A sharp pounding on my bedroom door jolted me awake. Disoriented, I blinked at the morning sunlight streaming through my window.
"Hazel! Open this door right now!" Alpha Maxen's voice thundered, each word vibrating through the wood.
My heart leaped into my throat. I scrambled out of bed, wincing as my injured ankle protested the sudden movement. Last night's events crashed back into my consciousness—Julian's rejection, the mysterious wolf, Liam's attack.
"Coming!" I called, hastily pulling on sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt.
I limped to the door and opened it to find Alpha Maxen's imposing figure filling the doorway. The man who had been my father for the past six years looked different this morning. His silver-streaked black hair was disheveled, his eyes bloodshot. The familiar lines of his face, normally arranged in a stern but caring expression, were now twisted with something darker.
"Alpha," I greeted him, dropping my gaze respectfully.
He pushed past me into the room. "We need to talk about what happened last night."
I swallowed hard. "I already told you everything at the clearing."
"Did you?" He turned to face me, his alpha aura filling the room, making the air heavy and oppressive. "Because the search parties found something interesting."
My stomach clenched. "What did they find?"
"Nothing." His eyes narrowed. "They found absolutely nothing. No trace of this massive rogue wolf that supposedly attacked Liam. No scent trail leading away from the clearing. Nothing."
Relief flooded through me. My protector had escaped.
"That's...strange," I offered weakly.
"Strange?" Alpha Maxen stepped closer. "What's strange is a wolf that can disappear without a trace. What's strange is my human daughter being found cuddled up to a creature that nearly killed one of our betas."
"Liam attacked first," I reminded him, my voice small but insistent.
Alpha Maxen's hand shot out, gripping my chin painfully. "Do not interrupt me."
I froze, shock rippling through me. He had never been physically rough with me before. Never.
"Tell me again what happened," he demanded. "Every detail."
I recounted the story as truthfully as I could, omitting only the strange connection I'd felt with the black wolf. How I'd gotten separated during the Mate Hunt. How I'd injured my ankle and was freezing to death. How the mysterious wolf had appeared and saved me from hypothermia. How Liam had attacked and the wolf had defended us both.
Alpha Maxen listened, his expression growing darker with each word. When I finished, he began to pace the small confines of my bedroom.
"Six years," he muttered. "Six years I've waited for a sign."
"A sign of what?" I asked, confused.
He stopped abruptly. "A sign that you're more than what you appear."
The air in the room seemed to thicken. "I don't understand."
"Shift for me, Hazel."
My mouth fell open. "What? I can't—"
"SHIFT!" he roared, his alpha command slamming into me like a physical blow.
I staggered backward, gasping for breath. Human as I was, the alpha command couldn't compel me to obey, but it still hurt—like being hit with a wave of pure authority.
"I can't shift!" I cried. "I'm human! You know I'm human!"
Alpha Maxen's eyes glowed amber with power. "Are you? Or have you been hiding your true nature all these years?"
Fear crawled up my spine. "What are you talking about? Why would I hide being a werewolf? That would be amazing!"
"Because your mother was a liar," he snarled, advancing on me. "And apparently, so are you."
He grabbed my arm, his grip bruising. I winced, trying to pull away.
"You're hurting me!"
"SHIFT!" he commanded again, shaking me violently.
Tears sprang to my eyes, both from pain and utter confusion. "I can't! Please, stop!"
"Your mother hid what she was from me for years," he growled. "Made me believe she was human when she wasn't. And now, after all this time raising you, caring for you, you're doing the same thing."
Cold dread pooled in my stomach. "My mother? What about my mother?"
Instead of answering, Alpha Maxen dragged me to the center of the room. "I've waited patiently. Given you every opportunity to reveal yourself. But now I find you consorting with a powerful rogue—a wolf that protected you against one of our own!"
He shoved me hard. I stumbled, my injured ankle giving way. I crumpled to the floor with a cry of pain.
"Only a shifter would earn that kind of protection," he continued, looming over me. "Only someone with power."
"I don't have any power!" I sobbed, curling into myself protectively. "I'm just me!"
"SHIFT NOW!" he roared, delivering a brutal kick to my side.
Pain exploded through my ribs. I gasped, unable to breathe for several terrifying seconds.
"Please," I wheezed when I could finally speak. "Dad, please..."
