Chapter Two – His Name Is Grey

Mira’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

She stared at her own gloved fingers, still marked with the heat of his grip. He had seized her wrist for barely two seconds, but it felt like he’d branded her soul. Her pulse throbbed wildly in her ears as the nurses moved around her, cleaning the blood, checking his vitals.

None of it mattered.

Because he knew her name.

And worse….her wolf knew him.

“Doctor Lane?” one of the trauma nurses called gently, breaking the haze. “Should we prep him for OR?”

Mira blinked. “No. Not yet. Monitor him. His wounds… they’re closing too fast. Let’s run a tox screen and scan for internal trauma first. If he’s stable, I want to observe his healing rate.”

“But he’s not on anything, and the punctures are healing. That’s not…” the nurse hesitated “

…..normal.”

“I know,” Mira said sharply.

The nurse backed off, nodding. “Yes, Doctor.”

Mira pulled off her gloves and walked into the hallway. Her breath burned as it entered her lungs. She pressed her hand flat to the wall, fingers spread, trying to remember who she was.

She wasn’t a wolf anymore. She was a doctor. That was all.

That had to be enough.

Because the alternative meant accepting that fate had found her again. That the universe had a plan. And Mira didn’t believe in destiny. Not since the day her entire pack was slaughtered in front of her and no one came to save her.

Not even the Moon Goddess.

Especially not her.

She stayed in the hallway until her hands stopped trembling. When she returned, the man was sedated and lying still, his chest rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm.

But even unconscious, he was dangerous. Mira could feel the aura rolling off of him; powerful, dark, magnetic. He wasn’t just any wolf.

He was an Alpha.

And if he was her mate…

She didn’t even want to finish the thought.

One of the interns stepped closer with a clipboard. “Dr. Lane. The tox screen came back clean. No drugs, no foreign substances. But…”

Mira raised an eyebrow. “But?”

“There’s… something odd about his blood-work. His platelet count is off the charts. Cell regeneration is abnormally fast. 

Like, impossible fast.”

Of course it was.

“Thank you,” she said, taking the clipboard. “I’ll update the chart.”

The intern lingered. “Um, also… he woke up. Briefly. Before the sedative hit. Said his name.”

Mira’s eyes snapped up. “What name?”

The intern flipped his notes. “Grey. Just Grey. He kept saying it. ‘Tell her. My name is Grey.’ Does that mean anything to you?”

Grey.

The name hit her like a punch to the chest.

It was familiar. Not from her past. Not from the trauma. But in a strange way, it fit. She hadn’t asked for his name. And yet, hearing it now…

Grey.

The color of twilight. Of ash. Of the space between light and dark.

She didn’t realize she was gripping the clipboard until her knuckles turned white.

“Keep monitoring him,” she said quietly. “Page me if there’s any change.”

Mira turned and left the room, but she didn’t go far.

Instead, she took the stairwell down to the deserted sublevel of the hospital; where no one went after hours. The wing that had been under renovation for months and was always cold and quiet.

She needed space to shift.

Not her body. Her thoughts.

She needed to center herself.

She stared at her reflection in the dusty window at the end of the corridor. Her pale brown eyes looked hollow under the flickering lights. Her braid was loose. There was a stain of blood on her scrubs.

And still, beneath the surface, her wolf stirred.

“Mira,” she whispered to herself, like a prayer or a curse. “You swore. You swore you were done with this life.”

But her body already knew the truth.

Her instincts hadn’t lied.

That man, Grey, was not just a stranger.

He was her mate.

And fate didn’t ask for permission. It claimed.

Her heart clenched, because even in her fear, even in her fury, part of her wanted it. Wanted him!

The quiet, disciplined life she’d built in the human world had always felt like an illusion. A performance. As if something vital was always missing.

Now she knew what it was.

Him.

Or maybe… the truth.

Mira turned from the window, heart pounding, ready to return to the ER. She needed to run another scan, dig into hospital records, maybe search pack databases under the table.

But as she climbed the stairs and reentered the hall, everything went silent.

Too silent.

Then a scream echoed from Room 9.

His room.

Mira sprinted, her breath catching in her throat as she turned the corner.

The door to Grey’s room was wide open.

The nurse on duty was slumped against the wall, unconscious.

And the bed was empty.

He was gone.

End of Chapter Two

…………………

Where did Grey go? How did he wake and escape under sedation? And did Mira make a mistake not turning him in when she had the chance?