I bolted down the stone corridor, the heavy thumping of my heart drowning out the distant chatter of the pack house. Happiness surged through my veins, hot and consuming. He was awake. A whole month of sleepless nights, of crushed herbs and quiet prayers, had finally broken his fever. I skidded around the final corner, my breath hitching as I reached the heavy oak door.

The door stood wide open, but the moment I looked inside, the air was ripped from my lungs. I froze.

Aliyah was wrapped tightly around Alpha Kane. She clung to his broad chest, her shoulders trembling in a grotesque display of manufactured affection.

"I was so terrified, Kane," Aliyah sobbed, her voice ringing with fragile desperation. "I didn't sleep. I didn't eat. I stayed by your side every single day while you were in that horrible coma. I refused to let the pack doctors give up on you."

Alpha Kane looked down at her, his eyes softening with deep affection. "I am so sorry for putting you through that, my love. Forgive me for causing you so much pain." He lifted his hand, gently brushing a stray tear from her cheek before pulling her back against his chest. Tears of genuine gratitude pooled in his dark eyes as he looked up. "Thank you, my love. I never made a mistake choosing you. You saved me."

A violent shockwave of betrayal slammed into my chest. My blood turned to liquid fire. The sheer injustice of her words broke the invisible chains holding me back. I stepped over the threshold, my boots slamming against the floorboards.

"She is lying!" I shouted, the words tearing from my throat.

Alpha Kane's head snapped up. His embrace tightened around Aliyah instinctively, his protective Alpha aura flaring in a sudden wave of hostility that suffocated the room.

"Vida," he growled, his eyes narrowing. "What is the meaning of this?"

"She wasn't here, Alpha Kane!" I walked closer to the bed, my hands trembling as I pointed a finger at my sister. "I was the one who changed your bandages. I was the one who applied the healing poultices to your wounds every night. Not even an hour ago, she was in her bedroom bragging to Nora about how she couldn't wait to use your wealth and power to rule the Silver Blood pack!"

Aliyah flinched as if struck. She slowly pulled away from Alpha Kane, turning her tear-stained face toward me. The malicious smirk she had worn in the hallway was entirely gone, replaced by a mask of pure, defenseless agony.

"How can you say something so cruel, Vida?" Aliyah wept, burying her face in her hands. She shrank back against Alpha Kane's side, trembling violently. "I know you hate me. I know you've always been jealous because Kane chose me as his mate. But to try and steal my devotion? To bully me in front of him while he's still so weak?"

"Stop pretending, Aliyah!" I took another step forward, my voice cracking under the weight of my fury. "Tell him the truth! Tell him you called him a vegetable and a weak Alpha!"

Alpha Kane’s eyes narrowed into slits as he glared at me. "If Aliyah wasn't the one looking after me this whole time, why is she the very first person I saw when I opened my eyes just now?"

"Because I left for less than five minutes to fetch fresh water for your body!" I gestured wildly to the empty bedside table where my washing basin usually sat. "She happened to walk in the exact second you woke up! She just took advantage of the timing!"

"Don't listen to her, Kane!" Aliyah wailed, squeezing her eyes shut as tears poured down her cheeks. She gripped Alpha Kane's shirt like a lifeline. "Please, don't believe a word she says! She is just creating a story to tear us apart! She is a liar! She has always wanted what is mine!"

"That is enough!"

Alpha Kane's voice roared through the bedroom, a deadly command that vibrated in my bones. He glared at me, his gaze dripping with absolute disgust. The warmth he had shown Aliyah vanished, replaced by a cold, lethal contempt meant only for me.

"Do you really think I would ever fall in love with someone like you?" Alpha Kane spat, his words cutting through my heart like a serrated blade. "Look at yourself. You are not only a liar, Vida, you are completely delusional. Aliyah is my fated mate. She loves me. You are nothing but a jealous parasite trying to leach off her happiness."

The room spun. The man I had kept tethered to life was looking at me like I was a disease.

"I am not lying," I whispered, the agony in my chest making it hard to breathe. "Alpha Kane, please. Listen to me. She doesn't care if you live or die. She only wants your title. She wants the power that comes with being the Luna of this pack. If you marry her, she will strip everything you have."

Aliyah let out another sharp, hysterical sob, curling into a ball on the edge of the mattress. "Make her stop, Kane! Please, make her stop!"

