Phoebe’s POV
Pain.
That was my first conscious thought as awareness clawed its way back to . Not the sharp, clean pain of a wound that could be bandaged and healed, but sothing deeper. Sothing that felt like my very soul had been hollowed out with rusty claws.
I stirred awake to find Alpha Wallace perched in the chair beside , his weathered face etched with concern. The mont my eyes fluttered open, he was on his feet.
"My queen." His voice carried that familiar gentleness, but I caught the tremor underneath. "Thank the goddess you’re awake."
The unfamiliar room swam into focus around . Clean white walls. The scent of dicinal herbs. Sunlight filtering through gauze curtains. Nothing about this place belonged to , yet sohow I knew I was safe.
Alpha Wallace’s face seed recognizable, but my mories felt fractured, like trying to piece together a shattered mirror while wearing gloves.
Then it hit .
The cramping. The blood. The desperate flight through the forest with Wade carrying as my body betrayed everything I’d tried so hard to protect.
My baby.
My hand moved instinctively to my stomach, and the flatness I found there confird what my heart already knew. The child I’d fought so hard to keep, the life I’d risked everything for—gone.
"My queen, please don’t—" Alpha Wallace moved toward as I tried to push myself upright, but the room tilted dangerously.
I gripped the sheets, waiting for the world to stop spinning. When I could finally focus on his face, I saw sothing there that made my chest tighten with dread.
He was struggling with words he didn’t want to say.
But I already knew what he couldn’t bring himself to tell . My body had already whispered the truth in a language of emptiness and ache.
"Wade and Marcela," I managed to whisper, my voice barely audible. "Are they—?"
"Alive." Alpha Wallace’s relief at having good news to share was palpable. "Both stable. Wade took significant damage, but he’s strong. He’ll recover completely. Marcela... she’s tougher than she looks. They’re both going to make it."
The knot in my chest loosened fractionally. At least I hadn’t lost everyone.
I tried to swing my legs over the bed’s edge, desperate to see them, to confirm with my own eyes that they’d survived my failures.
Alpha Wallace’s gentle but firm pressure guided back down.
"Not yet, my queen. The healer says you need at least another day before you can walk safely." His expression darkened. "I need to apologize. We should have been faster. If we’d reached you even minutes earlier, maybe—"
I shook my head, cutting off his words. Alpha Wallace bore no responsibility for this tragedy. If anything, his warriors had saved what remained of my shattered world.
"Tell what happened," I said, my voice gaining strength. "Everything."
Alpha Wallace settled back into his chair, his hands clasped tightly. "We arrived just as Wade was facing three enemies alone. He’d already killed one, but the odds..." He paused, his jaw clenching. "That boy fought like a demon. Single-handedly kept them from reaching you and Marcela while she tried to shield you."
The image ford in my mind—Wade, barely more than a boy despite his warrior’s training, standing against impossible odds to protect his unconscious queen.
"Marcela took a blade ant for you. Nearly lost her leg in the process, but she never let them get close." Alpha Wallace’s voice carried deep respect. "By the ti we arrived, the forest was littered with bodies. Wild wolves, enemy shifters, and..."
His words trailed off, but I heard what he couldn’t say.
"Justin and Orion." The nas felt like stones in my throat.
"They died as warriors should," Alpha Wallace said quietly. "They took ten enemies with them before falling. Ten, my queen. Their sacrifice bought the ti that saved your life."
The words should have been comforting. Instead, they felt like accusations.
"I want to see them."
"My queen, I don’t think—"
"I want to see them." My voice carried the authority I’d almost forgotten I possessed. Even broken, even hollow, I was still their queen. "They died protecting . I will honor them properly."
Alpha Wallace’s expression grew pained. "Their bodies... the enemies were particularly brutal. What’s left isn’t fit for viewing, especially not by—"
"By their queen?" I t his gaze steadily. "They deserve better than to be hidden away like a shaful secret."
After a long mont, he nodded. "Very well. But not today. You need to heal first."
Alpha Wallace rose to leave, then paused at the doorway. "There’s sothing else you should know. We captured most of the attackers, but three escaped into the deep forest. They know these territories well."
Ice ford in my veins. "They’re still out there."
"My warriors are hunting them, but..." He t my eyes grimly. "They’ll try again, my queen. This wasn’t random. Soone sent them specifically for you."
After he left, I collapsed back against the pillows, my arms wrapping around the emptiness where my child should have been growing.
The loss felt like a physical wound, raw and gaping. But underneath the grief, sothing else began to stir.
Rage.
Pure, crystalline fury at whoever had orchestrated this attack. At the enemies who’d stolen my baby’s life before it had truly begun. At the cowards who’d forced brave warriors to die in my defense.
In my dreams that night, the white wolf appeared again. But this ti, her eyes weren’t filled with sorrow. They burned with the sa cold fire I felt building in my chest.
The following days passed in a haze of healing and rage. Alpha Wallace visited regularly, updating on the search for the escaped enemies and other matters.
"Perry’s forces have secured the Valerium Kingdom," he reported on the third day. "Complete victory. The king will return in two days."
I nodded, though sothing had changed in during these days of recovery. The grief remained, but it had transford into sothing sharper.
Sothing dangerous.
When I was finally permitted to leave the bed, I went straight to Wade. The young warrior remained unconscious, his body still nding from the impossible battle he’d fought.
Looking at his bandaged form, I felt the weight of responsibility settle on my shoulders like a mantle of lead.
"He’s going to be fine," the healer assured . "Strong as an ox, that one. He’ll be back on his feet within the week."
But as I stood there watching Wade’s steady breathing, all I could think about were the warriors who would never breathe again.
Justin and Orion were dead.
They’d died because soone had decided my unborn child and I needed to be eliminated.
They’d died because I’d been too weak to protect myself.
They’d died because I’d made choices that put them in harm’s way.
But as I stood there, sothing crystallized in my mind with perfect clarity.
They’d died as my protectors.
Now it was ti for to beco sothing else entirely.
It was ti for their deaths to an sothing.
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