Chapter 1 A Second Life
Thora's POV: "Ugh!"
My head throbbed with pain.
Not just my head—every inch of my body aches, like I've been torn apart.
But wait. Didn't I already blow up my soulstone and take those traitors with me? Why can I still feel pain? Rustling.
Two unfamiliar footsteps came closer. I froze, holding my breath.
"A worthless half-blood without a wolf like her? Falling off a cliff like that—she's definitely dead. No need to waste time checking."
"Tsk! What a shame. She was so pretty. Would've been fun to have a little taste before she died."
The second voice was nasty. "Boss, maybe while her body's still warm, we—"
"Shut it. That's disgusting. I'm heading back to report. You clean up."
"Got it."
The first man's steps faded away.
The other flipped me over. His rough hand brushed my cheek. I snapped my eyes open and grabbed his throat.
He froze, eyes wide with fear. "Y-you're alive?!"
I frowned, looking at my thin arm.
My strength is weak … way too weak. "B—"
Before he could get the second word out, I grabbed his neck and twisted it hard.
Crack!
His body dropped limp to the ground.
That one simple move nearly drained all the strength I had.
Panting, I looked around.
No blood-soaked battlefield of the apocalypse. Just a dark forest.
And this fragile, beaten-up body wasn't mine.
What happened?
Suddenly, a flood of memories that weren't mine tore into my mind—
Rip!
"Let go! Don't touch me!"
The sound of cloth tearing. A girl's helpless cries.
"Wait until this video of you fooling around with rogues spreads through the pack. Let's see if Grandpa can still protect you, you worthless mutt!"
It was the cruel, gloating voice of another young girl, mixed with the faint buzz of a recording camera.
The rogues' harsh breathing filled the air. Their filthy hands made her skin crawl. They twisted her arm behind her back as she fought with everything she had.
The final image was the girl throwing herself off the cliff, crashing into the darkness below.
Boom!
Pain exploded through my head, yanking my mind back to reality.
Sweat drenched my body. I gasped for air, piecing the truth together.
So yes—I was dead.
I had been Ash Keller, the only female Alpha Commander in the Apocalypse War Zone, betrayed by the ones I trusted.
They poisoned me while I was badly wounded, cut my body open, and tried to steal the soulstone inside me that held duo powers.
With the last of my strength, I detonated that soulstone and took every one of those traitors down with me.
Maybe the Moon Goddess heard my cry of rage and gave me another chance at life.
I woke up a thousand years in the past, inside the body of a sixteen-year-old girl named Thora Green.
She was half human, half werewolf, but her wolf spirit had never awakened. In a society that worshiped pure bloodlines and believed in survival of the fittest, she was despised everywhere she went.
The only one who ever stood by her was her grandfather—the Alpha of the Silverleaf Pack, Marlon Green.
Instead of rejecting her, Marlon loved her deeply. He even declared that once Thora came of age and awakened her wolf spirit, she would be the next Alpha of the pack.
That decision enraged the family. It also signed her death warrant.
Her younger half-sister, Hazel Green, wanted the Alpha position for herself. She secretly joined forces with rogues who had betrayed the werewolves. Together, they lured Thora to a cliff. Their plan was cruel: let the rogues violate her so she would lose the right to lead.
But Thora fought back. She didn't give in. In the end, she was shoved over the edge, falling to her death.
Just before her consciousness faded away, she prayed to the Moon Goddess—not for rebirth, but for a strong soul to take her place. She wished for someone who'd avenge her and finish the dreams she never got to live.
That prayer crossed time itself. It found me—someone who also died from betrayal a thousand years later.
I lifted my head and stared at the bright full moon above me. The sight stunned me.
Back in the apocalypse I came from, the world was poisoned and broken.
The moonlight was always dim, mutant werewolves roamed everywhere, and I led soldiers in nonstop battles day and night.
But here, the moonlight was pure. The werewolves had not yet been twisted by mutation. And yet, even in this time, the chains of bloodlines and the hatred within families were more dangerous than any enemy on the battlefield.
If the Moon Goddess really showed me mercy and gave me this second life, then from now on—I'm Thora.
Her enemies will face me.
Her dreams? I'll make them happen!
Chapter 2 The Will to Survive
Thora's POV: But right now, the only thing that mattered was staying alive.
This new body was in worse shape than I thought.
My left leg was broken, my head spun from a concussion, and I was covered in bruises and torn muscles.