"Get out," Alpha Kane ordered, his voice dangerously low as he wrapped a protective arm back over Aliyah's shaking shoulders. He looked at me with an expression so vile it made my stomach turn. "Leave my room this instant. You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself, envying your own sister's bond. I don't ever want to see your pathetic face in my quarters again."

"No!" I refused to back down. The injustice was a suffocating weight, and I wouldn't let them bury the truth. "I am telling the truth! Ask the maids! Ask anyone who actually stepped into this room!"

Heavy footsteps echoed in the doorway, and the suffocating tension in the room shifted. My parents hurried through the threshold, their eyes darting from Aliyah’s hysterical tears to Alpha Kane's furious expression.

"What is happening here?" my father demanded, his brow furrowing deeply.

I turned to them, a desperate spark of hope igniting in my chest. They knew. Mother was the one who had ordered me to nurse him. They had to tell him.

"Mother! Father!" I cried out, rushing toward them and grabbing my mother’s arm. "Please, tell Alpha Kane the truth. Aliyah is lying to him. Tell him that I was the one who stayed by his side. Tell him I took care of him every single day while he was in that coma. Tell him I’m not the one lying!"

A sharp crack echoed through the room. My head snapped to the side, my cheek burning instantly from the force of my mother’s palm. The shock paralyzed me. I stared at her, my hand slowly rising to touch my stinging skin. Even after I explicitly detailed every venomous word Aliyah had said about using Alpha Kane for his wealth and power, my mother did not hesitate. She chose Aliyah instantly.

"Get out!" my father ordered, his voice booming as he glared at me with absolute disgust. "We are sick of your lies, Vida. You haven't changed at all. You are just a jealous, bitter girl trying to ruin your sister's happiness with Alpha Kane for your own selfish reasons."

Tears finally spilled over my burning cheeks. "You always do this," I choked out, my voice breaking under the weight of the injustice. "I know Aliyah has always been your favorite, but that is no reason to tolerate her toxic lies! You are completely one-sided!"

"How dare you speak to your parents that way!" Alpha Kane roared, stepping forward as his aggressive aura filled the space. "Leave this room immediately before I call the guards to throw your pathetic body out myself!"

I didn't leave because I was afraid. I left because the heat of my anger and heartbreak was suffocating me, and I refused to let them see me shed another single tear.

I bolted back to my room, slammed the heavy door, and threw myself onto the mattress, crying my heart out. Minutes later, a soft knock rattled the wood. I opened it to find Mary, the older maid who knew exactly how hard I had worked to save Alpha Kane. Hope flared in my chest. I rushed out the entire story, grabbing her hands. "Please, Mary, you have to tell Alpha Kane the truth. He will believe you!"

Mary’s eyes filled with tears, and she gently pulled her hands away. "I am so sorry, Vida. I can't. Your father would destroy me if I went against his orders. I am so sorry." She turned and hurried down the hall, leaving me alone.

The final anchor of hope snapped. I slid down against the closed door, wrapping my arms around my knees, crying until my throat was raw and my eyes had no tears left. Exhaustion from a solid month of sleepless nights and hours of sobbing finally caught up to me. I crawled onto the bed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When I woke up, the room was shrouded in the shadows of late evening. My stomach twisted with a sharp hunger pang, forcing me to leave my sanctuary and head toward the kitchen.

But as I approached the door, the sound of familiar laughter made me freeze.

"The look on her face when you slapped her, Katana!" my father chuckled, his voice dripping with amusement. "She actually thought we would side with her over Aliyah."

"She is entirely delusional," my mother scoffed, her tone full of cold mockery. "We will always choose Aliyah. She is our only real daughter, after all."

My heart stopped beating.

"I still can't believe you found that creature alone in the middle of the forest and actually brought her home, dad," Aliyah giggled. "She really thought she belonged with us."

"An absolute mistake," my father muttered. "Adopting her brought nothing but trouble."

My entire world shattered into pieces. Adopted. The lifelong cruelty, the favoritism, the physical abuse—it all suddenly made a horrifying amount of sense. The built-up rage of a lifetime of mistreatment boiled over. I threw the kitchen door open, my hands curling into tight fists.

"You monsters!" I screamed, staring at the three of them. "You lied to me my entire life!"

My mother turned around, her expression instantly hardening into cold disgust. "Keep your voice down, you ungrateful stray. We gave you a roof over your head, and this is how you repay us? By trying to ruin your sister's life?"

