Chasing The Lost Winter Heiress

HELENA POV *Lose Control - Teddy Swims* The pain in my chest wasn’t violent. It wasn’t sharp or dramatic. It was something worse. Quiet, creeping, a slow leak of cold spreading through my ribs, my bones, my stomach. A pressure that built and built until I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to scream or curl into myself and disappear. I inhaled, hoping the icy winter air would steady me, freeze the ache, numb it. It didn’t. The northern lights twisted above me in long ribbons of green and violet, reflecting off the iced-over Great Bear Lake below. The entire world looked enchanted: glowing sky, frozen water, pale moonlight sliding across the snow like liquid silver. Normally, this view soothed me. Normally, I came out here to breathe. Normally, the lights calmed the restless, aching thing inside me. But not tonight. Behind me, music thumped through the wooden balcony floorboards. Laughter and shouts rose from inside the packhouse. Wolves celebrating, drinking, dancing. A pack full of life and promise. My pack. The pack I was meant to lead someday. A bitter laugh clawed its way up my throat, but I swallowed it back. Tonight wasn’t funny; tonight was a tragedy only I seemed to understand. My eighteenth birthday. The day the Winter Pack had been waiting for. The day the next alpha was supposed to rise. My day. And nothing happened. No wolf. No shifting. No ancient soul stirring beneath my skin. No rush of heat, no instincts, no new strength. Nothing but silence. My fingers tightened around the champagne glass my mother had practically forced into my hand earlier. "Cheers to adulthood," she had said as she kissed my cheek. Her voice had been bright, too bright. Her smile stretched tight. Her eyes, my mother, the fiercest woman I knew, looked almost frightened behind all that pride. She hadn’t said the truth. No one had. "Cheers to the alpha heir who failed to shift." "Cheers to the daughter who should have been extraordinary." "Cheers to the human girl born into a family of legends." My throat burned. Another burst of laughter exploded from the party behind me. My brothers’ voices echoed through the night, happy, carefree, drunk on celebration and pack pride. The Triplets. My younger brothers. All of them shifted at fourteen. Fourteen. All of them powerful, brilliant, unstoppable. And me? Empty. A tear threatened, but I blinked it back violently. I had mastered the art of pretending, of smiling, laughing, showing nothing, years before tonight. I wasn’t going to fall apart now. Not where anyone could see. Half the people downstairs already thought I was a joke. I didn’t need to hand them fresh material. I leaned forward against the balcony railing, the icy wood biting into my palms. I wanted to feel something other than shame. Other than disappointment. Other than the hollow cavern inside me echoing with everything I didn’t have. The lake below looked peaceful. Still. Its surface was frozen solid, glass-smooth as if it were holding its breath. I envied it. I wanted that silence inside me. I wanted to stop remembering how my parents met, how their bond lit up entire rooms. How my dads looked at my mom like she was the moon itself. How she looked at them like they were her entire world. I wanted to stop remembering that I would never experience that. Because wolves felt their mates through their beasts. Wolves knew. Wolves connected. And I had no wolf. No beast. No ancient soul filling my mind. I had no chance. Just Helena Savage, alpha heir in name only. A human masquerading in a world where everyone else glowed with magic and destiny. Another breath trembled out of me. Stupid. Stupid to hope. Stupid to dream. A single tear escaped anyway, slipping down my cheek before I could stop it. "Helena." The voice cut through the wind and slid right down my spine. Deep. Smooth. A voice I would have recognized anywhere. Silas. My brothers’ best friend. I spun too quickly, heel slipping against a patch of ice, and I nearly fell, only to be caught by a warm hand curling around my forearm. Of course it was warm. Everything about him burned. Silas Hopeland stood inches from me, snowflakes melting in his dark hair, his molten chocolate eyes locked onto mine with enough intensity to make my knees weaken. Moonlight carved sharp angles across his cheekbones, highlighting the dangerous softness in his expression. His jaw was tight, he was angry, or worried, or both. His shoulders broad and tense, muscles coiled under his dark suit as if keeping himself in check. Gods, why him? Why tonight? Why now, when my pride was hanging by a thread? "The birthday girl hiding away from her own party?" he murmured, voice low enough to almost drown in. His fingers brushed the back of my hand in slow circles, deliberate, gentle. "That’s not like you, sunshine." I flinched at the nickname. He didn’t miss it. "Silas… please." My voice cracked on the last word. "Just let me be." His jaw shifted. A muscle jumped. He stepped closer, towering over me, and the wind brought the scent of sandalwood and pine from his skin. "I can’t stand it when you cry," he said quietly. His thumb brushed a tear I didn’t realize I had missed. "And I really can’t stand the fact you’re doing it alone." A sharp exhale left me, half a laugh, half a sob. "Don’t," I whispered. "I’m not… I don’t want pity." "Good," he said. "Because I’m not offering any." He said it so