Keira's POV
I woke up screaming.
Pain—white-hot and blinding—tore through my chest. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, could only feel the agony of something being ripped from my very soul.
"Easy! You're safe!" Hands pressed me back against soft pillows. "The curse is breaking. You need to stay still!"
Curse? What curse?
Memories flooded back. The kitchen. Cassandra's betrayal. Running through the forest. Marcus's wolves. Crossing the border into Shadowcrest.
And then... nothing. Just darkness and pain.
"What happened?" My voice came out as a raspy whisper.
"You've been unconscious for eighteen hours." An elderly woman with kind eyes smiled down at me. "The wolfsbane poisoning nearly killed you. And Helena's tracking curse didn't help matters."
Tracking curse. Right. I remembered screaming, silver light, feeling like my power was tearing me apart from the inside.
"Am I...?" I touched my chest, feeling for the curse's presence.
"Alive? Yes. Cured? Also yes, though not in the way we expected." The healer—she had to be a healer based on the magic radiating from her hands—helped me sit up. "Alpha King Theron did something very foolish and very brave. He shared the curse through your mate bond."
My heart stopped. "He what?"
"Linked himself to you permanently. Took half the curse's damage into his own body." She checked my pulse. "You're both alive, but your life forces are now connected. Forever."
"That's... that's insane. Why would he do that?"
"You'd have to ask him yourself." The healer stood. "Speaking of which, he's demanded to see you the moment you woke. I'll send word you're ready."
"Wait! I'm not—I need—" I looked down at myself and froze.
I was clean. Actually clean for the first time in what felt like forever. My servant's rags were gone, replaced by a soft blue dress that probably cost more than I'd earned in three years. My hands—rough and calloused from scrubbing floors—were bandaged and treated.
And when I touched my face, the brown contact lenses were gone.
"Where are my lenses?" Panic rose in my throat. "I need them. If anyone sees my real eye color—"
"Everyone already knows who you are, child." The healer's voice was gentle. "There's no point hiding anymore. You're in Shadowcrest now. You're safe."
Safe. The word felt foreign.
The healer left, promising to return with food. I sat alone in the massive bedroom—bigger than the entire servant's quarters back in Silverpine—trying to process everything.
Theron had saved my life. Again. By binding himself to me permanently.
Why? We barely knew each other. Yes, the mate bond was real, but that didn't mean he had to sacrifice his independence for me.
Unless... unless he saw me as an asset. A tool to use against Helena and Marcus. A True Alpha he could control through our connection.
That thought hurt more than I wanted to admit.
I swung my legs out of bed, testing my strength. Wobbly, but functional. The wolfsbane was finally purged from my system. For the first time in three years, I felt my wolf—really felt her—pressing close to the surface.
She was angry. Powerful. Ready to fight.
Easy, I told her. We're not safe yet. We need to be smart.
A knock sounded at the door. "Lady Keira? May I enter?"
Lady Keira. Not servant. Not traitor. Lady.
"Come in," I called.
A young woman entered carrying a tray of food. She had warm brown eyes and moved with easy confidence—not a servant's submission, but a warrior's grace.
"I'm Maya," she said with a small smile. "The Alpha King assigned me as your personal attendant. I brought breakfast, though it's technically afternoon now."
"Personal attendant?" I stared at the food—more than I'd eaten in a week back in Silverpine. "I don't need—"
"The Alpha King insists." Maya set the tray down. "He also requests your presence in his study as soon as you're able. He said, and I quote, 'Tell her it's not optional.'"
Of course it wasn't.
"I'll eat first," I decided. "Then face whatever Theron wants."
Maya nodded approvingly. "Smart. Never face an Alpha King on an empty stomach. Trust me."
As I ate—real food, hot food, food that didn't taste like fear and desperation—Maya chatted about Shadowcrest. The pack dynamics. The warriors. The King's reputation for being cold but fair.
"Everyone's talking about you," she admitted. "The True Alpha who survived three years undercover. It's like something from a legend."
"It wasn't legendary. It was survival." I finished the last bite. "And I lost everything in the process."
"Did you?" Maya tilted her head. "Seems to me you're still alive, still fighting, and now you have the most powerful Alpha in the region as your mate. That's not nothing."