If only my wolf spirit, Amie, had been reborn with me. With her strength, I could have healed faster.
I tried to reach out through the mind-link. "Amie?"
Silence. Nothing answered.
I couldn't feel her power at all.
I closed my eyes and focused inward.
Deep inside me, I found the soulstone that belonged to the original Thora.
Every werewolf was born with one, but unless their wolf spirit awakened, the stone stayed dull and lifeless.
Mine looked like nothing more than a gray rock.
A heavy wave of disappointment hit me.
I opened my eyes again. This time, I fixed my gaze on two branches lying nearby. I tried to use the telekinesis I'd once awakened during the apocalypse. If my gift had come with me, maybe I'd still have a shot.
But the branches didn't budge.
So it was true. Amie hadn't been reborn. My powers had died along with the soulstone's explosion.
All I had left was myself.
Grinding my teeth against the pain, I grabbed a stick and splinted my broken leg as best I could.
The rest of my wounds had already crusted over in the cold night air. I tore my clothes into strips and wrapped the worst cuts.
Too much blood had already been lost. The world spun every few seconds.
I needed real medical help soon, or I wouldn't last.
That's when I heard it. Engines. Several of them. Roaring and tearing through the night like thunder.
Racing.
Perfect. If I wanted a way out of here, I needed one of those cars.
I leaned on a thick branch as a crutch and limped out of the trees.
From where I stood, I saw the mountain road below. Sleek rally cars shot past one after another, headlights cutting through the dark.
I listened carefully. Judging by the sound, one car would reach my spot in about 10 seconds.
I drew in a sharp breath, pushed through the stabbing pain in my leg, and forced myself into the middle of the road.
I spread my arms wide.
At once, blinding headlights locked onto me. A black rally car screamed down the asphalt like a beast set loose. The engine was howling as if it wanted to tear the world apart.
Then it hit me—not the car, but something even heavier. An Alpha's scent. It slammed into me like a tidal wave, invisible but crushing.
Even after surviving countless life-and-death battles during the apocalypse, my body instinctively stiffened under that crushing pressure.
Whoever was behind that wheel wasn't just any werewolf. That presence was pure dominance.
But there was no backing down now.
I fought the urge to dodge, threw my arms wide open, and stood firm in the middle of the road.
Beeeep!
The sharp blare of the horn cut through the night like lightning.
150 feet!
60 feet!
30 feet!
3 feet!
Just as that speeding race car, heavy with Alpha pressure, was about to slam into me, I felt the soulstone inside my body stir—releasing a familiar wave of energy.
Darius's POV: It was heat season again.
No matter how much serum I injected, it barely helped. My blood still burned.
So I took my car to the mountain roads, hoping the rush of speed would quiet the fire raging through me.
Normally, I'd have led the race with ease. But not tonight.
My wolf spirit, Lorcan, kept thrashing inside my mind, clawing at my nerves.
Every sharp turn I needed to take came a split second too late, making me sluggish.
And before I knew it, I was in last place.
And the loser of this race? Had to run around the mountain completely naked.
If word got out that the Alpha of the Nightclaw Pack had run naked in public, I'd lose every shred of respect I had.
"You want this to stop? Then find our fated mate!"
Lorcan roared inside my head.
"Fuck, do you think I don't want to?!" I shouted back.
As an Alpha who had awakened an ancient wolf spirit, my heat season came once a year after I reached adulthood—burning hotter and hitting harder than any other werewolf's.
No one wanted to find their fated mate more than I did. Only she could calm the madness that burned through my blood every season.
But no matter how many years passed, I still hadn't found her.
The grand priest once predicted that my fated mate lived a thousand years in the future.
A thousand years, my foot! Werewolves live barely 300 years! I'm not some immortal freak!
Grinding my teeth, I shut Lorcan out and focused on the road. I slammed on the gas, chasing the cars ahead.
Then, as I rounded a sharp curve—I froze. A person was standing less than 300 feet in the middle of the road.
My breath caught. I slammed the horn again and again, warning her to move.
But she didn't. She just stood there—still as a statue.
Is she trying to get herself killed?!
The car roared forward, the distance closing fast. Just 150 feet away!
"Damn it!"
If I didn't stop, I'd hit her for sure.
Acting on instinct, I slammed the secret control switch to reverse the car's energy output.
The tires screamed, the sound slicing through my ears. The force nearly threw me out of the seat.
