The Lost Alpha

Chapter 3

Harper’s POV

I slammed the infirmary door behind me, my hands trembling even though I forced my steps to stay steady.

Lucas was alive. Alive.

Every time I said it in my head, it still didn’t sound real. For years, I had dreamed of this moment, prayed for it. And now that it had happened, all I could feel was fury.

He’d let me grieve, let me drown in loss, let me claw my way through hell to keep the Crescent Moon Pack alive alone.

And now he was back, looking at me with those golden eyes, saying nothing. No explanation. No apology. Just gone.

“Harper.”

I turned to see Sienna waiting in the hallway, her arms crossed, her healer’s coat stained with herbs. Her green eyes scanned my face, and she didn’t miss the storm brewing there.

“He’s really back,” she said softly.

“Don’t start.”

“I wasn’t going to,” she said, though a tiny smile tugged her lips. “But you can’t hide what you’re feeling from me. You’re furious.”

I exhaled sharply. “Furious doesn’t even cover it. He let me mourn him, Sienna. He let me bury him.”

“And yet,” she said carefully, “you still looked at him like you’d found your heartbeat again.”

I froze. My throat tightened, and I turned away before she could see the truth in my eyes.

Because she was right. No matter how angry I was, no matter how hard I’d built walls around my heart Lucas Blackwell still made it race like no one else ever could.

And that terrified me more than anything.

Lucas’ POV

The moment Harper stormed out, the room felt colder.

I had imagined this reunion a thousand times during the years I’d been gone. I’d imagined her smile, her tears, the way she’d run into my arms.

But reality was different.

She hated me.

And she had every right to.

I lay back against the pillows, staring at the ceiling. My body screamed in pain, but my wolf was restless, pacing inside me. The scent of wolfsbane still clung to the room. Someone had tried to kill me here, in the heart of Crescent Moon.

I had to stay alert. I had to stay alive. Not for me, but for her.

The door creaked, and Ethan stepped back in. He dropped into the chair beside me, rubbing a hand over his face.

“She doesn’t trust you,” he said bluntly.

“I know.”

“And I don’t blame her. None of us know where you’ve been.” His eyes bored into mine. “You vanish for five years, let everyone think you’re dead, then you show up bloody and half-wild. You expect us to just… follow you again?”

“No,” I said. My voice was steady, but underneath it burned with steel. “I don’t expect you to follow me. I expect you to listen. There’s a traitor in Crescent Moon. The same one who took me.”

Ethan’s expression hardened. “If that’s true, we need proof.”

“We’ll get it,” I said.

Even as the words left my mouth, something hit my senses.

A scent. Sharp. Familiar. Wrong.

It brushed past the door, faint but unmistakable.

I stiffened, my wolf snarling inside me.

The traitor.

I swung my legs over the bed, ignoring the pain that tore through my ribs. Ethan shot up. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Following it.”

“You can barely stand!”

I didn’t answer. My wolf was clawing at my insides, demanding blood. The scent wasn’t strong it was fading but I knew it. I had breathed it in the night I was taken.

And now it was here, inside these walls.

Harper’s POV

I was pacing the hallway outside when Ethan burst out of the infirmary, his face pale.

“What happened?” I demanded.

“He caught a scent,” Ethan said, glancing over his shoulder. “Harper… he says the traitor is here.”

My blood turned cold. “Here? In the packhouse?”

Before he could answer, Lucas staggered out, pale but fierce, his golden eyes burning. He leaned heavily against the wall, but the power radiating off him was undeniable.

“Lucas, stop,” I said, rushing toward him. “You’re not strong enough”

“I know that scent,” he growled, his voice low and dangerous. “I’ll never forget it.”

The hallway fell silent. My heart pounded. For five years, we’d lived with questions. Now, finally, we might have an answer.

But if the traitor had survived this long, hiding among us, it meant only one thing.

They weren’t done.

Lucas catches the traitor’s scent inside the packhouse itself, confirming the betrayal is closer than anyone realized while Harper realizes she may have trusted the wrong people for years.