calmly. So softly. But underneath it, something darker stirred. Something that made the air thicken around us. "I’m fine," I lied. "You’re not. And you’re shaking," he murmured. "It’s cold." "It’s not that cold for you," he said. "You stood outside last week wearing less than this. Plus your mascara is going to be ruined." Damn him. Damn him for noticing everything. He reached out, slowly, giving me time to pull away, and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered against my skin longer than necessary. Warm. Careful. Dangerous. His touch did something to me, something terrible and wonderful. "I’m not going back in there," I said, voice tight. "So I can ruin my makeup however I want." He smiled. Not the charming, cocky grin he gave everyone else. A smaller one. Softer. Almost relieved. "Fair enough," he murmured. "But I still owe you something." "What?" "Your birthday present." "I don’t want" He didn’t let me finish. In one fluid, effortless motion, he scooped me into his arms. I yelped, instinctively wrapping my arms around his shoulders. "Silas! Goddess, put me down!" He didn’t. Instead he stepped up onto the balcony rail, crouched slightly, and jumped. Freaking jumped ten feet down. The wind rushed around us, cold and sharp, but he landed soundlessly in the snow below, because of course he did. He wasn’t like me. He wasn’t even wolf. He was a dragon. A future alpha dragon. The next leader of Hopeland Pack. A creature made of ancient magic and lethal beauty. A man carved from fire and rage and power. And somehow he was holding me like I was the only fragile thing in his world. "Are you insane?" I hissed, clinging to him before my brain caught up. "Probably," he said lightly, his breath warm against my cheek. "Can you trust me for five minutes, sunshine?" Of course I could. Of course I did. I nodded. He grinned, boyish and wicked, the grin I remembered from childhood, and then he sprinted through the forest with me in his arms. The cold air stung my skin, snowflakes catching on my eyelashes. The world blurred into streaks of white and shadow. His body heat wrapped around me like a shield, like a blanket. We reached a clearing next to the old stone ridge by the lakeshore. The moon reflected off the ice, painting everything blue and silver. A soft glow flickered nearby, tiny flames dancing in the snow, harmless, magical. Dragon fire. His fire. Silas set me down gently. My heels wobbled in the snow, and he immediately steadied me with both hands around my waist. "Careful," he murmured. "I’m not graceful," I muttered. He huffed a laugh. "I know, and I love that about you." My breath caught. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small velvet box. "Here." "Silas..." I shook my head. "Your parents already gave me a present, I can’t accept" "Yes," he said softly. "You can." I opened the box. A pendant rested inside, a blue sapphire, deep as the frozen lake, set in a carved dark blue pendant. Beautiful. Expensive. Too much. "Why?" I whispered. "Why give me this?" He stepped closer, voice dropping to a low rumble. "Because you deserve something that reminds you what you are. Not what tonight tried to tell you." I swallowed hard. A human. A beautiful necklace to remind me I was human. I tried not to cry, keeping my composure was worse than running a marathon in heels. "May I?" he asked, nodding toward the necklace. My pulse stumbled, and I nodded. Like the pathetic little human I was, each time he asked me something, anything. I would never say no to him. Never could. His fingers brushed my hair aside, gathering it over one shoulder. I felt the warmth of his breath before I felt his hands. Slow, careful, reverent. He fastened the clasp, fingertips grazing the back of my neck. A shiver tore through me. His hands traced my collarbone. My ribs. The edges of the pendant now resting against my sternum. "You’re the strongest woman I know," he whispered. My eyes burned. "You don’t need a beast to prove your worth, Helena. You don’t need anything to justify your place. You’re enough because you’re you. Smart. Kind. Fierce in ways others can’t see yet. Anyone would be lucky to stand beside you." Then, slowly, gently, he lowered his lips to the place where a mate’s mark would one day go. Heat shot through me so fast I forgot to breathe. I turned. He was right there. Close enough to kiss. Close enough to ruin me. And in his eyes I saw everything I had always wanted, vulnerability, acceptance, longing, and something dangerously close to love. So I stopped thinking. I grabbed his neck and pulled him down, pressing my mouth to his. For a heartbeat he froze. Then Silas kissed me back with a sound that came from deep inside his chest, hungry, relieved, desperate. His hands slid up my spine, one curling into my hair, the other pulling me flush against him. His mouth moved against mine like he had waited years for this. Like he was starving. I melted into him. Into the heat, the danger, the softness only I ever saw. I let myself feel. For the first time tonight, maybe for the first time in my life, I let myself want something without fear of losing it. I let myself fall. I let him take whatever he wanted. Because he was everything I needed. Because tonight, for one brief moment, I wasn’t the wolfless heir. I wasn’t the disappointment. I wasn’t the empty girl. I was the girl he kissed like he couldn’t stop. I was the girl he claimed like he could own.