Finally, the car screeched to a halt. Only 2 feet away from her.
"Fuck!" I cursed, slamming my fist against the wheel.
Between the burning madness of my heat season and the fury boiling inside me, I was seconds from losing my mind.
I shoved open the door in rage and stormed toward the figure, ready to tear into whoever had dared block my path.
But the moment I got close to that slender figure, Lorcan's voice exploded in my mind with a deafening roar!
"Mate! I can smell our fated mate!"
Chapter 3 Fated Mate
Darius's POV: Lorcan's excited roar made me freeze mid-step.
When I realized what he'd said, the anger boiling in my chest turned into pure shock.
Did I hear him right? Fated mate? But the grand priest said my fated mate wouldn't appear until a thousand years from now. Could the prophecy be wrong? My chest tightened as I turned quickly toward the figure standing in the road.
Under the glare of my headlights, I saw her clearly.
A teenage girl wearing a torn school uniform.
Her lower leg was braced with a stick, clearly broken.
Mud and blood covered her face, but her eyes were so clear and bright they seemed to reflect the light back at me.
I narrowed my eyes and swept her with my Alpha senses. My brows pulled together.
There wasn't a trace of wolf spirit inside her. She hadn't even awakened one.
Beneath the scent of blood, I could even smell a trace of human blood in her veins.
The hope that had just flared inside me went cold.
Through the mind-link, I snapped at Lorcan. "She doesn't even have a wolf spirit. She's part human. You're sure she's our fated mate?!"
In my mind, Lorcan's molten-gold wolf eyes stayed fixed on her. "Her scent disappeared, but I swear I felt it. Let her in the car. She can calm me down."
Maybe it was Lorcan's mistake, but the moment I stood in front of the girl, his wild restlessness from the mating heat suddenly calmed down. My own nerves began to settle as well.
"W-why are you standing here?"
I almost blurted out, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" but I stopped myself. Didn't want to sound harsh.
The girl thought for a moment, then answered flatly, "Pulling a scam."
"What?"
My lips twitched.
That was the first time I'd ever heard anyone say something like that so boldly.
"Hahaha! She's funny! I like her!"
Lorcan's laugh shook my mind. He actually rolled around in delight.
It was the first time since his awakening that Lorcan had shown interest in a she-wolf.
The elders had introduced me to countless powerful, well-bred she-wolves. Both of us had only ever felt disgust.
But now, looking at this girl—dirty, hurt, and fragile—I felt none of those. Instead, I wanted to know more about her.
What made her so special? As I studied her curiously, she spoke again. "You're racing? I can help you win."
I almost laughed. "You?"
I wasn't belittling her, but come on, it just didn't make sense. She hadn't even awakened her wolf spirit and couldn't heal herself. This girl was badly injured, but she had the nerve to suggest that? Where did that confidence come from?
But instead of blushing from embarrassment at being called out, she stayed calm. Her eyes focused on the road ahead. "The leading car just finished the first lap. Average speed around 174 miles per hour. Top speed about 190. The mountain road is full of turns. One lap takes roughly 10 minutes. You've already lost five here. I can help you catch up by the third lap."
That caught my attention.
Her judgment was so precise it put even the best professional werewolf racers to shame.
I asked, "What's the deal?"
"Take me down the mountain to a hospital. Pay my bill."
"Deal."
I walked toward the passenger side.
I wanted to see for myself how this half-blood girl—who hadn't even awakened her wolf spirit—planned to beat those noble racers with high-ranking wolf spirits, even after I'd fallen so far behind.
More importantly, I wanted a little more time alone with her. I want to figure out how she had managed to calm both me and Lorcan with just her presence.
But when I slid into the seat, she was still standing there, unmoving.
"If you're having second thoughts, it's not too late to walk away now."
Thora's POV: The moment that speeding car almost hit me, I felt something—faint but familiar.
Amie's power.
After making the deal with the man, I focused inward, trying to look at my soulstone.
But it was still dim and lifeless.
And the trace of Amie's energy had vanished.
So that brief flicker I felt—was it just my imagination under pressure?
"If you're having second thoughts, it's not too late to walk away now."
The man's lazy voice pulled me back.
I met his mocking, dark eyes. He clearly thought I was scared.
Too bad "fear" and "regret" aren't in my dictionary.
I slid into the driver's seat, snapped the stick I'd been using as a crutch in half, and used the thicker part to brace my broken leg against the brake pedal, steering the wheel with one hand.
