Emma's POV
"Explain it to me again." Kendrick's voice is tight, controlled. Dangerous. "Because what you're saying is impossible."
Dr. Helena—the older woman—sits across from us in Kendrick's office. Mira is still asleep in my arms, refusing to let go even when Kendrick tried to take her. My ribs scream with pain, but I don't care. This child feels like mine.
"It's not impossible, Alpha." Helena's hands shake as she opens an ancient book. "It's rare. So rare I've only read about it in legends. But the signs are all there."
"What signs?" I ask.
Helena looks at me with something like reverence. "When did your grandmother die?"
The question catches me off guard. "Five years ago. Why?"
"What was her name?"
"Elara Thornwood." I shift Mira carefully. "She raised me after my parents died. But what does she have to do with—"
"Everything." Helena's eyes widen. "Elara Thornwood. Moon Goddess, I should have seen it immediately. The Thornwood line. We thought it died out decades ago."
Kendrick leans forward. "What is the Thornwood line?"
"Priestesses." Helena touches the book reverently. "The original families who served the Moon Goddess directly. They could perform miracles—heal the dying, break curses, form bonds beyond the natural order." She looks at me. "Your grandmother was one of the last. And you carry her blood."
My head spins. "My grandmother was just... Grandma. She told me bedtime stories and taught me to bake. She wasn't—"
"She was hiding." Helena interrupts gently. "Protecting you. The priestess bloodlines were hunted almost to extinction two hundred years ago. Alphas feared their power. So the survivors went into hiding, pretending to be normal wolves."
"But what does this have to do with Mira?" Kendrick demands.
Helena turns pages until she finds what she's looking for. An illustration of a woman holding two children—one from her body, one from the stars.
"Soul-binding," Helena whispers. "When a priestess bloodline is near a dying child, the Moon Goddess can create a divine bond. A second mother, chosen not by blood but by fate. The child's soul connects to the priestess across the veil, ensuring protection."
I stare at sleeping Mira. "But she wasn't dying when I met her. She was born four years ago—"
"When your grandmother was still alive." Helena's voice is thick with emotion. "Tell me, Emma. Four years ago, did anything strange happen? Dreams? Visions? A pull toward the north you couldn't explain?"
My breath catches.
Four years ago, I was pregnant with Liam. And yes—I had dreams. Vivid, haunting dreams of a baby girl with copper curls and mismatched eyes. A baby crying for me. I'd wake up crying too, feeling like I'd lost someone I never had.
I told Declan about the dreams. He said it was pregnancy hormones and to stop being dramatic.
"I dreamed of her," I whisper. "For months. I thought I was going crazy."
"You weren't crazy." Helena's tears spill over. "You were being called. When Mira's mother died during childbirth, the Moon Goddess reached out across the territories to find a soul-mother. Someone who could give Mira what her birth mother couldn't—life, love, protection."
"But why Emma?" Kendrick's jaw is tight. "Why not someone closer? Someone from my pack?"
"Because bloodline doesn't choose location, Alpha. It chooses compatibility." Helena looks at him. "Your daughter needed someone with priestess blood. Someone strong enough to form a divine bond. Someone who would love her unconditionally." She smiles sadly. "The Moon Goddess chose Emma before Mira was even born."
The room goes silent.
I look down at Mira—this child who knows my smell, who dreamed of me, who calls me Mummy despite never meeting me until today.
"That's why she doesn't bond with anyone else," I realize. "She was waiting for me."
"Yes." Helena nods. "Her soul recognized yours the moment you entered the room. That's why she spoke for the first time. Why she's peaceful now. You're her divine mother, Emma. As real as any birth mother could be."
Kendrick stands abruptly, pacing. "So what does this mean? Emma just... stays here? Becomes Mira's mother? We pretend this is normal?"
"There's nothing to pretend, Alpha." Helena closes the book. "The bond is formed. Breaking it would kill Mira. Her soul is literally tied to Emma now."
"And what about Emma's choice?" Kendrick whirls to face me. "She has her own son. Her own life she's trying to get back. You're saying she's trapped here?"
"I'm saying she's blessed." Helena's voice firms. "But yes, the bond requires proximity. If Emma leaves, Mira will suffer. Eventually die."
My arms tighten around Mira instinctively. "I'm not leaving."
The words surprise me, but they're true. I just met this child. But the thought of walking away, of letting her suffer, makes my wolf snarl with rage.
"You don't know what you're agreeing to," Kendrick says harshly. "Being connected to my daughter means being connected to me. To my pack. To dangers you can't imagine."
"I'm already in danger." I meet his silver eyes. "Declan and Josie want me dead. I have nowhere to go. No pack. No family." I look down at Mira. "But maybe the Moon Goddess gave me this for a reason. Maybe I lost Liam so I could save her."
The words hurt to say, but they feel true.
Kendrick stares at me for a long moment. Something shifts in his expression—respect, maybe. Or recognition.
