The Alpha's Forbidden Healer

Chapter 2 : Rejected Before She Could Breathe

==Elara Voss==

Chaos exploded the second those words left the enforcer’s mouth. Guns stayed trained on me. My little shop suddenly felt too small, too crowded with growls and the thick smell of aggression.

The Alpha did not move at first. His body stayed planted between me and the barrels like a wall. Then he turned his head just enough to snarl at his men.

“Stand down.”

They hesitated. One of them, a thick-necked guy with a scar across his cheek, stepped closer. “Alpha Kai, she is Silverfang blood. We wiped that line out for a reason. She is poison.”

Kai’s voice dropped low and lethal. “I said stand down.”

The air crackled with tension. For a second I thought they might actually shoot anyway. Then the enforcers finally lowered their weapons, but their eyes never left me. They looked at me like I was already dead.

Kai grabbed my wrist. His grip was firm, not crushing, but there was no arguing with it. “You are coming with me.”

I tried to yank free. “Let go. This is my shop. My life. I am not going anywhere with you or your”

He did not let me finish. In one smooth motion he scooped me up like I weighed nothing and threw me over his shoulder.

The world flipped upside down. Blood rushed to my head. I pounded on his back, but it felt like hitting warm stone.

“Put me down!” I shouted.

He ignored me and strode out into the cold night air. His men fell in behind us without another word. Trees blurred past as he moved faster than any human could.

I stopped fighting after a minute. My ribs screamed with every bounce. The curse flared hot under my skin, that familiar drain sucking at my strength.

We reached a massive log house nestled deep in the woods. Lights glowed from the windows. The place looked more like a fortress than a home. Kai kicked the front door open and carried me straight inside.

Voices stopped the moment we entered the main hall. Dozens of eyes turned toward us. Men and women, some young and some old and weathered. The whole pack.

They stared at me like I was a wounded deer dropped in the middle of their dinner.

Kai set me on my feet but kept one strong arm around my waist. I swayed. My legs felt like water. An older woman with steel-gray hair stepped forward. Her eyes narrowed on my pale face and trembling hands.

“Who is this, Kai?” she asked.

“Mine,” he said simply. “The mate bond has awakened.”

Gasps rippled through the room. Then the elders moved closer. Three of them, all gray-haired and hard-eyed. They circled me slowly. One reached out and tilted my chin up with rough fingers.

“Look at her,” he muttered. “Pale as death. Shaking like a leaf. She is too weak to stand on her own. This cannot be Luna. The pack needs strength, not a dying girl.”

Kai’s beta, a tall man with short dark hair and a permanent scowl, crossed his arms.

“Send her back to the humans, Alpha. She will drag us down. Silverfang blood on top of it? We should have ended her the second we smelled her.”

Heat rushed to my face. Pride flared hot in my chest, burning brighter than the pain for once. I lifted my chin even though my knees wanted to buckle.

“I have saved more lives in these mountains than your entire pack combined,” I said. My voice came out steadier than I felt. “Fevers, wounds, broken bones.

Babies that should not have drawn their first breath. While you lot hide up here playing king of the woods, I actually help people.”

A few younger wolves shifted uncomfortably. But the elders only shook their heads.

“Strength is not in herbs and soft hands,” the old woman said. “It is in the wolf. In the hunt. She has no wolf. She is fragile. She will break under the weight of being Luna.”

Kai’s arm tightened around me. I could feel the war inside him. Protective instinct rolled off him in waves, but pack law sat heavy on his shoulders. His jaw clenched so tight a muscle jumped.

Before he could speak, the pain hit without warning.

A white-hot spike drove straight through my chest and down my spine. My vision blurred. The room tilted. I gasped and dropped hard to my knees on the hardwood floor.

A low groan tore from my throat. I pressed both hands to my ribs, trying to hold myself together while the curse chewed on what was left of me.

Whispers broke out around the room. Someone laughed bitterly. “See? The dying girl cannot even stand.”

I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood. Tears stung my eyes but I refused to let them fall. Not here. Not in front of them.

Kai moved fast. He knelt beside me and pulled me against his chest. His warmth surrounded me, and for one stupid second the pain eased just a fraction.

His scent flooded my senses again. Pine and smoke and that wild pull that made my stupid heart want to trust him.

“Enough,” he growled at the pack. His voice carried power that made even the elders step back. “She stays. She is my mate. The bond does not lie.”

But I could hear the doubt in the silence that followed. They did not believe I was strong enough. They did not want me here.

Kai lifted me into his arms again. This time I did not fight. I was too tired. Too drained. He carried me down a long hallway, past doors that clicked shut behind us.

Finally he stopped at a heavy wooden door at the end and pushed it open. The room inside was simple but large, dominated by a big bed and a stone fireplace.

He laid me down on the bed carefully. His hands lingered on my shoulders longer than necessary. I looked up at him through the haze of pain.

In that quiet moment, with no one else watching, the truth slipped out. The secret I had never told another living soul.

“I can’t die,” I whispered. My voice cracked. “The curse won’t let me. But some nights… some nights I wish it would.”

Kai’s face changed. The hard lines around his eyes softened, then darkened with something heavy.

Realization hit him like a punch. His golden eyes searched mine, wide with shock and something that looked a lot like fear. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

The

weight of what I had just admitted hung between us, changing everything in a single breath.