My wolf howled in my chest, a sound of pure anguish.
“I need to go to the blacksmith,” I heard myself say. “Find me something to put these in. Carefully.”
Jake stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “Alpha, your mate is coughing up blood. The healers need you there – “
“I need to see if this can be repaired!” I snarled, my Alpha command bleeding through.
“This belonged to Aria’s mother. It’s the last thing she has from her birth pack. I have to fix it.”
“Aria’s not even here,” Jake said, confusion evident in his voice. “But Sera – “
“Just find me something to carry these pieces in!” I roared.
Jake flinched but obeyed, returning a moment later with a soft cloth pouch. I carefully placed each fragment inside, my hands still trembling.
Only then did I stand up and head toward the healer’s lodge.
The walk there felt surreal, like I was moving through water. Pack members rushed past me, their faces worried, asking about Sera’s condition. I answered mechanically, not really hearing my own words.
All I could think about was Aria’s face when I’d given her that expensive moonstone necklace instead of returning her mother’s pendant. The way her expression had shuttered, like I’d slapped her.
She’d known, even then, that I’d given her mother’s pendant to someone else.
And now it was destroyed.
The healer’s lodge was chaos when I arrived. Sera was on a bed, surrounded by healers who were trying to stop the blood she was coughing up. Her face was deathly pale, her breathing shallow.
“Alpha,” the head healer said urgently. “The silver poisoning is worse than we thought. We need to start aggressive treatment immediately.”
I nodded, but my attention was on the cloth pouch in my hands.
“Damon,” Sera whispered weakly, reaching for me. “I’m sorry about the pendant. I didn’t mean – “
“It’s not your fault,” I said automatically, taking her hand.
But even as I said it, I wasn’t sure I believed it.
My wolf was silent now, but I could feel his judgment. His disappointment in me.
I stayed with Sera while the healers worked, holding her hand while they administered treatments I didn’t fully understand. She drifted in and out of consciousness, occasionally mumbling apologies about the pendant.
But my mind was elsewhere.
On a silver-haired omega who was supposed to be gathering healing herbs but had stopped responding to my messages three days ago.
On a birth pack pendant that lay shattered in a pouch at my side.
On the growing certainty that I’d made terrible, irreversible mistakes.
“Alpha,” Jake said quietly, appearing at my side. “I sent scouts to the Eastern forests to check on Aria. They should report back within two days.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
Two days. Just two days until I’d know for sure that she was safe.
Two days until I could begin trying to fix the unfixable damage I’d done.
My wolf finally stirred, his voice echoing through my mind with a certainty that made my blood run cold:
*You’re going to lose her. If you haven’t already.*
I gripped Sera’s hand tighter, staring at her pale face, at the mating mark on her throat that proclaimed her as mine.
But it was Aria’s voice I heard in my head, cold and final: *I’m ending whatever this was between us.*
For the first time since Sera had returned, I wondered if choosing her had been the biggest mistake of my life.
And by the time I figured out the answer, it might be too late to matter.
ARIA
The forest surrounding Shadowmere territory was unlike any I’d explored before.
Ancient trees stretched toward the sky, their gnarled branches twisted into shapes that seemed almost deliberate, as if they’d been designed by some long-forgotten hand. Moss covered everything in thick, velvety layers, and mushrooms sprouted in perfect circles that the pack members warned me never to step inside – fairy rings, they called them, remnants of old magic that still lingered in these woods.
It was beautiful. Mysterious. And exactly the kind of place where rare healing herbs thrived.
I’d been venturing into the forest every day for the past week, always staying within the safe boundaries that Nina had shown me. The healer’s lodge was running low on several crucial supplies, and I’d noticed during my Luna duties that their pain-relieving herbs were nearly depleted. With winter approaching and training accidents becoming more common, we needed to replenish the stores.
Besides, gathering herbs was something I understood. Something I was good at. It gave me purpose when everything else in my life felt uncertain.
Today, I’d already collected a generous bundle of willow bark for fever reduction and a pouch full of comfrey root for broken bones. My basket was half-full of arnica flowers, their bright yellow petals perfect for treating bruises and inflammation.
But I was still searching for valerian root – the best natural painkiller we had access to – and it was proving frustratingly elusive.
I pushed deeper into the forest, my wolf alert beneath my skin. The trees here grew closer together, their canopy so thick that even midday sun barely penetrated. The temperature dropped several degrees, and the usual forest sounds – birdsong, rustling leaves, small animals scurrying through underbrush – grew muted.
I should have turned back. Should have recognized the warning signs.
But then I saw them.
Moonbeam plants.
They grew in a small cluster near what I suddenly realized was the edge of a steep cliff, their silvery-blue leaves catching what little light filtered through the canopy. Moonbeam plants were incredibly rare – I’d only seen them twice in my life, and both times I’d risked everything to harvest them.
My breath caught as memories flooded back.
The last time I’d found moonbeam plants had been three years ago, shortly after Damon’s wolf had recovered from the worst of the wolfsbane poisoning. I’d spent four days tracking rumors of their location through dangerous rogue territory, sleeping in trees to avoid predators, going without food because I couldn’t risk the time it would take to hunt.
When I’d finally found them growing in a cave system fifty miles from Blackwood territory, I’d carefully harvested every plant, knowing their medicinal properties could help strengthen Damon’s still-fragile wolf. I’d preserved them in a special glass container with soil from where they’d grown, rushing back to pack lands to show him.
I’d been so excited. So proud. So sure he’d be pleased that I’d found something so valuable.
I’d burst into his office, dirt-stained and exhausted, holding that glass container like it was made of pure gold.
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply