The Alpha's Forbidden Healer

==Elara Voss== I wiped the sweat from my forehead. The motion sent another sharp stab through my ribs. Damn this pain. It never let up. Another long day in my tiny herb shop. The air hung heavy with dried lavender and sage, mixed with that faint bitter edge from the stronger remedies I kept hidden. At twenty-eight I should have been used to hiding how much it hurt. The curse kept me alive when I should have died years ago. It just made sure every extra breath came with grinding, endless ache. Some nights I wished it would finally finish what it started. I flipped the CLOSED sign and locked the front door. My fingers trembled from pure exhaustion. Just get home. Brew the strongest batch I had. Pretend tomorrow might be different. Then the back room exploded. Glass shattered. Wood cracked like a gunshot. I spun around fast and grabbed the iron poker beside the counter. Before I could shout, a massive black wolf burst through the broken doorframe and collapsed on my clean floorboards. Dark blood spread underneath him. "s**t," I whispered. He was enormous. Bigger than any normal wolf had a right to be. Silver bullets stuck out from his flank and shoulder. The wounds smoked like acid was eating straight through him. Most people would have run. I dropped the poker and knelt beside him instead. I pressed my hands to the worst gash. Heat poured off his body like a furnace. "Easy, big guy," I muttered. My own ribs screamed in protest but I kept my voice steady. "You are not dying on my floor tonight." His golden eyes cracked open and locked onto mine. Something thick and alive shifted in the air between us. I shoved the feeling down and reached under the counter for my emergency kit. The secret blend. Moon touched nightshade mixed with silverroot I only harvested under the full moon. The stuff my mother taught me before she vanished. The kind of knowledge that had kept my cursed body from quitting when everything else wanted me gone. My hands moved fast. I crushed the herbs into a thick paste and packed it deep into the bullet holes. Then I wrapped the wounds tight with linen strips soaked in my strongest tincture. The sharp smell of earth and starlight filled the small room. The wolf shuddered under my palms. His massive head turned. His nose brushed my wrist. That was when it hit me. His scent slammed into me like lightning. Pine smoke and wild storm winds. Something darker and warmer sank straight into my bones and lit every nerve on fire. My knees buckled. For one dizzy second the constant grinding pain in my chest eased. A pull so strong stole my breath. I gasped with my palms still pressed to his bloody fur. Something ancient woke up inside me. Something that whispered mine in a voice that was not mine at all. The wolf convulsed. Bones cracked and shifted with wet ugly sounds. Fur melted away. In seconds the beast was gone. A man lay naked and bleeding on my floor. I froze. My heart hammered so hard I could hear it in my ears. He was beautiful in a dangerous way. Broad shoulders corded with muscle. Sharp jaw shadowed with stubble. Black hair messy with sweat. Even pale and wounded power rolled off him in waves. When his eyes opened they were that same molten gold. They pinned me like I was both prey and the only salvation he needed. I snatched a clean blanket from the shelf and tossed it over his hips. My hands shook badly. "You are one of them," I said. My voice came out rougher than I wanted. "A shifter." He pushed up on one elbow like the pain barely touched him. Blood still leaked from his side. His gaze dragged over me slow and deliberate. Hungry. And something deeper. Recognition. "And you are the healer who just saved my life with magic no ordinary woman should know." My stomach twisted. I had been so careful. No one in this town suspected the quiet healer carried old blood. "I do not know what you are talking about. You need to leave before" He moved too fast for a man who had just been shot with silver. One second he was on the floor. The next he towered over me. The blanket barely hung on. His hand came up gentle enough to make my breath catch. His thumb brushed my lower lip. "You feel it too," he growled. His voice was low and rough like gravel wrapped in velvet. "The bond. It is tearing me apart already." The scent wrapped tighter around me. My curse answered with a hot flare under my skin. The silver threads burned instead of freezing for the first time in years. I wanted to lean closer. I wanted to run screaming. Both feelings crashed together so hard I could not speak. His eyes flashed brighter gold. A deep rumbling growl vibrated from his chest straight into mine. "You are mine." The words sank into me like a brand. Before I could pull away the front door of my shop exploded inward with a c***k of splintering wood. Three huge men stormed in. Guns already raised and pointed straight at me. Their eyes glowed with the same feral light. Faces twisted in rage and instant recognition. "Alpha!" one of them snarled. His voice was thick with fury. "Get away from her. That b***h is from the old bloodline. The Silverfangs. We had orders to wipe every last one of them out years ago. She is a traitor. She is a curse on our pack!" My blood turned to ice. The pain in my chest roared back worse than ever. It felt like someone was twisting a knife between my ribs. The man, the Alpha, did not step aside. He stayed right there between me and the guns. Shoulders tight. Every muscle ready to explode. But his golden eyes never left mine. Th ey burned with a promise that sent both ice and fire racing down my spine at the same time.