"She isn't my sister," I spat, my glare shifting to Aliyah. "And she's a parasitic liar."

My father took a menacing step forward. "Watch your mouth, Vida. You are nothing but a worthless orphan I found bleeding in the dirt. You don't belong to this family, and you never will. You are lucky we didn't leave you there to rot."

Aliyah smirked, leaning against the counter with a look of supreme victory. "Did you really think an Alpha like Kane would ever look at an ugly, discarded piece of trash like you? You spent a month playing nurse because that is all you are good for. A servant."

"At least I have a soul," I whispered, the heartbreak giving way to pure, unadulterated venom. I looked right into Aliyah's eyes. "You are a hollow, disgusting gold digger, Aliyah. You don't love Alpha Kane. You are just a pathetic leech using his body to get a crown. You are a disease to this pack, and deep down, you know you are completely worthless without his name."

Aliyah’s face twisted into a mask of feral rage. With a vicious snarl, she lunged across the floor, her claws extending as she swung directly for my face.

Instinct took over. I raised my arms, blocking her strike, and grabbed her wrists to keep her from tearing my skin. She clawed at me frantically, forcing me to use all my strength. Desperate to get her off me, I threw my weight forward and forcefully shoved her away. Aliyah stumbled backward out of control, lost her footing, and cracked the back of her head violently against the stone wall. Blood immediately rushed from the wound, staining her hair.

"Kane!" Aliyah shrieked, clutching her head as she collapsed to the floor. "Alpha Kane, help me! Vida is trying to kill me!"

Heavy footsteps thundered down the hall, and Alpha Kane burst into the kitchen. The moment his eyes landed on the blood dripping down Aliyah's face, a terrifying, murderous rage took over his expression. He ignored my existence entirely as he rushed to her side, pulling her into his arms.

Then, Alpha Kane stood up, his posture trembling with a lethal Alpha fury. Before I could even attempt to explain, he crossed the room in a blur of terrifying speed. His large, powerful hand clamped around my throat, slamming me hard against the opposite wall.

"How dare you?" Alpha Kane snarled, his fingers tightening like a steel vice around my neck.

I choked, my hands instantly flying up to claw uselessly at his grip. Air was cut off instantly. Spots danced in my vision as he lifted me slightly off my feet, his face inches from mine, twisted in complete hatred.

"Why did you do that to my mate?" he roared, his voice vibrating right through my skull. "You are a sick, jealous lunatic, Vida! She stayed by my side for a month, and you try to murder her the second I wake up?"

I couldn't answer. I could only gasp for air that wouldn't come, my chest burning as the man I had spent a month tirelessly nursing back to life choked the remaining strength out of my body. Just as the darkness began to creep into the edges of my mind, Alpha Kane threw me carelessly to the floor like a piece of trash. I collapsed in a heap, coughing violently and clutching my bruised throat, desperate for oxygen.

Alpha Kane turned his back on me, not caring if I lived or died. "Guards!" he roared, his voice shaking the stone walls. "Take this psycho away and give her the ultimate punishment!"

Rough hands immediately seized my arms, pinning my elbows behind my back. I struggled and kicked, but the guards ruthlessly dragged me out of the pack house and deep into the dark, terrifying woods. Horror cold as ice gripped my chest when I realized exactly where they were taking me: the Timberwolf Den.

"Alpha Kane's orders," the lead guard sneered, throwing me onto the damp earth. "We are burying you alive, liar."

I scrambled backward, fighting with every ounce of strength I had left, but the guards were too fast. They descended on me, their sharp claws slashing repeatedly across my arms and torso to weaken my defenses. I screamed in agony as the deep cuts tore through my flesh, staining the dirt with my blood.

"Please, stop!" I shrieked, tears and dirt mixing on my face as I tried to crawl away from their sharp blades. "Please have mercy! I didn't do anything wrong! I saved his life!"

They ignored my desperate pleas, laughing darkly as they pinned my bleeding limbs into the dirt.

"Save your breath, orphan," the guard mocked. "No one is coming to save a delusional liar."

While I lay gasping in absolute pain, sobbing and begging for a mercy they refused to give, another guard began rapidly digging a deep, dark pit right next to me.

