I try to open my eyes, but it’s like a heavy weight is keeping them in place. It’s the same when I try to move my arms or my legs. Nothing.
It’s like I’m in some sort of limbo. The worst part is that I can feel everything, smell everything, and hear everything. I just can’t move. If I could open my eyes, I’m sure I would see everything too.
The last thing I remember was the burning pain, as though my whole body was on fire, and although I can’t see where I am, I know I am close to him, the alpha, the one who put my body through all this pain.
I can smell him. I feel like I’m wrapped in his scent. It’s all around me, enveloping me in a cocoon. This must be his bedroom, and his bed.
I can hear him talking to others about me. They talk about wolfsbane, about forced mating, about horrifying options that I can do nothing to refute, frozen in place as I am.
After the other voices leave, I hear the rustle of clothes and something lands on the bed. For once, I’m grateful that my eyes are glued shut.
Alpha Scopus is undressing. The last thing I need to see is my alpha naked—because whether I like it or not, the mark on my arm means I’m now a member of this pack. At least until he realizes I’m worthless.
I feel the bed dip. Panic begins to surge through me. I feel his fingers graze my skin as he lifts the hem of my dress.
Despite not being able to move, tears escape my eyelids and trickle down my cheek.
I realize now why he didn’t want anyone else to mark me. He wants to use me as a breeder. It’s not unheard of for mateless alphas to use a mateless she-wolf as a breeder so that they can have an heir.
They don’t usually force them, but this is Alpha Scopus of the Dark Moon Pack. The same alpha who is rumored to have killed his mate. He still needs an heir, and he is going to use me for that purpose.
As soon as my mind begins to spiral, I feel the hem of my dress drop. The rough pad of Alpha Damon’s thumb wipes away the tears that streak my cheeks.
“Ember?” His voice is so deep it sends a shiver down my spine.
I want to tell him I’m here. Tell him I don’t want this.
His fingers gently card through my hair. “You’re in there, aren’t you? I know you can hear me,” he whispers, his voice soft and low.
I feel him take my hand. “Just squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”
I try, I really do, but my body is useless to me.
He sighs. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m just going to change your clothes, that’s all.”
I don’t know if I should believe him, but it’s not like I can do anything to stop him if he’s lying.
He continues to lift the hem of my dress, and then I feel the warmth of his hand on my back as he sits me up. I shouldn’t like the feeling, but I do.
I feel a chill as he pulls the dress over my head. Goose bumps emerge from my skin before it’s wrapped in something soft; his shirt. It still smells of him. In a way, it’s comforting, but I don’t know why.
He gently lowers me back onto the bed, and then I feel something heavy cover me.
His warm hand rests on my forehead. “Sleep well, little wolf,” he whispers. Then I hear his footsteps recede, and the sound of the door opening and closing. He’s gone.
I should feel relief that he didn’t take advantage of me, that he’s gone and has left me in peace. For some reason, though, I don’t. I feel lost and empty without his presence.
I put it down to the pack bond, even though I don’t feel that due to my current lack of wolf.
Instead of trying to puzzle things through any further, I allow whatever the healer injected into me to take hold. As I drift, I pray that I’ll somehow come out of this limbo, and that my wolf will return.
I’m torn away from the sight of the little wolf, helpless and splayed across my bed wearing my clothes, by a sudden mind-link from Joshua. “~Damon. Oliver James is outside your office. He’s demanding to see his sister.~”
My wolf growls at the disruption to our little moment.
Demanding? Who the hell does he think he is? I’m the alpha here. If anyone is doing any demanding, it’ll be me.
When I reach my office, Oliver James is standing outside. When he sees me walking toward the office door, he comes striding toward me. “I want to see my sis…”
I cut him off as I grab him by the throat and pin him against the wood-paneled wall.
“You don’t get to demand anything, you worthless piece of shit,” I growl, “not after what you did.”
I release my grip, and he drops to the floor. I didn’t even use my alpha voice, and he’s already baring his neck in submission. “Please,” he begs, “you don’t understand…”
I’m still fuming as I glare at him. “What don’t I understand? That you knocked Ember down without a thought for her well-being? That despite her fragile state of mind, you didn’t even give her a second glance once you smelled your mate?”
Oliver looks down at the floor and shakes his head. I watch as he swallows. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s nervous or because I’ve damaged his throat, but it looks labored.
“Ember’s different…special,” he whispers. He looks up, his eyes glistening. Perhaps he is sorry for what he did after all.
