The Rejected Luna's Secret Alpha

Chapter 5

The words came from somewhere above me, deep and disbelieving.

I tried to open my eyes, but my body refused to obey. My cheek rested against the cold earth, and every breath felt like a struggle. I could barely make out the enormous black wolf standing over me, its golden eyes fixed on my face.

Then something extraordinary happened.

A dark mist rose around the wolf, twisting through the air like smoke. Its massive body began to change. The creature’s paws became hands, its shoulders narrowed, and its black fur disappeared beneath smooth skin.

I wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

Where the wolf had stood a moment earlier, a man now stood beneath the moon.

He was tall, with broad shoulders and black hair that fell across his forehead. His face was sharp and striking, his features framed by a faint scar near his left eyebrow. He wore black trousers and a dark shirt that seemed to have appeared with his transformation.

But his eyes remained the same.

Golden.

Cold.

Terrifyingly beautiful.

He crouched beside me, studying my face as though I were something he had spent years searching for.

“Who are you?” he murmured.

I tried to answer, but my lips barely moved.

His gaze dropped to my wrist, where a faint silver light flickered beneath my skin.

The moment he saw it, every trace of indifference disappeared from his face.

He caught my wrist carefully, turning it toward the moon.

A strange symbol glowed beneath my skin.

For several seconds, he simply stared.

Then he released a slow breath.

“No,” he whispered. “That bloodline ended centuries ago.”

The man looked toward the dark forest behind me.

“Who knows she’s here?”

Two armed guards emerged from between the trees. Both wore black uniforms bearing a silver crest, and both lowered their heads the moment they approached him.

“Your Majesty,” one said. “We felt the energy surge from the boundary stones. The entire northern patrol is on alert.”

The man stood.

“Seal the northern border. Nobody crosses into or out of this territory without my permission.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“And send word to the palace physician. I want him waiting in the east wing.”

The second guard glanced down at me.

“Should we take her to the infirmary?”

“No. She comes with me.”

The guard hesitated for a fraction of a second.

It was barely noticeable, but the man caught it.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“Then move.”

The guard bowed immediately.

The man turned back to me. His expression had become unreadable, but there was something unsettling in the way he looked at me, as though he recognized a secret that even I had never known.

He slipped one arm beneath my knees and the other behind my back, lifting me effortlessly from the ground.

My head fell against his chest.

The scent of cedar and cold rain surrounded me.

For some inexplicable reason, my wolf stirred.

Him.

I tried to ask what she meant, but the darkness was already closing in.

The man’s arms tightened around me.

“Stay alive, Freya Hale,” he murmured.

My eyes fluttered.

I had never told him my name.

Before I could question him, I lost consciousness.