The Memory Eater's Mate

The moment Kieran's hand touched mine, I knew he was going to break me. We stood in the clearing behind the packhouse, hidden from everyone else. The mating ceremony was supposed to start in an hour. His ceremony. With her. "Sage, please understand," he said softly. "My father, the elders, they'll never accept you." I pulled my hand away, even though the mate bond screamed at me to stay close. Six months we'd hidden this, hidden us. Six months of believing he'd choose me over duty. "You promised," I whispered. "Lyanna is strong. From a good family. The alliance with the Frost Pack will secure our borders." His amber eyes finally met mine. "She'll make a perfect Luna." "And I won't." It wasn't a question. Silence. The mate bond pulled tighter, but I'd learned something about my curse lately. Something dangerous. When I touched someone, I didn't just see their memories anymore. I could take them. Erase them. "Say it," I demanded. "If you're doing this, at least say it to my face." Kieran stepped back. Away from me. Away from us. "I, Kieran Vale, future Alpha of the Shadowpine Pack, reject you, Sage Thornwood, as my mate." The bond snapped. Pain tore through my chest, white-hot and blinding. I dropped to my knees, gasping. Through the tears, I saw Kieran stumble, one hand pressed to his chest. When I could breathe again, he reached for me. "Sage, I..." I grabbed his wrist. Power surged through me, dark and furious. His memories flooded into my mind. Our first kiss. Whispered promises under the full moon. Every stolen moment. I saw them all. And then I took them. "What are you doing?" Kieran's eyes went wide, panicked. He tried to pull away, but I held tighter. The power ripped through every memory we'd made together, erasing them one by one. I didn't mean to take it all, but I couldn't stop. When I finally let go, Kieran stared at me like a stranger. "I'm sorry," he said slowly. "Do I know you?" I ran. I shifted mid-stride, my wolf taking over as sobs tore from my throat. Behind me, I heard the ceremony beginning, heard the pack's howls of celebration. Each one was a knife twisting deeper. I ran until I crossed into rogue territory, until I collapsed naked and shaking in the dirt. What had I done? The moon hung overhead, full and mocking. I whispered a promise into the darkness: never again would I let anyone close enough to hurt me like this. Three months in the Whispering Hollows taught me that being a rogue meant survival, not freedom. Cold nights, constant hunger, always watching my back. But I also learned about my power. An older rogue named Thomas told me the truth one night. "Memory eaters are descended from ancient Memory Keepers, wolves blessed by the Moon Goddess. Packs feared that power, so they eliminated the bloodlines. If you're one of them, you're something rare." I didn't feel blessed. I felt cursed. But I practiced. Learned control. Started helping other rogues recover lost memories. A wolf who couldn't remember his attacker. A mother searching for memories of her dead daughter. Word spread: there was a girl in the Hollows who could recover what was lost. For a price. My reputation grew. But every night, I still dreamed of amber eyes that didn't recognize me. Kieran Vale stood in his office, staring at maps without seeing them. Something was wrong. There were gaps in his memory. Blank spaces that made no sense. Three years felt incomplete, like someone had cut pieces out with scissors. At first, he'd blamed stress. Taking over as Alpha after his father's sudden death. The pressure of uniting fractured packs. The cold marriage to Lyanna, a woman he felt nothing for but the gaps were getting worse. Sometimes he'd catch a scent, pine and wild lavender, and his chest would ache. Sometimes he'd reach for a memory that should be there and find only emptiness. "You're doing it again," Lyanna said from the doorway, ice-blue eyes cold. "That look." "I think I lost something important," Kieran admitted. "You've consulted three witches, two seers, that healer from the Mountain Pack," she said sharply. "None of them found anything wrong." "Because something was taken, not broken." Her expression flickered with something unreadable. "Then maybe it's better forgotten." She left. A knock interrupted his thoughts. His Beta, Marcus, entered. There was anger in Marcus's eyes lately, something Kieran didn't understand. "The council meeting is in an hour," Marcus said stiffly. "Marcus, three years ago, before my mating ceremony... was there someone important to me?" Marcus's face twisted with hatred for just a second. "Why are you asking?" "Because I can't remember. There's someone missing from my memories, and every witch I've consulted says someone with powerful abilities took them. But they can't restore what was taken." Marcus was quiet. When he spoke, his voice shook with anger. "Maybe you deserve to have them gone." "What does that mean?" "It means some things, once broken, can't be fixed." Marcus headed for the door. "And some people aren't worth remembering." That night, Elder Morrigan's words from months ago echoed in Kieran's mind: "The one who took your memories is the only one who can return them. Find the memory keeper, Alpha." The next morning, Kieran summoned Marcus again. "Find me a memory keeper. I've heard rumors of one in the Whispering Hollows." Marcus went pale. "No." "That's an order." "You don't know what you're asking," Marcus said, voice shaking. "You don't know who she is..." "Who?" Marcus just shook his head and left. Fine. Kieran would find her himself. Within a week, his intelligence network had a name: Sage. A rogue who could manipulate memories, who'd built a reputation for recovering what was lost. As Kieran prepared to journey to the Whispering Hollows, he stared at the name. Sage. Something about it tugged at the empty spaces in his mind. "Find her," he told his head of security. "Tell her the Alpha King requires her services. Whatever price she asks, I'll pay." What Kieran didn't know was that the memory keeper he was hunting had once been his everything. In her cabin in the Whispering Hollows, Sage felt the severed mate bond suddenly flare like a warning. He was coming and she had to decide: give him back the memory of rejecting her, or let him fall for her again, never knowing what he'd lost.