Dahlia's POV
Life in the Silver-Crest pack house as "Dr. Willow" was a constant test of my nerves.
By day, I was the expert everyone bowed to. It was a bizarre, bitter shift. Warriors who used to shove me aside in the hallways now stopped and dipped their heads as I passed.
They were desperate. Their Alpha's legacy was on the line, and they saw me as the only person who could save it.
But the respect felt hollow. Every time I walked past the kitchen or the laundry rooms and saw the omegas working, my skin crawled. I knew what it was like to be them. I knew that if they realized the "famed doctor" was actually the "rankless orphan" they used to mock, that respect would turn back into venom in a heartbeat.
"You're very quiet today, Doctor," Gina said, watching me from her bed.
I was busy checking the IV drip I had started for her. It was a simple mix of vitamins and minerals, but I had labeled it as a "pre-treatment hormonal stabilizer" to keep up the charade.
"I am a doctor, Luna. I observe more than I speak," I replied, keeping my voice low and professional.
Gina sighed, admiring her reflection in a gold-leaf hand mirror. She looked pale, but her eyes still held that familiar, poisonous glint.
"Nate is getting so restless. He's always in his office or away on 'business.' I know he wants this heir, but sometimes I feel like he's looking for excuses to be away from me."
I simply just nodded, giving her the signal that I was listening.
She set the mirror down and looked at me. "You've heard the stories about this place, haven't you? About the girl who used to be here? Dahlia?"
My heart skipped a beat. I kept my eyes on the IV bag, my fingers only steady by sheer force of will. "I don't listen to gossip."
"Oh, it's not gossip, it's a warning," Gina laughed, and the sound was like glass breaking.
"She was a nobody. A rankless little servant who thought she could keep a man like Nate. She attacked me, you know. That's why I'm sick. Her jealousy left a mark on my soul that the shamans say is blocking my womb. She was a traitor and a slut."
All these years, she didn't change, she only got worse, soiling my name.
I tightened the valve on the IV line, my knuckles turning white. I felt the bile rising in my throat. "Is that what the Alpha thinks as well?"
"He told me she was a mistake," Gina said, checking her manicured nails. "He regrets every year he wasted on her. He even said he's hunting her now just to bring her back for a trial. He wants the whole pack to watch her pay for what she did to my face."
I felt a wave of satisfaction as she ran her fingers over the scar I gave her.
Later that evening, Nate entered the room while I was finalizing Gina's charts. He looked exhausted.
"How is the progress?" he asked, though he didn't look at Gina. His eyes were fixed on me, or rather, on the mask I wore.
"The Luna is stable," I said clinically. "But as I told you, I cannot perform the next stage of the procedure without the equipment I have back in the city. It requires calibration that only I can perform."
Gina pouted, reaching for Nate's hand. "Do you really have to go, Doctor? Can't Nate just send someone to bring your tools here?"
"My instruments are delicate, Luna. If they are tampered with during transport by someone who doesn't understand them, the treatment will fail. Do you want to risk that?"
I just needed some time away from the suffocation I felt in the walls of Silver-crest pack.
Nate finally looked at Gina, though he didn't pull her into his arms. "The Doctor is right. If she needs to go, she goes." He turned back to me.
"24 hours, Dr. Willow. My driver will take you."
"I prefer my own vehicle," I countered. "I'll be back by tomorrow evening."
I left the pack house as fast as I could. The moment I crossed the city walls, I pulled over, ripped off the wig and the mask, and sobbed. I needed to see my children. I needed to wash the scent of Silver-Crest off my skin.
I reached my house at dusk. I didn't even go through the front; I ran straight to the back garden where I could hear the kids playing.
"Mommy!"
Ariana saw me first, screaming with joy. In seconds, I was on the grass with all three of them tackling me.
"We missed you! Did you find the sick person?" Aidan asked, his dark eyes so much like Nate's; wide with curiosity.
"I did, baby. I did," I whispered, kissing their cheeks. For a moment, the world was perfect.
But then, the sound of a heavy engine rumbled at the end of the street. My heart stopped. A black SUV, Nate's SUV stopped in front of my house.
I stood up, shielding the children behind me as the door flew open. Nate stepped out, looking frantic. He wasn't even looking at the house at first; he was looking at his phone, then at the street.
"Doctor!" he called out.
"Doctor, I know you're here! Elder Thomas has collapsed. You have to come back now!"
He stopped mid-sentence. He had followed the GPS on the car I had used to enter the city, desperate to bring the "Doctor" back for an emergency.
Nate froze. His eyes moved from my face, my real face, uncovered to the three children clutching my legs.
The air suddenly felt like it was charged with a thousand volts of electricity.
"Dahlia?" he breathed, his voice shaking. He looked at Aidan, then Axel, then Ariana.
The resemblance was undeniable. The dark hair, the shape of the eyes, the way they stood. "What... what is this? Who are these children?"