The Exiled Luna: Hunted by the Alpha, Saved by a Rogue

WHAT'S LEFT OF ME

THALIA

“Code blue, room 213! Code blue...”

The announcement blared through the intercom, jolting me from my half-asleep daze at the nurse’s station. My coffee had long gone cold, and my limbs felt like jelly from the twelve hours on duty.

Still, I sprinted towards the said room, reaching with practiced focus. My colleague was already doing CPR on the patient, a woman in her early thirties. I alternated with the other nurse, pouring my energy into saving the human, while I heard the others approaching through my senses, now only a tad stronger than humans.

It went on when they arrived with the defibrillator. Fortunately, the monitor showed activity after the second shock. We collectively sighed in relief and slowly dispersed after the situation was handled.

My muscles trembled after the adrenaline died off. Saving someone’s life never got easier, but it always grounded me through the years.

“Good work, Nurse Thalia,” Dr. Lee said as he passed by, giving me a small smile before returning to his notes.

I nodded, murmuring a thank you before heading back to the nurse’s station. The shift was nearly over. Finally.

Another busy, understaffed day has come to an end. It’s been three years since the night my life took a huge turn. Three years of emptiness and feeling so empty, if that wasn’t ironic enough. I hurriedly finished my patient report, but couldn’t help but get distracted when I saw a woman holding and cooing her newborn as she passed by.

I only held Elias twice, once the day he was born, and once more before everything was taken from me. Still, I could perfectly remember how he felt in my arms, and until now, I still crave it.

I shook my head sharply, whisking away the bad memories to return to the back of my mind. No one was really bothered or weirded by the tired nurse trying to wake herself. I clocked out after and left the hospital, finally feeling the fresh air hit my senses. It was 3 am, and the moon still shone brightly in the starless night. The nights now felt different in my dulled senses. Everything wasn’t as vibrant as before, but I had already gotten used to it.

My mind wandered from the distant past as I drove away, opening the car window to let the cold wind in. I trembled a bit, but it’s better than being stuck in another confined space for the next hour.

The gentle breeze reminds me of the vague days after my exile.

I remember running barefoot, branches tearing my skin, and my son’s baby blanket, which I held so dearly. I searched the forest until my voice bled out of me and my legs failed, but there was no scent nor trail to follow.

And my wolf…

At first, I thought Nel was silent out of grief and that our mate bond had severed, but grief still cries, grief still breathes. I reached for her, but nothing reached back.

She was totally gone.

Calliope, my sister and only family, found me nearly a month after. I only remember her embracing me tightly, telling me to come back to her. Everything else was a blur. She tried to take me back, but our birth pack would never forgive me for what they believed I did. So, I disappeared into the human world, building a new identity for myself.

Now, here I am, heading home after a grueling shift. I don’t really mind. It kept me up and busy, though some patients really make me want to go back and curl up on the couch. I appreciate going home better thanks to them. It was usually the most peaceful part of my day, too.

Usually.

A figure suddenly darted into the road, as soon as I was halfway home on the empty road. I slammed on the brakes as my heart leapt to my throat in surprise.

“Holy-” I halted on my panicked remark and went out of the car to quickly check on the person I had almost hit.

I’m sure I didn’t hit him, but the man lay sprawled on the nearly empty road. His clothes were torn and soaked with blood. His chest rose and fell shallowly, and on one close whiff, I immediately knew he wasn’t human.

I froze. After three years without contact, and three years of avoiding even a whiff of my kind, an injured one suddenly appeared.

“Goddess…” I crouched beside him, shaking his shoulder gently. “Hey! Can you hear me?”

His eyes snapped open, gleaming faintly. My eyes widened, realizing he was an alpha.

He suddenly grabbed my wrist, his hold tight and strong despite his condition. “Run,” he rasped, “They’re coming.”

“What? Who?” I frowned in confusion.

My question was answered with howls from a distance, still, too close to the human settlement.

Panic surged through me. My first instinct was to leave him. He was a stranger, definitely a rogue, and I had no wolf to protect myself. I’ll only endanger myself if I involve myself with him.

But the healer in me couldn’t just abandon him to die.

“Damn it,” I muttered, shoving his arm over my shoulder. “You’re lucky I’m crazy.”

