Lucas POV
The words had stopped making sense twenty minutes ago.
I’d been staring at the same paragraph long enough for the letters to blur into dark smudges on the page. The numbers on the report swam in front of my eyes, refusing to stay still. I tossed the file onto the growing pile on my desk and leaned back, pressing my fingers hard against my temples. The pressure behind my eyes was a dull, familiar ache—the kind that came from too many hours, too little sleep, and too many thoughts I refused to unpack.
The office was dark except for the small lamp on my desk. Its glow barely reached the edges of the room, leaving the corners in shadow. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city lights stretched on forever, cold and indifferent. Thousands of windows glowing in the distance, each one hiding someone else’s sleepless night.
Everyone else had left hours ago. Even the cleaning staff had finished their rounds. The building was empty except for me and the low hum of the ventilation system.
Just me and the silence.
I should have gone home already. Driving like this—half-focused, exhausted, my mind stuck on a loop I couldn’t break—was reckless. I knew that. But the thought of walking into the main house still sat wrong in my chest. Ever since that night with Aria, the place had felt different. Heavier. Like every corridor was waiting for something to go wrong.
I had watched that child die.
I was certain of it. Her body had gone still under my hands, her pulse had disappeared, her skin had gone cold. I had felt her last breath leave her body. And then Maya—pale, shaking, bleeding from both arms—had done something that should have been impossible. She brought her back. At the cost of nearly dying herself.
I still didn’t understand what I had seen.
I had replayed that night in my head a hundred times. I had gone over every detail, trying to find an explanation that made sense. But there was none. She had done something that no ordinary healer could do. Something that shouldn’t have been possible.
All I knew was that an ability like that didn’t stay secret for long. Packs went to war over less. If the wrong people found out what Maya could do, they wouldn’t ask politely. They would take her. They would use her. They would drain her dry and leave nothing behind.
That was why I had moved back into the main house.
That was why security had doubled overnight.
That was why I couldn’t seem to stay away from her, no matter how hard I tried.
I dragged a hand down my face and forced the thoughts back. There was still one file missing. Zain was supposed to have left it at reception. I stood, rolled the stiffness out of my shoulders, and headed for the door.
It opened before I reached it.
Zain stepped inside, then froze when he saw me still at the desk. His eyes widened slightly, and I saw him glance at the clock on the wall. It was well past midnight.
"Alpha... you’re still here?"
I didn’t answer. Just looked at him.
He cleared his throat, shifting the folder in his hands. "Alpha Ian sent me. He said he needs you at the house immediately. He’s been calling you for over an hour."
I frowned. My phone. I couldn’t remember the last time I had even checked it. I reached into my pocket and pulled it out. Seven missed calls. Three texts. All from my father.
"What does he want?"
Zain hesitated. His eyes flickered away for a moment before meeting mine again. "He didn’t say. But... I think it’s about Maya."
Of course it was.
I exhaled through my nose and walked back to the desk, gathering the remaining files more roughly than necessary. The papers crinkled under my grip. I could feel the tension coiling in my shoulders.
Zain lingered near the door, clearly uncomfortable with the silence. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"I’ve been thinking about that night," he said carefully. "Aria... she died. We all saw it. And then Maya just... brought her back. How is that even possible?"
I didn’t look up.
"I don’t know," I said. "And I don’t think she knows either."
Zain was quiet for a moment. "That’s what worries me. If she can do something like that without even understanding it..."
"Then other people will want her," I finished. My voice stayed low. "Badly. And they won’t care what it costs her."
I held the stack of files out. Zain took them quickly, fumbling slightly.
"Finish these before tomorrow."
"Yes, sir."
I didn’t wait for anything else. I walked past him, down the empty hallway, my footsteps echoing against the polished floors. The walls were lined with photographs of past Alphas, their faces staring down at me from the shadows.
I reached the elevator and pressed the button. The doors slid open with a soft sound. I stepped inside, leaned my head back against the wall, and shut my eyes for the short ride down.
Maya.
Everything kept circling back to her.
The way she had looked that night—determined even while she was fading. The way she had collapsed into my arms after, her body limp and cold. The way the entire pack had started treating her like something fragile and dangerous at the same time.
If she really was a Luna Healer, then the danger around her had just multiplied.
The elevator doors opened. I stepped out into the nearly empty lobby and walked to my car. The night air was cool against my face, carrying the faint scent of rain. I slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine, letting the low rumble fill the silence.
Whatever my father wanted to discuss, it had better be important.
I pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the main house, the headache still pressing steadily behind my eyes. Streetlights flickered past in a steady rhythm, casting brief shadows across the empty road.
And underneath the exhaustion and the irritation, one thought refused to leave me alone:
If Maya really was what we suspected... then keeping her safe had just become a lot more complicated.
And I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep pretending that was the only reason I cared.