. Keal's eyes snap toward the sound, his body tensing despite the exhaustion that weighs him down. For a split second, relief washes through him, so potent it almost brings tears to his eyes. Finally. Nora.He lets his head fall back against the wall, the rough wood scraping against his skin, and forces a crooked grin onto his face despite the blood staining his clothes and pooling beneath him. "Hey, mate," he says weakly, his voice rough with pain. "Miss me?"Nora freezes in the doorway, the basket in her hand slipping slightly before she catches it. Her eyes widen, but not with relief or concern—shock, pure shock, flashes across her face before disappearing almost immediately. Her face hardens, her features transforming into a mask of cold fury."What the fuck are you doing here?" The hostility catches him off guard, his smile faltering as he registers the venom in her voice."What kind of welcome is that?
The hidden trail twists through dense forest and jagged rocks, concealed beneath thick vines and overgrown roots that haven't been touched in years.Keal stumbles forward, his body screaming in protest with every agonizing step. Blood drips steadily from the deep wound along his side, staining his torn shirt and splashing onto the dirt beneath his boots. Every breath burns his lungs like fire. Every step feels like walking over broken glass, the pain shooting up his leg with each movement. Yet he keeps moving. Because stopping means dying. And Keal has not come this far to die.His jaw clenches so hard it aches, the muscles in his face rigid with determination and fury."Damn you, Kei," he mutters through gritted teeth, the words coming out hoarse, broken, and filled with a venom that surprises even himself. "Damn you to the deepest pits of hell."His hand presses harder against his wound as he limps deeper into the narrow passage hidden between the cliffs. The blood seeps through his
The moment I get back to the Alpha office, I shut the door behind me with a decisive thud that echoes through the room. I immediately point at the nearest warrior, who's trying so hard to appear inconspicuous that he's practically vibrating with tension. "You."The poor man nearly jumps out of his skin, his eyes widening in alarm."Y-Yes, Alpha?""I want every law book."His eyes blink, confusion warring with fear on his face."Every... law book?""Every single one." I lean against the doorframe, crossing my arms in a gesture that still feels foreign but now comes with a satisfying weight of authority. "Old laws. New laws. Temporary laws. Archived laws. If some dead idiot Alpha scribbled a rule on a piece of paper two hundred years ago while drunk, I want that too."The warrior looks terrified, his gaze darting down the hallway as if calculating his escape route."Immediately, Alpha.""And nobody disturbs me." I fix him with a stare that I've seen Kei use a hundred times, the one tha
I leave the hospital with a grin that refuses to leave my face. The crushing weight on my chest is lighter. Not gone. Never gone. But lighter. The image of Kei's horrified face keeps replaying in my head, and every single time it does, another laugh threatens to burst out of me.The mighty Alpha Kei.The terrifying wolf every pack feared.The man who stood there yesterday telling me women were born to follow while men were born to lead. Now trapped in my body. Pregnant. The thought nearly sends me into another fit of laughter.I walk through the unfamiliar paths of the pack, trying—and failing—not to smile. My new stride still feels strange. Longer. Broader. More powerful. Every step carries a natural confidence that comes from years of being an Alpha.I can feel Kei's strength beneath my skin. Feel the wolf sleeping inside me. It's nowhere near as magnificent as my own wolf. Not even close. But compared to the emptiness I've been forced to endure for so long?It feels incredible.My
I stare at her. No. I stare at my own face wearing that smug, infuriating expression, and for the first time in my life, I genuinely wonder if I've finally lost my mind. My heartbeat thunders so violently that I can hear it inside my ears, a frantic drumbeat of pure panic. This isn't real. It can't be.The room suddenly feels too small. Too bright. Too suffocating. Every instinct I possess screams that something is horribly wrong, a primal alarm bell ringing in my soul.My hands—her hands—begin trembling. Small. Soft. Delicate. Nothing like mine. Nothing like the hands that have spent years holding swords and leading warriors. Nothing like the hands of an Alpha. I look down again and feel my stomach twist violently. No wolf. No power just emptiness. The same emptiness Ravelle had been forced to live with all this time. The realization hits me so hard that I physically stagger backward, a wave of dizziness washing over me.The doctor immediately rushes forward, his face a mask of con
Her eyes widen at that.“And if you’d seen how Kei struggled during the attack,” I continue, glancing up at her, “you’d understand why this doesn’t add up. He was fighting fewer than twenty men—and losing ground. Covered in blood. Weak.”Nora immediately shakes her head. “That’s not possible. I’ve
That—That breaks something.Nora lets out a sharp, frustrated sound—almost a scream—the echo bouncing off the narrow walls. She drags both hands through her hair and paces once, like she’s trying to outrun her own thoughts.“Fuck,” she breathes, her voice rough, stripped down to exhaustion and tru
“I can walk on my own.”My voice comes out sharper than I intend as I tug my wrist free from Nora’s grip the moment we’re far enough from the open grounds, back in the narrow, hidden passage that leads toward the old house. The walls close in around us again, swallowing the distant noise of chaos,
“Am I interrupting something?”The voice cuts cleanly through the tension—soft, but sharp enough to split the moment open—and I recognise it instantly.Nora.There’s something in her tone. Not just interruption, surprise, confusion, or curiosity.Something tighter. Rawer.Hurt.My pulse spikes—not







