ELENA'S POV
I wake up screaming.
Pain explodes through every inch of my body. It feels like my insides are being shredded by invisible claws. The broken mate bond is killing me, slowly draining the life from my veins.
"Easy." A deep voice cuts through my panic. "You're safe. Well, safer than you were."
My eyes snap open. I'm lying on a thin mattress in what looks like a cave. Firelight flickers on stone walls. The massive scarred man—Marcus—sits nearby, watching me with those sharp amber eyes.
"Where am I?" My voice comes out as a croak.
"My camp. About fifty miles from your old pack territory." He tosses a water bottle at me. "Drink. You're dehydrated from the bleeding."
I catch it with shaking hands and gulp the water down. My throat feels like sandpaper.
"How long was I unconscious?"
"Six hours. You've got maybe six more before the rejection kills you completely." Marcus stands and moves to the fire, stirring something in a pot. "Unless you fight."
"Fight?" I laugh bitterly. "I'm dying. My mate rejected me while I'm carrying his babies. My whole pack turned their backs on me. What's left to fight for?"
Marcus spins around so fast I flinch. His eyes blaze with anger—not at me, but for me.
"Those babies in your belly. That's what you fight for." He points at my stomach. "You told me to save them. Were you lying? Because if you're just going to give up and die, I wasted my time saving you from those rogues."
Shame floods through me. He's right. My hand moves to my stomach, protective.
"I want them to live," I whisper. "More than anything."
"Then stop acting like a victim and start acting like a mother." Marcus brings over a bowl of something that smells awful. "Drink this. It's a healing brew. Tastes like death, but it'll slow the rejection hemorrhage."
I take the bowl with trembling hands. The liquid inside is black and thick. "What's in it?"
"Do you really want to know?"
I drink it in one gulp. He's right—it tastes horrible. But almost immediately, the sharp pain in my chest dulls to a throb.
"Better?" Marcus asks.
I nod, surprised. "How did you know how to make that?"
"I've seen a lot of rejected wolves die over the years." His face darkens. "I've also seen a few who were stubborn enough to survive. The ones who had something worth living for."
"You're a rogue," I say, studying his scars. "But you're not like the others who attacked me."
"Those weren't rogues. They were traffickers." Marcus sits back down. "They sell wolves to the highest bidder. Pregnant females go for premium prices to packs who want heirs without the trouble of raising them."
Horror washes over me. "They were going to sell my babies?"
"Yes. And I killed them for it." He says it casually, like he's talking about the weather. "I don't tolerate that kind of evil."
"Why?" I lean forward, ignoring the pain. "Why do you care? You don't know me."
Marcus is quiet for a long moment. When he speaks, his voice is rough with old grief.
"I had a sister once. Anna. She was gentle, kind—like you. She mated an Alpha who seemed perfect. Then he rejected her when she got pregnant because the baby wasn't his planned heir." His hands clench into fists. "She died alone in the woods, trying to protect that baby. I found her too late."
Tears stream down my face. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Be angry." Marcus meets my eyes. "Be furious. Your mate threw you away like garbage. Your pack watched you suffer and did nothing. They deserve your rage, not your tears."
He's right. Underneath the pain and heartbreak, I feel it—a burning coal of anger in my chest.
"What do I do?" I ask.
"First, you survive. That brew will buy you time, but you need to want to live. Really want it." Marcus stands. "Second, you get strong. No more being the perfect, quiet Luna. You become the wolf you were meant to be."
"I don't know how to be anything else."
"Then I'll teach you." He offers his hand. "I'll train you. Protect you. Help you build a life where you're not anyone's doormat. But you have to promise me something."
"What?"
"That you'll never let anyone make you feel small again. Not your ex-mate, not your old pack, nobody." His grip is firm when I take his hand. "Promise me you'll raise those babies to be warriors, not victims."
I think about Chase's cold eyes. Lydia's cruel smile. The pack members who walked past while I bled on the floor.
"I promise," I say, and I mean it.
Marcus pulls me to my feet. "Good. Because we don't have much time. Your old pack will come looking for you eventually—not to bring you back, but to make sure you're dead. You're a loose end, and Alphas hate loose ends."
Fear spikes through me. "Chase would kill me?"
"He already tried to kill you by rejecting you while pregnant. The next step is making sure you can't come back and cause problems." Marcus hands me a coat. "We need to move camps. Can you walk?"
"I'll crawl if I have to."
"That's the spirit." He grins, and it transforms his scarred face. "Welcome to the rogue life, Luna. Or should I say, future Alpha."
"Alpha?" I shake my head. "I'm not—"
"You will be." Marcus starts packing supplies. "I can smell the power in you. Your wolf isn't dead—she's hibernating, healing. When she wakes up, she'll be stronger than before. Rejection either kills you or remakes you. You're choosing the second option."
We're about to leave when a howl echoes through the forest. Then another. And another.
Marcus freezes. "That's a hunting party. They're tracking your scent."
"Chase sent them already?" My voice rises in panic.
"Probably Lydia." Marcus grabs weapons—knives, a bow. "She won't want you alive. You're evidence of her stealing another woman's mate."
The howls grow closer. At least ten wolves, maybe more.
Marcus looks at me seriously. "Can you shift?"
"I... I don't know. My wolf is so weak."
"Try. Now."
I close my eyes and reach for my wolf. She's there, barely alive, whimpering in pain. "Please," I beg her. "Please help me. Help us."
For a moment, nothing happens.
Then I feel her anger. Pure, burning rage at what was done to us. To our babies.
My bones start to crack and shift.
"That's it!" Marcus encourages. "Let her out!"
But something's wrong. The shift hurts worse than it should. My wolf is fighting through the rejection damage, forcing herself to emerge.
When the transformation finishes, Marcus's eyes go wide.
"Impossible," he breathes.
I look down at my paws and gasp. My fur isn't the normal brown it used to be.
It's silver.
Touched with moonlight.
"You're not just a Luna anymore," Marcus says, awe in his voice. "You're something else. Something stronger."
The hunting party crashes through the trees. Ten massive wolves led by Malcolm, Chase's head warrior.
They freeze when they see me. Even in wolf form, I can see their shock.
Malcolm shifts to human form. "What are you?" he growls.
"I'm what he made me," I snarl back, my voice stronger than I've ever heard it. "I'm his biggest mistake."
"Alpha Chase wants you dead," Malcolm says coldly. "Lydia demands it. You're carrying abominations."
"These babies are Chase's heirs!" I shout.
"Not anymore. Lydia's pregnant now. With the true heir." Malcolm's smile is cruel. "Your children are nothing. Just like you."
The words hit me like a physical blow. Lydia's pregnant. Chase moved on that fast.
Marcus steps beside me in his massive black wolf form. "She's under my protection now."
"You're one rogue against ten warriors," Malcolm laughs. "Stand aside, or die with her."
I look at Marcus. He can't fight them all. He'll die protecting me.
But before I can tell him to run, something happens.
My silver wolf opens her mouth and releases a howl that shakes the earth itself.
It's not a normal howl. It's a command. An Alpha command.
And every single one of Malcolm's warriors drops to their knees, forced to submit by a power I didn't know I had.
Even Malcolm struggles to stay standing.
"What... are you?" he gasps.
I don't know. But I'm not the weak Luna anymore.
I'm something Chase should have never thrown away.