The Alpha’s Second-Chance Healer

It should be the happiest day of my life, but I feel like a deer walking into a pack of wolves. My hair sits majestic as a crown, my robe elegant, though these cursed crystal shoes bite my feet. I look good, and I shouldn’t. People like me—healers—are not meant to look good. But it’s tradition, if I must be bound to him. To Alpha Gideon. Me? Aria Everhat, a common healer. Bound to Alpha Gideon, son of Xander Voss, the Alpha of a thousand Darknight. Not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this. But here I am, about to finally be called the Luna of Voss Clan. “You should be happy,” I whisper. Any Beta maiden would give anything to be in my shoes. Exactly. Any Beta maiden. Not a healer. No healer would want the kind of attention… No, the kind of hate I have right now. Especially not one who cannot use her powers. I shake my head. “No! Not now, Aria. Get yourself together,” I scold myself. “We agreed to be happy today. Even if it means you have to pretend, you must …” “Move, b***h!” A voice booms behind me, shattering my thoughts. Scarface. Lieutenant and right hand to Alpha Gideon. And of course, beside him is his serpent-tongued sister Sarafina and her shadow of a friend no one even bothers to know. Just when I think it can’t get worse. “I’m sorry,” I say quickly, stepping aside. Sarafina chuckles, folding her arms. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the witch and thief.” Thief? At this point, they just throw words at me. “Look at you,” she sneers, eyes raking me. “Dressed in what belongs to me.” I want to laugh, because I don’t even want this robe. The Royal Luna robe. Besides, like everyone else, I always thought Sarafina would be Luna. I still remember the night I was chosen. I wore a ragged healer’s sack, invisible like the others. When it was time, the High Priestess was blindfolded. It was tradition to blindfold her before she chose the future Luna. I had never seen anything like it. She walked past all the maidens, almost like she had eyes only for me. She reached me, held my hands, and with a voice like thunder, called me Luna. When she removed the cloth from her eyes and saw me, her voice shook. “A healer cannot be Luna.” “But you really think you can be Luna?” Sarafina tilts her head. Well, I don’t think so, but isn’t it a little too late now? Of course, I don’t say that. I just open my mouth and hope for the best. “Sarafina, I—” “Get my sister’s name out of your mouth!” Scarface growls, the vibration rattling through me. I stumble back, lips quivering. How could I forget they hate me calling them by name? “Why would the gods even pick a healer?” Sarafina’s friend spits. I don’t know what hurts more—her words or the stench on her breath. “And if they even wanted to, why you? The most worthless of them all.” I try to hold my breath. I cannot be having this bad a day and still swallow that stench. Scarface’s eyes narrow. “Are you smirking?” “No!” I shake my head furiously. “She thinks it’s a joke!” Sarafina hisses. Before I can respond, Scarface grabs my chin, forcing my gaze to meet his. His shadow swallows me whole as he says in a low, deadly voice, “You think you are special?” “No,” I whisper, tears burning. “But you’re beginning to think you are,” he says, squeezing harder. “I should end you right here.” “Do it!” Sarafina urges. “You’d be doing the clan a favor.” “Yeah, let’s see how fast you can self-heal,” her friend adds with a cruel laugh. “Huh, you forget she can’t!” Scarface smirks. “Jelly Fingers here still doesn’t know how to use her powers.” “Yet she stole what is mine!” Sarafina snaps. “I should be Luna!” “I didn’t steal it! I don’t even want it!” I cry. “Please, you’re hurting me!” “Alpha Gideon will be glad you did it,” Sarafina says. “He won’t.” My voice shakes, but I cling to the only weapon I have. “Laying hands on me without his consent—on his fated mate? Treason.” Scarface’s grip falters. “It is treason,” I press, breath ragged. “Let me go, and no one will know.” His eyes flash, but his hand loosens. “She’s threatening you!” Sarafina screams. Scarface shoves me back, releasing me. “Next time, you won’t be so lucky.” “You are going to let her do that? Threaten you?” Sarafina asks her brother, disappointed. “For now, sister,” Scarface says. “Next time.” “You won’t be lucky!” Sarafina adds. But of course there won’t be a next time. Scarface himself should know that after this night, he won’t have enough access to me, let alone try to lay his fingers on me. As they walk into the Sanctum, my hand finds its way to my belly. My baby is safe. That’s all that matters. As I walk through the Sanctum, the Bluemoon spills its spotlight on me. Faces turn, their hatred clear. They part like I carry disease as I walk past them. Finally, I make it to the back where the other healers stand in plain brown, my gold and white dress burning like fire against theirs. A few moments later, Scarface’s voice booms, “Alpha Gideon is here!” My heart pounds. It’s been six weeks since I’ve seen him. Six weeks since I have been carrying his child. Tonight is not just about our bond, but also the night I let him know we have a child on the way. He enters, tall, strong, everything I remember. Everything but one thing. His green eyes are cold, empty. Before I can process, a voice calls out, “Come with us!” Guards surround me. “What—?” I ask, confused. They don’t respond. They seize my arms, dragging me to the front. I stumble to my knees, forced down before him. I lift my gaze. He looks at me like I am nothing. Like this wasn’t meant to be our night. “I was blinded by naivety!” Gideon’s voice thunders. “My father, the Great Warlord Xander Voss, built this clan on strength, not weakness!” Cheers erupt around me like they have been waiting for this moment. “Just like my father, I will not let our enemies see weakness. The Voss Clan will not falter in my time.” What is this? Tears start to gather all by themselves. It cannot be what I fear it is. It shouldn’t be. His eyes cut through me, ice cold, as he says, “And for that, I must do this.”