Alex POV
Pain.
That was the first thing I registered-absolute and all-consuming.
It wasn't the dull, hollow ache of heartbreak anymore. This was a searing, white-hot agony, as if my skeleton were being pulverized and reassembled by a sledgehammer, bone by splintered bone.
"Stay with me, child. Breathe."
The voice was unfamiliar-rough around the edges, yet threaded with an unexpected kindness.
I forced my heavy lids open. The light was blinding, stinging my sensitive retinas. I was no longer in the drafty cabin. I was lying on a clean, crisp white sheet. The sharp scent of antiseptic clashed with the earthy tang of dried herbs, filling my nose.
"Where..." My voice was a dry, fractured croak.
"Silver Moon Pack territory," the voice answered softly.
I blinked until the blurry figure came into focus. An older woman, a Beta by the grounded scent of her, was wiping my forehead with a cool cloth.
"You survived the rejection," she said, her eyes wide, shimmering with undisguised awe. "And not only that. Look at your arm."
I lifted my arm. It felt leaden, foreign.
My skin... faint, shimmering silver lines were tracing the path of my veins, pulsing with a soft, ethereal bioluminescence.
"What is this?" I whispered, a tremor running through me.
"The White Wolf bloodline," the woman murmured, bowing her head in a gesture of instinctual respect. "We thought it was a myth. The direct descendants of the Moon Goddess herself. It usually stays dormant until the wolf is pushed to the very brink of death."
"Gavyn..." I tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness slammed me back against the pillows. "My children."
"Rest now. You are safe here."
Safe.
I didn't know what that word meant anymore. It felt like a language I had forgotten.
Suddenly, the peace shattered.
The door to the infirmary didn't just open; it exploded inward.
"She's here! Grab her!"
Three men burst in. They weren't pack warriors. They reeked of rot, wet earth, and old blood. Rogues.
The Beta woman screamed as a heavy hand backhanded her, hurling her body into a cabinet of glass vials with a sickening crash.
"Get the bitch," the leader snarled. He was massive, missing an ear, his face a roadmap of violence. "Iliana wants her head."
Iliana. She sent assassins. She knew I wasn't dead.
I tried to scramble off the bed, but my legs were useless, like water. The Rogue grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking my head back until my neck strained.
"Pretty little thing," he sneered, pulling a knife from his belt. The blade glinted ominously-coated in a dark, viscous liquid. Wolfsbane. "Iliana paid extra for a slow death."
"Get off me!" I screamed, clawing at his face. My nails felt sharper, harder than before-more like talons. I drew blood, but he just laughed, the sound wet and cruel.
"Hold her down!"
Two others pinned my arms to the mattress. The leader raised the knife.
I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the end.
Thud.
A wet, sickening crunch echoed through the room, silencing the chaos.
The cruel grip on my hair vanished instantly.
I opened my eyes.
The Rogue leader was gone. In his place stood a man.
No, not a man. A titan carved from shadow and rage.
He was tall, with broad shoulders that seemed to block out the harsh overhead lights. He wore black combat gear that strained against his muscles. His hair was dark as midnight, and his eyes... his eyes were the color of molten amber, burning with a predatory intensity.
He held the Rogue leader by the throat with one hand, lifting him off the ground as if he weighed nothing more than a ragdoll.
"You dare," the man said, his voice a low, subterranean rumble that made the floorboards vibrate beneath the bed. "You dare enter my territory. You dare touch her."
Crack.
He snapped the Rogue's neck with the casual ease of breaking a dry twig and tossed the limp body aside.
The other two Rogues froze, paralyzed. The scent of their fear flooded the room-acrid, sour, and overwhelming.
"Alpha... Alpha Sosa," one of them stammered, the blood draining from his face.
Daniel Sosa. The Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack. The most powerful pack in the region.
"Run," Daniel said softly, a terrifying promise wrapped in a whisper. "So I can hunt you."
The Rogues didn't hesitate. They bolted for the window in a desperate scramble.
Daniel moved faster than my eyes could track-a blur of lethal motion.
Two slashes. Two bodies hit the floor with heavy, final thuds.
Silence returned to the room, heavy and thick with the metallic scent of blood.
Daniel turned slowly to face me. The feral rage in his eyes began to recede the moment his gaze locked onto mine. He took a step closer, inhaling deeply, tasting the air.
His eyes widened. His pupils dilated rapidly, swallowing the amber until his eyes were pools of endless black.
"Mate," he whispered, the word sounding like a prayer.
I froze. No. Not again. I couldn't survive this again.
"Stay back," I gasped, scooting backward on the bed until my spine hit the cold wall. "Don't touch me."
Daniel stopped instantly, as if he'd hit an invisible barrier. He held up his hands, palms open in surrender. "I won't hurt you. I swear it on my life."
"Iliana sent them," I babbled, shock seizing my chest. "She uses dark magic. She poisoned my children... she..."
"Breathe," Daniel said, his voice acting like a soothing balm over raw nerves. He didn't use the Alpha Command, but his presence alone was grounding, an anchor in the storm.
"You are Alex. The White Wolf."
"I'm just an Omega," I whispered, hot tears spilling over.
"No," Daniel said firmly. He knelt by the bed, bringing his face level with mine, yet maintaining a respectful distance. "You are my Mate. My Second Chance Mate. And I will burn the world to ash before I let anyone touch you again."
He looked at the silver lines pulsing on my arm, his expression darkening.
"Iliana knows what you are," he said, his voice grim. "That's why she wants you dead. She knows you are the only one who carries the blood to challenge her claim."
"My babies," I sobbed, the grief crashing over me anew. "They are with her."
"We will get them back," Daniel promised, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "But first, you must heal. You must become the wolf you were born to be."
He reached out a hand, hesitating in mid-air. "May I?"
I looked at his hand. It was large, scarred, a weapon capable of snapping necks, yet it trembled slightly as it hovered near me.
I nodded, a small, jerky motion.
He gently brushed a tear from my cheek.
The moment his skin touched mine, a spark-hot and electric, but not painful-shot through me. It wasn't the consuming, destructive fire I had felt with Gavyn. It was a steady, warm current. Like coming home.
"Rest now, Alex," he murmured, his thumb grazing my jawline. "I'll stand guard."
And for the first time in years, I allowed myself to believe him.
