Chapter 11

_Ryker's POV_

I had faced enemies who wanted me dead. I had stood in front of armies and watched my enemies beg for mercy. None of those moments had made me feel as powerless as watching Emma stand in the center of the meeting hall and fail to shift.

The image kept replaying in my mind. The way she closed her eyes and she searched for something inside herself. The way her expression slowly changed when nothing happened. She had looked hurt. It was not because the pack had questioned her but it was because she had failed to live up to her own expectations.

I stood alone in my office. I was staring out of the window while the night covered the Devil’s Pack territory. The pack was quiet now but I could still feel the whispers. The questions. The doubt.

“She is not human.”

Shadow’s voice moved through my mind. My wolf had been restless since the meeting ended.

I closed my eyes. “I know.”

“No,” Shadow growled. “You know what you feel. But you do not know what she is.”

I tightened my jaw. That was the problem. My wolf had never been uncertain before. For my entire life, Shadow had guided me. He had warned me of danger. He had sensed enemies before they appeared. But when it came to Emma, he only knew one thing. She was our mate and nothing else mattered to him.

“She has a wolf,” Shadow said firmly.

“I know.”

“Then why can she not shift?”

I opened my eyes. I did not have an answer. That question had been haunting me since the moment Emma failed to transform. A wolf without the ability to shift was unheard of. Every werewolf was born connected to their wolf. Some awakened early while others awakened later. But eventually, every wolf found its way to the surface.

Emma had proven there was something inside her. I had felt it when she fought Linda and when the bond awakened between us. Her wolf was there but it was dormant.

Why was it like that?

I placed my hands on my desk. “Something is wrong.”

Shadow remained silent for a moment before finally speaking again. “Not wrong,” he said. “But different.”

I frowned at his words.

Different?

That bothered me more than anything else. Because different meant something unknown. And something unknown could become dangerous for Emma.

I had seen the fear in her eyes. She was not afraid of becoming stronger. She was afraid of becoming something she could not understand, something that could change everything she knew about herself. And I could not blame her.

Only a few days ago, Emma had lived a normal human life. She had known nothing about our world. Now she was bonded to an Alpha. She knew werewolves existed. She carried a power she could not control and everyone expected her to accept it all without fear.

A knock sounded on my office door, pulling me from my thoughts. I turned toward it.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Emma stood there. For a moment, everything else disappeared. I forgot about the questions and my worries about the pack. None of it mattered because she was standing in front of me.

But she did not look like the woman who had faced Linda without backing down. The woman in front of me looked exhausted, lost and overwhelmed. It was as if she was carrying a burden that was too heavy for her to hold alone.

“Emma.”

She looked away from me. “I thought you might still be awake.”

I walked toward her slowly. “I was.”

She hesitated for a moment before stepping into the room. The moment she came closer, I felt the bond between us react. Her emotions brushed against mine. I hated feeling the pain she was carrying, especially because I knew I was part of the reason she felt this way.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly.

A small laugh escaped her lips but there was no humor in it. “Is that even a real question anymore?”

I did not answer because I knew she was right. She looked at me. “Yesterday, I was just a normal person.”

Her voice became quieter. “Today, I am apparently a werewolf who cannot even turn into a wolf.”

I moved closer to her. “Emma.”

“I am serious, Ryker.”

Her voice became more emotional as she looked at me. “I tried. I stood there in front of everyone and I tried to find something inside me.”

She placed a hand over her chest. “But there was nothing.”

I wanted to tell her that she was wrong. I wanted to tell her that I could feel her wolf. But I knew that words alone would not be enough. She needed answers, not just reassurance. So instead, I asked the question that had been troubling me since the meeting.

“Do you feel anything?”

Her eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean?”

“Inside you.”

I watched her carefully. “Do you feel your wolf?”

Something changed in her expression. For a moment, she looked uncertain, like she was searching for an answer she was afraid to admit. Then she slowly shook her head.

“I do not know.”

“Emma.”

She lowered her gaze. “Sometimes.”

My attention immediately focused on her. “Sometimes?”

She nodded slowly. “There is something.”

I stepped closer. “What?”

She swallowed. “A voice.”

The room became quiet. Even Shadow reacted immediately inside my mind.

"I can also feel her wolf."

I ignored him and kept my attention on Emma.

“What does the voice say?”

She looked uncomfortable, like she did not want to admit it. “Things that do not make sense.”

“Like what?”

She hesitated before meeting my eyes. “Sometimes it tells me things.”

I waited patiently. Her fingers tightened slightly. “Sometimes it says things about you.”

My chest tightened. “What things?”

She shook her head. “I do not understand them.”

I moved closer and lowered my voice. “Emma, listen to me.”

She looked up at me.

“That voice is not something you need to fear.”

Her expression remained uncertain. “How do you know?”

“Because it is your wolf.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “My wolf?”

“Yes.”

I softened my voice. “Your wolf is trying to reach you. It is trying to communicate with you.”

She looked away. She was still struggling to accept it. “But why can I hear it and not see it?”