With one leg down and my body covered in bruises, at least my arms still worked. One good leg was enough for what I was about to do.
Chapter 4 The Girl Behind the Wheel
Darius's POV: I thought the girl who couldn't even awaken her wolf spirit was just bragging. But to my shock, under her steady hands, the car actually roared to life.
She steered with one hand, eyes locked on the road ahead. That look—sharp, unshaken—was nothing like an ordinary werewolf.
I'd seen the best snipers in the Astralis Empire. They had the same eyes when they locked onto a target.
"Hold on tight," she said suddenly.
Her tone was firm, almost like an order. It made me frown, but I still grabbed the handle above my head.
The moment I held tight, the engine roared. The car hugged the cliffside and swung around the curve in a flawless drift.
The force slammed against me so hard I would've been thrown across the seat if I hadn't been holding on.
Her wild yet precise driving stunned me. I no longer underestimated this strange girl who had shown up out of nowhere.
"Nice skill," I said, trying to sound calm.
"Used to escort supplies through the Deadlands," she replied, eyes still forward, hand steady on the wheel.
"The Deadlands?" I scoffed. "That's a restricted zone. Even full-blooded wolves can't handle the raging moon energy in there. A kid like you, with no wolf spirit, wouldn't last three minutes. You don't have to make up stories."
She only glanced at me, gave no answer, and focused on the road.
That's when I noticed it. The back of her head, her shoulders, and her arms were all marked with dried blood.
And now, fresh blood was seeping through again.
The sharp metallic scent filled the car.
I stiffened. "Your injuries—"
"Don't worry. I can make it to the last lap," she cut in.
She clearly misunderstood me.
But when I looked at her determined face, I didn't argue. Instead, something strange stirred inside me.
Even though she was covered in blood, she kept control of the car, every move precise.
Just like she promised, by the third lap, the cars that had left me far behind finally came into view.
This was the last lap of the race.
From the finish line, I could hear the shocked gasps of the crowd.
"No way! Isn't that Mr. Blackwood's car?"
"How is he going that fast? Wasn't he nearly a whole lap behind?"
"Holy shit! Did you see that drift? That's insane! How did he manage that?"
But their voices were left far behind as we sped past, the roar of the engine swallowing everything else.
By now, I didn't care about the race anymore. All my focus was on the girl beside me.
The smell of blood in the car grew stronger. Her face was pale, and her lips had turned almost white.
If I hadn't known about the deal between us, if I hadn't known she was really alive, I might have thought a ghost was driving my car.
Who is she? Why is she in the mountain? Why is she hurt so badly? Question after question raced through my head. I didn't ask a single one, just watched her every move in silence.
In that moment of distraction, the car suddenly surged forward. The needle on the speedometer slammed against the edge, threatening to break right through.
"Hold on tight," she reminded again.
I wouldn't underestimate her. Somehow, I felt like this girl could do anything.
Her eyes narrowed. She floored the gas. The steering wheel jerked hard in her hands.
The car shot forward a few hundred feet in an instant, flying straight toward the two cars in the lead—my best friends' cars.
I heard them gasp in my earpiece.
"What the heck are you doing?
"This is a mountain road! At this speed, you'll kill us all!"
Their panicked voices filled the channel, but the girl didn't slow down. Instead, she aimed the car right at the narrow gap between them.
"Dammit! Are you crazy?!" One of them yelled. "It's just running around naked. This isn't worth dying over!"
"If you want to go down, don't drag us with you!"
Their shouting grated on my nerves. I yanked the earpiece out and tossed it aside.
Too noisy.
I glanced at the girl. She was calm, far too calm for someone about to try a move so insane.
I didn't stop her. I only grabbed the handles on both sides of the seat and braced myself.
Amid a chorus of terrified screams, the car suddenly tilted sideways, scraping right between the two speeding vehicles with brutal precision.
Yes! We scraped through.
For a split second, I even saw the flash of sparks.
After scraping through that impossibly narrow gap, the car landed hard—but perfectly—right on the finish line.
For a few seconds, I couldn't even process what had just happened.
Then I heard her voice, faint and weak. "We won."
The words barely left her lips before her eyes closed, and her head dropped onto the steering wheel with a dull thud.
"Hey! Wake up!"
A rush of panic hit me—raw, sharp, and unfamiliar. I'd never felt anything like it before.
