The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride

The sheets were cold, but the eyes staring down at her were colder. Zuri’s lashes fluttered open to a ceiling she didn’t recognize—sculpted white with dark wooden beams running through it like silent scars. Her head throbbed. Her mouth was dry. She tried to sit up, but every muscle screamed as if she’d been hit by something… or someone. The scent in the air was sharp: pine, leather, and something metallic—blood, maybe. She turned her head slowly, the world spinning in waves. Beside the bed stood a man carved from shadow and fury. He didn’t speak at first, only looked at her with a storm behind his eyes. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with hair as black as midnight and a scar slashing through his right brow. His presence was suffocating. Dangerous. Familiar? “You’re awake,” he finally said, voice low and controlled, but brittle at the edges. “Good. We have things to discuss… wife.” Zuri’s breath caught. “Wife?” Her voice cracked, barely above a whisper. “I don’t even know who you are.” The man’s eyes narrowed, his jaw tensing like he was holding back something darker than words. “Don’t play games with me, Zuri. Not again.” Zuri. So that was her name. The word felt right in her mouth but foreign in her mind. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly, panic rising like a wave. “I don’t remember anything. Not you, not this place… not even my own name until just now.” He took a step closer. She instinctively shrank back into the pillows, her heartbeat galloping out of rhythm. Something inside her said to fear him. And yet, her body… it didn’t recoil. It remembered him, even if her mind didn’t. “You don’t remember being my Luna? Betraying me?” he asked, his voice now laced with something colder than anger. “You abandoned your pack, Zuri. Abandoned me. And now you return… with no memory?” Tears pricked the edges of her eyes. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please, I swear I don’t remember.” A flicker of emotion passed through his stone-carved face. Pain. Then, as quickly as it came, it vanished behind his mask of Alpha control. “The moon has truly cursed us both,” he muttered, more to himself than her. Zuri’s mind scrambled for meaning. Alpha. Luna. Pack. Words that sounded like fantasy but felt… real. “What happened to me?” she asked, her voice shaking. He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he turned to the tall windows, where silver moonlight bathed the room in a ghostly glow. Outside, the silhouette of a forest stretched across the horizon, silent and watchful. “You were found two nights ago, unconscious, bleeding, at the border of Blackfang territory,” he said. “Some thought you were a spy. I knew better. I smelled your scent.” He turned to her again, his eyes hard. “You belong to me, Zuri. No matter what lies your mind tells you now.” She shook her head, more confused than ever. “If we were… if I’m your wife, then why would I leave? Why would I betray you?” He didn’t flinch. “That’s the question I’ve been asking myself for over a year.” A year? Zuri’s chest tightened. There was a hollow space inside her mind—like a locked room behind her eyes. She tried to search it, force it open… but nothing came. Only a sound. A whisper. Run. Suddenly, her head exploded with white-hot pain. She gasped, clutching her temples as images flashed like lightning across her vision: — A moonlit forest — Blood on her hands — A baby’s cry — Fire. Screaming. Wolves. Then it was gone. Zuri blinked, breathless, trembling. He rushed to her side, too fast for any normal man. She flinched again, but he only steadied her shoulders, his touch firm but not cruel. “You remembered something,” he said. She nodded slowly, eyes wide. “Just flashes. Nothing clear. A forest. Blood. A baby…” At the word baby, something in his eyes broke. He stood abruptly, pacing away from her like he needed air. “You need to rest,” he said gruffly. “You’re still weak.” “No.” She sat up despite the pain, her voice firmer now. “Please. If I was your wife—if I betrayed you—then tell me the truth. All of it. I deserve to know.” He turned slowly, jaw clenched. “You’re not ready for the truth.” Zuri stared at him. “How would you know what I’m ready for?” He didn’t answer. But the pain in his silence was loud enough. She sank back into the pillows, defeated. The door creaked open. A woman entered—older, kind-eyed, but guarded. She held a tray of broth and bandages. The man—Kairo, she guessed—nodded once and left without a word. The woman sat beside her, placing the tray on the side table. “You poor thing,” she murmured. “He doesn’t show it, but the Alpha hasn’t slept since they found you. He’s been waiting, watching.” “Why?” Zuri asked. “Why would he care after all this time?” The woman paused. “Because you weren’t just his Luna. You were his mate. And when a bond like that breaks…” She didn’t finish the sentence. But Zuri felt the end of it like a whisper in her bones. End