Chapter 61 Terrified Alpha
Tiara staggered two steps into the medical tent before her knees buckled. Damien caught her just in time, his arms locking around her as her weight sagged fully against him. Her claws retracted weakly, silver light flickering once around her skin before dying out like an extinguished flame.
“Easy,” he murmured, lowering her onto the fur-covered cot. His hands trembled despite his effort to steady them.
Blood moon residue still clung to her hair, her clothes, her scent. Not blood from wounds, there were none but the metallic tang of power overused, drained too deeply. Tiara’s lashes fluttered, her breathing shallow, uneven, as if she’d run miles without rest.
The healer rushed forward. “She’s not injured,” the woman said after a quick inspection, confusion lining her brow. “No internal damage. No poison. Her wolf is… exhausted. As if she poured out everything she had and kept going.”
Damien nodded once, jaw tight. “Can you help her?”
“I can help her body rest,” the healer replied carefully. “But whatever she lost tonight… only time can restore it.”
Tiara stirred faintly at the sound of his voice, fingers curling weakly around the edge of his sleeve. Damien froze, eyes dropping to her hand like it burned.
“I’m here,” he said quietly, though his voice sounded distant even to himself.
Her grip loosened anyway. Darkness took her.
Night stretched long and restless.
Damien didn’t leave her side.
He sat in the chair pulled close to the cot, elbows on his knees, hands clasped tightly together. Hours passed marked only by the flicker of lantern light and the steady rhythm of Tiara’s breathing. Each inhale sounded too shallow. Each exhale made his chest ache.
He reached out once, almost unconsciously, brushing a strand of hair from her face. The contact sent a jolt through him. A familiar, intimate, wrong. He pulled back as if burned.
She looked different when she slept. Softer. Younger. No Alpha aura pressed against his senses, no overwhelming dominance, no silver glow beneath her skin. Just Tiara. The woman he’d fallen for before destiny wrapped its chains around her spine.
Footsteps approached softly.
The healer returned, pausing when she saw him still there. “You should rest too.”
“I will,” Damien lied.
The healer hesitated, then lowered her voice. “She scared the pack tonight. Not because she failed but because she didn’t stop.”
Damien didn’t answer.
The healer studied him a moment longer. “Talk to her when she wakes,” she advised gently. “Don’t let silence do more damage than enemies ever could.”
She turned to leave.
Damien exhaled slowly, dragging a hand down his face. His reflection stared back at him from the polished metal of a tray, blood on his knuckles, exhaustion in his eyes, fear he hadn’t admitted even to himself.
He stayed anyway.
Tiara woke sometime before dawn.
Her eyes opened slowly, unfocused at first. The world felt hollow, like sound echoed too far away. Her wolf stirred weakly, curling inward instead of stretching to greet the morning.
She turned her head.
Damien sat slumped in the chair beside her, head bowed, eyes closed, one hand hanging loosely between his knees. He looked like he’d fought another battle here, one without claws or teeth.
“Damien,” she whispered.
His eyes opened instantly.
“You’re awake.” Relief flickered across his face before he masked it, standing too quickly. “How do you feel?”
Tiara searched for words. Empty. Tired. Heavy. “Like I’m missing something.”
The truth hung between them.
He nodded once. “The healer says you’ll recover.”
“But?” she asked softly.
“But it might take time.”
She watched him carefully. He wasn’t touching her. Wasn’t meeting her eyes. His scent carried restraint, fear, something tightly controlled.
“You stayed,” she said.
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t say anything.”
His jaw tightened.
Tiara pushed herself upright slowly, wincing as her muscles protested. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No.” The answer came too fast.
“Then why does it feel like you’re already leaving?” Her voice didn’t shake but her hands did.
Silence answered her.
That hurt more than any wound.
Later, when exhaustion dragged her back into shallow sleep, Tiara woke again to voices outside the tent.
She didn’t mean to listen.
“…never seen power like that,” the healer was saying quietly.
“And that’s exactly what scares me,” Damien replied.
Tiara’s breath caught.
“She’s changing,” he continued, his voice low, rough. “I can feel it. Every time she uses that power, she drifts a little further away. And I don’t know how to reach her anymore.”
The healer sighed. “She’s still Tiara.”
“For now,” Damien said. “But what happens when the Moon takes more than she can give back?”
Tiara squeezed her eyes shut.
The healer’s voice softened. “You love her.”
“Yes,” Damien admitted. “And that’s the problem.”
Footsteps retreated.
Tiara lay frozen, heart aching, wolf whimpering quietly inside her chest. The words echoed again and again, cutting deeper each time.
She’s changing.
It scares me.
This was the first ever since becoming Alpha, the weight of her power felt unbea
rable and she wondered, terrified and alone of how much more it would take before Damien slipped completely from her grasp.