Chapter 3

Thane’s POV 

I had died and I should have remained dead because the pain I felt the second I opened my eyes was out of this world. 

I felt so raw. Every inch of my body felt foreign and painful. 

“Thank goodness.” I heard a woman's voice cry out as soft palms cradled my face. “You’re awake.”

I inhaled deeply. I couldn't recognise this scent. 

“He’s awake.” She screamed and I winced. There was a ringing in my ears. 

My eyes slowly peeled open as I heard footsteps approaching. My father was the first person I saw.

“Where am I?” I groaned. 

“You are home, son.” He sat beside me and ran his fingers through my hair.

“You scared me.” The woman from earlier said, grabbing my hands. 

I stared at her blankly, relying on my brain to make me remember her. The harder I tried to think, the tighter the migraine around my head became. I groaned. 

“It’s me, Seraphina.” She glanced at my father. “Your fiancée.”

“Seraphina.” I said slowly like I was trying to taste the letters of her name. 

“The doctors said you suffered a severe head injury. Your memory might be quite hazy.” 

“What happened?” I looked at them. I closed my eyes briefly trying to remember how I got here.

My father cleared his throat. “You heard Seraphina was in labour so you were in a hurry to get to the hospital. Unfortunately you had an accident on your way.”

“Labour?” 

Seraphina sniffed and looked down at her stomach, her hands carefully gliding over. 

“I had our baby and you almost died and left us all alone.”

Her shoulders trembled softly as she cried. I lay there staring at the ceiling. I was a father? Why couldn't I remember any of this? I looked over to my father who had a large grin on his face. 

“Do you want to see your son?” He asked.

I nodded. I needed to see this child they said was mine. A maid walked in carrying a baby boy. She set him beside me. This was real. There was a baby and he was mine. 

A little smile stretched my lips. I was a father. Seraphina tried to pick him up when he immediately screamed. She quickly passed him to the maid. 

“I’m sorry I couldn't make it to the hospital in one piece.” I said and she grabbed my hands and squeezed them softly.

“Don’t say that. The most important thing is that you're alive.”

I stared at her. I was alive and that should have brought relief but instead a sharp hollow feeling was the only thing I felt. 

I looked at the baby in the maid’s hands. There should be an instant bond with him but all I could do was wonder. The veins on either side of my head pulsed and I closed my eyes.

“I’m tired.”

“Of course.” Seraphina released my hand. “You should rest.” 

       The moment the darkness pulled me in, something flickered behind my eyes and my nose caught a sharp scent. I heard a soft laughter. I felt my fingers tangled in soft silky hair, a slender body pressed against mine. 

“Thane.” The voice called out in a giggle. It wasn't Seraphina. 

My heart lurched and I staggered forward to reach out but there was no one there. My eyes shot open and I could feel my whole body slick with sweat. 

My breath escaped me in ragged breaths. I closed my eyes tightly, trying to drag the memories back but there was nothing. I sat up quickly and pain exploded in the sides of my head. 

“Fuck.” I groaned through gritted teeth as I grabbed my head. My vision blurred and that ring was back in my ears. 

I sat still waiting for this to pass. I looked around the room. It was familiar. I remembered the furniture, the paintings and the faint smell of coffee and ash that was my father's house. 

Still, there was an emptiness I couldn't understand. I was forgetting something or even worse, someone. 

        Two mornings later and I could finally get out of bed. I had barely gotten any sleep in the last days because everytime I tried to sleep, something haunted me. 

I wrapped my robe around myself and took careful steps out of my bedroom. The wound just below my rib still burned so I couldn't move too fast. I walked into my father in the hallway. 

His eyes shone with pleasure. “You are out of bed.”

I nodded. “Good morning father.” 

“Come.” He gestured for me to follow him. “We have a lot of prepare.”

“Prepare?” I leaned against the wall for support. 

“Your wedding.” He smiled. “You and Seraphina’s.” 

“I am barely well.”

“We can't afford to delay things any further, Thane.” 

“What is the rush for? Seraphina just had a baby. We both need time to recover.” 

He walked towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “The packs are waiting. Our alliance must be secured before anyone can interfere. You guys would have all the time to recover later on.” 

The word alliance made my stomach twist. My marriage was political? How did I get myself into this?

I rubbed my temple. “I need air.”

I don't wait for a response from my father before walking out. 

       The morning air was cold against my skin and it was exactly what I needed. I found Kane, my Beta on the training grounds. He was shooting down birds from the sky. I chuckled as he missed another bird in a minute. Always a flimsy shooter. I remembered that. 

He dropped his gun and hurried to me. “Alpha.”

“Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?”

“You should not be out of bed.” He whispered. 

I groaned. “I’m fine.” 

He looked worried but beneath all that there was something else that unsettled me. Guilt. 

“Tell me what happened?”

His expression shifted for a split second but it was so fast I could almost have imagined it.

“Your father already told you.” He replied without looking at me. 

“I was on my way to the hospital because Seraphina was in labour but then I got into an accident.” I recounted and he nodded. 

“But why does it feel like I'm forgetting something?”

His eyes flickered and I edged closer. “You know something, Kane. Tell me.”

“Alpha…” He swallowed. 

“Is there someone I should remember?”

“No.” His answer came too quickly. 

“You are lying to me.” I growled.

“Your head injury…”

I shoved him back violently. “Don't blame this on my injury.” 

I felt a stitch rip in my face and I bit down on my molars. 

“You are bleeding.” Kane said, approaching me slowly.

“Stay back.” I warned as I tried to walk back to the main building. The ground was moving and so were the trees. 

One foot in front of another and I was crashing into a void. 

I didn't know how long I had been unconscious when the sound of a baby tore through my skull. I opened my eyes and listened carefully. The sound wasn't coming from the nursery. It came from somewhere deep in my subconscious. 

“What the hell?” I clutched at my temple as my vision blurred around the edges. 

The pain exploded in my skull and suddenly I was not in my room. I was standing in a hospital room and in the far end a woman lay curled up with a child in her arms. Someone tried to take the child and she fought, desperately clawing at them. 

The man ripped the baby from her arms and kicked her across the floor. He stepped out of the light and I was staring at my father.