"I am not your father!" he spat. "Not if you continue this deception."
The door burst open. Alpha Maxen's Beta, Dominic, rushed in, his eyes wide with alarm.
"Alpha! What's happening?"
Alpha Maxen turned to his second-in-command, breathing heavily. "She's refusing to shift. Just like her mother. Hiding what she really is."
Dominic looked between us, confusion evident on his face. "But Hazel's human. We've always known that."
"Have we?" Alpha Maxen challenged. "Or has she been suppressing her wolf all these years?"
I struggled to sit up, hugging my throbbing ribs. "I don't have a wolf," I said, my voice breaking. "I've never had one. You know that."
Alpha Maxen stared down at me with disgust. "Your mother was my fated mate."
The revelation hit me like a bucket of ice water. "What?"
"My destined mate," he continued, each word dripping with old pain. "But she rejected me. Ran away. Married a human man instead. Had you."
My world tilted on its axis. "But... you said you were friends with my parents. That's why you took me in when they died."
"I lied," he said flatly. "I took you in because I hoped her betrayal might be explained. That perhaps she ran because you were special. Different. I thought maybe, just maybe, you'd develop abilities. Show signs of being more than human."
Hot tears streamed down my face. "You only took me in because you thought I might be a werewolf?"
Alpha Maxen looked away. "I gave you everything. A home. Status. Protection. And all I asked was for you to be honest about what you are."
"I AM human!" I shouted, anger momentarily overriding my fear. "I've never been anything else!"
He shook his head. "No regular human would have a rogue wolf defend them against a pack member. That creature recognized something in you—something you're hiding even from yourself."
"Alpha," Dominic interjected cautiously. "Perhaps the girl truly doesn't know."
"Six years," Alpha Maxen repeated, ignoring his Beta. "Six years I've waited for proof that Elena's betrayal had some purpose. Some explanation beyond her simply choosing a human over her destined mate."
My mother's name. Elena. I'd almost forgotten it.
Alpha Maxen's bitter laugh pulled me from my thoughts. "And what do I get instead? A human girl who smuggles rogue wolves onto our territory. Who defends them against her own pack."
"That's not what happened," I protested weakly.
He didn't seem to hear me. His amber eyes had gone distant, seeing ghosts from his past rather than the terrified girl at his feet.
"Alpha," Dominic said more firmly. "Perhaps we should discuss this privately."
Alpha Maxen's focus snapped back to me. "There's nothing to discuss. She's no daughter of mine. She never was."
The words cut deeper than his physical blows. Six years of believing I had a father who loved me, erased in an instant.
"Take her to the omega quarters," Alpha Maxen ordered Dominic. "She can earn her keep there until I decide what to do with her."
Shock numbed me to my core. The omega quarters were where the lowest-ranked pack members lived—those who did the menial work, who served rather than led. It was as good as exile within the pack itself.
"But Alpha," Dominic protested, "she's been your daughter for six years. The pack sees her as—"
"The pack will see her as I command them to see her," Alpha Maxen cut in sharply. "She's human. She has no mate. No purpose here except the one I give her. And I say she serves the omegas now."
I stared up at him, this man who had tucked me in at night after my parents died. Who had dried my tears and promised to protect me always. All of it—every moment, every kindness—had been conditional. Based on the hope that I would someday prove to be something I wasn't.
"You never loved me," I whispered, the realization like acid in my throat. "It was all a lie."
Alpha Maxen looked down at me, and for a brief, fleeting moment, I thought I saw regret in his eyes. But it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
"Get her out of my sight," he ordered Dominic. "And have someone pack up this room. She won't be needing these luxuries anymore."
Without another word, he strode from the room, leaving me broken on the floor—not just physically, but in every way that mattered.
Dominic approached cautiously, as if I were a wounded animal that might lash out. "I'm sorry, Hazel. I had no idea he—"
"Just help me up," I interrupted, not wanting his pity. Not wanting anyone's pity.
In the space of two days, I had lost everything. My boyfriend. My father. My home. My identity.
As Dominic helped me to my feet, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Bruised. Tear-stained. Broken.
But not defeated. Not yet.
Somewhere in the forest, a massive black wolf with golden eyes had seen something in me worth protecting. Something Alpha Maxen, with all his power and authority, had missed.
Maybe that was enough to hold onto for now. Maybe that was enough to survive whatever came next.