“~Not sorry enough,”~ my wolf growls.
Oliver doesn’t avert his eyes this time. “Please, promise me you won’t hurt her. She can’t heal herself. Not like a normal wolf can.”
I frown. Oliver doesn’t know that his sister’s wolf is suppressed by wolfsbane. He’s not talking about that. He’s talking as though her wolf can’t heal her at all. How is that possible? “Explain,” I growl.
He glances around nervously. He clearly doesn’t want to talk about this out in the open.
Walking to my office door, I open it and stand to the side. “In,” I growl.
He scrambles to his feet and walks into the office, making sure to keep his head down. I follow him in and close the door behind me.
Before he can say anything, I point at the chair that faces my desk. “Sit and explain.”
I walk around the desk, then realize that he’s waiting for me to sit before he does. At least he is showing me proper respect.
Once we’re both sitting, he holds his face in his hands before running his fingers through his hair. “Our mother,” he begins, but I interrupt him.
“I don’t care about your mother, I just care…want to know about Ember.”
He sighs. “I need to explain about our mother…to help you understand about Ember.”
He looks up expectantly, so I nod for him to continue.
“Our mother was a rogue. She wandered into the Craven Moon Pack’s territory and my father found her. He realized she was his mate, so the alpha spared her life.
“I was born shortly after they sealed their mate bond. A couple of years later, Ember was born. My mother was a little like Ember. She was different. Small, and weak…”
“~How dare he call her weak?~” my wolf growls in my mind.
I ignore him and instead, pour a glass of water and pass it to Oliver. It’s not new information that Ember is small and weak, even if my wolf wants to deny it.
Oliver takes a sip of the water and continues. “My father was the first to notice. How he would never tire when my mother was with him.
“One day, a group of rogues ambushed them. My mother was no fighter, but my father defeated them all with ease. He was strong, but not strong enough to defeat that many rogues single-handedly—until that day.
“He didn’t say anything, but he was suspicious that somehow my mother was involved in his sudden show of strength. He did some research and then confronted my mother. She admitted to him that she was a conduit.”
I raise my eyebrows and stare at him.
I’ve heard of conduits, but they’re incredibly rare—and incredibly sought-after. Conduits are wolves who channel the power of others. It’s both a gift and a curse, because they can only use their power to help others and not themselves.
If this story is going where I think, that means Ember is a conduit as well. But if that was the case, then why on earth did Conrad Stone let her go?
“I don’t have to tell you that our old alpha isn’t a good man,” Oliver continues.
“My father tried to keep my mother’s gift a secret, especially after Ember was born. He found out that a conduit is only ever female, and if she passes the gift on, it will only ever be passed to a daughter.”
Oliver sighs and runs his fingers through his hair once again, a nervous tic I’ve noticed him indulging several times now.
“Alpha Stone found out about my mother’s gift, and wanted to use her power to bolster his own strength so he could attack a neighboring pack. When she refused, he killed her and blamed it on rogues.”
I stand up, pushing my chair back with a clatter. It takes all of my control to keep my wolf inside. He wants blood. Specifically, Alpha Conrad Stone’s blood.
Oliver looks up at me and shakes his head, seeming to guess the direction of my thoughts. “He doesn’t know about Ember. He would think she was of no use anyway, except perhaps to breed an army of conduits. Her gift is different to my mother’s.”
I frown and stare at him. “What is her gift?” I question through gritted teeth.
He swallows nervously. “She has the gift of healing, which means she can’t heal herself, only others. That’s why I’m asking you…no, begging you, please don’t hurt her.
“I know you have a reputation, but you didn’t kill her when she challenged you, and you helped her when she collapsed. I just need to know you’ll keep her safe…”
I grip the edge of the table. She’s upstairs now, not able to heal from the brand I inflicted on her. Even if she had her wolf, she wouldn’t be able to heal herself. Why didn’t I see this?
“Leave,” I growl, “go to your mate.”
“You won’t…” he begins.
“Your sister is safe,” I snap, “now go.”
I watch him as he scuttles to the door. Just as he opens it, he turns to look at me.
“Thank you,” he whispers before he literally runs out of the door.
“~I told you~,” my wolf scowls. “~She’s special, and she belongs to us. She can heal us. Only we can protect her.~”
As much as I hate to admit it, I fear that this time he is probably right. If Ember can heal my wolf’s shattered heart, then she does indeed belong to us.