Caelan's POV
The woman was dying in Caelan's arms, and he couldn't let that happen.
Not when silver light still flickered beneath her skin like trapped lightning. Not when the Silvermoon crest blazed on her shoulder—the mark every Alpha had searched for desperately for three centuries.
"Drive faster!" Caelan shouted to his Beta, Marcus, who was already pushing the SUV beyond safe speeds. The engine roared as they raced toward Nightshade Manor.
The woman—small, fragile, covered in blood and rogue bites—should have been dead already. No ordinary wolf survived injuries like this. But she wasn't ordinary. The power radiating from her unconscious body made Caelan's own Alpha wolf whimper and bow its head in respect.
He'd spent fifteen years searching for the lost Silvermoon heir. Every lead had been a dead end. Every rumor had turned to dust. The wolf world believed the bloodline had died out completely when the last known Silvermoon was murdered in the Great Purge.
They'd all been wrong.
She stirred slightly, and Caelan tightened his grip to keep her steady. Her honey-blonde hair was matted with blood, but silver streaks were appearing even as he watched—the physical mark of awakening Silvermoon power.
"Who did this to you?" Caelan whispered, though she couldn't hear him. "Who threw you away and left you to die?"
The rogue attack hadn't been random. Rogues avoided the neutral zone between territories because Caelan hunted them mercilessly. Someone had driven this woman into that specific area, knowing she'd be vulnerable.
Someone had tried to murder the last Silvermoon heir.
The SUV screeched to a stop outside Nightshade Manor. Caelan's staff rushed out immediately—they'd received his emergency call and prepared the medical wing.
"Dr. Chen is waiting, Alpha," his head housekeeper said, holding doors open.
Caelan ran through the halls with the woman still cradled against his chest. She weighed almost nothing. How long had she been starving? Her wolf should have kept her healthy automatically, unless—
Unless something had been suppressing her power for years.
He burst into the medical wing where Dr. Chen stood ready with her team. The doctor's eyes widened when she saw the silver light pulsing beneath the woman's skin.
"Is that—" Dr. Chen started.
"Yes," Caelan said grimly, laying the woman on the examination table. "The Silvermoon heir. She's awakening violently. I need you to stabilize her and find out why her power was dormant for so long."
Dr. Chen immediately began working, checking vitals and cleaning wounds. "Her heartbeat is irregular. These injuries should have killed her, but something's keeping her alive."
"Her bloodline," Caelan said. "Silvermoons are nearly impossible to kill. But she's been weakened somehow."
He watched as Dr. Chen's team worked with practiced efficiency. IVs were inserted. Monitors beeped. The woman's breathing steadied slightly, but she didn't wake.
Caelan paced the room like a caged animal. His wolf was going crazy, demanding he protect this stranger. Not because of a mate bond—he felt no such connection. But because she was precious. Sacred. The last living link to the bloodline that had created the mate bond itself three thousand years ago.
If she died, the wolf world would never recover.
"Alpha," Dr. Chen called out, her voice sharp with concern. "Come look at this."
Caelan moved to the examination table immediately. Dr. Chen held up a vial of the woman's blood. Even without medical training, Caelan could see something was wrong. The blood had a strange purple tint that definitely wasn't natural.
"What is it?" he demanded.
"Poison." Dr. Chen's face was grim. "Wolfsbane specifically—the kind that weakens wolf abilities and suppresses power. But this isn't from the rogue attack. These traces are old. Systematic. Someone's been poisoning her regularly for years."
Rage exploded through Caelan's chest. His eyes flashed gold and his claws extended involuntarily. "How long?"
Dr. Chen ran more tests, her frown deepening with each result. "Based on the concentration in her bone marrow and tissue samples... I'd estimate six years. Maybe longer. Whoever did this was very careful—small doses that wouldn't kill her immediately but would slowly destroy her from the inside."
Six years of poison. Six years of suffering while her wolf and Silvermoon power were trapped, unable to heal her or protect her.
Six years of someone systematically trying to erase what she truly was.
"Can you purge the poison?" Caelan asked, his voice dangerously soft.
"I'm trying, but it's deeply embedded in her system. Her awakening is helping—the Silvermoon power is burning through the toxins naturally. That's probably why she's transforming so violently. Her body is finally fighting back against years of suppression." Dr. Chen paused, checking another monitor. "Alpha, there's something else you should know."
Caelan's jaw clenched. "What?"
"The poisoning pattern suggests it was administered through food or drink. Regularly. Consistently." Dr. Chen met his eyes. "Someone close to her did this. Someone she trusted enough to eat with daily."
The implication hung in the air like a death sentence.
This woman had been poisoned by someone in her own pack. Someone in her own home. Someone who smiled at her while slowly killing her.
Caelan thought about how he'd found her—rejected, abandoned, thrown beyond pack borders with nothing. About the rogue attack that seemed too convenient. About how no one had come looking for her even though she'd been missing for days.
"Do we know who she is?" he asked quietly.