Just as the guard raised his shovel to throw the first pile of dirt over my bleeding body, a dark, suffocating pressure dropped over the entire forest. The air turned freezing cold, and the sound of nocturnal animals vanished instantly. A powerful, earth-shattering roar sliced through the trees, vibrating with a ruthless, lethal command that literally fractured the stone walls of the nearby cavern.

“Which one of you worthless pieces of filth wants to die first?

The pressure of his dominant Alpha aura slammed down so heavily that the guards fell to their knees, gasping for air. Their weapons dropped into the dirt as their faces turned entirely pale with absolute terror.

"Alpha Maximus?" one guard choked out, his chest pressed to the earth by the weight of the aura. "The Apex Alpha!"

Panic erupted among them, and they desperately tried to crawl away into the brush to flee. But Alpha Maximus moved like a shadow. With blinding speed, his razor-sharp claws flashed through the moonlight, instantly decapitating the guards before they could even scream.

My body finally gave out, the world spinning as I began to fall. Before I could hit the cold ground, a pair of strong, impossibly warm arms caught me, lifting me securely against a broad chest.

I looked up and froze. Alpha Maximus was the most handsome man I had ever seen. His sharp jawline and dark hair made him look both handsome and intimidating. His golden eyes glowed in the darkness, filled with power that demanded obedience. He stood much taller than Alpha Kane, and his dominant aura made my heart pound.

He looked into my eyes and whispered,

"My mate."

Those were the last words I heard before everything went black.

The scent of gold, velvet, and something intensely intoxicating—like pine needles after a heavy storm—was the first thing that drifted into my consciousness.

Slowly, the heavy fog in my mind began to lift. I opened my eyes, blinking against the warm, amber glow of a massive crystal chandelier hanging from a vaulted ceiling. I wasn't in the damp, freezing dirt of the Timberwolf Den anymore. I wasn't suffocating.

I tried to sit up, but a sharp, agonizing burst of pain ripped through my torso, forcing a ragged groan from my throat. I sank back into the mattress, panting heavily. The bed beneath me was enormous, draped in silk sheets that felt like liquid gold against my skin. Carefully, I peeled back the edge of the blanket and looked down. My breath hitched.

Bandages wrapped tightly around my arms, chest, and stomach, but through the white gauze, the jagged, angry lines of deep claw marks were still visible. The memory hit me like a physical blow. The kitchen. My parents' mocking laughter. The truth of my adoption. Aliyah’s smug smirk. And Alpha Kane—the man I had spent a grueling, sleepless month nursing back to health—wrapping his massive hand around my neck, squeezing the life out of me, and ordering his guards to bury me alive.

A sob escaped my lips, hot and bitter. The sheer injustice of it all burned in my chest. I had given everything to that family, to that pack, and they had discarded me like worthless trash, leaving me to rot in the most lethal territory in the region. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes, tracking through the dried blood on my cheeks.

The heavy oak doors of the room swung open. My muscles locked in instant panic, and I frantically tried to scramble backward against the headboard, ignoring the tearing pain in my wounds.

A man stepped into the room.

My heart stopped. It was him. The savior from the Timberwolf Den. The stranger who had cut through Alpha Kane’s guards in a blur of terrifying, effortless violence.

He didn't just walk into the room; he commanded it. His presence was suffocatingly powerful, heavy with a dark, ancient Alpha aura that made the very air vibrate. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a sharp, devastatingly handsome jawline. His dark eyes locked onto mine—cold, intense, and calculating.

"You're awake," he said. His voice was a deep, rumbling baritone that sent a strange shiver down my spine.

"Who... who are you?" I whispered, my voice raw and cracking. "Where am I?

He stopped at the edge of the bed, crossing his arms as he looked down at me. A faint, humorless smirk touched his lips. "It's funny that you don't know who I am. You really don't recognize the most powerful Alpha alive? The one who rules over hundreds of packs? I am Alpha Maximus."

He stepped closer, his shadow completely enveloping me. His gaze dropped to the thick bandages covering my body, his expression hardening. "Tell me. What happened to you? Why did those guards do that to you? Who dared to leave you to die in the Timberwolf Den?"

Hearing him mention the guards and the executioners sent a jolt of panic through my chest. If I told him the truth, if I told him I belonged to the Silver Blood Pack, he would look into them. He might send me back, or use me as a political pawn, or worse, my adoptive family would find out I survived and finish the job. Images of Kane, Aliyah, and my adoptive parents flashed through my mind, fueling a sudden, white-hot wave of hatred. I didn't want to go back. I refused to let them find me. I wanted that life completely erased.