Inside my mind, Lorcan's voice echoed, his tail lashing anxiously. "Her temperature's falling fast! If she doesn't get treatment soon, she's going to die!"
I unbuckled my seatbelt in one motion, jumped out, and lifted her carefully into my arms. Then I laid her in the passenger seat.
"Darius? Wait! Weren't you the one driving?"
"Who's that girl? What happened to her?"
"Move!" I snapped.
I didn't have the patience or time to explain. My mind was filled with only one thought. I need to save her.
Pushing past my stunned friends, I slid into the driver's seat, started the car, and hit the gas.
As I sped down the mountain road, I reached out through the mind-link to my pack's top healer—my closest friend. "Grab your medical kit," I ordered. "Meet me at my estate. Now."
Chapter 5 A Vow to Keep
Thora's POV: When I slowly drifted back to consciousness, the first thing I noticed was the strong smell of medicine in the air.
That told me I was being treated, and I finally relaxed a little.
At least that man had kept his word.
I knew this new body was badly injured. Even though I had been reborn into it, if I didn't get treatment quickly, it would soon fall apart.
Right now, I couldn't open my eyes or move. But I could sense two people breathing in the room. Their voices reached my ears.
"How is she?" The man I had made a deal with sounded worried.
"Good thing you brought her in when you did. Otherwise, she'd either be dead or permanently crippled." The second voice belonged to the healer.
"How was she hurt?"
"Fell off a cliff," the healer answered. "Severe head trauma, multiple fractures, internal bleeding, bruises everywhere. Nothing else could cause this kind of damage."
The healer sounded puzzled, almost fascinated. "But here's what's strange. She's just a teenager. Her wolf spirit hasn't even awakened. With injuries this serious, she should've been gone long ago. Yet somehow, she held on until you found her. I just ran some tests. Other than the injuries, her brain and nervous system seem perfectly fine. It's unbelievable!"
"Yeah, it's unbelievable," the man muttered.
"Alpha, her recovery rate and vital signs are completely abnormal. She's the perfect research subject! Let me take her to the lab for a full examination."
Hearing that, I wanted to frown. Before I could, a familiar wave of alpha pressure swept through the room.
"Get out!"
"Alright, alright. I'm leaving."
After some shuffling, the room fell quiet again.
I let out a slow breath of relief.
The healer who wanted to treat me like a test subject was gone.
But the man who had bargained with me was still here.
Even with my eyes shut, I could feel the heat of his gaze.
That gaze was the same as the one he gave me back in the car—sharp and deep, like the eyes of a werewolf king locking onto his prey in the dark of night.
It carried both curiosity and a quiet sense of judgment.
"Who are you, really?"
As my mind sank back into darkness, I thought I heard him whisper those words.
...
I didn't know how long I'd been unconscious, but at last I could open my eyes.
I found myself wrapped in bandages, lying inside a sealed medical pod.
A tube ran into my left hand, dripping cold fluid into my veins. As it spread through me, the sharp, tearing pain eased.
My limbs still felt numb, but at least I wasn't paralyzed anymore.
I tried moving my fingers. Suddenly, a familiar surge of energy rippled inside me. The same power I had felt before the race.
I was shocked and quickly checked myself inwardly.
There it was. The soulstone that had belonged to the original Thora was surrounded by a faint blue glow.
It was the source of power that belonged to me and Amie.
I called out through the mind-link, desperate. "Amie! Amie, can you hear me?"
For a moment, there was only silence. Then, a weak voice whispered in my mind.
"I'm here … "
It's her. Amie is still alive! Her presence was faint, nearly gone, but she was there.
"You badly hurt me when you detonated yourself in the last life. I can't take form right now."
Tears burned my eyes. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is you're still with me!"
"I'm too weak. I need to sleep and recover."
Her voice faded as she went into hibernation. Once again, I could no longer sense her.
A wave of loss washed over me—but also relief.
At least I knew Amie was still alive. That my partner—the one who had always fought by my side—had been reborn with me. And that alone was enough.
Even as she slept, the faint blue glow around my soulstone remained.
I tested my power, focusing on the IV needle in the back of my hand.
The metal tip shivered, then slowly slid out of my skin.
This is amazing! My abilities are still with me! In this strange world, that gave me a little sense of safety.
After the apocalypse, werewolves had awakened abilities in battles with mutants. But here, such powers didn't exist. At least not yet. I'd have to keep mine hidden.
