Corwin's POV
Blood.
I smell it before I see anything—thick, metallic, and wrong. Human blood mixed with wolf. Too much of it.
"Alpha, we should head back," my Beta, Marcus, says beside me. "We're too close to Silvercrest territory. If they catch us here—"
"Quiet." I raise my hand, my wolf pushing forward, alert. Something's not right.
We're on the border between my pack lands and Silvercrest—Alpha Thaddeus's territory. We've been rivals for years, competing for resources and influence. But we're not enemies. We've never shed each other's blood.
Until now, maybe.
The blood scent grows stronger as we move deeper into the neutral zone. My wolf growls in my chest, uneasy. This isn't warrior blood from a border fight. This is someone dying.
"There!" Marcus points ahead.
At first, I think it's just a pile of torn clothes against a tree. Then the pile moves—barely, just a twitch of fingers.
It's a woman.
I shift to human form and run to her, my heart pounding. She's crumpled on her side in the dirt, covered in cuts and bruises. Her clothes are shredded. Blood pools beneath her from wounds on her arms and legs. Her breathing is so shallow I can barely see her chest move.
But it's her scent that stops me cold.
Jasmine and snow. I know that scent. Every Alpha in the region knows it.
"Moon Goddess," I breathe. "That's Elowen Frost."
Marcus appears beside me, now in human form too. "Silvercrest's Luna? What's she doing out here alone?"
That's the question, isn't it? Lunas don't leave pack territory without guards. They definitely don't end up beaten and bleeding in neutral zones.
I kneel beside her and carefully turn her onto her back. Her face is pale as death, her lips blue. When I touch her neck to check her pulse, her skin is ice cold.
She's dying.
"What are you doing here?" I demand, even though I know she can't answer. "What happened to you?"
Her eyes flutter but don't open. A tiny whimper escapes her throat—the most heartbreaking sound I've ever heard.
"Alpha, we need to leave," Marcus urges. "This could be a trap. Silvercrest could be testing us—"
"Does she look like a trap?" I snap, gesturing to her broken body. "Look at her!"
I examine her wounds more closely. These aren't from an animal attack or a border fight. The cuts on her wrists are from silver shackles. The bruises on her arms are from rough hands dragging her. And her feet—her feet are torn to shreds like she walked for miles without shoes.
This wasn't an accident.
This was deliberate.
"They exiled her," I realize, my voice hard. "Silvercrest exiled their own Luna and left her to die."
"That's impossible," Marcus protests. "Why would Thaddeus exile his mate?"
Good question. Thaddeus Silvercrest might be my rival, but he's not a monster. At least, I didn't think he was. The few times I've seen him with Elowen at regional councils, he looked at her like she was his entire world.
What could possibly make him throw her away like this?
Elowen's breath stutters, and her body convulses once. She's running out of time.
I make a decision that will probably start a war.
"I'm taking her home," I announce, sliding my arms under her carefully.
"What?" Marcus's eyes go wide. "Alpha, no! That's Silvercrest's Luna! If we take her, Thaddeus will think we kidnapped her. He could declare war!"
"Look at her!" I lift Elowen's limp body. She weighs almost nothing—she's been starved. "She's not Silvercrest's Luna anymore. They threw her away. Left her to die like garbage."
"But—"
"If Thaddeus wanted her, he wouldn't have exiled her," I continue, my anger growing. "Whatever happened between them, she's the victim here. I won't leave an innocent woman to die just because I'm afraid of political consequences."
Marcus sighs but nods. "The council won't like this."
"The council can take it up with me." I adjust my hold on Elowen, cradling her against my chest. Her head lolls against my shoulder. "Right now, saving her life is more important than politics."
I shift back to my wolf form—a massive golden wolf—while keeping Elowen secured carefully in my jaws by her shirt. It's awkward, but it works. Marcus shifts beside me, and we run.
Every step jostles her, and I try to be gentle, but speed matters more right now. Through our bond, Marcus keeps checking behind us.
"No one's following," he reports.
Of course not. Silvercrest thinks she's already dead.
We cross into Ironclaw territory, and I feel the shift immediately—the pack bonds recognizing their Alpha's return. Several patrol wolves intercept us, their eyes widening when they see what I'm carrying.
"Get Elder Rowena," I order through the pack link. "Medical emergency. Now."
