THE SUPREME ALPHA’S FORBIDDEN LINA

THE SUPREME ALPHA

The silence in the room stretched after Damien’s question hung in the air.

“That isn’t what I asked.”

No one wanted to answer. Or maybe they just didn’t have one.

But I did.

“She’s a healer.”

The words slipped out, softer than I meant.

Damien’s eyes found mine. Not in that searching, sidelong way everyone had been glancing at my neck, checking for the mark that branded me as rejected. No—he looked straight at my face.

“Your name?”

“Elara.”

“Elara what?”

“Vale.”

He gave a short nod, then dropped his gaze to my hands—still stained with Kian’s blood.

“You’ve been working all night?”

“Since before the attack.”

“After you were dismissed?”

My spine went rigid.

“I wasn’t dismissed from treating patients.”

“The healing house belongs to my family.”

“I know.”

“Then you know you were removed.”

I looked at Kian asleep across the room.

“He needed me.”

Damien’s eyes locked on mine again.

“That’s why you stayed?”

I shrugged. “Who else was going to help him?”

One of the older healers lowered her eyes. Nobody needed to say anything. Everyone had heard the order. I wasn’t supposed to be here. But I couldn’t leave—not when someone still needed me.

He kept watching me.

“Why?”

I frowned, not sure if he meant now or in general. “Why what?”

“Why do you keep doing this?”

I glanced around—herbs and bandages, old wooden tables, the cots I’d sat beside for so many long nights. My throat tightened.

“Because broken people still need someone. Doesn’t matter if I’m not wanted.”

Something flickered across Damien’s face. It was quick—almost nothing—but I caught it. Respect. Not pity. Not the kind of sympathy that makes you feel smaller. No, respect.

It rattled me. All night, people had acted like I was fragile, like I was less because someone else decided I should be. Damien was the first to actually look at me—like I wasn’t missing anything.

He took a step closer.

“You’re still injured.”

“I’ll recover.”

“You don’t know that.”

I bristled. “I’ve been a healer for six years.”

“And now you’re a patient.”

I glared at him. “I didn’t ask you to treat me.”

“You didn’t.”

“Then we’re done.”

I turned back to Kian. Damien didn’t move. The room felt smaller with him behind me—not just because he was the Supreme Alpha. He was heavy, somehow. A presence that made my wolf stir, faintly, inside me.

I tried to ignore her. She was hurting, too, and I was done listening.

He nodded to one of the other healers. “Take over.”

She straightened instantly. “Yes, Alpha.”

I glared at him.

“I can handle it.”

“I know.”

That caught me off guard. He didn’t say I couldn’t. Just looked at my hands.

“You’re shaking.”

I curled my fingers into my palms, fast.

“They aren’t.”

His eyes flicked down, then up. He didn’t fight me on it, and somehow, that made the shaking worse.

I hated being seen.

I turned away. “I’ll finish my work.”

“No.”

My shoulders tensed. “What?”

“You’re going home.”

“I don’t have anywhere to go.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them. Damien’s face softened—a tiny shift.

“Then stay at my estate.”

I stared at him. “No.”

He raised one eyebrow. “You didn’t even think about it.”

“I don’t need to.”

“Why?”

“I don’t need your charity.”

His jaw tightened. “It’s not charity.”

“Then what is it?”

“Protection.”

“I didn’t ask for protection.”

“You were attacked tonight.”

“I survived.”

“Barely.”

“But I survived.”

He kept watching me, so sharp, like he was figuring out a pattern I didn’t even know existed.

“You make surviving sound like a competition.”

“I’ve had a hard night.”

“I can see that.”

His voice turned softer. Gentler. Made me uncomfortable.

I looked away. “I’m not going.”

“You are.”

I turned, sharp. “That’s not your decision.”

“Someone’s trying to kill you. That makes it mine.”

My chest went tight. He knew. Of course he knew—the attack, the rejection, all of it.

“I can protect myself.”

Damien glanced at my shaking legs and dried blood. He said nothing. I almost hated him for that.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re judging me.”

“No.”

“You think I’m weak.”

“No.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you’re exhausted.”

This time, I had nothing.

He stepped close—close enough for me to realize just how much taller he was. But not close enough to touch.

“Let me help.”

A normal person would have said yes. All night, other people had decided what happened to me: Adrian, the elders, the pack. I couldn’t let Damien decide where I slept.

“I don’t want your favors.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“Then stop acting like taking help makes you weak.”

My breath caught. He didn’t threaten me or shout. He just said the thing I wouldn’t admit.

I looked down. My hands were shaking again. I hid them behind my back.

He saw, of course, but he didn’t call it out. He didn’t try to comfort or scold. He just… stepped back.

That quiet made me feel more exposed than yelling ever could.

“Your room will be ready,” he said.

“I said no.”

“And I heard you.”

I looked at him.

“Then why are you still talking?”

“Because I’m hoping you’ll change your mind.”

I almost laughed. Almost.

Instead, I shook my head. “You’re arrogant.”

“I’ve been called worse.”

“I believe that.”

For a split second, I saw the edge of a smile in his eyes, then it disappeared.

“Go home, Elara.”

“I told you—”

“I know.”

He glanced at the door.

“Then pick somewhere to go. Just don’t stay here.”

I frowned. “Why?”

He looked at the mark on my neck.

“Because something about your rejection doesn’t add up.”

My heart skipped. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I’ll find out.”

I stared at him.

“Why do you care?”

He hesitated. For a moment, he wasn’t the Alpha—just a man.

“I don’t know yet.”

And then he left.

I let myself breathe for the first time in what felt like hours.

The healing house finally grew quiet.

People trickled back to the ceremony. Kian’s mother ran in and broke into tears when she saw him alive. She hugged me hard enough to make my ribs ache.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

I tried to smile. “You don’t need to thank me.”

“I do.” She cupped my face. “You saved my son.”

My throat burned. “No—I just helped. He saved himself.”

She pressed a kiss to my forehead and slipped out.

For a while, I stood alone. Cleaned up the blood. Put away what I could. Washed my hands. The peace felt strange after so much chaos.

When I finally glanced in the mirror, I hardly recognized the girl staring back. Hair a mess. Eyes red and swollen. Blood everywhere. The mating mark on my neck looked even darker.

I touched it and pain stabbed through my fingers. I jerked back.

“What’s happening to me?”

I closed my eyes and reached for my wolf—nothing.

Are you still there?

Silence.

She wasn’t gone, but she felt so far away—trapped somewhere I couldn’t get.

Fear crawled low in my gut.

I pressed the mark again.

The pain was worse this time—hotter, deeper. The skin grew darker and the burn spread.

I grabbed the table, knees buckling. Stared at that glowing, angry mark in the glass.

It should have faded after Adrian’s rejection, but it was burning, alive, pulsing under my skin.

I barely had time to scream before agony ripped through me.

And for one terrifying second, I heard another heartbeat inside my body.

Not mine.

Something in the bond was still there—still alive.