After My Alpha Refused to Save My Mother

Frank didn't come back.

Not that night. Not the next day. Not the day after that.

I boiled feverroot until my fingers blistered. I spooned it between my mother's cracked lips, one drop at a time. Ada held her head up. Most of it ran down her chin.

"Swallow, Mama," I begged. "Just a little."

She coughed. Some of it stayed down.

That was the best moment of the whole second day.

By the afternoon, I'd run out of willow bark. I had to go to the pack market myself.

Three she-wolves stood by the herb stall. Lady Brenna, the head warrior's wife. Two of her friends. Last spring, all three had curtsied so low to me their skirts swept the dirt.

Today, Brenna didn't even step aside.

"Have you heard?" she said loudly to the others. "Tobias hasn't left Selena's side in two days."

"Poor thing," the redhead sighed. "A fall like that, while carrying the Alpha's heir."

"If it's a boy, the council will have to name her Luna. They won't have a choice."

Brenna's eyes slid to me. "Well. Some wolves just aren't built to give an Alpha pups."

I set my coins on the counter. "Willow bark. Two bundles."

The old merchant shuffled his feet. "Luna, I—"

"Is she still Luna?" the redhead asked sweetly. "I heard she gave the crown back."

They giggled.

I picked up the willow bark and turned to face them. "My mother is dying three streets from here. Feel free to keep laughing. I'll make sure she hears it in her last hour."

The giggling stopped. Brenna's face went pink.

I walked away before they could see my hands shake.

On the way back, I passed the council hall. The side window stood open. I heard Frank's voice and stopped cold.

"—she's fine, Alpha. Not a scratch." That was Rowan, his Beta and closest friend. "Tobias checked her twice. No bleeding. No bruising. She tripped on a practice shield and screamed."

"And the pregnancy?"

"There's no proof. Tobias says it's too early to smell. All we have is her word."

A pause. A chair creaked.

"Good," Frank said.

I pressed my back flat against the wall.

"Good?" Rowan sounded as confused as I felt.

"Her word is enough. If the pack thinks Selena carries my heir, the Beta family loses its leverage." Frank's voice was smooth and patient, the voice he used with stubborn elders. "Zoe's father may be dead, but his name still carries votes in that council. Her uncle sits in his seat now. If they ever challenge my decisions on the eastern ridge, I'll need them weak."

"And Zoe?"

"Zoe will do what she always does. Cry. Forgive me. Stay."

Rowan was quiet for a long time. "And her mother?"

"Keep Tobias busy with Selena. The old woman's sickness keeps Zoe distracted. A distracted Luna doesn't ask questions."

The willow bark slipped out of my fingers and hit the ground.

I didn't pick it up.

Six years. I had thought my marriage was a love story that went bad.

It had never been a love story at all.

That night, I emptied my jewelry box onto Ada's table. Pearl earrings. A sapphire ring from Frank's mother. Gold bangles from my wedding day.

Ada stared. "Luna, what are you doing?"

"Selling all of it."

"And then?"

"And then I'm taking her away from here." I wrapped my mother in two wool blankets. "Every healer between here and the mountains. Someone will help her."

"The Alpha will notice you're gone."

"He hasn't noticed I'm here."

We left before dawn in a borrowed cart.

The next four days blurred together. A healer in Ashridge took my pearls and shook his head. An herbwoman in the valley took the bangles and gave me a jar of salve that did nothing. My mother's breathing grew thinner every hour.

Then an innkeeper leaned over the counter and lowered his voice.

"There's a healer at the border. The old watchtower past the pine ridge. They say he cured a whole family of moonblight last winter."

My heart jumped. "You're sure?"

"That's what they say."

I gave him the sapphire ring. I didn't even ask for change.

The watchtower stood alone at the forest's edge. A lantern burned in the window.

I lifted my mother from the cart. She weighed almost nothing.

"We're here, Mama," I whispered. "This is the one."

The door opened before I knocked.

A man stood there in a gray healer's robe. Behind him, four more shapes stepped out of the shadows. Big men. Swords at their hips. Silvercrest colors on their sleeves.

My blood turned to ice.

The man in the robe smiled. "Luna Zoe. Miss Selena said you'd be desperate enough to come."

"Who are you?"

"Nobody important." He pulled off the robe and tossed it aside. A dagger gleamed on his belt. "The Alpha wants you both home. Quietly."

"Frank sent you?"

"Frank signed the order. Selena picked the bait." He shrugged. "Smart girl. Knew you'd chase any rumor for your mama."

I backed toward the cart, my mother clutched to my chest.

"Hand her over," one of the warriors said. "We'll carry her. Nobody has to bleed."

"Touch her and you will."

They laughed. All five of them.

I set my mother gently into the cart. Then I turned around.

I hadn't shifted in years. Frank liked his Luna soft. Gentle. Human. My wolf had gone quiet inside me, curled up somewhere I'd forgotten how to reach.

I reached now.

Wake up. Please. I need you.

Pain tore through my spine. My bones cracked and stretched. My skin split into fur. When I opened my eyes again, I was standing on four legs, taller than any of them.

Silver-gray. Huge.

The laughing stopped.

"Moon above," someone breathed. "Nobody said she could do that."

The first warrior rushed me. I caught his arm in my jaws and threw him into the tower wall. The second slashed my shoulder. Hot blood soaked my fur. I didn't even feel it.

I bit. I clawed. I put my body between them and the cart again and again.

A blade opened my side. Another cut across my leg. I stumbled and got back up.

"She's going down," the fake healer shouted. "Grab the old woman!"

I dragged myself in front of the cart one more time. My human voice ripped out through my wolf's throat, raw and broken.

"I can lose my husband! I can lose my title! But nobody takes my mother from me!"

Something heavy cracked against my skull.

The world flipped sideways. I hit the dirt. My fur melted away, and I was a woman again, naked and bleeding in the pine needles.

Through the blur, I saw them lift my mother from the cart.

"Mama," I tried to say. Nothing came out.

Hooves. Shouts. The cart rattled away into the dark.

Then silence.

My eyes were closing when a pair of black boots stopped in front of my face.

Polished leather. Mud on the heels.

Someone knelt. A heavy cloak settled over my shoulders. Strong arms slid under me and lifted me off the ground like I weighed nothing.

"Alpha," a voice said nearby, "those were Silvercrest wolves."

"I saw." The man holding me spoke low and cold, each word cutting like a blade. "Whoever dares to hurt her on my land will pay ten times over."

Then everything went black.

I woke up to the smell of cedar and clean linen.

The bed beneath me was enormous. Silk sheets. Velvet curtains. A fire crackled in a marble hearth bigger than my mother's whole cottage.

My side throbbed under tight bandages.

"You're awake."

I turned my head.

A man sat in a chair beside the bed, long legs stretched out, black boots crossed at the ankle. Dark hair. Sharp jaw. Gray eyes watching me like he'd been waiting for hours.

I knew that face. Every wolf in the north knew it.

The Alpha of Blackthorn Pack.

Iris.

Frank's oldest enemy.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Now," he said quietly, "tell me why my men found Silvercrest's Luna dying in my forest."