Chapter One

Rashi's POV

The smell of antiseptic hit me first. I paced the sterile white corridor, anxious for news from the doctor.

"Miss Rashi?"

I spun around so fast I nearly tripped. Dr. Evans stood there, clutching a clipboard, a small, tired smile playing on his lips. 

"Yes?" I breathed. "Is she... is it done?"

"The chemotherapy session was successful," Dr. Evans replied. "Her vitals remained stable throughout. We’re very pleased with how she accepted the treatment this round."

"Thank you," I gasped, as a tear pricked the corners of my eye. "Thank you so much."

I turned and practically ran down the hall to Room 304. Hope was a dangerous thing, a fragile little flame that I had been cupping with my hands for months. But today, that flame roared. We would beat this. We had to.

"Mom, how do you…" My words died in my throat as I saw her. My mother, Vinitra, lay in the center of the bed, swallowed by the white sheets. She looked translucent.

Her skin, usually a warm olive, was the color of ash. Her cheekbones protruded sharply, casting hollow shadows on her face, and her lips were cracked and blue. The steady “beep-beep-beep” of the heart monitor seemed to be the only thing keeping time in a room where time had stopped.

"Mom?" I whispered, stepping closer. She didn’t open her eyes immediately. Her chest rose and fell in shallow, uneven hitches, rattling slightly with every breath.

"Rashi," she rasped.

I rushed to her side, grabbing her hand. It was ice cold. I rubbed it between my palms, desperate to transfer some of my warmth, some of my life, into her.

"I spoke to Dr. Evans," I began. "He said the session was a success, Mom! He said you’re stable. This is it. This is the turning point."

I was babbling. I knew I was babbling, but I couldn't stop. Silence meant acknowledging the way she looked. Silence meant accepting the coldness of her hand.

"We just have to get through the next few days," I continued, squeezing her fingers. "I’ll pick up extra shifts at the diner to cover the new meds. And once you’re strong enough, we’ll go to that park you like, the one with the cherry blossoms. We’ll…"

"Rashi."

She opened her eyes. "Stop," she whispered.

"Stop what?" I asked. "Stop planning our future? Mom, the doctor said…"

"The doctor looks at charts," she interrupted. "I look at my soul. I can feel it, Rashi. In my bones."

She turned her head slowly to look at me, and a tear leaked from the corner of her eye, tracking a path through the gaunt hollow of her cheek. "I am dying."

The world tilted on its axis.

"Don't say that," I snapped. "Don't you dare say that. You’re just tired. The chemo takes a lot out of you. Everyone knows that. You just need sleep."

"My sweet girl," she sighed, reaching up with a trembling hand to touch my face. "You have always been so full of light. But you cannot fight this darkness for me."

"I can!" I cried, falling to my knees beside the bed. I buried my face in the mattress near her hip, sobbing. "I can fight it. I’ll fight everyone. You can’t leave me, Mom. You’re all I have. I don't have anyone else! Please."

"I have done you a great wrong, child," she whispered. "I thought... I thought silence would protect you. But now, silence will only leave you defenseless."

"What are you talking about?"

She took a ragged breath. "Your father. He is not dead."

I froze. "What?"

"I told you he died in a car accident before you were born," she said, closing her eyes as if in pain. "It was a lie."

"He... he's alive?" I stared at her. "Where is he? Did he leave us?"

"He is alive," she fixed me with an intense stare. "And he is not human."

I blinked. "Mom, the medication... you’re hallucinating. We should call the nurse."

"Listen to me!" she hissed, gripping my wrist with surprising strength. "I am not hallucinating. I am running out of time, and you need to know what you are. You are not fully human, Rashi."

"Mom, stop…"

"Your father is a werewolf. He is the Alpha of the Varg pack. One of the most powerful werewolf lineages in the country."

I pulled my arm back, standing up slowly. "Werewolves? Mom, this isn't funny. You’re scaring me."

“We met at university. We were both studying archaeology. He was... Goddess, he was magnificent, brilliant and handsome," she began.

"We spent nights in the quiet library, days in the park bonding, endless dates… we fell hard for each other and then he gave me this."

