Chapter 3

MORRANA

A persistent ache pulsed through my head, accompanied by an irritating beeping somewhere near my ear. My eyelids felt glued shut, and forcing them open seemed to take every ounce of strength I had. When I finally managed to blink against the harsh lights, all I could see was a white ceiling.

A hospital room?

My mind struggled to piece everything together. The last thing I remembered was fighting Draven and his friends for Dad's watch, and then... Nothing.

A low groan escaped my chest as I tried to move, only for a soft warmth to brush across my forehead. A powerful jolt of electricity raced down my spine, leaving every nerve tingling, and I forced my eyes open until the figure leaning over my bed finally came into focus.

Caius.

He was bent toward me, his thumb resting lightly against my temple as though he were trying to soothe away my tension. For one surreal moment, the fierce Alpha mask I knew so well had disappeared, and there was something dangerously close to genuine worry in his eyes.

The sight unsettled me more than his anger ever had; worse, some traitorous part of me wanted to lean into his touch.

Then the softness vanished.

His eyes darkened as the warmth of his touch became more pronounced against my skin, and when he leaned closer, his broad shoulders blocked out everything else.

"Who the fuck is he?"

His voice was a low growl, rough enough to raise goosebumps along my arms. "Why are you covered in his scent, Morrana? Who touched you?"

Before I could process the question, Caius planted both hands on the mattress beside my head, effectively trapping me beneath his towering frame.

"Who was he?" he demanded, his voice carrying the wounded fury of a jealous wolf. "Where the fuck is he hiding? Tell me right now before I tear this city apart looking for him."

I stared at him, too stunned to answer.

We weren't together. Barely even on speaking terms, separated by pack politics, social status, and everything else he had made painfully clear between us. He had no right to look at me like I belonged to him, and certainly no right to act like a jealous lover.

Yet the air between us seemed charged with the undeniable pull of the mate bond.

Why did he care this much? Why was the Alpha losing his mind over someone he'd publicly declared insignificant?

Then the answer came to me, bitter and obvious

The mate bond. Of course.

It wasn't because he cared about Morrana, the person. It was the primal instinct of his wolf, demanding that he protect what the bond had claimed as his.

As the shock faded, the fog in my mind began to clear, and memories of the alley returned in fragments...

I was about to be torn apart by those guys, when some unexpected sound made them stop and flee. I was already slipping into darkness when Mateo's face appeared through the haze.

My only friend from work risked his life to save me.

"He... He pulled me out of the alley. That's why."

I forced my voice to remain steady beneath Caius's furious stare.

His expression darkened. He turned toward the two nurses hovering nervously near the door.

"You."

Both women stiffened.

"Take all of her torn clothes. Get them off the property and burn them. Every fucking piece."

"And no one touches them with their bare hands. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes Alpha!"

The nurses hurried toward the plastic bag containing my ruined clothes.

"Hey! Stop!"

I pushed myself higher against the pillows and glared at him.

"He saved my life!"

Caius turned back toward me, his expression hardening into stone.

"A man who is not me."

His voice left no room for argument.

I stared at him, unable to believe the arrogance of his words.

I opened my mouth to argue, when the door opened and the attending doctor stepped inside. He looked thoroughly bewildered as his gaze moved between Caius, me, and the monitors surrounding my bed.

"Alpha Caius, if I could just have a moment."

The doctor approached the bedside, apparently determined to ignore the tension filling the room.

"We've completed the latest scans." He paused, glancing at me for a second, before adding, "Her fractured skull and broken ribs are healing at an extraordinary rate. I've never seen a low-rank shifter recover this quickly."

He flipped through the chart.

"By all normal medical standards, she should still require significant treatment, yet the bone tissue is already knitting itself back together."

The doctor's explanation gradually faded into background noise as I focused on my own body. Now that he'd pointed it out, I could feel the strange warmth moving beneath my bruised skin, flowing steadily through my veins like liquid gold as it soothed the remaining aches and seemed to repair the damage from within.

I looked toward Caius. He was watching me silently.

"It's him..." From somewhere in the dark corner of my mind, Skarre whispered. "He fed his energy..."

I swallowed hard, averting my gaze from him. I didn't want to thank him. Surely, he had his own motives for doing that—motives that might break me apart.

