Evelyn’s POV
It took me an entire day before I could drag myself out of bed. My body ached with grief and weakness, but more than that, the weight of humiliation pressed me down like chains. Still, I forced myself to rise. Lying here forever would not change anything. I needed something—work, purpose, anything that would keep me from drowning.
Before I met Alpha Leo, before I ever set foot inside Sunray Pack, I worked as an assistant to a healer in a modest clinic beyond pack lands. When I left that place five years ago, I had been promised a job should I ever return. Maybe, just maybe, that promise still stood. And if I could get back to work, I could begin paying off the ridiculous debt they had shoved onto my shoulders. Little by little, piece by piece, I could rebuild.
So I made the call. The voice on the other end remembered me. There was even warmth there, a reminder that not everyone in this world despised my name. They invited me for an interview, and when I walked through those familiar clinic doors, I felt a strange sense of relief.
Shane, one of the healers I had once assisted, recognized me instantly. Her eyes widened, and she rushed forward, embracing me. “Evelyn! Goddess, it’s been so long. Or…” She hesitated, her lips trembling. “Should I call you Luna?”
The title pierced me like a blade. I shook my head, managing a small, brittle smile. “No. I’m no Luna anymore. Just Evelyn Lockheart.”
Her expression shifted to pity, but she did not argue. She only squeezed my hands and told me she hoped to work with me again.
I walked out of the interview certain I had secured the position. My hands had not forgotten how to grind herbs, how to read symptoms, how to tend to wounds. I could still be useful. For the first time in what felt like centuries, hope stirred faintly inside me.
But it did not last.
The rejection email arrived the next morning. Short, cold, final.
I called Shane immediately, confusion spilling from me in sharp, desperate words. “Why? You said— I thought— I was certain—”
Her voice cracked through the receiver. “Evelyn, I’m so sorry. Sophia Thompson called the clinic. She threatened that if we hired you, Sunray Pack would withdraw all their donations. We can’t afford that kind of loss.”
The phone slipped from my hand. I caught it before it hit the floor, clutching it to my chest as though that could steady the storm inside me. Sophia. Again. She had taken my mate, my home, my future—and now she had stripped away the one chance I had left at building a life for myself.
The laughter that broke out of me was sharp, ugly, half-crazed. I pressed a hand to my mouth, but the sound still escaped. What a pitiful creature I had become. Even cast aside, they would not leave me in peace.
When the laughter faded, I sat there trembling, and then I did the only thing I could think to do. I called Dave, my brother.
Three years ago, he had reached out after years of silence, bridging the distance that had formed since our clan’s fall. Since then, we had not lost contact. He was the one thread of family I still had left, the one soul who knew the truth of what it meant to be a Lockheart.
I told him everything. His silence was heavy, broken only by the sharp intake of breath. And then he said in a low, dangerous voice, “Three days, Evelyn. Hold on for three days. I’ll be there.”
Something in his tone steadied me. I wasn’t alone. Not entirely.
But before I could go to him, there was one thing I had to do.
I went to the hospital. The place where I had been told my baby was gone. The healers had preserved the remains in a vial, waiting for me to decide what to do with them. I couldn’t leave without my child. Not without giving them a proper burial.
The corridors smelled of antiseptic and wolfsbane, and each step made my chest ache. I clutched the claim papers tightly, ready to collect the only piece of my baby I had left.
But fate, it seemed, was not done tormenting me.
Because as I turned down the hall, I saw them.
Alpha Leo. And Sophia.
They were standing near the healer’s ward, their voices low but not low enough. I froze, unable to move, unable to breathe, as Sophia laughed softly and placed a hand on her belly.
Leo’s voice, once so warm when it spoke my name, now cut like knives. “This baby,” he said, “is the replacement for what I lost with Evelyn.”
My vision spun. The floor tilted beneath me. The world roared in my ears.
Replacement.
Sophia’s smile gleamed like polished gold. She leaned into him, her voice dripping with sweetness. “And I’ll give you the heir you deserve.”
A gasp tore from me before I could stop it. I stumbled backward, heart slamming against my ribs, eyes burning with tears. They both turned their heads, but I didn’t stay long enough to see their expressions.
I ran.
The papers crumpled in my fist as I bolted down the hallway. My chest ached, my wolf howled in grief, and the world blurred as I shoved open the hospital doors.
In my desperation, I crashed straight into someone. My bag slipped from my shoulder, spilling its contents across the polished floor.
“I—I’m sorry,” I stammered, dropping to my knees to gather my things.
The stranger crouched with me, his hands steady, careful as he helped collect the scattered items. And then, as his fingers brushed mine, it happened again.
That faint green glow.
On my wrist, beneath my skin, the light flickered—bright and pulsing—for just a second longer than before. My breath caught, and my gaze snapped to his face.
Blue eyes. Striking, piercing, locked onto mine with an intensity that rooted me to the spot.
For a heartbeat, I felt something. Recognition, maybe. A spark that my wolf responded to with a startled thrum.
But just as quickly as it came, it vanished. The glow dimmed, his eyes dropped back to the scattered items, and reality returned.
“Here,” he said simply, his voice deep, steady. He handed me the last of my things before standing.
“Thank you,” I whispered, my voice hoarse.
But he was already walking away, his broad shoulders disappearing into the crowd of the hospital.
