Alpha Kingsley’s POV
I was surprised when she walked onto the training grounds.
After what happened at the dinner hall last night, I hadn’t expected to see her anywhere near a crowd.
I certainly hadn’t expected her to stand in the open field with the entire pack watching.
Argon hadn’t let me rest since dawn.
You let them mock her.
You stood there.
Coward.
I finally shut him out before his constant growling split my skull in two.
Who informed her about training?
I wondered.
Then it hit me.
“Damn it.”
I had made training compulsory for every pack member.
Every pack member.
I could have made an exception for her.
She didn’t even have a wolf.
It would have been reasonable.
But if I was being honest with myself, a part of me had been curious.
I wanted to see how she would handle herself.
After last night, my thoughts had drifted toward her more than they should have.
She hadn’t come down for breakfast.
I knew why.
So I sent Linda to her room with food, making it very clear that she was not to mention my involvement.
I wasn’t ready to explain that kind of concern.
Perhaps Linda had told her about the importance of training.
About how the pack valued strength and discipline.
From the ridge, hidden in the shadows, I watched.
Beta Andrew managed the session smoothly.
A few elders had come to observe, likely proud grandparents wanting to see their bloodlines perform.
My eyes kept returning to her.
She wore a loose two-piece training outfit that clung to her curves in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
It wasn’t revealing, yet it revealed enough.
I looked away.
What am I even thinking?
She wasn’t the ideal beauty this pack worshipped.
She wasn’t sleek or delicate or sculpted in the way warriors admired.
And yet…
There was something about her.
Something that didn’t fit the surface.
Something I couldn’t name.
I forced my focus back to the duels in the center of the field.
Fists collided.
Bodies moved.
Skill and strength displayed openly.
Then I saw movement near her.
Isabel.
One of Kate’s loyal shadows.
Of course.
Kate had been silent since last night, and that alone was suspicious.
She wasn’t the type to let humiliation slide.
Especially not publicly.
I saw Isabel step forward and issue the challenge.
Olivia went still.
Even from a distance, I could feel the shift in her through the mate bond.
Tension.
Embarrassment. The source of this chapter is g.com.
A flicker of anger.
Isabel began mocking her openly.
The pack laughed.
Argon surged inside me.
Let me handle it.
I held him back.
“She is Luna in name,” I told myself.
“Disrespecting her is disrespecting me.”
But I did nothing.
I watched.
I don’t know what Isabel whispered to her when she stepped closer.
I only felt the spike of fury that burst through the bond a second later.
Olivia raised her hand.
Isabel caught it easily.
Pathetic.
That was what the entire pack saw.
And then—
Isabel screamed.
The sound tore across the field.
She jerked back violently as though she had grabbed a blade heated in fire.
The air changed.
Subtle.
But undeniable.
The wind shifted direction without warning.
A pressure settled over the grounds — faint, ancient.
Most wouldn’t notice it.
But I did.
A current moved through the atmosphere.
Old.
Deep.
Powerful.
My instincts sharpened instantly.
That wasn’t wolf energy.
That wasn’t normal.
I focused on Olivia.
She stood frozen, staring at her own hands as if they no longer belonged to her.
The power pulsed outward from her again — small but potent.
My heart stilled.
What are you?
Through the mate bond, I felt her weakening.
The surge was too much for her body.
Her knees buckled.
I moved without thinking.
The distance between us vanished in a blink.
I caught her before she hit the ground.
Her body felt warm against mine.
Fragile.
Her pulse fluttered beneath my fingers — steady but weak.
I exhaled slowly, only then realizing I had been holding my breath.
The entire field had gone silent.
I lifted my gaze.
Isabel stood clutching her palm, her skin reddened as if burned.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
“Dismissed.”
No one questioned me.
They parted immediately as I carried her away.
Inside the pack house, I summoned the healer through the mind link before I reached the entrance.
She was already waiting when I stepped through the doors.
I carried Olivia straight to my chambers and laid her carefully on the bed.
The healer, an elderly woman with silver hair and sharp, knowing eyes, wasted no time.
She checked Olivia’s pulse.
Her breathing.
Her pupils.
After several minutes of silent examination, she produced a small pill and gently placed it between Olivia’s lips, forcing it down her throat.
“She will recover once her body rests,” the healer said.
Relief loosened something tight in my chest.
“She doesn’t have a wolf,” the healer continued thoughtfully, “yet her body heals faster than an ordinary human’s. Not as quickly as ours — but faster.”
I frowned.
“What caused her collapse?”
The healer’s expression shifted.
“I am not entirely certain.”
I didn’t like that answer.
“There are signs of overexertion,” she added.
“As though she tried to harness an energy beyond her current capacity.”
My eyebrows lifted slightly.
“Harness what kind of energy?”
She hesitated.
“In all my years…” she murmured, “I have never encountered anything quite like it. But what I felt on the training grounds was ancient.”
The word echoed in my mind.
Ancient.
“Continue,” I ordered quietly.
“I cannot say more without study,” she admitted.
“But I believe she reached for something powerful — something that responded.”
She reached into her bag and handed me a dark tablet.
“Dissolve this in water and ensure she drinks it when she wakes. And Alpha…”
I met her gaze.
“Do not allow her to strain herself again. Whatever awakened today is not something her body can yet sustain.”
When she left, silence settled over the room.
I stood beside the bed, watching Olivia’s steady breathing.
She looked peaceful.
Too peaceful.
My hand lifted before I could stop it.
I almost brushed a strand of hair from her face.
Almost.
I withdrew.
Coward, Argon muttered.
I ignored him.
My thoughts replayed the training grounds over and over.
The contact.
The scream.
The burn.
The pressure in the air.
Isabel had only touched her — and suffered for it.
That was no coincidence.
Olivia had secrets.
Secrets even she did not understand.
And fate…
Fate did not bind an Alpha King to someone ordinary.
I looked down at her once more.
“What are you hiding?” I murmured.
Because one thing was certain now.
Fate does not make mistakes.
It does not bind kings to accidents.
If Olivia carried something ancient in her blood…
Then the Moon had chosen her long before I ever did.
And I had the unsettling feeling that I was no longer the most powerful being in this room.