Emma's POV
Pain wakes me up.
Everything hurts—my head, my ribs, my arms. I try to move and gasp. It feels like my whole body is broken.
"Don't move." That deep voice again. The one from the road. "You have three cracked ribs and a concussion."
My eyes flutter open. I'm in a bed. A huge bed with soft sheets that smell like pine and rain. The room is dark except for a fireplace crackling in the corner.
This isn't a hospital.
"Where am I?" My voice comes out scratchy and weak.
"Safe."
A shadow moves near the window. Tall. Broad shoulders. The firelight catches silver eyes that glow in the darkness like a wolf's.
My heart jumps. Those eyes are terrifying and beautiful at the same time.
"Who are you?" I try to sit up and immediately regret it. Pain shoots through my chest.
"I said don't move." He's beside me in a second—too fast for a normal wolf. He presses me back down gently but firmly. "You were in a car accident. Actually, you were murdered. Those warriors were about to put a bullet in your head when I found you."
The memories flood back. The truck. The crash. The gun cocking.
"You saved me." It's not a question.
"I did." He steps back into the shadows, like he doesn't want me to see him clearly. "Do you know why they wanted you dead?"
I laugh, and it hurts. "Because I'm inconvenient. My husband—ex-husband—needs me gone so he can play happy family with my best friend."
"Declan Thorne." The way he says the name makes it sound like a curse. "Alpha of Silverpine Pack."
"You know him?"
"Everyone knows him. Weak Alpha with a big territory he doesn't deserve." There's contempt in his voice. "But most people don't know he's a murderer. Sending warriors to kill his ex-mate crosses every pack law that exists."
Hope flickers in my chest. "Then you can report him. Tell the pack council—"
"With what proof? Your word against an Alpha's?" He moves to the fireplace. The flames light up his profile—sharp jaw, strong nose, dark hair. "They'd laugh you out of the hearing. Especially since he's already declared you unstable."
My hope dies. "So I just... what? Hide forever?"
"You heal first. Then you decide what to do next." He throws another log on the fire. "But you can't go back to Silverpine territory. They'll finish what they started."
"I don't have anywhere else to go." The truth tastes bitter. "No pack will take a rogue. Especially one accused of attacking people."
He's quiet for a long moment. "What if I told you there's a pack that doesn't care about accusations? A place where wolves come to start over?"
"That place doesn't exist."
"It does." He turns to face me, and the firelight finally shows his whole face.
I stop breathing.
He's the most beautiful man I've ever seen. And the most dangerous. Everything about him screams ALPHA—the power rolling off him in waves, the way he holds himself, those piercing silver eyes.
But there's something else. Something that makes my wolf whimper and hide.
This isn't just any Alpha.
"Shadow's Edge," he says. "My territory. I'm—"
"Kendrick Vaughn." The name comes out as a whisper. "The Alpha of Shadows."
Everyone knows about Kendrick Vaughn. The most powerful Alpha in the northern territories. The one other Alphas fear. The one who supposedly killed his entire rival pack in a single night.
The monster parents use to scare pups into behaving.
And he's standing in front of me.
I should be terrified. I should be begging for mercy.
But all I feel is... curious. Because if he wanted me dead, I'd already be dead.
"Why did you save me?" I ask.
His jaw tightens. "I was tracking rogues near the border. Heard the crash. By the time I got there, those warriors were standing over your car with a gun."
"So you killed them?"
"No." A dark smile crosses his face. "I let them run. Then I had my warriors hunt them down. They're in my cells now, confessing everything. Including who sent them."
My heart races. "Declan?"
"And Josie Chen. They texted the order." Kendrick pulls out a phone—not his, judging by the pink case. "This belonged to one of the warriors. Read the messages."
He hands it to me. I scroll through with shaking fingers.
JOSIE: Is it done?
WARRIOR: Crashed her car. She's still breathing.
JOSIE: Then FINISH IT. The Alpha doesn't pay you to fail.
WARRIOR: There's someone here. Big wolf. Really big. We need backup—
The messages stop.
"That's attempted murder," I breathe. "Written proof."
"It is." Kendrick takes the phone back. "Which means I can file charges with the pack council. Get Declan stripped of his Alpha title. Throw him and Josie in prison."
"Why haven't you?" I search his face. "Why tell me first?"
"Because this is your revenge, not mine." He crouches beside the bed so we're eye level. "I can hand you the weapon. But you have to decide if you want to use it."
I think about Declan. About Josie. About Liam calling her Mommy.
"If we go to the council, what happens to my son?"
Kendrick's expression softens slightly. "Pack law says children stay with the non-criminal parent. If both parents are imprisoned, the child goes to the next available relative."
"Declan's mother." My stomach turns. "She hates me. She'd never let me near Liam."
"Then we find another way." Kendrick stands up. "You have time to think. You're safe here. No one knows where you are."
"Why are you helping me?" The question bursts out. "You don't know me. I'm nobody. A rogue with nothing to offer."
He stares at me for a long moment. Something flickers in those silver eyes—pain, maybe, or memory.
"Because four years ago, someone helped me when I had nothing." His voice goes rough. "And I swore I'd pay it forward. So here I am. Paying it forward."
There's a story there. A big one. But before I can ask, footsteps echo in the hallway.
"Alpha!" A woman's voice. Urgent. "We have a problem."
Kendrick moves to the door, opening it slightly. I can't see who he's talking to, but I hear everything.
