AMARIS

I could see him contemplating an answer. Was there more to the accident?

"That is because I am not entirely sure myself what happened," he admitted, which was surprising because Alpha Corvin always had answers.

"But Beta Marco is investigating the crash site thoroughly right now. You had a serious accident and the doctors said you were incredibly lucky to survive with relatively minor injuries." He paused. "Plus your wolf is accelerating your healing significantly. That is why you are conscious and coherent now instead of still in a coma."

The last thing I remembered started coming back to me in disconnected pieces.

The crash had come from absolutely nowhere, sudden and violent. Before I could react or process what was happening or even think to scream I...

I stuttered trying to connect the dots in my memory but there were frustrating gaps I could not fill. "I... I can’t remember properly... it is all..."

"You are still hazy and confused from the severe concussion you sustained in the crash," Alpha Corvin explained patiently. "On your way back to Stormshadow pack like I ordered."

Oh right.

That whole complete and utter disaster of a day.

The memory rushed back in a painful flood - me refusing artificial insemination, demanding he mate me traditionally if he wanted an heir, him getting angry and ordering me to leave by sunset, me crying in my room.

"Don’t worry," I assured him quickly. "I will leave your pack as soon as the doctors discharge me from the hospital."

He was silent for a long moment and an unreadable gaze crossed his face, an expression I could not interpret.

"We do not have to talk about that right now," he finally said. "You can stay here at Gravemoon. I am sure the doctor will want to monitor your recovery closely for several days at minimum."

Wait, what?

"We have doctors in Stormshadow pack," I pointed out, confused by his sudden complete change of heart.

"Amaris, can you just quit being so unnecessarily stubborn for once?" His voice took on an edge of frustration that was more familiar. "I am asking you to stay."

Our eyes met and locked and I could not look away.

There was something so different about the way he was looking at me right now. He was not avoiding my gaze or looking through me like I did not exist. He was actually staring at me, actually seeing me as a person for the first time since I had arrived at this pack.

It was unsettling and confusing and made my chest tighten uncomfortably.

"Where is Nia?" I asked, desperately needing to break the intensity of that eye contact before I did something stupid like cry. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"She is outside in the waiting area," he responded.

I wanted desperately to ask if Ryker and Rowan were among those waiting but I had absolutely no idea how to phrase that question without raising massive suspicion.

"I will go ask the doctor when I can safely take you home," Alpha Corvin stated, standing up from where he had been sitting on the edge of my hospital bed. "Just relax and try to rest. I will be back very soon."

Did he just say home?

As in his home, Gravemoon, the place he had literally kicked me out of just hours ago?

And why was he being so unexpectedly nice to me all of a sudden after weeks of cold distance?

None of this made any logical sense whatsoever.

He left the room and I looked around trying to make sense of my surroundings.

The hospital room was standard - sterile white walls, beeping machines monitoring my vitals, that antiseptic smell. But there was something wrong that I could not quite identify, something about the whole situation that felt off.

A nagging feeling that I was missing something critically important.

Then the door creaked open slowly and a doctor walked in.

He was tall, maybe six feet, wearing a white surgical face mask that covered the lower half of his face and a pristine white lab coat. Deep blue eyes stared at me from above the mask.

Something about those eyes made my skin crawl.

"How are you doing Luna Amaris?" he asked.

"I am fine," I responded automatically. "They said I was lucky."

He looked toward the door briefly then back. "Yes, you were very lucky indeed. The driver unfortunately was not so lucky."

The shock from that statement hit me so hard I would have stumbled back if not for the pillows.

I stuttered, my words coming out broken. "What... wait what... the driver died?"

"Yes," the doctor replied, his tone almost mechanical and emotionless. "He died on impact."

"I didn’t know that," I breathed, feeling guilt crash over me. "That is so sad. He was just doing his job, just taking me home and here I am alive."

"Don’t worry about it," the doctor stated. "You were not meant to die."

I glanced at him because that was an extremely weird way to phrase that sentiment.

And that was when the gaps in my memory started filling in rapidly with information I had been too concussed to process before.

The crash had not been random.

That face hovering over me in the darkness.

That voice telling me I was not going to die - not yet.

The wolf shifting back to human.

I looked at the doctor more carefully, really studying his eyes visible above the mask.

"Say that again," I demanded.

He turned to face me fully. "Tell Alpha Corvin that you were not meant to die this time. But you will not be so fortunate next time, Amaris."

That voice.

I had definitely heard that voice before.

Those eyes.

I had seen those specific blue eyes staring at me with hatred at the engagement party.

Recognition slammed into me with devastating force.

"Victor," I whispered, horror flooding through my system.

He did not deny it, just turned calmly and walked toward the door.

"Victor!" I screamed louder, trying to sit up and finding my injured body would not cooperate.

He exited and I heard his footsteps retreating down the hallway at a measured pace.

My heart was racing so fast I thought it might explode. My breathing came in short gasps. The machines started beeping frantically as my vitals spiked.

After five seconds the door burst open and Nia, Rowan, and Ryker rushed in looking panicked.

"Amaris, Amaris calm down," Nia pleaded, rushing to grab my hand.

"What is going on?" Ryker demanded, his eyes scanning the room.

I struggled to breathe, to get the words out past the panic constricting my throat.

"Victor," I finally managed to gasp out. "Victor."

They all froze.

"He was just here."