Chapter 35 CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ALORA
The hours crawl by with agonizing slowness. I pace my gilded cage, unable to sit still, unable to think past the dread pooling in my stomach.
Tonight. Everything changes tonight.
Sarah brings lunch on a tray, her expression worried. "You need to eat something."
"I'm not hungry."
"Alora." She sets the tray down firmly. "Whatever's happening, you need your strength. The Alpha has been in meetings all morning, and the guards say he's on edge."
I sink onto the window seat, staring out at the forest where he hunted me just hours ago. "Everything's falling apart."
"What do you mean?"
I can't tell her. Can't risk her knowing. "Just... today. My birthday. It feels wrong."
She sits beside me, squeezing my hand. "Birthdays can be overwhelming, especially big ones like eighteen. But you're safe here. The Alpha won't let anything happen to you."
If only she knew how complicated that safety is.
After Sarah leaves, I return to pacing. The sun moves across the sky with maddening slowness. Each hour brings me closer to nightfall. To the full moon. To whatever confrontation he's planning.
A knock on the connecting door makes me jump.
"Alora." His voice carries through the wood. "I need you."
My heart hammers as I unlock my side. He's standing in the doorway, and I notice immediately—he's injured. Blood seeps through his shirt at his shoulder.
"What happened?" I move toward him instinctively.
"Training accident. Marcus got a lucky hit." He waves it off, but I can see the pain in the tight lines around his eyes. "It's nothing—"
"You're bleeding." I reach for his shirt without thinking. "Let me see."
"Alora, I didn't come here for—"
"Sit." I don't know where the authority in my voice comes from, but he obeys, sinking onto the edge of my bed.
I carefully peel back his shirt, revealing a deep gash across his shoulder. It's still bleeding, the edges ragged.
"This needs stitches," I say quietly.
"I'll heal. Wolf healing is—"
"Slow for injuries this deep." My hands hover over the wound, my wolf stirring restlessly. She wants to help. Wants to heal.
"The pack doctor can handle it—"
"No." The word comes out sharper than I intend. "I mean... you're here. Let me just... clean it at least."
I move to my bathroom, grabbing a clean cloth and water. When I return, he's watching me with an intensity that makes my skin prickle.
"You don't have to do this," he says quietly.
"I know." I kneel between his legs, pressing the damp cloth to his wound. He hisses slightly. "Sorry."
"It's fine." His hand comes up to rest on my waist, steadying me. "You're being very gentle."
I focus on cleaning the blood, trying to ignore how close we are. How his scent surrounds me. How my wolf is practically purring at his touch.
The wound is clean now, but still bleeding. Without thinking, I press my palm against it.
"Alora—"
Heat floods from my hand. I feel the familiar pull of my healing power, responding to his injury, to his pain. The wound begins to close, muscle knitting back together, skin sealing.
By the time I realize what I'm doing, it's too late.
I jerk my hand back, horror flooding through me. "I'm sorry—I didn't mean—"
His hand catches my wrist before I can pull away completely. "What did you just do?"
"Nothing. I just—" My voice shakes. "I wasn't thinking—"
"Alora." His other hand tilts my chin up, forcing me to meet his eyes. "What. Did. You. Do."
I can't speak. Can't breathe. He's looking at his shoulder where the wound was, now just a faint pink line.
"No wolf heals that fast," he says slowly. "Not even Alphas. Not even with help." His eyes lock onto mine. "Unless the help is something... unusual."
"Please—"
"How long have you been able to do this?" His grip on my wrist tightens. "How long have you been hiding this ability?"
"I don't know what you're talking about—"
"Don't." The word cracks like a whip. "Don't lie to me. Not about this." He stands, pulling me to my feet with him. "You just healed a wound that should have taken days in a matter of seconds. That's not normal. That's not wolfless."
Tears stream down my face. "Please, just forget—"
"Forget?" He laughs, the sound dark. "You think I can forget this? Forget what I just felt?" His hand moves to where mine touched him. "That wasn't just healing, Alora. That was power. Real, undeniable power."
"It was an accident—"
"An accident." He stares at me. "How many other 'accidents' have there been? The wounded warriors after the attack? Thomas with his leg? All those small healings you thought no one noticed?"
My silence is answer enough.
"Goddess." He runs his free hand through his hair. "All this time. All these weeks of you playing the helpless wolfless slave, and you've been hiding this."
"I had to—"
"Why?" His grip on my wrist gentles slightly. "Why hide something so incredible? So valuable?"
"Because valuable things get used." The words burst out of me. "Because wolves with gifts get collected, bred, controlled. Because I've seen what happens to those who are different—"
"You thought I'd use you?"
"I thought you'd kill me." I meet his eyes. "Or sell me. Or lock me away. I thought—" My voice breaks. "I thought you'd see me as a thing, not a person."
Something flashes across his face. "And now? What do you think now?"
"I think I just made a terrible mistake." I try to pull away, but he holds firm. "I think you're going to—"
"Stop." His other hand cups my face. "Stop assuming the worst. Stop thinking I'm like everyone else who hurt you."
"You're an Alpha—"
"I'm your Alpha." His thumb brushes my cheek. "There's a difference."
"Is there?" I can't keep the bitterness from my voice.
"Yes." He leans closer, his breath hot against my lips. "Because I don't care what abilities you have. I don't care if you're wolfless or powerful or something in between." His forehead rests against mine. "I only care that you're mine."
The possession in his voice makes my wolf keen.
"You can't just—"
"I can. And I do." His lips brush mine, barely a whisper of contact. "Whatever you are, whatever you can do—it doesn't change what we are to each other."
"And what are we?" The question escapes before I can stop it.
"Everything." The word is fierce. Absolute. "You're everything, Alora. Whether you believe it or not."
He pulls back before I can respond, his hand lingering on my face for a moment before falling away.
"Tonight," he says. "When the moon rises, we're going to have a very serious conversation. About your abilities. About what you're hiding. About what we are to each other."
"I can't—"
"You will." His voice hardens. "Because this—" he gestures to his healed shoulder, "—changes everything. And I need to know exactly what I'm protecting."
"You're not going to—"
"Hurt you? Use you? Betray you?" He moves to the door. "No, little wolf. I'm going to keep you safe. Even from yourself." He pauses at the threshold. "But I need the truth. All of it. No more hiding."
After he leaves, I sink to the floor, my whole body shaking.
He knows I can heal. Knows I've been lying about being wolfless.
But he doesn't know what I really am. Doesn't know about the blood-wolf curse, the mate bond madness, the danger I pose to him.
Not yet.
But tonight, under the full moon, all my secrets will come crashing down.
And I have no idea if either of us will survive it.
I curl up on my bed, pressing my face into the pillow that smells like him.
Hours until moonrise.
Hours until everything I've been hiding is exposed.
Hours until Alpha Alexander Stone discovers that his mysterious healing slave is actually a blood-wolf.
His fated mate.
And his potential destruction.
Happy birthday to me.