He grunted, half-conscious as I struggled to drag his body toward the car. My arms screamed in protest, already exhausted from work and now this, but I still managed to load him into the backseat somehow. His blood is staining the car seat, but I’d have to worry about that later.

I quickly went to the driver’s seat, and before I could hit the road, I saw figures in the dark. My senses weren’t as strong as they used to be before, but I’m damn sure those were the people the rogue was talking about, and I’ve never driven so fast before.

I only slowed down when I got far enough and finally reached home.

“You’re insane,” I muttered to myself as I stopped the car, still gripping the steering wheel, “Absolutely insane, Thalia. Saving a wounded alpha being chased on your way home? Brilliant.”

He groaned softly from the back; fortunately, being in pain means he’s alive.

“I told you to run,” he muttered.

“I did,” I rolled my eyes, “I just happened to bring you with me.”

Silence followed, and when I glanced at the rearview mirror, his eyes were closed again. I sighed and got out of the car. I still have to tend to his wounds. It’s not like I could drop him off at the nearest hospital.

“You brought this to yourself, Thalia. You can do this.” I cheered myself before pulling him out. I almost stumbled at first, but managed to drag him inside my tiny living room.

My whole body is exhausted, but adrenaline kept me moving. I laid him on the couch and quickly fetched my first-aid kit.

“Alright,” I murmured to myself as I worked, cutting away the bloodied fabric. “Let’s see what kind of trouble you’re in.”

I winced. There were deep claw marks raked across his ribs, already half-healed but still bleeding. He’ll definitely be dead by now if he weren’t an alpha. Fortunately, there were no wounds from any weapon made of silver.

“Hold still,” I muttered, cleaning the wound as best I could. “You heal fast, but you’re still bleeding badly.”

He didn’t respond, only let out a faint groan that sounded more like a growl. I struggled working all alone, but I finished bandaging him. I cleaned up and couldn’t help but stare at his face. Even unconscious, he had the unmistakable presence of an alpha.

“Who are you?” I whispered, looking at him carefully.

Broad shoulders, lean muscles, definitely honed by running and so many fights. There was a small scar cut through his right brow, which I’m sure was from a silver weapon cut. Otherwise, it would have just healed.

His hair was dark, a little too long, so that it was already reaching his eyes. I slowly reached out and brushed the strands poking in his eyes, making me realize that blood had dried on them, probably from an injury that had already healed. I fetched a fresh towel and a basin with warm water and cleaned him again.

While doing so, I couldn’t help but linger my gaze on his face. He’s definitely handsome. Not as refined as the pack alphas I’ve known. He is a rogue, after all, but he has a charm of his own. And yet… There was something familiar about him that I couldn’t pinpoint. It wasn’t his face, but my chest tightens the more I look at him, as if my heart recognizes something I don't.

My eyes ventured lower and landed on his lips. I cleared my throat, realizing I’d been staring longer than I should have.

I scolded myself and backed away. It’s been three years since I last talked to any of my kind. It must be messing with my mind.

Was I simply craving a connection I had never had in years?

I closed my eyes and composed myself. “He’ll be gone in the morning,” I muttered under my breath, mostly to convince myself. “I shouldn’t be attached to a total stranger. He’ll leave, and I’ll pretend this never happened. That’s how it should be.”

I got up and was supposed to go and rest, but something made me pause. Something had fallen from his jacket pocket. I bent to pick it up and froze.

A Polaroid.

The picture seemed candid, the rogue caught mid-laugh, but it wasn’t him that caught my attention. It was the child in his arms.

Dirty blonde hair. Bright, lively eyes. A small, happy grin. A boy around three years old.

My fingers trembled as they traced the image. The shape of his eyes. The curve of his cheeks. Even the dimple on the left side when he smiled.

He looks so much like my ex-husband… No, he looked like my sweet baby Elias if he were grown up to this age.

The child everyone said was dead. The child I screamed and begged my pack to believe was alive.

It was impossible, and yet their resemblance is uncanny.

My senses suddenly heightened. I almost dropped the photo I was holding. It was something natural in the past, but feeling it again after three long years caught me off guard. Before I could figure out what was happening, I heard a familiar, sweet voice in my mind that I hadn’t heard since I was exiled.

“Thalia… see the boy.”