All Chapters of Marked but Unclaimed : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The wolf drops mid-lunge. Not dramatically. Not with a scream. Just collapses, like someone cut his strings. I'm twenty feet away when it happens. Close enough to see his eyes roll back. Close enough to hear the wet sound when his body hits dirt. The training grounds go silent. Then everyone's moving at once. Wolves rushing forward. Someone shouting for the medic. A stocky wolf named Ravi dropping to his knees beside the fallen wolf, checking for a pulse. Two wolves lift him carefully, supporting his weight between them. His head lolls forward. Unconscious. They're already moving toward the medical wing before I can process what I'm seeing. I should move. Should help. Should do something. But I'm frozen. I'm staring at the water bottle that rolled from his hand. It's still half-full. The cap loose. Forgotten in the grass three feet from where he fell. My wolf stirs. Alert. Focused on that bottle like it's a threat. "Don't touch that." I turn. Derek's walking toward me. His

"You're not touching her." Kade's voice cuts through the sterile air of the Riverside facility like a blade. I'm sitting on the edge of an examination table. IV in my arm. Heart monitor beeping steadily in the background. And standing in the doorway, blocking Theophilus Cain from entering the room, is my mate. His shoulders are rigid. His hands are clenched. The bond between us is a live wire—panic and fury twisted together so tightly I can barely breathe through it. Theophilus doesn't move. Doesn't react. Just stands there with a tablet in one hand and that same calm, professional expression he wore at the council building. "Alpha Kade," he says evenly. "I'm here to consult. Not treat." "I don't care what you're here to do." Kade's voice drops lower. Dangerous. "Turn around and leave." "Kade." Derek steps forward from the corner of the room. His tone is careful. Measured. "Cain helped her at the council facility. He's the one who identified the symptoms." Kade doesn

Dr. Winters sets the tablet down. "We found out what was in the poison." The room goes still. "We have a treatment that can save your life and fix your healing," she continues. "But you need to understand what it will cost." She looks at me directly. "The poison attacked your brain. "It's been destroying your brain for days—your memory, your ability to think clearly, everything that makes you *you*." She pauses. "The treatment can stop the damage and save your life. But when you wake up, you may not remember recent events. Possibly the last few weeks. Maybe longer." My stomach drops. "She'll forget?" Kade's voice is tight. "The memory loss should be temporary. As her brain heals, memories should return." Dr. Winters doesn't look away. "But we can't predict what she'll lose or how long recovery will take. It could be days. It could be months." "Months," I repeat. "Or it could come back faster. We don't know. Every case is different, and your brain has already been severely dam

The paper sits on the floor like a snake. I stare at it from the bed, my name written across the fold in handwriting I don't recognize. Neat. Deliberate. *Della* The bedroom door is wide open. Kade closed it when he left—I heard the soft click. Which means someone opened it. Someone came in while I was sitting here and left this. My heart pounds as I slide off the bed. My legs wobble but hold. I pick up the paper with shaking hands. It's folded once. Plain white. No other markings except my name. I unfold it. Three sentences. Handwritten in the same neat script. *You weren't supposed to survive the poisoning. Ask him why he needed you to forget. The timing wasn't an accident.* The paper slips from my fingers. I stare at it on the floor, those three sentences burning into my brain. *He needed you to forget.* Not they. He. The door is still open. I move toward it on unsteady legs, look out into the empty hallway. No one. Nothing. Just silence. Someone was here. In my room

The next morning, Kade calls a meeting.Not in his office. In the war room.Derek leads me down a hallway in the basement. I didn't know it was there.The room has no windows. There's a big table in the middle. Maps cover the walls. Security monitors sit in the corner.This is where they make the big decisions.Kade is already there. So is Derek. Two other men are with them. They're older and look serious."Della." Kade points to the chair next to him. "This is Jake. He's in charge of getting information. And this is Roman. He's our lawyer."I sit down.Jake puts a file on the table. "Councilor Vance asked for the Council review. He runs the Northern Council division. Three other Alphas are helping him. If Shadow Moon falls, they'll take the territory."Kade's jaw tightens. "Of course.""Who's Vance?" I ask."Someone who wants the Council to control the packs," Kade says. "The poisoning gave him a way to do it.""They're trying to take your pack.""They're trying to set an example," R