She fumbled with the neckline of her hospital gown, pulling out a silver chain I had seen her wear every day of my life. Hanging from it was a crescent moon amulet, encrusted with a small, dark stone that seemed to absorb the light in the room.

"He told me it was a symbol of his bloodline," she whispered. "He said it would always guide me to him."

"So what happened?" I asked. “Why did he suddenly die to you?” Already trying to process the whole story in my head.

"The full moon," she said simply. "We were on a dig in a remote site when I saw him change. I saw the bones break and reshape. I saw the man I loved turn into a beast."

My stomach churned. "Okay, that's enough. I'm calling the doctor." I held the landline phone about to dial, when she continued.

"I was terrified, but I didn't run. I loved him," tears streamed down her face now. "But then... I found out I was pregnant with you. I went to him. I thought he would be happy. I thought, because he loved me, it wouldn't matter that I was human."

She let out a bitter, strangled sob. "I was wrong. When I told him, his eyes... they went cold. He denied you instantly. He said a hybrid child was an abomination. He said it would destroy his claim to the Alpha leadership. It is forbidden, Rashi. For a wolf to mate with a human, to produce offspring... it is seen as a weakness."

"He left you? Because of his reputation? This feels hard to believe, Mom."

"He chose his throne over his family," she spat, with venom in her voice. "He walked away. He left me pregnant, alone, and terrified of a world I didn't understand. I had to raise you, so I raised you in the city, away from him, away from the magic. I lied to you to keep you safe from him. To keep you safe from the truth."

"Why tell me now?" I cried. "Why tell me now if he’s a monster? It doesn't change anything, Mom. What's more important is your health, to fight this cancer."

"Because you are his heir!" she shouted, as her voice broke into a wheeze. "You are the rightful heir to the Varg pack! And I will not let him get away with it. I will not let him live his life of luxury and power while we scraped by in the dirt!"

She handed me the amulet. "Take it," she ordered.

"Mom, I don't want it…"

"You must! This amulet is the key. It will guide you to the Varg territory. You go there, Rashi, and find him. Make him pay, Rashi. Make him pay for what he made us go through."

"I’m just a girl! I’m not a wolf! I don't know anything about packs or Alphas! And this isn't necessary, Mom. Like I said.."

"Promise me! Promise me, Rashi!" She began to breathe heavily, gripping my dress as the heart monitor began to beep loudly.

"Mom, please, calm down," I begged, terrified by the erratic speed of the heart monitor. ‘Beep-beep-beep-beep.’ It was too fast. "You’re hurting yourself."

"Promise me!" she gasped. "Promise me you will take the throne. Promise me you will avenge us!"

"I... I..."

"Promise me!" Her voice sounded like a whisper.

"I promise!" I screamed, just to make her stop. "I promise, Mom! I’ll do it!"

She exhaled, a long, rattling sound, and her grip on my shirt loosened. She slumped back against the pillows, and her eyes closed.

"Mom?"

The beeping changed. The rhythm faltered. ‘Beep... beep... beep…’

"Mom?" Panic clawed at my throat. "Mom, look at me. Stay with me." Her body went rigid, her back arched off the mattress, her mouth opening in a silent gasp for air that wouldn't come.

"Help!" I screamed, spinning toward the door. "Help! Someone help, please!"

The door burst open. Dr. Evans and two nurses rushed in.

"Rashi, you need to step back," Dr. Evans barked, physically pushing me away from the bed.

I fought against him, but he was stronger. "Save her! You said she was stable! You said it was successful!"

I was shoved against the wall, watching helplessly as they swarmed her. They were pressing on her chest, shouting numbers, injecting fluids.

The monitor went “Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.”

The sound was a flat, high-pitched tone that drilled into my skull.

The nurse doing compressions pulled her hands away. Dr. Evans looked at the monitor, then down at my mother. He checked his watch and sighed.

He turned to me, with eyes filled with pity. "I’m sorry, Rashi," he said softly. "She’s gone."

I looked at the bed. My mother lay still. The struggle was gone from her face, leaving behind only an empty shell. The hand that had held mine just moments ago hung limply off the side of the mattress.

"No, Mom, wake up. Please look at me.” I shook her already still body as tears surged down my eyes.

But she didn't wake up. “No,” I screamed.