"You would give up your son for a stranger's child?"
"I'm not giving up Liam." My voice hardens. "I'm accepting that right now, he's lost to me. The potions, the magic, Declan's control—I can't fight that yet. But I can be here for Mira. I can be the mother she needs." I swallow hard. "Maybe that's my purpose. Maybe I was never meant to save Liam. Maybe I was meant to save her."
Helena wipes her eyes. "The Moon Goddess works in mysterious ways."
Kendrick runs a hand through his hair. "This is insane."
"This is fate," Helena corrects.
He looks at me again. Really looks at me. "If you stay, you become part of this pack. Under my protection. That means Declan can't touch you—pack law forbids attacking another Alpha's pack member."
Hope flares. "So I'd be safe?"
"From Declan, yes. From other threats?" He shakes his head. "Shadow's Edge has enemies. Being here means accepting those dangers."
"I accept." No hesitation.
Kendrick's eyes narrow. "Just like that? You don't even know me."
"I know you saved my life. I know you love your daughter enough to let a stranger hold her. I know you could have killed those warriors but chose to capture them for evidence instead." I shift Mira gently. "That's enough."
Something flickers in his silver eyes. Surprise. Maybe even admiration.
"Fine." He moves to his desk, pulls out papers. "I'll have the pack documents drawn up. You'll be registered as Mira's guardian. Second mother, as Helena says. That gives you legal standing."
"What about Declan? When he finds out I'm here—"
"Let him try something." Kendrick's smile is cold and deadly. "I've been looking for an excuse to deal with that weak excuse for an Alpha. He sends assassins after you again, and I'll have grounds to challenge him for his territory."
The way he says it makes me shiver. This is the Alpha of Shadows. The monster from the stories.
But he's also the father who's been desperate to reach his daughter for four years.
"There's one more thing," Helena says carefully. "The soul-bond isn't the only connection here."
Kendrick freezes. "What do you mean?"
Helena looks between us. "I felt it when you walked in together. The way the air changed. The energy." She hesitates. "Alpha, when was the last time you felt the mate-bond pull?"
His face goes blank. "My mate died four years ago."
"I know. But the Moon Goddess can grant second-chance mates in rare circumstances." Helena's voice is gentle. "Usually when the first bond was broken by death or betrayal. Usually when two souls are meant to be together for a greater purpose."
My heart stops. "What are you saying?"
Helena looks at me. Then at Kendrick. "I'm saying the bond I feel between you two isn't just about Mira. It's about you. Both of you."
"No." Kendrick's voice is flat. "That's impossible."
"Test it." Helena stands. "Alpha, when you touch her, what do you feel?"
"Nothing. I feel nothing." But his jaw is tight.
"Liar." Helena smiles sadly. "You've been fighting it since you found her. That's why you paced the room while she slept. Why you can't stop watching her. Why your wolf went insane when those warriors tried to kill her."
Kendrick's hands clench into fists.
Helena turns to me. "Emma, look at him. Really look. What does your wolf say?"
I don't want to look. I'm too broken, too scared to hope for anything ever again.
But I look anyway.
Kendrick's silver eyes meet mine. And I feel it—that snap, that pull, that electric current I only felt once before. Six years ago when I met Declan.
Except this is different. Stronger. More real.
"No," I whisper. "I can't have another mate. The Moon Goddess doesn't—"
"She does when the first bond was false." Helena's voice is firm. "Emma, your bond with Declan was corrupted by dark magic from the start. It was never real. Never meant to be. That's why you could break it so easily. Why it hurt but didn't kill you."
My hand presses to my chest where the bond used to be. She's right. When true mates reject each other, both wolves die. But I'm alive. Hurt, but alive.
"Declan was never my mate," I breathe.
"No." Helena smiles. "He wasn't."
I look at Kendrick. He's staring at me with an expression I can't read—shock, fear, anger, want, all mixed together.
"This can't be happening," he says roughly.
"It already has." Helena moves to the door. "I'll leave you two to process. But Alpha? Don't fight it. The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes."
She leaves.
The silence is deafening.
Mira sighs in her sleep, snuggling closer to me. This child who is somehow mine. This miracle I don't deserve.
"I don't want a mate," Kendrick says finally. His voice is raw. "I buried one. I can't do it again."
"I don't want one either," I admit. "I just escaped a nightmare. I'm not ready for anything."
We stare at each other across the room.
"But we're stuck," I whisper. "Because of Mira."
"Because of Mira," he agrees.
The mate bond hums between us, new and fragile and terrifying.
Outside, thunder rumbles. A storm coming.
And somewhere far away, in Silverpine territory, my phone—the one I left in my destroyed car—buzzes with a message I'll never see.
DECLAN: Found your body. You're dead, Emma. Finally free of you. PS - Liam doesn't even remember your name.
But I'm not dead.
I'm right where the Moon Goddess needs me to be.
And I'm done being the victim in someone else's story.