I broke the surface once, coughing, gasping, fighting for even a fragment of air, but it stole the last of my strength. My eyes, blurred by tears and chlorine, found Alpha Alaric. My soul clung to him as my final lifeline. He knew I couldn’t swim. He knew my fragility. He was my mate, perhaps not by love, but at least by bond. Surely, surely, he would not watch me die.
But he did not move.
Sitting at the pool’s edge with Nyra draped in his arms like a queen carried by her chosen king, he looked down at me with eyes hardened into stone.
“Do you even realize Nyra is carrying a child?” His words boomed like thunder across the silent crowd. “How could you be so heartless? You could have killed her, and the heir she bears!”
The word heir struck me like a blade, a reminder of the Silverfang bloodline’s obsession with lineage. My throat locked with anguish, but my pleas drowned within the water.
His lip curled in disgust, his amber eyes now darkened to the hue of his wolf.
“Stay in the water, Kaia, and reflect on your sins.”
With those damning words, he rose, hoisting Nyra into his arms. Her wet hair clung to his shoulder, her head pressed against him as if she truly belonged there. She dared one last, triumphant glance at me, her smile masked by false exhaustion.
The pack scattered, whispers thick with judgment, eyes sharp with disdain. My parents followed, turning away without a backward glance.
The night deepened. Cold water seeped into my bones, despair sinking its claws into my will. My limbs grew heavy, each kick weaker than the last. My body surrendered, sinking once more as the moonlight faded from view.
This time, I didn’t break the surface. Fire filled my lungs, my vision blurred, and my thoughts dissolved into nothingness. Just as the shadows claimed me, a splash tore through the silence.
Until a strong arm wrapped around my waist, yanking me upward with urgent, feral force. The scent that enveloped me was wild, untamed, cedar and stormy. My fading mind clung to one desperate question:
Who was he?
**
When my consciousness returned, it was not the cold water that greeted me but the stark white ceiling of a healer’s ward. The sterile air carried faint traces of herbs used in pack medicine. My body felt unbearably heavy, every breath dragging through my chest as though the water still lingered there.