So, I didn't bother to question it. Instead, I looked at the doctor.

"Forget the scans for a second. How much are the medical bills?"

The doctor blinked at the abrupt question before looking down at his chart.

"Considering the trauma response, specialized shifter medication, emergency treatment, and the private room arranged by the Alpha's office..." He hesitated. "The current figure is roughly eighty-five thousand dollars. That's before the final discharge fees."

The number hit my gut even more than Draven's kick. Eighty-five thousand dollars!? Fuck!

My mother and I worked ourselves to exhaustion just to keep a leaking roof over our heads. Even if we spent the rest of our lives skipping meals and sacrificing everything we owned, we still could never come close to paying a debt like that.

Panic tightened around my chest. I couldn't stay here, and I certainly couldn't owe Caius or his family a single dime.

"No. Absolutely not."

"Morrana, stay in the damn bed."

Caius's warning came the moment he saw the look in my eyes, but I ignored him. I grabbed the IV line taped to my hand and pulled it free, leaving a spot of blood on the white sheet as the monitor beside me began protesting. I tore away the remaining electrodes and swung my legs over the side of the bed.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Caius's voice thundered across the room.

"I'm leaving."

I gripped the mattress for support as I forced myself upright.

I'd severely underestimated how injured I still was. The moment I put weight on my right leg, my ankle gave way beneath me, sending a sharp burst of pain through my body and blurring my vision as the floor rushed toward me.

I never hit it.

Strong arms caught me around the waist and pulled me securely against a broad chest.

Caius.

The moment our skin touched through the thin hospital gown, warmth surged from him into me, spreading through my body like a fine wine. It traveled down my spine and into my limbs, and the agony in my ankle gradually dulled beneath the strange healing power of the bond.

For several seconds, neither of us moved, and the room seemed to disappear around us. Caius stared down at me, his chest rising heavily against my back while I felt the frantic rhythm of his heart beneath my shoulder.

The truth was impossible to deny: whatever hatred existed between us, whatever rules he had created, and whatever distance he demanded, the bond remained. We were tied together, whether we wanted it or not.

Slowly, Caius lifted me and settled me back against the edge of the bed. He made sure my feet were steady before releasing me.

When he finally let go, the warmth disappeared with him. Cold rushed back into its place, and the pain in my ankle returned, reminding me how dependent my body had become on his presence.

Caius's jaw tightened. Without saying anything, he reached into the pocket of his dark jacket and placed a small metallic object on the white sheet beside me.

I stared at it.

My father's silver watch.

My fingers trembled as I picked it up. The glass crystal had cracked at one corner, leaving a permanent scar across the face, but I didn't care. It was the only tangible piece my father had left.

I closed my fingers around the cool silver metal.

I didn't look at Caius. I didn't thank him either. I couldn't give him that satisfaction.

Instead, I turned toward the closet and noticed a pair of flimsy disposable slippers beside it, and put them on.

I didn't care how ridiculous I looked. I just needed to get away from this man.

I walked out of the room with a limp, and this time, Caius didn't stop me. It wasn't until I reached the hallway that I understood why.

A familiar voice echoed through the corridor.

"Where is Caius?"

I froze.

Cecilia stood near the nurse's station, her face flushed with anger as she waved an expensive phone at a terrified-looking security guard.

"Why the hell isn't Caius answering his phone? I've been calling him for three hours!"

A bitter smile tugged at my lips. Of course.

I didn't slow down, or look back toward the room I'd just abandoned, and I didn't bother to find out whether Caius would leave me to appease his furious girlfriend. I lowered my head, clutching Dad's watch in my palm, and walked away.

I dragged my battered body through the narrow door of the trailer, every muscle protesting with each step, and barely made it to the worn-out sofa before collapsing onto its thin cushions.

"What a day," Skarre mumbled, her voice heavy with bitter exhaustion.

"That's why we need to leave," I muttered, closing my eyes. For a moment, I thought I might finally be able to catch my breath, that the worst of the storm had passed us by, at least for today.

I was wrong.

Right then, the world exploded.

The flimsy door of the trailer flew off its latch with a violent bang, jolting me upright as my eyes snapped open.

Right before me stood Caius Varro.

What the fuck!?