She had a point. But I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd traded one prison for another.
"Where's the study?" I asked, standing.
"I'll show you. But first—" Maya gestured to a mirror on the wall. "You might want to see yourself."
I approached the mirror slowly, almost afraid of what I'd find.
The woman staring back was a stranger.
My amber eyes—the distinctive Ashford eyes—glowed with power I hadn't seen in years. My face had lost the gauntness of poor nutrition. My hair, cleaned and brushed, fell in dark waves around my shoulders.
I looked like an Alpha. Like my mother had looked before Helena murdered her.
Like the heir I was supposed to be.
Tears stung my eyes. For three years, I'd forced myself to look weak, small, forgettable. I'd hidden everything that made me me.
Now, standing in Shadowcrest's palace, I could finally see myself again.
"You're beautiful," Maya said softly. "Like a queen."
"I'm not a queen. I'm a refugee with no pack and no plan."
"Yet." She smiled. "Come on. The Alpha King is waiting."
We walked through corridors that spoke of power and history. Guards nodded respectfully as we passed—to me, not just to Maya. Wolves actually saw me, acknowledged me, treated me like I mattered.
It was overwhelming.
Maya stopped at a heavy wooden door. "His study. Good luck."
She left before I could ask what I'd need luck for.
I knocked.
"Enter," Theron's voice commanded.
I pushed open the door and froze.
Theron sat behind a massive desk covered in papers and maps. But it was his appearance that stopped me cold. He looked exhausted—dark circles under his eyes, tension in his jaw, and when he looked up, I saw pain flash across his face before he masked it.
The curse. He'd taken half of Helena's curse into himself.
"You're hurting," I said before I could stop myself. "Because of me."
"I'm fine."
"You're lying. I can feel it through the bond."
His eyes narrowed. "You can feel it?"
"Ever since I woke up. Your pain. Your exhaustion. Everything." I moved closer to the desk. "Why did you do it? Why would you bind yourself to me like that?"
"Because letting you die wasn't an option."
"But why? We barely know each other. The mate bond doesn't force you to—"
"Sit down, Keira." His Alpha voice made it a command, not a request.
I sat, spine straight, refusing to show submission even though every instinct screamed at me to obey.
"Better." He leaned back in his chair, studying me. "How much do you remember from last night?"
"Bits and pieces. Running. Fighting. You carrying me across the border."
"Do you remember what Helena said? Her final threat?"
I thought back. "That I'd regret running. That she'd make sure of it."
"She's already started." Theron pushed a paper across the desk toward me. "This arrived two hours ago. Official declaration from Silverpine Pack to the Wolf Council."
I read it and my blood turned to ice.
"Keira Ashford is wanted for the murder of Alpha Richard Ashford, conspiracy to overthrow legitimate pack leadership, theft of pack resources, and treason. A bounty of 50,000 gold is offered for her capture—alive or dead. Furthermore, any pack harboring the criminal will be considered an enemy of Silverpine and subject to sanctions."
"She's framing me," I whispered. "For everything she did."
"Worse." Theron pulled out another document. "She's also claiming I kidnapped you under false pretense of the mate bond. That I'm using you to destabilize Silverpine so Shadowcrest can invade."
"That's insane! The mate bond is real—"
"Is it?" His golden eyes pinned me. "Because Helena has three witnesses who swear they saw me drug you and carry you away by force."
"They're lying!"
"Of course they are. But the Wolf Council has to investigate both sides. Which means in three days, representatives from all major packs will arrive here to determine the truth."
My mind raced. "If they rule in Helena's favor—"
"I'll be forced to return you to Silverpine for trial, or face sanctions and possible war with every pack that sides with Helena." Theron's expression was grim. "And based on the responses I'm getting, she's already convinced half the region that you're a murderer and I'm a kidnapper."
"So what do we do?"
"We prove her wrong." He stood, coming around the desk. "Which means in the next three days, you and I need to build an ironclad case against Helena. We need witnesses, evidence, proof that can't be disputed."
