I stopped. A short laugh slipped from me. “For what? For speaking what is true?”
“You made her weep again. You always do this, making things into chaos just to feel powerful.”
I did not answer. I walked on, each step heavy.
Then his hand closed around my arm. Rough. Tight.
“Release me,” I said, pulling back.
“No. We are not finished.”
His grip hardened, dragging me toward him. My heart raced, my wolf stirring in warning.
“Alden, let go.”
He did not. He never did when he believed he ruled me.
I twisted, trying to break free, but with his Alpha strength, I could not. So I ran.
I tore myself from his grasp using the Alpha blood running in me, shoved past him and fled down with my wolf speed the stone passageway. I did not care where my feet carried me. I only needed distance.
Then my boot caught the edge of the stairs.
The world spun.
The fall came fast.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
I woke to a clean scent and low rune-humming. White stone above. My body ached, but it was whole. A healer entered, her face calm.
“You have awakened,” she said gently. “You are fortunate you have an Alpha blood. No broken bones, only heavy bruises. You must rest.”
I blinked. “Was… anyone here with me?”
She tilted her head. “You do not recall?”
“I thought there was… a man. Perhaps I dreamed it.”
“You did not. A man named Kaegan brought you to the Mooncrown Healer Sanctum. Paid most of the healing cost. Stayed beside you through the night.”
My chest tightened. “Kaegan…”
“Yes,” she nodded. “And he nearly fought two wolves who tried to enter. One with brown eyes, one taller. He ordered them away. They obeyed.”
My breath caught. “Did he leave word?”
“No,” she said softly. “He departed at dawn. Said you would understand.”
I did not. And yet… I did.
Kaegan. Appearing when no one else did. Watching from the shadows. Protecting without asking. Who was he? Why hide?
The healer left and I remained alone.
As always. Cycles ago, the two wolves would have run to me for the smallest wound.
I remembered the cycle in which I twisted my ankle during a clan trek. Alden had reached me first, lifted me without question and carried me down the mountain.
“You are not just anyone,” he had said that night, pressing cold herbs to my ankle. “You are my mate. I will always come first.”
He kissed my brow. I believed him.