I glanced at the screen on the medical pod. I had been unconscious for five days.
That was too long. I had to return to the Silverleaf Pack immediately.
If I didn't, Hazel would spread rumors that I'd died or vanished to steal what rightfully belonged to me.
Since I now lived in the original Thora's body, I swore to avenge her. I would protect everything that belonged to her.
I forced myself to sit up, wincing as I pulled out the remaining tubes.
But the moment I stepped out of the pod, a cool, mocking voice came from the doorway.
"Well, it looks like you really do have a death wish."
I lifted my head—and froze. A tall, striking man stood leaning lazily against the doorframe, his eyes locked on me.
It was him. The man I had made the deal with.
Chapter 6 My Type
Darius's POV: After finishing the most important business for the pack, I went straight to the medical ward.
The moment I walked in, I saw the badly injured girl pulling out her tubes and climbing out of the medical pod.
My chest burned with anger. "So, you really don't care if you live or die."
Did she have any idea how serious her injuries were? And yet she dared to end her treatment and walk out?
"It's you," she said calmly. Her eyes met mine.
"Thanks for saving my life. But since I helped you win the race, we're even now."
I frowned.
She was only 16, but her voice carried the weight of a soldier who had seen battle after battle.
I already knew who she was. Thora was the granddaughter of the current Alpha of Silverleaf Pack.
"Even?" I repeated, my jaw tightening.
Hearing how eager she was to cut ties with me, I clenched my jaw in irritation.
I stepped closer. On the back of her hand, a drop of blood seeped out where she had pulled the needle. My irritation grew sharper.
"I never said we were even."
Her expression stayed calm, her words firm. "We made a deal back on the mountain road. The trade is done. Whether it was fair or not doesn't matter. If you expect anything else from me, you'll be disappointed."
Her voice carried a finality that didn't leave room for argument.
For an instant, I caught a flash of killing intent in her eyes. My anger eased, replaced by something else.
I leaned in, lowering my head until I was only inches from her face. "You want to kill me?"
She gave me a sideways glance. "I wouldn't mind."
The way she said it sounded like she already had blood on her hands. But she was just a teenage girl who hadn't even awakened her wolf spirit.
I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer until our noses almost touched.
I let my Alpha's power roll off me in full force.
"Because right now, I could end you with just a thought."
Anyone else would've been trembling in fear by now. But not her.
Even covered in wounds, she stood tall, her back straight like a trained warrior.
"You can try," she said. And in her tone, I caught the spark of someone ready for a fight.
Our eyes locked. There was no fear in her gaze, only reckless determination.
I let out a low laugh and pulled back.
This girl is exactly my type. For the first time in years, I felt an urge I hadn't expected—an impulse to keep her by my side.
In the back of my mind, Lorcan wagged his tail with excitement. "She's the first female who isn't affected by your Alpha aura. No wonder she's the one!"
Her voice cut through his words, calm but firm. "If you're not going to kill me, then let me leave."
I frowned at this. "You haven't even awakened your wolf. Are you trying to get yourself killed by walking out like this?"
"I won't die," she said flatly. "The medical pod stabilized me. But I need to get back to my pack."
That look in her eyes—so steady, so determined—made something stir inside me.
I knew that even if I tried to stop her, she would fight to the end, even if it meant getting herself killed.
But that wasn't what I wanted. I just wanted her to be safe.
Glancing at the bandages wrapped around her, I tossed her one of my white shirts and said, "If you can put this on by yourself, I'll let you go."
She took the shirt, then looked down at her body, wrapped in layers of bandages. For a moment, she fell silent.
I thought she might give up. But then, she suddenly tore off her shredded clothes. The thin pink bra underneath was now in plain sight.
What the hell! This girl is so bold! I spun around instantly, heat creeping up my neck. Gritting my teeth, I snapped, "You're stripping in front of a grown man? Do you have no shame?"
Ever since I met her, I'd lost my composure more times than I could count.
She sounded amused. "I don't mind. Why should you, big guy?"
I pressed my fingers to my temple, trying to calm down.
Is this girl even normal? Or did I just pick up some alien in disguise? Suddenly, I heard the harsh rip of bandages. I turned back at once.
She tore off the sterile wrap just to get the shirt on.
Her arm, still bruised and swollen, split open again under the strain. Blood welled up, fresh and bright against the white cloth.