"But my evidence was destroyed. Everything I spent three years collecting—"
"Not everything." Theron pulled a small object from his pocket. A communication stone. "While you were unconscious, my spies infiltrated Silverpine. They couldn't retrieve your documents, but they did extract one very important witness."
"Who?"
The study door opened.
An elderly man stepped in, leaning heavily on a cane. His eyes were milky with age, but when he saw me, they filled with tears.
"Keira," he whispered. "My dear child. You're alive."
My heart stopped.
"Elder Tobias?" I rushed to him. "How— When did you—"
"I've been waiting years to help you." He gripped my hands with surprising strength. "And now I finally can. I have proof, Keira. Proof of everything Helena and Marcus did. But it comes with a cost."
"What cost?"
His expression turned grave. "Helena knows I'm here. She's demanded the Wolf Council add a new charge to your crimes: conspiracy with Shadowcrest to betray your pack. And she's calling for trial by combat."
The room went silent.
"Trial by combat?" Theron's voice was deadly quiet. "She wants Keira to fight her champion?"
"Not her champion." Tobias met my eyes. "Marcus. She's demanding you face your stepbrother in wolf form, to the death, to prove your innocence. If you win, you're cleared of all charges. If you lose..."
"I die," I finished. "And Marcus keeps Silverpine."
"There's more." Tobias looked between me and Theron. "If you refuse the combat trial, Helena has enough Council votes to force Shadowcrest to return you immediately. You'd face execution within the week."
My legs felt weak. "So my choices are: fight Marcus to the death, or be executed for crimes I didn't commit?"
"Yes."
I looked at Theron, who'd gone absolutely still. Through our bond, I felt his rage—cold and controlled but burning underneath.
"Can she do this?" I asked him. "Legally force a trial by combat?"
"If she has the Council votes, yes." His jaw clenched. "It's an old law, rarely used. But technically still valid."
"And if I fight Marcus and win?"
"Then you're legally cleared. The Council has to recognize you as innocent." Theron moved closer. "But Keira, you've been weakened by three years of wolfsbane. Marcus has been training as a warrior his whole life. This fight—"
"Is suicide," I finished. "You think I can't win."
"I think you're not ready." His hand cupped my face, the gesture surprisingly gentle. "Give me time. Let me find another way. We can negotiate, delay, find—"
"There is no other way." I pulled back, steel filling my spine. "If I refuse, I look guilty. If I run, I look guilty. The only way to clear my name is to face Marcus and prove I'm the stronger Alpha."
"You'll die."
"Maybe." I met his eyes. "But at least I'll die fighting instead of hiding. And maybe, just maybe, I'll take that bastard down with me."
Through the bond, I felt Theron's emotions war—pride at my courage, terror at losing me, and something else. Something deeper that he wouldn't name.
"When is the trial?" he asked Tobias.
"Three days. At the neutral grounds. Every major pack will witness it."
"Three days." Theron's expression turned calculating. "That's barely enough time to—"
"Train me," I interrupted. "You're going to train me. Everything you know about combat, strategy, winning against impossible odds. You're going to teach me how to kill Marcus Crane."
"Keira—"
"You saved my life twice now. Let me save it myself this time." I held his gaze. "Please, Theron. I need to do this. I need to prove I'm not the helpless victim everyone thinks I am."
Silence stretched between us.
Then Theron nodded slowly. "Fine. But we do this my way. No holding back. No mercy. If you're going to face Marcus, you'll do it as a True Alpha—the most dangerous wolf he's ever fought."
"Deal."
"Training starts now." He moved toward the door. "And Keira? When you face Marcus in three days, you won't just be fighting for your innocence. You'll be fighting for Silverpine's throne. If you win, the Council has to recognize you as the rightful Alpha."
My breath caught. Everything—my pack, my title, my revenge—rested on one fight.
Three days to prepare.
One chance to win.
And if I failed, both Theron and I would die, bound together by a curse that made us one life force.
No pressure at all.
As I followed Theron out of the study, I caught my reflection in a window. Amber eyes blazing. Spine straight. Looking every inch the Alpha I was born to be.
Mother, Father, I thought, I hope you're watching. Because in three days, I'm either coming home as your daughter the Alpha, or joining you in death.
Either way, this hiding was finally over.