After My Alpha Locked Me Away for Five Years

The fluorescent lights of the international departure terminal buzzed overhead, casting a harsh glare over the bustling crowds. For five years, my entire world had been confined to a windowless basement and the suffocating borders of the Stoneclaw Pack. Now, the sprawling expanse of the airport felt dizzying.

Franklin stood beside me near the security gate, a towering mountain of calm in the chaos. He didn't crowd me. He never did. But his presence was a warm hearth at my back, shielding me from the rushing travelers.

"Flight boards say they're boarding in ten minutes," he said, his deep voice carrying easily over the noise.

I gripped the strap of my duffel bag, my knuckles turning white. "What if I fail, Franklin? What if I really am just a broken Omega?"

He stepped closer, closing the distance between us. He reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a small, velvet box. "You were never broken, Paisy. Just buried."

He popped the box open. Resting on the dark velvet was a delicate silver chain holding a crescent moon pendant. It was simple, elegant, and practically hummed with protective energy.

"Turn around," he murmured softly.

I obeyed, sweeping my hair over my shoulder. Franklin's large, calloused fingers brushed against the nape of my neck as he clasped the necklace. A jolt of pure, electric heat shot down my spine at his touch. I gasped softly, my breath hitching. The chemistry between us was a living, breathing entity, thick and magnetic. My dormant wolf stirred, a faint rumble vibrating in my chest.

He didn't use the moment to claim me. He didn't demand a mate bond or press his advantage. He simply let his hands linger on my shoulders for a fleeting second before stepping back.

"I'll wait for you," he promised, his amber eyes burning with a quiet, fierce devotion. "Take all the time you need to find yourself. When you're ready, I'll be here."

I touched the cool silver moon resting against my collarbone. "Thank you," I whispered, the words carrying a thousand unsaid promises. I turned and walked through the security gates, leaving a piece of my heart with the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack.

***

Three months later.

The air inside the Lycan Healer Academy's grand training hall was thick with the scent of burning sage and damp earth. I sat cross-legged on a woven mat, surrounded by twenty other students.

"Breathe past the physical," our instructor, Madam Elara, chanted softly, pacing the wooden floorboards. "Find the blockages in your spirit. Shatter them."

I closed my eyes and reached inward. For three months, I had studied the flow of energy, learning the ancient texts of Lycan anatomy. I knew exactly what was wrong with me. Hayes's toxic Alpha aura had calcified around my inner wolf like a shell of black ice, stunting her growth.

Today, I was tired of being frozen.

I pushed my consciousness deep into my chest, gathering every ounce of my healing energy. I slammed it against the black ice.

A sharp, agonizing fracture echoed in my mind.

*Push harder,* a voice whispered in the dark. It wasn't my human voice. It was ancient, feminine, and terrifyingly powerful. *Let me out.*

I inhaled sharply and slammed my energy against the barrier again.

The ice shattered.

A blinding, brilliant white light exploded behind my eyelids. Fire rushed through my veins, hot and demanding. My bones began to crack and elongate, but it wasn't the agonizing torment I had read about. It felt like stretching a muscle that had been cramped for a lifetime.

I fell forward onto my hands, which were rapidly morphing into massive, fur-covered paws. But the fur wasn't the dull, patchy brown of an Omega.

It was shimmering, liquid silver.

Gasps echoed through the training hall. I felt my snout lengthen, my senses exploding outward. I could hear the heartbeat of a bird outside. I could smell the distinct metallic tang of rain miles away. I was massive—easily standing at the shoulder of an average Alpha—and coursing with the legendary, royal bloodline of a Gamma Healer.

I threw my heavy head back and let out my first howl.

The sound tore from my throat, a raw, deafening shockwave of pure, unadulterated power. The sheer force of my unleashed aura slammed into the walls.

*CRACK.*

The massive floor-to-ceiling windows lining the training hall exploded outward. Glistening shards of glass rained down onto the courtyard below like diamonds. I stood in the center of the room, panting, my silver coat gleaming under the sudden rush of sunlight.

But the magnitude of that energy surge did something else. It ripped a temporary tear in the supernatural ether, violently dragging my consciousness across the ocean through the ghost of my severed mate bond.

Suddenly, I wasn't in Munich. I was looking through a hazy, spiritual window into the Alpha's office at Stoneclaw.

The smell of rotting meat and sickness hit my nose. Hayes was slumped behind his mahogany desk. His skin was a translucent, sickly gray, coated in a clammy sweat. His once-commanding Alpha aura was literally decaying, rejecting his own body without my spiritual anchor to sustain it.

"Fix it," Hayes snarled, his voice a weak, wet rasp. He coughed, a splatter of dark blood hitting the desk.

Monica stood beside him, her hands trembling. She looked terrified. "I'm trying, Alpha. This new dose will align your senses..."

She plunged a syringe into his neck. Through my healer's sight, I saw the pale green liquid for what it really was: a potent wolfsbane derivative. She had been using it to keep him docile and confused, but now, with his immune system collapsing, the poison was burning straight through his veins.

Hayes convulsed, his eyes rolling back. When he opened them, they were bloodshot and dilated with madness. He stared directly into the empty corner of the room where my spiritual projection hovered.

"Paisley," he whimpered, reaching a shaking, clawed hand toward the shadows. "Paisley, please... come back. It hurts. You're hiding again, aren't you? Come out..."

He was hallucinating. The mighty, ruthless Alpha of Stoneclaw was begging a shadow to save him.

The vision snapped shut, plunging me back into the bright, airy training hall in Germany. Madam Elara and the students were staring at me in absolute awe.

I shook out my silver coat, the residual image of Hayes's pathetic, rotting form fading from my mind. I was no longer his battery. I was a weapon.