Zane's POV
The moment I leave the room, I feel it.
That strange, quiet tug in my chest.
Like something's off… or something's beginning.
I slide my hands into my coat pockets as I walk down the hallway of LuxMed, trying to shake the feeling. My mind should be focused on the emergency meeting with Kai, not on the girl with the guarded eyes and fractured arm.
But damn it, those eyes.
That shade of stormy amber—not common, not forgettable.
She lied. She said she didn't remember where she came from, but I could see it in the tight clench of her jaw, the flicker of panic. She knew. She just didn't want to say.
Smart girl.
If she's from the South, it explains a lot.
She shouldn't be here. Yet here she is, bruised, battered, and broken in my hospital—under my care.
I pause just outside the hallway window, exhaling slowly.
She could be dangerous.
And yet…
When I wrapped my fingers around hers to steady her, I felt a strange calm. A warmth that didn't make sense.
That's dangerous too.
Carlos meets me near the main stairwell, eyes scanning me. "You good?"
I nod, but it's automatic. My mind's elsewhere.
"The scans are in," he says, walking beside me. "No internal bleeding, but the mark on her head—"
"Could've been fatal," I finish for him. "She's lucky."
He raises a brow. "Or tough."
"Both."
We walk in silence for a bit, and I know Carlos is waiting for me to say something. To ask questions. To make a call. But I can't.
Not yet.
Not until I know who the hell she really is and why my wolf is clawing beneath my skin whenever she's near.
I push open the door to my office where Beta Kai is already waiting, standing by the tall window, arms crossed. His jaw tightens the moment he sees me.
"Welcome," he greets.
"Sorry for being late, I was with a patient," I answer, Carlos shutting the door behind me.
"How is the patient?" he asks.
"Stable. Fractured arm. Head trauma. Some memory loss, supposedly." I walk past him and pour myself a glass of water, more out of habit than thirst.
Kai leans back against the wall, arms still crossed. "You're going to want to hear this then. I got a letter this morning. Sealed. From the South Territory."
My grip tightens slightly on the glass. "The Aurora Pack?"
He nods. "They're requesting permission to send a team up North. Claim it's to check on someone from their pack who is missing."
My brows furrow. "Who?"
"Don't know," Kai says. "They didn't name her. Just a description. Female. Young. Injured. Lost during full moon hunt."
Xena. I suspected that. She is from the South. From Aurora Pack.
I feel a flicker of something I can't name stir in my chest. Anger, maybe. Or worse—possessiveness. "So they lost one of their own and now they're sniffing around my territory?"
"Not just sniffing." Kai tosses the letter onto the table between us. "They said if we don't allow their retrieval team entry, they'll bring it to the Council. Claim we're harboring one of theirs."
I scoff, stepping forward and snatching the letter up. The seal is still warm from its wax.
"They are more than welcome to do so."
"So what do we do? Let them come?"
"Not yet," I say firmly. "We need more information. If we let them in, it gives them the upper hand. They'll sniff around, cause unrest."
And they will try to take her.
With her injury, I don't think I can let her go. They might have something to do with her wounds.
But then again, she could be important to them.
Something deep inside me wants to protect her.
"And what about the Council?" Kai asks.
I glance out the window, watching the wind shift the trees outside. "The Council will side with whoever presents the strongest case. Right now, that's us. They have no proof that anyone from their territory is here."
"What if she is here?" he asks.
"No one is here. If she is, I would have known by now."
"All right then, I will send them words."
He leaves.
Carlos, who has been silent this whole time, looks me the eyes. "You are staking too much for this girl. Our pack included."
"No." I look him dead in the eyes. "I am not staking anything, just that something doesn't feel right."
"What doesn't feel right?" He raises a brow.
"Don't actually know. Maybe she is in some sort of danger." I shrug.
"What if she is a spy?"
"A spy? She was half-dead when she arrived. Broken ribs, deep wounds. If they wanted to plant a spy, they'd send someone more useful." I scoff.
Carlos shrugs. "Or maybe that was part of the ruse."
I shake my head. "No. She didn't even know she was transferred to LuxMed. She panicked the moment she found out she was here. South wolves don't react like that. They don't fear us—unless they have a reason to."
"She had one—to make us believe she isn't a spy. Their plan all along."
Silence stretches between us, heavy and thoughtful.
"She has no idea who she is," I say. "She didn't even recognize our scent until I mentioned the hospital's name. And yet… when she looked at me, it was like she knew. Like something inside her responded."
Carlos steps forward. "You're going to have to decide fast. Because if the South Alpha sends people here to look for the girl, you'll be forced to make a choice—protect her, or stand down and keep peace between the packs."
"Peace," I echo bitterly. "They never cared about peace. Only control."
Carlos nods. "And control comes through bloodlines. You can't just wreak havoc for a girl you barely know."
I sit down heavily, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "Keep her secure. No visitors. No mention of her arrival to anyone outside the staff we trust. And Carlos?"
He looks up.
"Dig. Find out who she really is. And why they want her back so badly."
Carlos nods once and leaves, closing the door quietly behind him.
I sit in the silence that follows, thinking not of the Council, not of politics or ancient grudges—but of her. Xena Gareth. The girl with fractured memories and eyes that saw right through me. The girl who gritted her teeth through pain, who lied with her mouth but screamed with her body. And when she touched me…
Something ancient moved.
I've never felt that before. A surge of heat, of energy. My wolf stirred.
And that's what scares me most of all.
Something deep inside me wants to protect her.
And no one—not the South, not the Council, not even the Goddess herself—will take her from me. Not without a fight.
After the brief meeting, I find myself back on the third floor, standing in front of her door again.
I shouldn't go back in.
I should let her rest.
But I don't move.
I open the door.
She's asleep—or pretending to be.
The rise and fall of her chest is steady, her face turned slightly away from the door. She looks smaller now. More fragile.
But I remember her earlier. The glare. The fire in her eyes. The way she looked at me like she hated the world and trusted no one.
I walk to the side of the bed and check the IV line. She stirs slightly, her fingers twitching near the sheets. A low sound escapes her throat—a whimper, maybe, or a name.
"Xena," I say softly, almost testing the weight of it.
She doesn't wake. But her body reacts. Her fingers curl into fists, like she's fighting something even in her sleep.
I reach out instinctively, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face.
The moment I touch her, something flickers in my palm.
Warmth. Heat. Energy.
It pulses, then fades.
I pull my hand back, staring.
What the hell?
She exhales sharply, shifting again.
My heart thuds once—hard.
This is not normal.
Nothing about her is.
But instead of stepping away, I sit in the chair beside her bed and watch her sleep a little longer.
Because for reasons I don't yet understand…
I need to know who she is.
And why it feels like I've known her before—even when I know I haven't.