RHEA’S POV Leaving Kael’s room felt like escaping an interrogation room.
I hurried back to the guest room, closed the heavy door, and leaned against the cold wood.
My lungs ached as I took deep, frantic breaths.
He didn’t believe me.
Kael Thorne was too smart, too sharp, and far too perceptive to buy the ordinary human doctor story for long.
And the way his gray eyes had locked onto mine, it felt like he was picking apart my lies piece by piece.
I walked over to the stone basin inside the bathroom, poured cold water, and washed my face.
Then, I lifted my hands.
My palms were still sensitive, humming with a lingering warmth.
“I’m wolfless,” I whispered to my reflection in the small mirror.
“I was born without a wolf.
I spent nineteen years in the Voss Pack being called a useless disgrace because I couldn’t shift, couldn’t heal, and couldn’t smell the bloodlines.” So what was this light?
Was it a curse?
A strange sickness?
Or had something broken inside me the night I healed Garrett’s wound and pulled him back from death?
A knock at the door made my heart jump into my throat.
I wiped my hands on a towel and opened the door a crack.
Garrett stood in the hallway, carrying a tray of hot soup, fresh bread, and a folded set of clean wool clothes.
“Dr.
Lin,” Garrett said politely.
“I brought you some food.
You look like you haven’t eaten in days.” “Thank you, Garrett,” I said, stepping back to let him in.
I took the tray and placed it on the small table.
“You really didn’t have to.” “It’s the least I can do,” he said, watching me closely as I sat down.
“You saved our Alpha’s life.
The whole pack owes you a debt we can never repay.” I picked up the spoon, keeping my eyes fixed on the soup.
“He’s still very suspicious.
He doesn’t believe I’m just a doctor.” “Kael is an Alpha,” Garrett explained softly, leaning against the bedpost.
“He’s built to question everything, especially when a stranger walks into his territory and performs what looks like a miracle.
But…” Garrett paused, his eyes narrowing slightly as he studied my face.
“I have to admit, I have a few questions of my own.” My hand froze over the bowl.
“Questions?” “I’ve seen pack healers work for thirty years,” Garrett said slowly, his voice calm, almost conversational.
“I’ve seen wizards from the capital use ancient runes and spells.
But I’ve never seen anyone calm an Alpha’s wolf just by entering a room.
When you walked into Kael’s chamber, his internal beast, which was tearing itself apart in a death fever, instantly quieted down.” “He was exhausted,” I said, forcing my tone to stay steady.
“His body was shutting down.” “No,” Garrett countered gently.
“It was like his wolf recognized you.
Like it was waiting for you.” A cold sweat broke out across the back of my neck.
I swallowed hard, taking a sip of the warm soup just to give my mouth something to do.
“I’m just a doctor, Garrett.
I treat physical wounds.
As for his wolf…
maybe my human form made me seem non-threatening to him.” Garrett didn’t reply right away.
He just stared at me with an unreadable expression, as if he were trying to match a face from a half-forgotten past to the woman sitting in front of him.
“Maybe,” Garrett said quietly.
“Or maybe you’re hiding something bigger.” Before I could think of a safe response, a loud, panicked cry echoed from the courtyard outside my window, followed by the sound of shouting guards.
Garrett’s head snapped toward the window, his wolf instincts immediately flaring.
“Stay here,” he ordered, pulling a dagger from his belt and rushing out the door.
I didn’t stay.
My doctor’s instincts took over before my brain could stop me.
I grabbed my medical kit and ran out after him, down the stone stairs and into the lower courtyard.
The scene in the courtyard was horrific.
Three young wolf cubs, no older than six or seven, were lying on wooden stretchers near the barracks.
Their skin was sickly pale, covered in the same black, branching veins that had almost killed Kael.
They had been playing near the southern border where the ancient beast had attacked, touching the corrupted soil left behind by the battle.
The pack healers were standing over them, shaking their hands in pure panic.
“The poison is spreading too fast,” one healer cried out.
“Their small bodies can’t take the dark magic.
They won’t make it to sunset.” A crowd of pack members had gathered around, women weeping and warriors looking away in helpless grief.
I pushed through the crowd without thinking.
“Move.
Let me see them.” “Hey.
She’s just a human,” a guard shouted, reaching out to grab my arm, but I ducked under his grip and dropped to my knees beside the smallest cub, a tiny girl with brown hair who was convulsing violently.
“Get back,” a traditionalist pack Elder barked, stepping forward with a heavy wooden staff.
“Human hands cannot touch corrupted pack children.” “She’s dying,” I snapped, my eyes flashing with a cold, fierce authority that shocked the Elder into silence.
“If you stand there arguing about your rules for another two minutes, her heart is going to stop.” I ignored the angry murmurs of the crowd, ripped open my kit, and pressed my bare hands firmly against the young girl’s trembling chest.
“Please,” I prayed silently, closing my eyes tight.
“I don’t know what this is or how it works.
But don’t let this child die.” The moment my hands made contact with her feverish skin, the heat erupted in my chest again.
A sudden, blinding burst of pure white light exploded from beneath my palms.
The entire courtyard fell into a dead, shocked silence.
Gasps tore through the crowd as the golden halo washed over the little girl’s body.
Right before their eyes, the black, corrupted veins melted away into thin air.
The girl’s chest stopped convulsing, her shallow breaths turning deep and normal.
She opened her eyes, blinked up at me, and whispered softly, “My chest doesn’t hurt anymore…” I pulled my hands back as if burned, falling back onto the cold stone floor, trembling violently as the white light died out.
For three agonizing seconds, no one moved.
Then, the courtyard broke into utter chaos.
“It’s a miracle,” a woman sobbed, falling to her knees in prayer.
“She has been blessed by the Moon Goddess.
The Goddess has sent us a savior.” “No!” The pack Elder roared, pointing his staff at me with a face full of absolute fury and fear.
“Look at her.
She has no wolf.
She commands that light without a mark or a spell.
She is a witch using forbidden dark magic.
Seize her!” Warriors drew their swords.
Pack members began shouting, violently split between those who wanted to protect me and those who stood against me.
I rose to my feet, clutching my trembling hands to my chest, my heart pounding in pure horror.
I hadn’t saved anyone.
I had just put a massive target on my back.