The Night the Ghost Came Back
Chapter 1: The Night the Ghost Came Back
The ER smelled like blood, bleach, and bad coffee.
Good.
It meant I was alive. It meant I wasn’t back there. It meant no one here cared that I had a wolf under my skin or that my real name wasn’t Selene Miller.
“Bed 4’s crashing!”
My body moved before my brain caught up. Five years on night shift at St. Mary’s will do that to you. You don’t think. You act.
“Charge to 200. Clear.”
My hands hit the paddles. The patient’s back arched. Flatline. Again.
Chest compressions. One. Two. Three.
Don’t think. Don’t feel. Don’t remember.
Don’t let the wolf surface.
Five years of suppression and I was good at it. Good at pretending I was human. Good at burying the part of me that wanted to run, hunt, fight.
“Selene.”
The word hit me like a physical blow.
Low. Cold. Familiar.
I knew that voice. I’d hear it in my nightmares. I’d wake up sweating, tasting cedar and smoke, heart pounding like I was still running through the woods with Kade’s enforcers behind me.
I didn’t look up. If I looked up, he’d win.
“Not staff, get out,” I said. My voice didn’t shake. Small victories.
“I’m staff enough.”
Fine. Then I looked.
Kade Blackwood stood in the doorway like he owned the hospital, the city, the air I breathed. Black suit tailored to his broad shoulders, ice-blue eyes locked on me like I was prey he’d been hunting for years. Because I was.
Six-three of barely contained violence and Alpha presence. The same man who’d told me “A good Luna doesn’t argue. She obeys” five years ago, right before I faked my death and ran.
My wolf stirred. Traitor.
Five years of suppression and one word from him had it clawing at the bars of my ribs.
“Vitals are dropping,” the intern said.
I forced my eyes back to the patient. Hands steady. Voice steady.
“Resume compressions. We’re not done.”
Kade didn’t move. He just watched me.
That was worse than yelling. Worse than threats.
He watched me like he was memorizing every move, every breath, like he was cataloging how much I’d changed and how much I hadn’t.
Ten minutes later, the patient stabilized. The room exhaled.
The monitor beeped a steady, boring rhythm.
Now it was just him and me.
“You can’t be here,” I said quietly, stripping off my gloves. The latex snapped as I pulled them off.
“I can be anywhere I want,” Kade replied. His gaze dropped to my mouth for half a second before snapping back up. “Especially when my mate is hiding in a human hospital.”
Mate.
The word was a punch to the gut.
A few nurses glanced over. s**t.
If one of them caught my scent, if one of them realized what I was, it was over. The Council would be here by morning.
I stepped close, lowering my voice so only he could hear. “You left me no choice. Or did you forget what you did?”
“I remember,” Kade said. His jaw clenched, a muscle ticking under the skin. “And I’m here to fix it.”
“Too late.” I tossed the gloves in the biohazard bin. The sound was too loud in the quiet. “I’m off shift. Don’t follow me.”
He followed me.
Of course he did.
He’d always follow.
And I’d always run.
But for the first time in five years, a stupid, traitorous part of me wondered what would happen if I stopped. If I turned around and let him catch me.
I pushed the thought down. Hard.
The hallway was empty. 3 AM in the ER meant the chaos had died down, leaving only the ghosts and the night staff who’d seen too much. My scrubs felt too tight, my skin too hot. The bond was waking up, and I hated it.
“Stop running,” Kade said, falling into step beside me. He didn’t touch me. He didn’t need to. His presence was enough.
“Stop finding me,” I shot back.
“You’re my mate.”
My chest tightened. Stupid body. Stupid bond.
“And you’re the reason I ran.” I stopped walking, forcing him to stop too. “Remember what you said? ‘A good Luna doesn’t argue. She obeys.’”
Kade’s jaw locked. His eyes went darker.
“I was wrong.”
“Too late.”
He stepped closer. I didn’t back up. I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.
The air between us felt electric. Dangerous. Like if one of us moved wrong, we’d combust.
“I searched for three years,” he said, voice rough. “Every pack. Every territory. Do you know what it’s like to think your mate is dead?”
“Do you know what it’s like to be sold at seventeen?” I whispered. The words tasted like ash. “To have your own father sign you over like property to your father?”
His face darkened, shadows moving across his features.
“My father’s dead. And yours will be if he sets foot in my territory.”
There it was. Violence. Control. Ownership.
“See?” I laughed, short and bitter. “This is why I left.”
“I’m Alpha,” Kade said simply. “I protect what’s mine.”
“I’m not yours.”
The bond flared. Heat. Recognition. Want.
For one second, I forgot why I was angry. Forgot why I ran. All I could feel was him.
I forced myself to step back. Put space between us.
“I’m off shift,” I said again, grabbing my bag from the locker. “Don’t follow me.”
Kade didn’t answer.
I walked out.
The parking garage was cold and empty. My car was at the far end, under the flickering fluorescent light. I moved fast, key in hand, heart hammering.
“Selene.”
He was behind me. Of course he was.
I didn’t turn around.
“You can’t avoid me forever,” he said.
“I’m trying,” I said, unlocking the car.
Kade didn’t touch me. He didn’t need to. He just stood there, and the bond between us pulled like a chain.
“Why did you run?” he asked quietly.
“Because you’d have caged me,” I said. “And I’d rather die free than live in your cage.”
For a second, nothing.
Then Kade said, “I’m not caging you anymore.”
I finally looked at him.
He looked tired. Angry. Desperate.
It didn’t make me feel better.
“Too late,” I said again.
I got in the car and locked the doors.
Through the window, I saw his expression shift. Something raw. Something dangerous.
“Don’t come to my apartment,” I said. “I mean it.”
Kade didn’t answer.
I drove off.
In the rearview mirror, he was still standing there. Stone face. Ice eyes.
He’d come for me again.
He always did.
And this time, I wasn’t sure I wanted him to stop.
