Chapter 3 The Dying Spark

Three Years Later

"Mommy, it hurts."

The whimper broke my heart more than any rejection ever could.

I knelt beside the mattress, spreading out across the floor of our tiny, drafty apartments within the Grey Zone. Leo-my three-year-old boy-was burning up. He was hot to touch on the skin, and his eyes, usually as bright as amber, were dull with a bit of glassiness.

"I know, my baby," dipping a cloth in cold water and patting it on his forehead. "I know."

This was the Blood Fever, afflicting Alpha children whose packs had not kept them for long within their pack lands. The wolf demanded the magic of its homeland; otherwise it would consume the child internally down.

"Did you bring the medicine?" Leo asked, tussking.

I looked to the empty table, medicines worth five thousand credits. I had only forty credits on me.

"Not yet, Leo," I whispered, kissing him on the sweaty cheek. "But mommy is going to get it tonight."

I stood up, walking to the cracked mirror.

The Maya who plunged off that cliff was dead. The woman staring back was tougher. Leaner. I had cut my hair short and dyed it platinum blonde. I had a scar that ran through the left eyebrow. I work as a cleaner in a fight club, scraping by and hiding Leo from the rest of the world.

But hiding wasn't working anymore.

I grabbed my phone and dialed the only contact I had.

"Jax," the gruff voice answered. (Not the Beta Jax-my boss, a human). "I need a way in to the Blood Moon Gala tonight."

"Are you crazy?" Jax snarled as if hissing. "Kael is hosting that. If he sees you..."

"Leo is dying, Jax!" I shouted at him, my voice breaking. "The cure is made from the Moon Flower. It grows only in the Alpha's private conservatory. I need to steal it."

Silence on the line. Then a sigh.

"The catering crew," he said. "I can get you a uniform. But Maya the security is tight. They have scent scanners. They have guards."

"I don't care," I said, strapping a silver knife to my thigh and pulling my loose catering trousers over it. "I'm not asking for permission."

I looked back at Leo. He was asleep but restless and breathing hot and heavy.

"I'll be back," I promised him, "with the flower or dead trying."

I arrived at the Alpha Mansion an hour later, dressed like a server. The tray I carried was filled with champagne and kept lowered. Midway towards the kitchen, a hand grabbed my arm. "You," a deep voice rumbled. I froze. I knew that voice.

I slowly looked up into the eyes of the Beta who had tried to kill me three years ago. "You smell familiar," he growled.