"The girl is awake," the woman says. "She's asking for her mother. Won't stop crying. Dr. Helena says if we can't calm her down, she'll hurt herself."
"I'll be right there." Kendrick's voice changes—softer, worried. He closes the door and turns back to me. "I have to go. There's food and water on the table. Don't try to leave. Your injuries—"
"What girl?" I interrupt. "Who's crying?"
He hesitates. "My daughter. She's... complicated."
"How old?"
"Four."
Same age as Liam. My heart squeezes.
"What's wrong with her?"
"Everything." Kendrick's face goes blank, but I hear the pain underneath. "She hasn't spoken in four years. Won't bond with anyone. Lives in her own world. Tonight she's having another episode, and there's nothing I can do to help her."
Before I can think about it, I swing my legs over the bed. Pain explodes in my ribs, but I push through it.
"What are you doing?" Kendrick moves to stop me.
"I'm a mother." I stand up on shaky legs. "Maybe I can help."
"You can barely walk—"
"I don't care." I meet his eyes. "You saved my life. Let me try to help your daughter."
He studies me for a long moment. Then nods once.
"Fine. But if you pass out, I'm carrying you back here."
He leads me down a long hallway. The house is huge—more like a mansion. We stop at a door covered in crayon drawings.
From inside, I hear the most heartbreaking sound. A little girl sobbing like her world is ending.
Kendrick opens the door.
The room is pink and white with toys everywhere. An older woman stands helplessly by the bed where a small girl with copper curls rocks back and forth, crying.
"Nothing works," the woman says. "She won't even look at me."
Kendrick's jaw is tight. "Mira, baby, Daddy's here—"
The little girl doesn't respond. Just keeps crying and rocking.
Something inside me breaks. I don't know this child. But I know what it's like to hurt so badly that nothing helps.
I walk past Kendrick—ignoring his protests—and sit on the edge of the bed.
"Hi, sweetheart," I say softly.
The little girl doesn't stop crying.
I don't touch her. Just sit there and start humming. An old lullaby my grandmother taught me. The one I used to sing to Liam.
Moon above and stars so bright, keep my baby safe tonight...
Mira's crying slows. Just a little.
I keep humming. Keep singing softly.
Slowly, so slowly, the little girl turns her head.
She has the most unusual eyes I've ever seen—one gold like her father's, one bright blue like... like mine.
We stare at each other.
Then Mira lunges forward and wraps her arms around my neck.
"MUMMY!" she screams. Not crying anymore—happy. Joyful. "Mummy, you came! I dreamed you'd come!"
My body freezes. My brain short-circuits.
Behind me, Kendrick makes a choked sound. The older woman gasps.
Mira pulls back, and her little face is glowing with pure joy. "You're my mummy! I knew you'd find me! I dreamed about you every night—yellow hair and sunshine smell and the moon song!"
"Sweetie, I'm not—" I start.
"YES YOU ARE!" She touches my face with tiny hands. "You're my mummy. Mine. You came back like you promised!"
My wolf surges up inside me. Not with fear or confusion.
With recognition.
This child—this stranger's child—feels RIGHT in my arms. Like coming home. Like Liam used to feel before the potions stole him from me.
"Mira," Kendrick's voice is strange. "Baby, this lady is just visiting—"
"NO!" Mira's grip tightens. "She's my mummy! Tell him, Mummy! Tell him you're staying!"
I look at Kendrick. His face has gone completely white.
The older woman steps forward, hands shaking. "Alpha... this is impossible."
"What's impossible?" I manage to ask.
The woman looks at me with tears in her eyes. "Mira hasn't spoken since the day she was born. Hasn't bonded with anyone. Has never called anyone Mummy—not even her birth mother before she died."
My heart stops. "What?"
"But she knows you." The woman's voice trembles. "Somehow, impossibly, she knows you."
Kendrick moves closer, studying me like I'm a puzzle he can't solve. "Who are you? Really?"
"I'm nobody," I whisper. "Just Emma. Just—"
"You're my mummy," Mira says simply. She curls against my chest like she belongs there. "I waited so long. But you're here now. Don't leave. Please don't leave."
I look down at this little girl I've never met. This child who shouldn't know me but somehow does.
And I feel it—that impossible, inexplicable pull. The same feeling mothers get when they first hold their babies.
Love.
Instant, overwhelming, protective love.
"I won't leave," I hear myself promise. "I'm right here."
Mira sighs happily and closes her eyes, falling asleep in seconds like she's been waiting her whole life for this moment.
Kendrick stares at us. At his daughter peaceful for the first time in years. At me holding her like I've done it a thousand times before.
"This isn't possible," he says quietly.
The older woman pulls out a phone with trembling hands. "I need to call someone. If this is what I think it is..."
"What?" I ask. "What is it?"
She looks at me with something like awe. "Moon Goddess magic. A divine bond. You're not just anyone, Emma. You're connected to this child by fate itself."
The room spins.
I came here broken, hunted, with nothing left to lose.
Now I'm holding a stranger's child who calls me Mummy. And my wolf is screaming that this is exactly where I'm supposed to be.
"Who are you?" Kendrick asks again. But this time it's different. Not suspicious. Wondering.
"I don't know anymore," I whisper.
But looking down at sleeping Mira, feeling that impossible bond, I realize something.
Maybe Emma Thorne did die on that roadside.
And maybe someone new is being born.