KADE POV
The reports were getting worse.
Kade threw the papers across his desk and they scattered like dying leaves. Numbers. Statistics. Lists of names. All the wolves who were getting sick. All the wolves who might not make it through the next week. All the proof that his leadership was failing.
Three years. Three years of running Shadowpine Pack like he was born to do it. Three years of making the right decisions and expanding territory and building alliances. Three years of being the strongest, smartest, most capable Alpha anyone had ever seen.
And now his pack was dying.
The poison had started small. A few wolves complained about not feeling right. Nothing serious. Just a general weakness that made them sluggish during training. Kade had ignored it. Alphas did not pay attention to minor complaints. Then more wolves got sick. Then some stopped eating. Then two of them nearly died before the pack healer figured out something was poisoning the water supply.
Someone had deliberately contaminated Shadowpine's water.
On purpose.
The realization had hit him like a physical blow. This was not an accident. This was sabotage. This was an attack on his pack from the inside. And he had no idea who was responsible or how to stop it.
Kade stood and walked to the window of his office. Below, he could see pack members moving through the courtyard. They looked tired. Scared. Some of them were limping. Some of them were moving slower than they should. His pack was suffering and he could do nothing about it.
His Beta Cole knocked and entered without waiting for permission. That was the only advantage of having a Beta you had known your whole life. No unnecessary formality when things were this bad.
"The healer is saying we need to find external help," Cole said. His voice was exhausted. Cole had been working nearly twenty-four hours a day trying to manage the crisis. "This poison is unlike anything she has ever encountered. She does not know how to create an antidote."
Kade wanted to punch something. Instead he just stared out the window.
"We will figure it out," he said. But even he did not believe it.
Cole stepped closer. "There is another option. The Thornwood Healers. They are neutral territory. They take on clients from every pack. They are expensive and hard to reach but they are the best in North America."
Kade turned to look at his Beta. "Have you contacted them?"
"I was waiting for your approval. But Kade, if we do not get help soon, we are going to start losing wolves. Real wolves. Not just sick wolves. Dead wolves."
The words hung in the air between them like a threat.
Kade made a decision. "Contact them. Tell them we will pay whatever they ask. Tell them it is urgent."
Cole nodded and left.
Kade went back to the window. Somewhere in the pack, Victoria was probably sleeping peacefully in the Luna quarters he had prepared for her. No. That was a lie. Victoria had left six months after their mating ceremony. She had decided that being Luna of Shadowpine was not good enough. When a stronger Alpha from the north came calling with promises of a larger territory and more power, she left without hesitation.
She left him.
And Kade had been humiliated in a way he did not even know was possible. The Alpha who had everything. The strongest pack. The perfect Luna. And then suddenly nothing.
His sister Mara had tried to convince him that Victoria had never been right anyway. That he should have chosen someone else. Someone with real loyalty. Someone who actually cared about him instead of his status.
Kade did not want to hear it.
Lately he had started having dreams about someone else. A girl. A vague memory from a pack run three years ago. She had been watching him from across the clearing. He remembered the feeling of being observed. The feeling of being wanted by someone who barely knew him.
He did not remember her face. He did not remember her name. But he remembered the way something inside his chest had broken the night of the mating ceremony. Like he had chosen wrong about something important.
He tried to push the dreams away. They did not matter. Nothing mattered except saving his pack.
Two weeks passed.
Kade was in his office when Cole delivered the message. His Beta stood in the doorway looking relieved and nervous at the same time.
"The Thornwood Healers have accepted our request," Cole said. "They are sending their Head Healer. She will arrive tomorrow at dawn."
Kade nodded. Relief washed over him. "Good. Everything will be fine now."
"There is something else," Cole said hesitantly. "The Head Healer is apparently very young. Younger than anyone expected. And she is new to the position. She only took over as leader of the Thornwood Clan about a year ago."
Kade frowned. "How young?"
"The message did not specify. Just that she is young and powerful."
Young and powerful. Kade tried to imagine what that meant. Some prodigy healer who had risen quickly through the ranks. That was fine. As long as she could save his pack, he did not care how old she was or what she looked like.
"Prepare the guest quarters," Kade said. "Make sure everything is ready for tomorrow. And Cole, send an official greeting to the Head Healer. Tell her Shadowpine Pack is grateful for her arrival."
Cole left to handle the arrangements.
Kade sat at his desk and tried to focus on the medical reports. But his mind kept drifting to something else. That dream kept coming back. The girl who watched him. The feeling of being chosen by someone. The memory of something breaking.
Three years ago seemed like a lifetime. He had been different then. Younger. Less burdened. Still foolish enough to believe that choosing status over instinct was the smart thing to do.
He had learned better since then.
Tomorrow the Thornwood Healer would arrive. Tomorrow his pack would start recovering. Tomorrow everything would go back to normal and Shadowpine would be strong again.
Tomorrow his life would change in a way he could not possibly imagine.
That night, Kade dreamed again. But this time the girl in his dream had a face. She was older than she had been three years ago. Stronger. Her eyes held a power that made his wolf want to submit just looking at her.
She was walking toward him across a dark forest.
And when she reached him, she was not smiling.
Kade woke at dawn.
Something felt different. Wrong. Right. He could not decide which. His wolf was restless inside him, pacing like there was something it needed to do. Something important.
He got dressed and went to the main hall to wait for the Head Healer.
Cole was already there with several other pack members. They all looked nervous. Eager. Like they were waiting for salvation.
The doors opened.
And the world stopped.
A woman walked into the packhouse. She was tall and carried herself like she owned the space around her. Her dark hair was pulled back in a professional style. She wore expensive black clothes that looked tailored perfectly for her frame. Her eyes were cold and calculated and absolutely terrifying.
And the moment Kade's gaze locked onto hers, his entire body went electric.
The mate bond flared to life inside his chest so suddenly and so powerfully that it nearly brought him to his knees. It was not like anything he had ever felt before. It was not the vague pull he had ignored three years ago. This was absolute. This was undeniable. This was his wolf screaming inside him at a volume that threatened to deafen him.
Mate. Mate. MATE.
But as Kade stared at her, he realized something impossible. He recognized her. Not her face. Not her scent. But something deeper. Something that lived in that broken place inside his chest that had shattered three years ago during the ceremony.
This was the girl who had watched him during pack runs.
This was his fated mate.
This was the omega he had rejected.
And she was looking at him like he was a complete stranger.
Like he was irrelevant.
"Alpha Blackwood," she said, her voice smooth and professional. "I am Head Healer Lyric Winters from the Thornwood Clan. I am here to assess your pack's condition. Show me the infected wolves."
His Beta stepped forward to answer. Kade could not move. Could not speak. Could not do anything but stare at this woman who was supposed to be nobody and had somehow become everything.
And in that moment, Kade finally understood the worst mistake of his entire life.
He had rejected his fated mate three years ago.
And she had come back as someone he could never command. Someone he could never control. Someone who walked into his territory like she owned it, untouchable and impossible and so far beyond his reach that he would probably spend the rest of his life reaching for her anyway.