Sage's POV
The door exploded inward.
Wood splintered. The lock tore free. I screamed and scrambled backward as a man filled the doorway.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Eyes like a storm about to break. He looked at me the way a hunter looks at prey.
Sage Winters, he said. Not a question. A statement.
Get out! I grabbed the nearest thing a lamp and held it like a weapon. I'll call the police!
No, you won't. He stepped inside, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop. I'm Cole Harper. Beta of the Blackthorn Pack. And you're coming with me.
I don't know what you're talking about. My hands shook so badly the lamp rattled. I haven't done anything!
Cole's eyes flicked to my glowing hands. I looked down and realized golden light still pulsed from my palms where I'd healed the wolf.
You just healed one of my pack members, he said quietly. Don't insult me by pretending otherwise.
Pack members. The word hit me like a fist.
The wolves... My voice came out as a whisper. They're people?
Shifters. Cole moved closer, and I backed into the wall. We're wolf shifters. And you've been healing us for months without knowing it.
My brain couldn't process it. Couldn't accept it. That's impossible. Werewolves aren't real.
Neither are women who heal with glowing hands. His expression softened slightly. But here we both are.
Behind him, Emma appeared in the hallway, eyes wide with terror. Cole didn't even look at her.
My Alpha is dying, Cole continued. Poisoned with something we can't identify, can't cure. Every healer in the supernatural world has tried. You're our last hope.
I'm not a healer! I choked out. I don't even know what I am!
You're a Lunar Healer. The new voice came from behind Cole, rough with pain. The Mark on your shoulder proves it.
An older woman pushed past Cole. White hair, sharp eyes, wearing a long coat despite the summer heat. She looked at me like I was a puzzle she needed to solve.
Show me, she demanded.
No! I pulled my shirt tighter. Get out of my apartment!
Lyra, Cole warned. You're scaring her.
She should be scared. Lyra's eyes never left mine. If she truly has the Lunar Mark, she's in more danger than she knows. The people who killed her parents
How do you know about my parents? Ice flooded my veins.
Because I remember what happened ten years ago. Lyra's voice went soft. When the council ordered the genocide. When they hunted down every Lunar Healer they could find.
Genocide. The word made my knees weak.
They didn't die in a fire, I whispered. They were murdered. Because of what I am.
Lyra nodded. And the people who ordered it are still out there. Still hunting. If word gets out that a Lunar Healer survived
Enough. Cole's command cracked like a whip. You're terrifying her, and we don't have time for this.
He turned back to me, and something in his expression shifted. Almost gentle. Almost human.
I know you're scared. I know this is insane. But my Alpha is dying, and you're the only one who can save him. I'm asking you He paused. Please. Come with us.
And if I say no?
Cole's jaw tightened. Then I'll drag you out of here. One way or another, you're coming.
Cole. A voice from the stairwell, weak and strained. Move.
Cole's eyes widened. He spun around. What the hell are you doing here? You should be in bed!
Two guards appeared in the doorway, supporting a man between them. He could barely stand. Sweat dripped down his face. But his eyes
Silver. Pure liquid silver, glowing in the dim light.
The man from my vision. The dying Alpha.
He looked at me, and the world stopped.
The Mark on my shoulder erupted in silver fire. Not painful overwhelming. Like being struck by lightning and bathed in sunlight at the same time. Every nerve in my body lit up.
The man's eyes went wide. He gasped, stumbling forward despite the guards trying to hold him back.
You, he breathed.
I couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe. Something was pulling me toward him like a magnet, like gravity, like destiny.
Kael, no! Cole lunged to stop him, but it was too late.
The Alpha Kael crossed the room in three unsteady steps and grabbed my hand.
Power exploded between us.
I felt everything. His pain. His desperation. The poison eating him alive from the inside. And underneath it all, something else. Something ancient and powerful and absolutely terrifying.
A bond. Unbreakable. Undeniable.
His wolf rose inside him, and I felt it recognize me. Claim me.
Mine, Kael's wolf growled through him, eyes blazing silver-white. My mate.
Then he collapsed.
I caught him without thinking, my hands already glowing, already pulling the poison from his veins. The black toxin poured into my palms, burning like acid, but I didn't let go.
I couldn't let go.
Whatever this bond was, whatever he'd just called me
I was already lost.