I forced my expression into one of blank, terrified confusion, letting fresh tears pool in my eyes. "I... I don't know what happened. I don't know who did this to me."

His eyebrows knitted together, his dark eyes narrowing as he stepped closer, leaning over the bed. The sheer weight of his gaze was paralyzing. "Are you playing games with me, little wolf? Do you really have amnesia?"

"I don't know," I lied, my heart hammering against my ribs, hoping he couldn't hear the frantic rhythm. "I don't remember anything. I don't know who I am. I don't remember what happened to me. Everything is just blank."

He stared at me for a long, agonizing moment, searching my face for any sign of deception. Finally, he straightened up, exhaling a sharp breath. "Well, it doesn't matter anymore. What matters the most is that you are my mate. I found you. You belong to me."

My jaw dropped. Mate? The supreme ruler of hundreds of packs was my true mate?

"Do you remember your name?" he demanded dominantly, his voice leaving no room for argument.

"No," I whispered honestly, eager to drop the identity that had brought me nothing but pain.

"Lila," he declared, his voice ringing with absolute authority. "Your name is Lila now."

I swallowed hard, nodding slowly. Accepting the name felt like shedding a skin. Vida, the ungrateful stray and glorified servant of the Silver Blood Pack, was dead. She had died in the dirt of the Timberwolf Den. "Okay. Lila... Thank you for saving me."

"I had to," he replied smoothly, a possessive glint in his eyes. "You are my mate. And from now on, no one dares to hurt or touch you."

Before I could process the gravity of his words, the door clicked open again. A man dressed in long, pale robes stepped into the room, carrying a tray of medical supplies. He was an older wolf, his face etched with permanent lines of arrogance. The moment his eyes landed on me, his expression twisted into blatant disgust. He looked at me as if I were a plague rat defiling his clean sanctuary.

He set the tray down roughly and began checking my pulse, his grip unnecessarily tight and cold. He turned his back to me, addressing the Alpha with an annoyed, dismissive sigh.

"Alpha Maximus," the healer said, his voice dripping with condescension. "Why did you bring this creature inside the Apex? I highly doubt her intentions. She looks like nothing but a filthy opportunist who dragged herself into our territory to catch your attention."

"Watch your tongue, Kenneth," Maximus warned, his voice dropping into a dangerously low register.

But the healer, blinded by his own arrogance, didn't stop. He scoffed, pointing a finger at me. "An Alpha like you—the most powerful being alive—cannot possibly be matched with a homeless, broken woman. Look at her. She is trash. Be careful, Alpha. She is likely a spy or a parasite trying to leach off your crown."

A spark of the rage that had consumed me in the kitchen flared back to life. I wasn't going to sit here and be insulted again.

"I am not a parasite!" I snapped, my voice shaking with anger. "I didn't ask to be brought here!"

"Silence, stray!" Kenneth barked, turning to glare at me. "You do not speak in the presence of—"

He never finished the sentence.

In a fraction of a second, the air in the room shattered. Maximus moved with a terrifying, supernatural speed that the human eye could barely register. There was a sickening crunch, followed by a horrific, wet tearing sound.

Blood sprayed across the golden silk sheets.

I gasped, my eyes widening in sheer, unadulterated horror. Kenneth’s headless body stumbled forward a single step before collapsing heavily onto the floor, blood pooling rapidly into the plush rug.

Alpha Maximus stood over the corpse, entirely unbothered. In his large, powerful hand, he held Kenneth’s severed head by the hair, blood dripping steadily from the ragged neck. The cold, ruthless dominance radiating from him was absolute.

He didn't look at the body. Instead, he turned his dark, intense gaze directly to me. He raised the severed head slightly, holding it like a grim trophy, his voice echoing through the room with a lethal, terrifying promise.

"This is the price of disrespecting my mate."

"Anyone who dares to touch or insult you will face their death," he said, looking dead into my eyes.

I sat frozen, my breath trapped in my throat. My heart was racing so hard I could hear it pounding in my ears. I should have been screaming.  I should have been terrified of the monster standing in front of me.

But as I looked at the blood on his hands, and then into his fiercely  eyes, a strange, dark thrill bloomed deep within my chest. For the first time in my entire life, someone had stood up for me.  He had spilled blood just to protect my dignity.