Heather's POV
----
I had rebuilt the pack from ash.
Walls that once echoed with screams now resonated with laughter. Grounds once soaked in blood now thrummed with the rhythm of warrior drills and children's footsteps. But power was never meant to be held alone.
Even a kingdom built on resilience needed allies.
I stood at the center of the strategy hall, fingers trailing over the edges of a map that stretched across the table. Names of other packs were etched into the parchment-ones who had not knelt to Marcus' reign. Packs who had suffered under his shadow. Packs like mine, rising from ruin.
"They've responded," Elora said, stepping in with three sealed envelopes. Her eyes were sharp with quiet excitement. "Three Alphas have accepted your call."
"Good," I murmured, breaking the wax on the first. "Let's see what loyalty feels like when it's offered freely."
---
The first alliance came with fire.
Alpha Tessa of the Emberfangs arrived with a column of warriors and a smile like the edge of a knife. She was bold, cunning, and as unapologetic as she was lethal.
"I heard about the fall of the tyrant Marcus," she said, circling me with curiosity in her eyes. "Didn't believe it until I saw you."
"You don't believe in resurrection?" I asked, amused.
She smirked. "I believe in power when I see it."
We stood together at the border stones, palms pressed and blood mingled on the surface. A pact sealed in strength.
"If you call," she said, "we answer. And if we call..."
"I will come," I promised.
---
The second alliance came with frost.
Alpha Elandir of the Northern Shardwolves was quiet, silver-eyed, his wolves cloaked in snow and silence. His people had been nearly erased during Marcus' reign, surviving only by retreating into the ice-bound mountains.
"I didn't expect the next great Alpha to be so young," he said softly as we walked the cliffs.
"I didn't expect to survive," I replied. "But here we are."
He studied me for a long moment. "Then let us survive together. And thrive."
Our pact was made in the cold wind, bound not by blood, but mutual understanding-of pain, of resilience, of rebuilding from ruin.
---
The third alliance was the hardest.
Alpha Wynn of the Ironcrest pack had once served Marcus under duress. Not willingly, but not quite rebelliously either. His people had been trapped, manipulated, forced to feed Marcus' war machine.
When he knelt before me, it wasn't submission. It was apology.
"We didn't fight when we should have," he said. "But we won't make that mistake again."
I looked him in the eyes. I saw fear-but also resolve.
"You want to earn redemption?" I asked.
He nodded.
"Then you'll get it. Not by kneeling, but by standing beside us when it matters."
He stood, his shoulders squaring. "We will."
---
The alliances were forged. Bonds stronger than any tyrant's chains. My pack had grown in reputation, in power-and in faith.
Yet something remained hollow in me. A space I couldn't define. Like a page torn from a story I'd once read too many times.
Sometimes, I'd catch myself staring at the horizon as if someone might step over it. Sometimes, I'd reach for a name I couldn't remember. A voice I almost recognized.
But no one came.
And I buried the ache under duty.
If there was someone out there missing me, they hadn't come.
So I would not wait.
Not anymore.
I was Alpha Heather. Not of Marcus' blood. Not of anyone's leash.
I ruled now.
And if the mate I had begged the goddess for time and time again actually exsists...
He would have to find me.
Or be lost to me forever.
The moon hung high that night, bathing the hills in a silver glow as I stood on the balcony of the Alpha's quarters. Below, the campfires of my allied packs flickered, sending up smoke and laughter into the stars. My people were healing. Thriving. Strong.
But I couldn't sleep.
Not because of danger-my scouts and guards had tripled since the alliance. Not because of fear-I had faced the worst and still stood. No, it was something else.
Something unspoken.
A pull I felt only under the moonlight. A whisper behind every gust of wind. A heartbeat that didn't belong to me-but used to.
I closed my eyes and tried to summon it. The missing piece. The warmth I felt only when my guard was down. But there was nothing. Just the ache of something gone, like the echo of a name carved too deep and then erased.
"You okay?" Elora's voice interrupted my thoughts.
I didn't turn. "Yes. Just thinking."
"You've been doing that a lot lately," she said, stepping beside me. "Since the summit."
"Do you ever feel like something's missing?" I asked quietly.
She hesitated. "I think we all lost things in the war. People. Pieces of ourselves."
I nodded slowly. Maybe that was it.
But deep down, I knew better.
What I felt wasn't just grief.
It was absence.
Of someone I never got the chance to say goodbye to.
Of someone I might have loved.
Of someone I might still love, even if I couldn't remember his name.
I stepped back from the ledge and squared my shoulders.
I had a pack to lead. A future to build.
But I couldn't help wondering if somewhere out there, someone was feeling the same emptiness.
And if fate would ever let us find each other again.