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1072 Words
Chapter 2.
I woke up warm for the first time in months.
The ceiling above me looked different—expensive and that was enough to set the difference between this place and my room.
The blankets were warm and for a few seconds, I just lay there, trying to remember if I'd died and gone somewhere that dead wolves go.
Then my wolf stirred, and I remembered.
Mate, she whispered. After ten years of silence, those were the first words she'd spoken to me.
"No," I said out loud. "Absolutely not."
This can't be.
"Talking to your wolf?" The voice came from near the fireplace. Marcus was sitting in a chair, elbows on his knees, watching me with an expression I couldn't read.
He'd changed clothes—dark jeans and a grey Henley instead of the formal Alpha wear from before. Somehow that made him look more dangerous, not less. "She finally woke up?"
I sat up slowly, checking for pain. The silver burns on my wrists were bandaged, and the ache in my ribs was duller. Someone had healed me. "How long was I out?"
"Six hours. My pack doctor said you were severely malnourished, dehydrated, and about three days away from permanent damage." He stood up, moving to look out the window. Snow was still falling. "She also said you've been healing from silver burns for weeks. Maybe months."
I didn't answer. The burns were from the silver cuffs Evan's enforcers had used when they escorted me to the pack border and told me not to come back. They'd left them on a little too long. On purpose.
"Vera Ashwood," Marcus said, still looking at the snow. "Age twenty-seven. Omega wolf from the Crescent Lake Pack. Ten years ago, you killed your mother during what your father claimed was an unprovoked attack. The pack voted to let you live, but branded you a murderer. The Alpha's son, Evan Cross, was your boyfriend at the time. He rejected you immediately."
"You did your research."
"I made a phone call while you were unconscious." He turned to face me.
"Want to tell me what really happened?"
"Why would you believe me? No one else did."
"Because my wolf is convinced you're my mate, which means I need to know exactly what I'm dealing with." His voice was flat, matter-of-fact. "And because I've seen enough political bullshit in pack dynamics to know when a story doesn't add up. Omegas don't just attack their own mothers."
The mate word hung in the air between us. My wolf was practically purring, the traitor.
"She was going to kill me first," I said quietly. "My mother. She was... not well. Mentally. And she decided that I was the reason my father didn't love her anymore. So she came into my room one night with a knife. We fought and…..she died."
"And no one believed you."
"My father didn't want to believe me. It was easier to blame me than admit his mate had lost her mind." The old bitterness was still present there, sharp as ever.
"Evan believed me at first. But his parents convinced him that being associated with me would destroy his reputation. So he rejected me in front of the entire pack and told everyone I was dangerous."
Marcus nodded slowly, like this confirmed something he'd suspected before now.
"And you've been running ever since?"
"Not at first. I stayed with the pack for years, kept my head down, and did whatever they asked. I tried to prove I wasn't a monster." I laughed without humor. "But Evan's about to become Alpha. He couldn't have me around for that. Bad optics. So two weeks ago, his enforcers gave me a choice—leave voluntarily or they'd arrange an accident."
"So you ran to my territory."
"I ran away from theirs. Yours just happened to be closest." I met his eyes.
"I'm not here to claim you as a mate. I'm not here to cause you problems. I just need somewhere they can't touch me until I figure out what comes next."
He studied me for a long moment. His eyes were back to human, but I could feel his wolf just beneath the surface, pacing and agitated. "That's not how this works. You know that."
"The mate bond?" I shook my head. "I was rejected once. I know how to live without it. Just... give me a few days, and I'll go."
"Where?" His voice was sharper now. "You collapse at my border half-dead, you've got old enemies who want you gone, and now fate decides to tie you to the most powerful Alpha in three territories. You think you can just walk away and live a normal life?"
"I think I can't stay here and ruin yours."
Something flickered across his face—frustration, maybe, or anger.
"You think I want this? I've spent fifteen years building my reputation, my pack, my kingdom. I don't do drama, I don't do complications, and I definitely don't do broken Omegas with target signs on their backs."
The words stung more than they should have. I pushed the blankets off, testing my legs. They were weak, but I could still lift them.
"Then let me go."
"I can't." He bit the word off. "You're injured, you're on my land, and by pack law, you're under my protection whether I like it or not. If I let you leave and something happens to you, every pack in the region will know I abandoned a wolf in need. Bad optics."
He threw my own phrase back at me.
"So what, I'm a prisoner?"
"You're a guest." His jaw was still tight. "Until you're healed. Until we figure out what to do about the fact that our wolves think they belong to each other." He moved toward the door, then stopped. "And until I decide whether the Vera Ashwood I've heard about is the real you, or just another lie people tell about wolves they want to destroy."
He left before I could answer or say anything.
I sat there in the expensive room, warm and safe for the first time in ten years, and wondered which would be more dangerous—staying or leaving.
My wolf, unhelpfully, was still humming with contentment just from being near him.
"We're not doing this," I told her.
She didn't answer, but I could feel her disagreement like a living thing.
- Writer
