The Lost Beta

The noises of the chase echoed through the forest. The chilly night atmosphere was stained by the scent of blood, leaves stirred with each careful footfall, and branches snapped beneath heavy boots. With acute instincts and striking golden eyes, Beta Alexander glided like a specter.

According to the reports, they had spent hours following a hazardous renegade. A lone wolf was intruding close to Moonshadow's boundaries, moving in and out without being noticed, leaving behind bloody and perplexing trails.

But something about this hunt felt... wrong.

The scent they were following wasn’t just rogue filth and desperation. It was something else. Something familiar.

Alexander’s wolf growled low in his mind, restless, unsettled.

Then he heard it. A scream, raw, desperate, filled with terror.

Alexander’s heart pounded. Without hesitation, he surged forward, his warriors close behind.

What they found made his blood freeze.

---

Just by a sturdy tree trunk was a girl abruptly cornered, her body shaking and her breathing uneven. She was covered up with dirt, her lengthy dark hair in knots, her exposed arms marked with scratches. Her dress was torn, barely hanging onto her fragile body figure, as though she had been running for days.

However, it wasn't solely her looks that caused Alexander to stop in his tracks.

It was her scent.

Mate.

Air left his lungs as the word crashed with ruthless force into his chest.

No. It wasn’t possible.

Emily was dead. He had mourned her for years. He had searched the ruins of that rogue camp himself, found nothing but ashes and broken bodies.

And yet she was standing right in front of him.

Before he could speak, the rogues who had been chasing her lunged.

Alexander didn’t think. He moved.

Before the mongrel could even scream, he grabbed the nearest rogue and snapped his neck in one quick stroke. Another rogue tried to slash at him, but Alexander twisted his arm back with a sickening crack.

His warriors handled the rest, tearing through the enemy with lethal precision. Within seconds, the rogues lay dead.

Emily's eyes were opened wide while she looked at him.

She was unable to identify him.

To her he was a stranger.

And he had never fought a battle as scary as that.

---

"Who are you?" She spoke in a raspy voice that was hardly audible.

Alexander stepped forward slowly, feeling an unexplained ache in his chest. "You don’t remember me?"

She flinched.

There was no recognition in her eyes. No spark of familiarity. Just fear.

Alexander clenched his jaw. This wasn’t the time for questions. The fight had drawn attention, and Moonshadow territory wasn’t safe for a rogue, especially her.

“We need to go,” he said, softer this time.

She hesitated.

Then, from the darkness, the sound of more footsteps.

It was reinforcements.

Alexander cursed under his breath. He had two options, leave her here to fend for herself, or take her back to Moonshadow, where she would be seen as a threat.

There was no choice.

He took her in his arms before she could object. She tried feebly to fight, but exhaustion had already taken its toll. Within moments, her body went limp against his chest.

“Back to the pack,” he ordered his warriors. “Now.”

---

Bringing a rogue into Moonshadow’s borders was like throwing a match into dry grass. The second they arrived, tension rippled through the pack. Warriors whispered, eyes narrowed, their gazes locked on Emily like she was a walking curse.

“She’s dangerous.”

“She smells like a rogue.”

“She shouldn’t be here.”

Alexander ignored them all. He carried her straight to the pack hospital, shoving past the confused nurses.

“She needs help,” he growled. “Now.”

The head healer, a graying woman with sharp eyes, stepped forward. “Who is she?”

Alexander hesitated. He didn’t have an answer.

His mate. His dead mate. A girl with no memory.

Finally, he said, “Just save her.”

---

Alpha Damien was waiting for him outside the hospital.

“You brought what into my pack?” The Alpha’s voice was cold, controlled but there was fury in his eyes.

Alexander stood his ground. “She was being hunted. I wasn’t about to let her die.”

Damien’s lip curled. “You're in no position to make such a decision, Beta.”

Alexander didn’t flinch. “It is when it involves my mate.”

The words hung in the air like a death sentence. Gasps rippled through the pack members listening.

Damien’s expression darkened. His eyes flickered to the hospital, where Emily was being treated. Something about the way he looked at the building made Alexander’s instincts scream.

“I want her gone by morning,” the Alpha ordered.

Alexander moved a bit closer, his wolf leaning against the surface. “I guarantee you, your throat will be torn into shreds if you lay as little as a finger on her.”

The two men stared at each other for a while, the weight of unspoken threats engulfed the air. Then, Damien smiled.

A slow, dangerous smile.

And that was when Alexander knew, his Alpha knew exactly who she was.

---

Emily regained consciousness, she looked around the unfamiliar room saturated with the smell of medicine. She sneezed even as her body throbbed, yet for the first time in a very long while, she felt warmth.

Then she saw him.

The man from the forest.

He sat by her bedside, watching her closely.

“Where am I?” she croaked.

“Safe.”

She swallowed, her throat dry. “Who are you?”

A flicker appeared in his eyes, sorrow, desire. "Alexander."

The name meant nothing to her.

But suddenly, an image flashed through her mind. A pair of golden eyes. A deep voice whispering her name.

Emily inhaled sharply, clutching the bedcovers. The memory vanished swiftly after appearing.

But it had been real.

Hadn’t it?

---

“Do you remember anything?” Alexander asked.

She hesitated. Then, gently, she moved her head.

A shadow quickly crossed his face, yet he didn’t resist. Rather, he got up and walked towards the door.

Then she felt it. A dull ache on her shoulder, pulsing beneath the skin.

Emily pulled down the collar of her gown then froze.

A mark.

A mate mark.

Her fingers trembled as she traced the scar. It didn’t make sense. Mates only left marks when bonded.

So why did she have one... with a man she didn’t remember?

---

Outside the hospital, a pair of glowing red eyes watched through the darkness.

A rogue messenger knelt before Alpha Damien’s Beta. “The girl is alive.”

The Beta's expression contorted with rage. "That shouldn't have happened."

The rogue hesitated. “What should we do?”

The Beta’s voice was cold. “Tell the Alpha.”

The rogue nodded, vanishing into the night.

And inside the pack hospital, Emily’s heart pounded as a terrifying thought formed in her mind.

Whoever had been chasing her in the forest...

They weren’t done yet.

---

Emily is marked by Alexander but has no memory of him, and unseen enemies are already plotting her death.

Her fingers trembled as she traced the mark on her shoulder again once more gently. It didn’t make sense. A mate mark, proof of a bond she didn’t remember.

She looked up at Alexander, confusion and fear swirling in her chest. “What happened to me?”

Before he was able to respond, a thunderous howl res

onated in the night.

Not from within the pack.

From outside.

Alexander’s expression turned deadly as he shot to his feet.

They weren’t safe.

Whoever had been hunting Emily in the forest...

Had just found her again.