Marcus stepped forward from where he'd been standing guard at the door. "I ran her description through our pack database. There's only one recent rejection that matches—Elara Frost, former Luna of the Shadowpine Pack. Rejected by Alpha Dante Blackwood three days ago."
Dante Blackwood. The ruthless billionaire Alpha who controlled half the continent's territory. One of the most powerful wolves alive.
And he'd thrown away his true mate—a Silvermoon heir—like garbage.
"Idiot," Caelan growled. Then another thought struck him. "Wait. If she was Luna of Shadowpine for six years, and she's been poisoned for six years—"
"The poisoning started right after she became Luna," Dr. Chen confirmed. "Whoever did this waited until she was officially bonded and vulnerable."
Caelan's mind raced. The pieces were falling into place, forming a picture of conspiracy and betrayal that made his blood boil.
Someone in Shadowpine Pack had systematically poisoned their Luna for six years, suppressing her Silvermoon power so she'd seem weak and unremarkable. Then they'd convinced Alpha Dante to reject her, making her vulnerable to attack.
This wasn't just attempted murder. This was a calculated plot to destroy the last Silvermoon heir.
"How long until she wakes?" Caelan asked.
"Could be hours. Could be days. Her body is healing, but the transformation is taking enormous energy." Dr. Chen adjusted an IV drip. "When she does wake, she'll be disoriented and possibly dangerous. Awakening Silvermoons can be unpredictable."
Caelan nodded. "I'll stay with her. Alert me the moment anything changes."
"Yes, Alpha."
The medical team continued working while Caelan pulled a chair beside the examination table. He studied the woman's face—Elara Frost, his mind supplied the name. Even unconscious and injured, he could see the delicate beauty that must have caught an Alpha's eye. But there was more than beauty here. There was strength in the set of her jaw. Determination in the way her hands clenched even while sleeping.
She was a fighter. She'd survived six years of poison and still had the strength to awaken her power when death came for her.
"You're safe now," Caelan said softly, though she couldn't hear. "I don't know what happened to you in Shadowpine. I don't know who hurt you or why. But you're under my protection now. And I promise—whoever did this to you will pay for every moment of suffering they caused."
His phone buzzed. A message from his intelligence team.
Alpha: Confirmed reports that Dante Blackwood rejected his mate publicly three days ago. Reason given: "She was weak and not suitable as Luna." He's now with Selena Thorne, claiming she's his true mate.
Caelan's grip tightened on his phone hard enough to crack the screen.
Dante had rejected the Silvermoon heir—the most powerful bloodline in wolf history—and called her weak.
Then Dr. Chen gasped sharply.
Caelan's head snapped up. "What? What's wrong?"
Dr. Chen was staring at the blood analysis results on her computer screen, her face pale with shock.
"Alpha, I found something in her bloodwork. Something impossible." Her hands trembled as she turned the screen toward him. "The wolfsbane poison... it wasn't just suppressing her Silvermoon power. It was suppressing something else too."
"What else?" Caelan demanded.
Dr. Chen's voice shook when she answered. "A mate bond. A real, true mate bond—but it's been corrupted by dark magic. Someone used blood magic to redirect the bond away from its true target and attach it to someone else artificially."
Caelan went very still. "You're saying—"
"Dante Blackwood rejected his true mate and took a false one. Someone used forbidden magic to make him believe Selena Thorne was his destined match when the real bond was with Elara all along." Dr. Chen pulled up more data. "But here's the worst part, Alpha. The magical signature on this corruption spell? It's fresh. It was renewed two weeks ago."
"Someone's been maintaining the spell," Caelan realized, ice flooding his veins. "Actively working to keep Dante bonded to the wrong woman."
"Yes. And based on the magical residue—" Dr. Chen hesitated. "The spell was cast from inside Shadowpine Pack. By someone with access to both Dante and Elara. Someone close enough to poison Elara's food daily and manipulate Dante's bond without anyone noticing."
Before Caelan could respond, alarms suddenly blared throughout the medical wing.
Every monitor attached to Elara went haywire. Her body arched off the table, silver light exploding from her skin in blinding waves. Dr. Chen and her team stumbled backward, shielding their eyes.
"What's happening?" Caelan shouted over the noise.
"Her power—it's surging!" Dr. Chen yelled back. "Something triggered it! She's waking up!"
Elara's eyes snapped open, glowing pure silver like molten starlight. She sat up with inhuman speed, her hand shooting out to grab Caelan's throat before he could react.
Her grip was crushing. Absolute. The strength of the ancient Silvermoon bloodline made her—in this moment—stronger than even an Alpha King.
She stared at him with those burning silver eyes, and when she spoke, her voice echoed with power that made the windows rattle.
"Where is my son?" she demanded, her voice layered with otherworldly force. "Where is Kieran? I can feel him crying. Someone's hurting my baby—"
Her grip tightened and Caelan felt his windpipe compress.
"—and if you don't tell me where he is right now, I will tear this entire territory apart until I find him."