I had no simple answer for that. I had never heard of a wolf being present but hidden from its own person. But I refused to let her believe that there was something wrong with her.

“I may have a way to find out.”

Her eyes returned to mine. “How?”

I took a slow breath. “There is something in this pack that has existed longer than any Alpha.”

________

The Moonstone chamber was hidden beneath the oldest part of the pack house. It was a place that very few were allowed to enter. Only the Alpha, the healers and those chosen by the Moon Goddess could access it.

When I brought Emma inside, she looked around with curiosity. The walls were covered with ancient symbols carved into the stone and silver markings stretched across the surface like they had been placed there centuries ago. At the center of the chamber stood a large crystal resting on a stone pedestal.

Emma stopped walking and stared at it. “What is that?”

I looked toward the crystal. “Our greatest treasure.”

She stepped closer and studied it carefully. “It is a rock?”

I almost smiled at her honesty. “You really have a talent for insulting sacred things.”

She immediately looked at me. “I am sorry. I did not know.”

I saw a small smile appear on her face. It was brief but it was enough to ease some of the tension I felt through the bond.

“It is called a moonstone,” I explained.

She looked back at the crystal. “Why is it important?”

I walked beside her. “Because we believe it was blessed by the Moon Goddess herself.”

“The Moon Goddess?”

I nodded. “She is the deity our kind worships. She watches over werewolves, guides our wolves and created the bonds that connect mates together.”

Emma looked surprised. “So you believe she is the one who chooses mates?”

“Yes.”

Her expression changed slightly. I knew exactly what she was thinking. She was wondering why the moon goddess had chosen to put us together as mates.

I looked back at the moonstone. “This stone can reveal a wolf’s true nature. It has helped many wolves understand their abilities when they struggled to connect with their wolf.”

Emma’s nervousness returned. “And if it does not work?”

I reached for her hand gently. “It will.”

She looked at me. “You sound very confident.”

“I am.”

“You always say that.”

“Because I am usually right.”

She rolled her eyes and for a moment, I saw the Emma I had met before everything changed. The stubborn woman who challenged me. The woman who was not afraid to speak her mind.

I guided her toward the moonstone. “Place your hand on it.”

She hesitated for a moment before slowly reaching forward. The moment her fingers touched the moonstone, everything changed.

A powerful force moved through the chamber and the ground beneath our feet began to shake. My eyes widened as the crystal started to glow. But it was not the silver light I expected. It was red; a deep and dark red that filled the entire chamber.

The temperature dropped instantly and a cold feeling moved through me. Inside my mind, Shadow reacted immediately.

“Something is wrong.”

I stared at the moonstone. I was unable to understand what I was seeing. The ancient symbols carved into the walls began to shine, one after another, as if they had been awakened by Emma’s touch.

The energy coming from the stone grew stronger with every second. Emma’s expression changed. She looked scared.

“Ryker.”

I moved toward her immediately. “Take your hand away.”

She tried to pull back but before she could, the moonstone released a powerful wave of energy. The force exploded through the chamber. It hit Emma directly. Her body lifted slightly from the ground before she collapsed backward. I caught her before she could fall.

“Emma!”

The room became completely silent. The only sound was the faint crack coming from the moonstone. A deep line appeared across the crystal’s surface. Then, with a sharp sound, it shattered. The moment the stone broke, voices erupted outside the chamber.

“What happened?”

“Why did the moonstone break?”

“Is this a bad omen?”

I heard the whispers, the fear and the confusion. But I ignored all of it. Because the only thing I could see was Emma lying unconscious in my arms.

“Emma.”

I touched her face gently but there was no response. My chest tightened.

Inside my mind, Shadow became restless. “Wake her.”

“I am trying.”

“Do something.”

I lifted Emma into my arms and carried her out of the chamber myself. Everyone moved aside as I passed. No one dared to stop me because they had never seen their Alpha like this before. They had never seen fear in my eyes.

__________

The healer arrived within minutes. She immediately began examining Emma while I stood beside the bed. I was unable to take my eyes away from her.

I waited and every second that passed felt longer than the one before. Finally, the healer looked up. Her expression was filled with confusion.

“She has a wolf.”

A wave of relief moved through me. I closed my eyes briefly. I knew it. Shadow was right. Emma was not human. There was a wolf inside her. But when I opened my eyes again, I noticed that the healer looked troubled.

“What?”

Her gaze returned to Emma. “She has a wolf,” she repeated.

Then she hesitated. “But it is different.”

My chest tightened. “What does that mean?”

The healer looked at me and for the first time in many years, I saw something I rarely saw in her. She looked uncertain.

“I do not know.”

I looked down at Emma. She was my mate and the woman who had changed everything. She had a wolf but not one that anyone understood.

The healer lowered her voice.

“Alpha…”

I looked back at her.

“There is something about Emma that should not be possible.”

My expression hardened. “What?”

The healer glanced at the unconscious woman lying beside me before speaking.

“Her wolf is there.”

She paused.

“But something is keeping it from awakening.”