Chapter 7 Battle at Home
Thora's POV: I felt his eyes on me when he turned his head. Pressing my lips together, I ignored the torn wound across my side and slowly pulled on the shirt.
As a warrior of the apocalypse, I had suffered injuries far worse than this. The pain was nothing.
But I had to get back to Silverleaf Pack right away.
My grandfather had named me as the next Alpha. The rest of the pack would love nothing more than to see me die out here. If I delayed any longer, trouble was sure to follow.
The man watched me the entire time as I slipped into the oversized dress shirt. His brows drew together like he was trying to figure me out.
The shirt was far too big on me, hanging loose, but it still looked better than my shredded, bloodstained school uniform.
"All right. I'm done. I'm leaving now," I told him, staring straight at him.
If he went back on his word, I really would throw everything I had at him, even if it meant dying in the fight.
But he kept his word. He only gave me a long, steady look, then stepped aside.
"You can go," he said.
The moment I got his permission, I hurried toward the door.
But then pain shot through my broken leg. I stumbled hard, crashing onto the floor.
Grinding my teeth, I pushed myself up and looked at my calf.
The bone was set back in place, but every movement still sent sharp aches through me. At least I could walk—barely.
I straightened, squared my shoulders, and limped toward the door.
Just as I reached it, his voice stopped me. There was a hint of amusement in his tone. "Thora."
I froze, frowning.
Of course he knew my name. With his power, it would've been easy to find out.
"Thora," he repeated, almost like he was savoring the sound of it. "We'll be seeing each other again. Very soon."
That wasn't necessary.
I already had enough problems. The last thing I wanted was to get tangled up with someone like him.
That would only add more trouble.
Leaving the grand, luxurious estate, I found a car waiting outside.
"Ms. Green, I'll take you back to Silverleaf Pack," the driver said respectfully, holding the door open.
I didn't refuse.
I had no idea where I was or how to find the way home.
Having someone drive me was the best thing that could've happened.
On the ride, I kept my eyes closed, trying to rest.
I could feel the driver sneaking glances at me, curious, but there was no malice in it. So I ignored him.
I needed every bit of strength I could save, because once I got home there would be another battle waiting for me.
The driver dropped me off at the edge of Silverleaf Pack territory, then turned and left.
I followed my memory to the villa. My hand hadn't even touched the door when voices drifted out from inside.
"It's been five days! Where has Thora been sneaking around without a single word?"
The furious voice belonged to this body's father—Norman Green.
Then Hazel's syrupy tone followed. "Dad, I saw Thora leaving with a group of rogues that day. I even heard them say something about taking a noble girl back as their plaything.
"She hasn't awakened her wolf spirit. What if she really was—" Hazel's voice broke into a fake sob, as if she were so worried.
Laurel Green's voice was full of fake pity, but it dripped with glee.
"Oh dear, that's terrible! If Thora really fell into the hands of those vicious rogues, she's either dead or broken by now. But honestly, if something really happened to her, maybe that's for the best. Marlon always protects that useless brat. This way, you'll finally take your rightful place as the Alpha."
"Watch your mouth!" Norman barked, but his tone lacked real anger. It was full of calculation instead.
"If she really got hurt, it'll be hard to explain to Dad. But ... if word spreads to the Council that she was ruined by rogues—or even involved with them—Dad couldn't defend her. When that happens, the position will naturally be mine."
"Yes, Dad!" Hazel quickly chimed in, eager to add fuel to the fire. "I told Thora to stay away from rogues, but she never listened. She even said hanging around them was better than being treated like a failure by us. Now look at her, too ashamed to come home! I bet she did something disgusting out there."
"Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!" Norman shouted, his voice filled with disgust, not concern.
"I'm going to the elders right now to report her. I'll tell them she slept with rogues and disgraced the family. We'll strip her of her status as the future Alpha immediately!"
"Yes, yes, do it now! Before she comes back!"
Laurel's tone turned sharp with excitement. "I've already had someone draft a disownment letter. Once the elders sign it, she'll be nothing but a homeless, half-breed stray."
BANG!
I couldn't listen to another word. My patience snapped. I kicked the door open.
The room fell dead silent. Every single one of them froze in shock.
My gaze swept slowly across their faces—my father, my sweet little stepsister, and that venomous stepmother. Then I smiled coldly.
"Sorry to disappoint you all," I said, my voice cutting through the silence. "I'm alive—and I brought back proof that I'd been fooling around with the rogues."