We race to the pack house. By the time we arrive, Elder Rowena—our oldest and wisest healer—is already waiting on the porch with medical supplies.
I shift back to human form and lay Elowen on the porch carefully. Rowena drops to her knees beside us, her experienced hands immediately checking Elowen's pulse and breathing.
"Who is she?" Rowena asks, pulling out bandages.
"Elowen Frost. Silvercrest's former Luna."
Rowena's head snaps up. "Former? What happened?"
"I found her dying in neutral territory. Silvercrest exiled her."
"Exiled?" Rowena's expression hardens. She's been a healer for fifty years and has seen everything, but even she looks shocked. "A Luna exile? That's almost unheard of. What crime could warrant—" She stops as she examines Elowen more closely. "Oh, blessed Moon."
"What? What is it?"
"She's been poisoned. Wolfsbane, by the smell of it. Weeks' worth." Rowena pulls back Elowen's eyelids, checking her pupils. "And look at this—silver burns on her wrists, signs of starvation, dehydration. This woman's been tortured."
My wolf snarls in rage. Tortured? In her own pack?
"Will she survive?" I ask.
"I don't know. The poison is deep in her system. Her wolf is almost gone—I can barely sense it." Rowena looks at me seriously. "Corwin, saving her won't be easy. It will take weeks, maybe months. Resources. Medicine. Constant care."
"I don't care. Save her."
"And when Silvercrest finds out we have her?"
"Then they can explain why they exiled and poisoned their Luna," I growl. "Until then, she's under Ironclaw protection."
Rowena nods and calls for helpers. They lift Elowen onto a stretcher and carry her inside to the medical wing. I follow, my wolf refusing to let her out of my sight.
As they lay her on a bed and start cutting away her ruined clothes to access her wounds, I get my first real look at what was done to her.
Scars. New and old. Cuts that are infected. Bruises in the shape of handprints. And underneath it all, the unmistakable gray tint of wolfsbane poisoning.
Someone hurt her. Deliberately. Systematically.
And Thaddeus either didn't notice or didn't care.
"You're safe now," I whisper, even though she can't hear me. I brush a strand of silver-blonde hair from her face. "I've got you."
Her eyes flutter open—just for a second. Unfocused gray eyes that look at me without really seeing. Her lips move, forming words too quiet to hear.
I lean closer. "What?"
"Please..." Her voice is barely a breath. "Don't... send me back..."
My heart clenches. She thinks I'm going to return her to the people who did this to her.
"Never," I promise fiercely. "You're home now. No one will hurt you again."
A single tear slides down her cheek. Then her eyes close, and she goes completely still.
"Pulse is dropping!" Rowena shouts. "I'm losing her!"
Healers swarm around the bed, pushing me back. I watch helplessly as they work—pressing healing energy into her chest, forcing medicine down her throat, fighting to keep her heart beating.
"Come on," I mutter, my fists clenched. "Fight. You didn't survive exile just to die now. Fight!"
The medical room erupts in golden healing light as every healer channels their power into her simultaneously.
Then, impossibly, I feel it—a flutter through the air, like a butterfly's wings. Weak but present.
Her wolf. Still alive. Still fighting.
Rowena gasps. "I can sense her wolf! It's responding to the treatment!"
"Will she make it?"
Rowena doesn't answer immediately. She just keeps working, her hands glowing over Elowen's chest.
Finally, after what feels like hours, Elowen's breathing steadies. Color returns to her cheeks—just a hint, but it's there.
"She'll live," Rowena says, exhausted. "For now. But Alpha..." She looks at me gravely. "There's something else. Something I've never seen before."
"What?"
"This woman isn't just a Luna." Rowena's expression is awed. "She's a Healer Alpha. A dual-nature wolf."
I stare at her. "That's impossible. Dual-nature wolves are myths."
"I thought so too. But the poison suppressed her Alpha nature, keeping her submissive. That's probably why Silvercrest didn't realize what they had." Rowena shakes her head in disbelief. "They didn't just exile a Luna. They exiled one of the rarest, most powerful wolves in existence."
I look at the unconscious woman on the bed—this broken, betrayed woman who contains impossible power.
What exactly did Thaddeus throw away?
And more importantly—what happens when she wakes up and discovers what she really is?